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!!