About The Talisman Review

Welcome to The Talisman Review, a place to find reviews on new authors and their exciting novels, as well as author interviews, book tours, and movie reviews.

I am always grateful when I receive books to review directly from publishers or authors.  Before zooming to the bottom of the page to find the mailing address, please read the following guidelines for submission.  These questions and answers are designed to save us all some time and effort and to help ensure that it is appropriate to submit your book for review.

What genres do you review?

My reviews are fairly limited to fantasy and alternative history genres (speculative fiction). I don’t read romance, but if you have anything else fiction outside the fantasy and alternative history genres feel free to query about it.

Does my book have to be currently published?

I want my readers to be able to obtain the books that I review.  Therefore, I prefer them to be readily available when I review them.  However, I recognize that a certain amount of advance publicity is necessary to generate interest in a book.  Therefore, I will review books that are within 90 days of being published.  I will not review unpublished manuscripts that are currently being shopped around, or out of print books.

I also prefer that a book be readily available to the general public.  Since The Talisman Review is an Amazon.com affiliate, I am gratified when the book is available on Amazon.com.  However, as long as the book can be obtained by relatively simple means (book stores, large retail web site, mail order, small press web site), it is acceptable as long as it has an ISBN.

Does my book have to be published by a large press to get reviewed?

Absolutely not.  I avidly support small presses and new authors. 

What if you dislike my book?  Will you publish a negative review?

Generally, I can always find positive aspects about any book.  But to be fair to our readers, I will not write a positive review of a weak book just because it was sent to me for free.  So although I don’t publish totally negative reviews, my reviews will contain honest criticism.

Will you return my submission to me?

No.  I don’t have the budget or the time to spend on returning materials to authors or publishers.  Review copies of your book are just one of the many promotional expenses related to your work.  Don’t forget, promotional expenses are a deductible expense for tax purposes.

How long does it take before a review is posted on your web site?

I give priority to books that are submitted for review over movies.  Generally, you can expect the review to be posted within about one month of our receiving the book, depending on the length.

Ok, I’m ready to mail you a review copy of my book.  What is your snail-mail address?

Send your queries to info[at]stardavies.com. If I am interested, I will respond with a mailing address.

She who holds the talisman…

Star Davies is an author of fantasy herself and enjoys breezing through a good book. In addition to reviewing books, she has published several short stories and a full length feature novel. Divica, her fantasy series, is under contract for five additional novels.

Where to find Star Davies:

• Star Davies & Divica Online
• Whimsical Word Wizard
• Divica Press
• MySpace
• Gather