In my blog’s first post, I mentioned that 62,597 science fiction titles were available at Amazon’s Kindle store. That total is now up to 70,246 (a change of 7,649, or almost 65 per day). During the same time period, I inspected 17 titles for bad science fiction. Even if I had reviewed only new releases, my interception rate would have been a pitiful 0.22%. Of the stories I reviewed, 29.4% were fodder for dung beetles; if this is a representative percentage, then I have allowed 2,244 dung attacks to slip through my defenses. If I were running a government missile defense system, I’d lose my contract. Actually, I’m not sure that’s correct. A better statement: if I were providing home missile defense to consumers, I wouldn’t have many customers left.
The situation appears grim, but the planet has added another layer of defense: the parasite guy has added a new type of indie science fiction review to his blog. I deal with time constraints by reviewing mostly short stories, but he has come up with an innovative concept he calls “tasters” – reviews of a full-length novel’s cover art, marketing blurb, and sample chapters. I think this will be enough for him to shoot down science fiction that is obviously bad due to poor grammar or incomprehensible writing, and hopefully he’ll find a few gems that hook the reader in the first chapter.
Here are his first couple of tasters:
Second Chance, part 1 and part 2
The Dream Guild, part 1 and part 2
Feel free to mention other blogs in the comment section below, as long as indie and science fiction make up a significant portion of their content.
Planetary Defense Command 
Thanks for the headsup; The Parasite Guy’s blog looks interesting.
Great idea. Thanks for the heads up.
Cheers
MTM
Thanks a lot for the shout-out; really appreciate it :). It’s still early days for this particular feature, but I’m intending to keep it going for quite some time.
As for other blogs, one that immediately comes to mind is http://sciencefictionruminations.wordpress.com/. Lots of reviews and general commentary on classic (and not-so-classic) science fiction; definitely worth a look if you haven’t seen it already.
I read some classic sci-fi earlier this year; I need to do a few reviews of my own, and post some shout-outs for bloggers who write about older sci-fi books. Couchtomoon, who visits here, does quite a few classic reviews.