Out of this World Reviews accepts review requests in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres (and associated sub-genres) only. On rare occassions we will review Horror, but only if it has a strong Fantasy slant (think Lovecraft, for ex.). We accept review requests from all sources: large publishers, small publishers, and authors both self and traditionally published, as long as the submission falls into one of our accepted genres. Please keep in mind, however, that we do not accept every submission we receive and may not offer a reason for this decision.
If you are interested in submitting something for review, please use our contact form to provide details. If we're interested, we will reply to your request promptly. Note that we prefer to purchase all materials we review (see below), so it is not necessary to send us a digital or physical copy of the review item.
Due to the number of requests, it may take some time for us to publish our review of your submission, but we will make every effort to let you know where you are in the queue, if possible.
We strive our best to only publish reviews that are fair, honest, and written with the utmost objectivity. That being said, we do publish negative reviews. Please note that we will call out novels that need editing, proofing, contain excessive typos, etc. and will mark our rating down appropriately as a result.
We purchase all review items with the exception of advanced reader copies, preview editions, or other items which are not yet available for sale but which a creator may wish for us to review ahead of an official release. We purchase review items using our own funds because we believe it is important to support artists. This means that if you do wish for us to review something, you need only forward the link where we can purchase it. Note that we will not purchase items which we feel are not priced fairly (Kindle books selling for $14.99, for example). In the case of books, we may check the item out from our local library, if possible, rather than purchasing it. As much as we believe in supporting artists, we also believe in supporting local libraries.
All reviews will appear on this site in the form of a single post per review with the exception of theme or series focused posts which will highlight two or more items or reviews. Reviews are also posted to our mirror site on Tumblr, Goodreads, Amazon, and, in the case of book reviews, to the author site of Scott Marlowe. In addition, reviews will be highlighted on our Facebook page and shared via Twitter.
We use the standard 5 point system for ratings. The breakdown is as follows:
Five Rockets: An out of this world experience. We would indulge ourselves again and would highly recommend to others.
Four Rockets: An experience that we found moving, exciting, or thoughtful (or all of the above). We might strap on our rocket packs for another go at some point in the future. Meanwhile, we'd definitely recommend to others right away.
Three Rockets: We enjoyed the item under review and would recommend it to others.
Two Rockets: A decent experience but mostly forgettable. We would recommend to others, but with a word of caution.
One Rocket: The item under review failed in some major way (characters, plot, quality, etc.). We would not recommend it to anyone, human or otherwise.