Alex – On Book blogging in a Niche

Welcome back for another fantastic discussion in The Creator’s Roulette! Today, I have my book blogger friend, Alex, with me and we will be talking about his experience as a book blogger in the science fiction and fantasy realm.

It’s great to have you here, Alex! Your blog, Spells and Spaceships is fairly new. How did you come up with the idea of starting it? And how long have you had it now?

It’s great to be featured on your blog, Kriti! Thanks for having me. I had my own personal account on twitter that I used to talk about a range of topics and interacting with friends and family. As I redeveloped a passion for fantasy and science fiction books, I began to follow some of the authors and bloggers involved in the community so that I could follow the new releases and discuss the books I was reading. 

I realised I needed a dedicated account that I could use to talk about science fiction and fantasy (and at times other related geekery as well as a rare foray into other genres) to be fully involved in the community. I think I started it around mid November 2019.

That’s amazing, Alex! I personally think it takes a lot to have a dedicated account and I’m always impressed when I see such account.

On Defining Genres

Since you focus on fantasy and science fiction, how do you define these genres in your mind? 

I’d say fantasy is basically anything with magic or the supernatural in them. That can be stories in which magic or fantastical creatures play a huge part in the story (like The Lord of the Rings or for a more contemporary example, The Winnowing Flame Trilogy). They can also be set in a more realistic world, with a core of the story centered around the politics and human machinations of the world (like A Song of Ice and Fire) or even within the real world (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell).

Science Fiction is usually set in the future or an alternate reality due to the speculative nature of the technological or scientific advancements present in most sci-fi stories. It’s why if you set a story in space, it’s usually classed as sci-fi. Horror and historical fiction are two genres that often overlap with fantasy and sci-fi, making up the broader genre of speculative fiction, so you’ll find many SFF bloggers who also review these genres.

What type of speculative fiction would you say you’ve read most of?

I have never thought of historical fiction as speculative fiction but I can totally see it now that you mention it. In my teens, I love historical fiction and fantasy. As I have grown older, I read dystopia, science fiction and fantasy among other non-speculative genres. 

Having read, and planning on reading more books in these two genres, have you discovered any similarities between them? 

I think although quite different too, there are many parallels between the two. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish and so we have sub-genres such as science fantasy. I think the main similarity between the two genres aside from being speculative fiction is that they are not limited in scope. You can be creative in other speculative fiction but in most horror or historical fiction you have to obey the constraints of the real world; you can have a monster or a ghost but as soon as you change the setting from our world or introduce a lot of made-up elements, it’s going to be at least in part classified as fantasy or science fiction.

In fantasy and science fiction even the sky isn’t the limit with where you can go and what you can do. There are endless possibilities in where the story can take you. I read quite a lot more fantasy at the minute but when a really good idea comes along for a sci-fi book I want to read that above anything else so it’s hard to say whether I actually prefer one over the other.

On Book blogging in a Niche

What made you choose science fiction and fantasy as your niche?

If I’m honest, I think it comes down to a combination of an escape from reality and just being a bit of a secret geek in general! I’ve read a lot of serious literature and historical non fiction through my A levels and University degree and so when reading for pleasure, it’s nice to escape to another world. When you’ve been stressed in your day to day life and you can sit with a cup of tea and explore a world of dragons or aliens it’s a welcome break from the real world. Saying that, I also just find the stories interesting. I read Enid Blyton and Chronicles of Narnia as a small boy, moving on to Harry Potter and The Hobbit. I’ve always been interested in history and science too; fantasy and sci-fi stories often take aspects from these two subjects and supersize them.

I’d be interested to hear the view of someone with a more eclectic taste in books such as yourself; do you have to be in a certain mood to read a fantasy or science fiction? Do you have a tendency to prefer one over the other?

That’s a tough question, Alex! I am never drawn to genres to be honest – I find myself always draw to a story. What I mean is, if I am feeling like picking a different book than what I am reading, I’ll check out a bunch of synopsis of books I have or what’s available at the library or NetGalley to read right away. Unless I am in the middle of a series, I really don’t care about the genre of the book I pick up. 🙂

What are some unique books that have come your way because of book blogging?

My most recent read is a great example. Kalanon’s Rising in short is a murder mystery in a fantasy setting. Before I was a book blogger or at least an active member in the community on twitter, I’d have probably never really even been exposed to many self published books. Usually reading more ‘epic fantasy’ in the past, I also would never have picked up a book labeled a murder mystery. When the author reached out I thought I’d give it a try. I really enjoyed the book and gave it 5 stars; a book that would never have even came my way if I hadn’t started blogging. 

I just love how I’m exposed to books that I wouldn’t always see in my small local bookshop. I found Jen Williams’ Winnowing Flame Trilogy for example, just by seeing one of her tweets about her books and deciding to look into them. I hadn’t seen them in the bookstore or advertised online. I’d encourage anyone to read The Ninth Rain which for me is the closest book I’ve read to a crossover of fantasy and science fiction – there’s magic, war beasts and big swords. And there are also aliens! 

I know you really enjoyed Anbatar by Anne Dolleri. Will this encourage you to read more fantasy or did you already read a lot to begin with? Are there any other fantasy or science fiction books that you love?

I read a lot of fantasy – you think of Anbatar because that’s the one I reviewed in the course of our new friendship. 🙂 I love reading Terry Goodkind and though I have not reviewed his books  on my blog, I’m always reading one of his series. I read more than I review and everything I read does not make it to the blog. 

Thinking about some of  my favorite fantasy or science fiction books: Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (of course), A Song for A New Day by Sarah Pinsker was speculative fiction I really enjoyed last year. Rich Penney’s Desa Kincaid got me super interested in western style fantasy books – it was my first! A Midnight Clear by BlackSpot Books was a unique anthology of Christmas stories with fantastical elements. Crow Winter by Karen McBride isn’t really fantasy  but I loved the demi-god Nanabush who is a crow. The Psychology of Time Travel was an interesting take on what would happen if time travel was a profession. I reviewed all of these except Sword of Truth on my blog so you can find them all under Book Thoughts archive.

On Being a Book Blogger

Tell us a little bit about being a book blogger – do you accept requests from authors? What part of it do you enjoy the most?

I do accept review requests though I have had to become more selective and take a step back. Sometimes I turn down requests for a period of time. Unfortunately I just don’t have enough time to read everything that comes my way if I want to do what brought me to the community in the first place – reading the books that I’ve been really eager to get around to for a long time. Of course I’m grateful but I have to recognise that review requests (ebook copies at least) are usually more beneficial for the author in a world of very cheap and easily accessible ebooks. 

The most enjoyable part of blogging for me is interacting with the community – readers, bloggers, authors and publishers. I think it’s most rewarding when you read a self-published book (especially when the author isn’t expecting your review) and you love the book. When you make another person really happy just because you liked their work and shared it with others, it’s a tremendous feeling. I’ve had authors tell me that I really got what they were trying to say in their book and that they were really moved by my review. That sort of thing makes me want to keep blogging and unearthing these great books, helping some amazing people give the books they’ve worked so hard on some more visibility. 

How can someone who writes fantasy and science fiction get you to read and review their book?

Well in direct terms, my DMs are always open @blogspells on twitter, and I have an email address for contacting me about anything book related at spellsandspaceshipsblog@gmail.com. In more generic terms, an enticing, professional looking cover and a good editor go such a long way in convincing someone to read your book. 

I’ve seen so many people decide on a book online (even ebooks where you never really even look at the cover!) just because the cover attracted their attention. Conversely, an amateur looking cover really can turn people off. Yes it may cost more but I’d imagine saving over time will be worth it when the cover draws people in rather than turns them away. As mentioned above, an editor for me is a must; if I read a sample that is littered with grammatical or spelling mistakes it will just put me off the book. It’s not snobbery, but I can’t be immersed in a story when my brain is saying, “that’s not the correct use of that phrase” or “they missed a letter off the end of that word.” It does happen but if it’s consistently well written, that goes a long way.

If someone wanted to start blogging in your niche, what would be two pieces of advice you would give to them?

# 1 Don’t feel guilty. Remember why you started doing this – for your love of books and the genre!

Don’t feel pressured to release a certain number of reviews or read a certain number of books. You don’t get paid for doing this – it’s a hobby. Read other bloggers’ reviews first and see what works for you and what doesn’t – notice that many of the well respected bloggers give a range of opinions and are usually pretty honest! Authors appreciate your honesty because it lets them know what worked and what they could improve on for their next novel. Maintain your integrity as a reviewer by being honest rather than succumbing to guilt and giving a better review than you felt when reading it – but be passionate in your praise! Good books deserve to be shouted about to all who’ll listen!!

Don’t worry about turning down review requests – your time is equally important and there’s only so many books you can read – you’ll also feel more guilty if you say yes to a book you know you won’t enjoy and don’t end up finishing it. If you take note of other bloggers with similar opinions on the books you’ve read, you can follow their lead for inspiration if unsure what to read next.

# 2 Have fun! Try your best just to enjoy yourself.

There are so many cool people to interact with and share recommendations. You’ll notice some bloggers who seem to have books arrive through the post every week from publishers – try not to see this as a measure of where you are as a reviewer as there are so many more factors that go into this than simply how good you are at writing reviews – just relax and choose the books you like the look of, take your time reading them at your own pace, take in the story and escape to wherever it takes you. Make sure you are reading for pleasure rather than to satisfy demands you have made of yourself or a review you feel you should write. Despite the advice to read what you like the look of, make sure you challenge yourself every so often by reading something a bit different and try to be conscious of the authors you are reading; diversity brings a richer and more vibrant overall reading experience!

Do you feel any particular pressure as a book reviewer or are you able to channel your energy effectively towards reading the books you want to at your own pace?

It has been hard. I only  got into book blogging and reviewing last year in June and 2019 was pretty heavy on reading review copies, whether from authors or NetGalley or publishers. I made it a point in 2020 to focus on my own TBR  as well and it has been going well. I keep a list of all my commitments and email the authors at the beginning of the month when I start their book. That usually helps keep me on track for reading them. I still get stressed when I haven’t read a review copy  for a while but reading is a self care activity for me and I do book blogging and reviewing for pleasure – there should be no pressure and I am really trying to be mindful of that as much as possible.

Thank you so much for joining us today. I learned a lot about writing in a niche from you and hope that our readers got some new ideas too.

Thanks so much for having me and I look forward to our buddy read of City of Brass by SA Chakraborty coming soon!

Me too! Everyone, you can connect with Alex in the following ways:

Twitter

Blog: Spells and Spaceships

Instagram

Cover Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash
Photo of library by Alfons Morales on Unsplash