Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.

About the reviewer

Pull up a chair and meet the reviewer

Who reads these books, why sci-fi holds my attention, and how each review gets written.
Two library workers sort and place colorful books on a rolling shelf and a large wooden table, with open cardboard boxes of books below and around them in a bright, modern library.
A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.
Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.
A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.

Years of reading, one notebook at a time

Tales started as margin notes in a paperback habit. Every review here begins the same way: a book read slowly, a pencil in hand, and a notebook that fills up faster than the shelf.

Tales wrote the first draft of Low Country Weather on legal pads over three winters, mostly before work, mostly bad. It sold on the eleventh submission round, to the one editor who asked for a rewrite instead of a rejection.

Every book since has followed roughly the same method: a longhand draft nobody sees, a typed draft that gets torn apart, and a final pass that usually cuts a fifth of the words. The newsletter exists because readers kept asking what that middle part actually looks like.

Started

Notes kept long before the site

Reviewer

One reader, one notebook

Covers

Every review leads with its cover photo

Ratings

Each review carries its own rating

What the reviews hold

Each review on this site is built the same way, so you know what you are getting before you start.

Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.

Reviews, one book at a time

Each entry covers a single science fiction novel: what it does well, where it stumbles, and the rating it earned.

A bookstore worker in an apron bends over a gray crate of colorful new books resting on a wooden pallet, arranging the inventory in a warm, wood-shelved shop with a rolling cart of boxes and a worktable nearby.

Covers lead every entry

The cover photo opens each review, so you can spot the book on the shelf before reading a word.

Two library workers sort and place colorful books on a rolling shelf and a large wooden table, with open cardboard boxes of books below and around them in a bright, modern library.

Read in the library spirit

Notes written as a library patron would keep them: plain, personal, and honest about the flaws.

A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.

Written for slow readers

No hype and no countdowns. Just a careful look at the book, written for anyone who likes to take their time.

Get the notebook in your inbox

A short note each month on what is on the nightstand, and an honest word on the reviews still in progress.

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  • A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.
  • Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.
  • A bookstore worker in an apron bends over a gray crate of colorful new books resting on a wooden pallet, arranging the inventory in a warm, wood-shelved shop with a rolling cart of boxes and a worktable nearby.
  • Two library workers sort and place colorful books on a rolling shelf and a large wooden table, with open cardboard boxes of books below and around them in a bright, modern library.
  • A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.
  • Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.
  • A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.
  • Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.
  • A bookstore worker in an apron bends over a gray crate of colorful new books resting on a wooden pallet, arranging the inventory in a warm, wood-shelved shop with a rolling cart of boxes and a worktable nearby.
  • Two library workers sort and place colorful books on a rolling shelf and a large wooden table, with open cardboard boxes of books below and around them in a bright, modern library.
  • A man leans over an open book at a wooden table, concentrating on the pages in a quiet home study with stacked notebooks, a pen, a mug, and reading glasses nearby, while warm daylight enters through a large window beside an armchair and floor lamp.
  • Two shoppers browse books in a modern independent bookstore, where one handles a book at a display table stacked with books and another stands by the shelves beneath tall windows and a broad timber doorway.