Subjective Chaos 2020 - The Nominees
A quick recap – The Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards is a ever changing collection of bloggers who get together once a year and nominate their favourite books in various categories. We then spend months as a jury getting this down to a final two and finally a winner. They receive one of our beautiful painted rocks. If authors use that as a future weapon, we bear no responsibility – chaos is part of the name.
We are doing this for fun. A chance to work with other bloggers and see the world through their eyes. A jury approach is fascinating because it’s a way for us to talk through what for us makes a great reading experience in each category. I think its always been a rewarding experience and that’s why I’m back. I hope and through the work my fellow bloggers do then we will introduce you to some new books that hopefully you too will enjoy. One of the fun parts for me is I cannot read anything in a single year, and this helps me find some stories we have previously missed. Awards are always a matter of taste – hence subjective is part of the name too!
Now onto the nominees for this year – let’s do some book-tempting
Best Short Fiction
This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes & Dale Halvorsen (The Outcast Hours edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin)
Doll Seed by Michele Tracy Berger (Fiyah Magazine Issue 11)
The Migration Suite: A Study in C Sharp Minor by Maurice Broaddus (Uncanny Magazine)
Do Not Back My Lion by Alix E Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Even When the World Has Told Us We Have Ended by Cat Hellisen (Smashwords)
The Ocean That Fades Into Sky by Katherine Kayembe Lightspeed Magazine
The Blanched Bones, The Tyrant Wind by Karen Osborne (Fireside Fiction)
In This Moment, We Are Happy by Chen Qiufan (Clarkesworld)
In Regards Your Concerns About Your Scare BnB Experience by Effie Seiberg (Pseudopod 672)
Black Matter by Vivian Shaw (Pseudopod 655)
Best Series
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden
Swords & Fire by Melissa Caruso
Elemental Logic by Laurie J Marks
Luna series by Ian McDonald
Empires of Dust by Anna Smith Spark
Children of Time Duology by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson
The Winnowing Flame by Jen Williams
Best Novella
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
Incompleteness Theories by Wole Talabi
Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
We Are Mind of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner
Best Blurred Boundaries
The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris
The Last Supper Before Ragnarok by Cassandra Khaw
The Institute by Stephen King
The Migration by Helen Marshall
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg
The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen
Best Science Fiction
Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear
All City by Alex DiFrancesco
The Outside by Ada Hoffman
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Velocity Weapon by Megan E O’Keefe
Fleet of Knives by Gareth L Powell
Steel Frame by Andrew Skinner
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Best Fantasy
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
The True Queen by Zen Cho
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri
Not a bad list eh? I’ll add my thoughts in this section of the blog as I go through each story giving my personal reaction to each story I suspect the finalists will be announced this summer.
Now let the temptation begin!!
