March Madness 2026 - Nominations (Ended February 19th 7pm ET) > Likes and Comments

It's time once again for March Madness!

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST

New this year: I will be rolling up nominations by bracket (IE Sword/Laser).

This is to help Tom & Veronica more easily create the bracket and to clarify the intention of the nominator as to which bracket the book should be in.

Nominations should take the form of:

I'd like to nominate book title by author(s) for the bracket name bracket.

Example:

I'd like to nominate Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan for the Sword bracket.


For more details, please see questions about the brackets below.


Nominations are now open, and will run through Thursday, February 19th at 7pm ET. We're once again doing a Sword bracket and Laser bracket with 8 books each.

As usual I will periodically roll-up everyone nominations (Roughly once/page or approximately 50 posts)

Please Read the rules for nominations below for more specifics

Please see the March Madness 2026 Information Thread for additional details about the tournament as a whole.

Nomination FAQ

How Many books can I nominate? One. No seriously ONE BOOK.

If you're not clear I'm either going to pick the first book you mention or simply ignore your nomination all together.

How do I nominate a book? Post in the nominations thread your choice with the following format:

I'd like to nominate book title by author(s) for the bracket name bracket.

Example:

I'd like to nominate Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan for the Sword bracket.

Can I second someone else's nomination? Sure but that's also YOUR nomination. See Question 1 about how many books you can nominate. Still just One.

What if I want to nominate a Sword Book And a Laser Book? Did you read question 1? You can only nominate ONE book.

Can we nominate any book we want? The only criteria is that it's a Fantasy or Sci-Fi book we haven't read. That said, it's preferable that you also nominate a book by an author we haven't read as well. Those nominations will likely have a better chance of making the final bracket.

We also have a rule to prevent authors from nominating their own books. In addition we'd like to prevent people from nominating their friend's book etc. If I see you doing this, I will first warn you to pick another book, and later simply ignore your nomination all together.

Can I change My Nomination? Yes, but if you do so, please specify which book you are changing it from, as I'm doing this by hand.

What if I make a mistake in my nomination? No problem. Just please make another post correcting your mistake. Please Do Not Delete or edit your original post as I may miss the change. Thanks.

How many books will be selected? 16 (8 Fantasy, 8 Sci-Fi)

When do nominations close? Thursday, February 19th 7:00 PM EST. This will give me some time to do the final roll-up of the nominations and Tom & Veronica some time to make the final bracket.

Which books will be selected? Whichever books Tom & Veronica want. They will simply use the nominations in this thread for suggestions.

How will the books be seeded? This is entirely up to Tom & Veronica. They may take into account how many people have nominated a book, but there is no guarantee.

The book I want was already nominated. You can second a nomination made by someone else, and I'll count how many people have nominated that book and sort accordingly.

No one else is nominating my book, should I change my vote to something more popular? In my opinion, you're better off just nominating a book you're interested in us reading than hoping to game the nomination system by changing your vote. Most years some of the books in the final bracket had only a single nomination, while several books with multiple nominations didn't make it. Multiple nominations may help it get noticed or in the seeding, but really all of that is up to Tom & Veronica.

How are the Nominations Sorted? The numbering is based on number of nominations, followed by when they moved up the list (i.e. based on post order). This number will likely not reflect the actual seeding as that will be entirely up to Tom & Veronica.

My nomination is missing/wrong! Sorry about that. I'm doing this by hand. Please post again and yell at me for missing, or not grouping it with another nomination for the same book, or marking you down for the wrong book, etc. If you're not clear about your nomination (or you nominate 2) I may add the "wrong" book. Please be sure you're clear, and I can fix it.

What if I don't know what bracket my book belongs in? If your book could be a sword or a laser, please just pick one.

What if someone nominated a book I want to also nominate, but they picked the wrong bracket? Too bad. The first person who nominates a book gets to pick the bracket. This tournament is for fun, not a debate on if a book is more fantasy or sci-fi.

You put my nomination in the wrong bracket If you specify a bracket and I messed up and put it in the wrong place, please let me know and I'll correct it. If you DIDN'T READ my instructions and forgot to tell me the bracket, I'm going to do my best to guess which bracket its supposed to be in. So please don't do that.

I will nominate Unsouled by Will Wight for the Sword bracket

I’m nominating the The Eyre Affair for sci fi, I guess. The series kinda straddles both genres, but I’d say the first one is more sci fi.

I nominate Middlegame by Seanan McGuire for the Sword bracket. Thanks for setting it all up again Rob!

I nominate He who fights with monsters by Shirtaloon in the sword bracket

I’d like to nominate the fantastical steampunk story of A Matter of Execution by Nicholas and Olivia Atwater

I will nominate The Variant War by Les Abernathy for the Laser bracket.

I’d like to nominate The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba for the Sword bracket.

I nominate Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny in the Laser bracket.
(1968 Hugo winner. I call it science-fantasy, but since I have to choose a bracket … Laser it is.)

My first ever nomination in March Madness is There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm for Laser bracket. Despite the Goodreads description, it's not very 'horror-y', it's definitely sci-fi, and it's very Doctor Who–esque.

I nominate Electra Rex by April C. Griffith for the Laser bracket.

I’d like to nominate The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson for the Sword bracket. 🐦‍⬛

I'd like to nominate Planetfall by Emma Newman for the Laser bracket

I nominate a litbro favorite for laser, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Maybe a 48 hour read at 583k words, including footnotes.

Lucy wrote: "I'd like to nominate Planetfall by Emma Newman for the Laser bracket"
This is a previous pick from July 2023 so you probably want to nominate something else. For reference all previous selections are here: https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki...

I'd like to nominate The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker for the Sword bracket

I'd like to nominate Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey for the Sword bracket.

I'd like to nominate Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia for the Sword bracket. Goodreads lists it primarily as Gothic Horror, but it definitely has fantasy elements.

I'm nominating The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman in the Sword category.

It is a repeat author but in a different style than the book we read before (Arthurian/chivalric versus urban fantasy).

I'd like to nominate Unsong by Scott Alexander for the Sword bracket.

I nominate The Oxygen Farmer by Colin Holmes for the Laser bracket.

To the surprise of nobody who’s been paying attention on the discord, I’d like to nominate The Mask of Mirrors by M A Carrick for the Sword bracket

And if you’re not sure know to vote for yourself, you may like to second this pick. To help you decide if it’s right for you, just answer the following questions and read the matching responses.

Do you like fun?

Yes: great, this book has thieves and plots and masked balls and a mysterious masked vigilante! You should totally second the nomination and get ready for a ride!

No: great, this story is set around a complicated clashing of cultures, painful class struggles, complex politics, prejudice and a bunch of other upsetting things, all carefully and considerately built with great attention to detail. The authors studied anthropology, you know, and these things matter! You really ought to second this pick

Do you prefer romantic costume dramas with pretty noble women attending balls and relying on their wits and pretty dresses to improve their position with society, or would you rather have world-weary commoners scraping by with whatever they can use, no matter the costs, and if it brings the noble twits down a peg or two, so much the better?

Romantic costume dramas: great, because the lady Renata is not above using the daring new cut of her dress to spark curiosity and win invites to all the best parties. She dazzles, she dances, she sets society aflame with gossip! You simply must second this pick and join the party!

World-weary commoners: great, you’re team Ren all the way! She’s a liar and a thief determined to scheme her way to the comfortable world she’s owed, and she’s not alone. There’s trouble brewing in the air, revolutionaries in the streets, and things might end badly if you don’t second this pick!

Do you like complicated rule based magic systems, or do you prefer something more intuitive?

Rule based: great, this book has a magic system that’s all precise inscriptions and geometry and stuff, and if you want to learn more, you should second this pick.

Intuitive: great, this book has a tarot like magic system called pattern, and it isn’t enough to learn the meanings and the layouts: you need to learn how to ‘see’ what the cards are showing you, so be guided by your instincts, and second this book.

Considering the world we currently live in, I would love this March Madness to be real madness! Stange nominations! Nominations that bend or stretch established rules in creative ways! Nominations that go where we haven't been!

I was thinking about nominating Shakespeare or Grimm's fairy tales or a biography of a fantasy author or something like that but in the end I decided on nomination that I thrice unusual:

1. It's a graphic novel - we don't normally do those here - but I don't know it's forbidden

2. It's a novelization of an existing franchise (in a way)

3. it's a "choose your own adventure"-type or adventure path" story. Also not what we normally do...

And so I am nominating "Star Trek: Lower Decks - Warp Your Own Way" by Ryan North for the Laser Bracket!!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I'd like to nominate Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlitsch for the Laser bracket

I would like to nominate Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith for the Laser bracket

I second The Mask of Mirrors by M A Carrick for the Sword bracket.

Nominating The Great When by Alan Moore (of graphic novel fame) in the Sword Bracket

👍👊

I will nominate The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman for the Sword Bracket.

Blurb:
(view spoiler)[Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.

But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford. (hide spoiler)]

I nominate Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome by Matthew Hollness a hilarious parody of Stephen King novels where a writer literally has sex with a magic typewriter

I would like to nominateThe Hedgewitch of Foxhall, a stand alone book where a rebellious witch undertakes a last-ditch quest to restore magic to medieval Wales, for the Sword bracket

after a good stretch of people following the new rule, we get a string of slackers who didn't read...in a book club..go figure

To be fair, those of us who have nominated in every previous March Madness would assume that the rules were the same as every previous year.

i.e. I'm too lazy to read the rules. 😉

Bracket added to nomination post.

I’d like to nominate Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlein for the Laser bracket. I know you try not to repeat authors, but this book is one of my favorites from my teenage years and among the best time travel stories I know of.

I'd like to nominate Animal Farm by George Orwell for the Sword bracket.

I'd like to nominate The House Witch by Delemhach for the Fantasy bracket.

I'd like to nominate The House Witch by Delemhach for the Fantasy Bracket

What the hell. Galactic Patrol for the laser bracket (old time lasers made with tubes).

I will second The Mask of Mirrors

I nominate The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick

Mostly because I was well impressed with Ruth's advocacy efforts - it made me laugh.

I'd like to nominate MILLENIUM by John Varley.

Great take on time travel, some horror-tinged rescues of passengers in plane crashes. Subversive take on SF tropes. Great use of literary construction with the two MC's mirroring each other, which I didn't notice until my third read. Plus John Varley recently died and a little retrospective on his works would be in order.

It's also a movie with Cheryl Ladd from Charlie's Angels.

I will second The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

I will nominate Thraxas: The Thraxas Novels: Book One by Martin Scott (a pseudonym of Martin Millar) for the Sword bracket


Thraxas won the World Fantasy Award in 2000
Thraxas is an overweight beer-swilling Private Eye in a Middle Earth-like fantasy city

I'd like to second The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker for the Sword bracket

I fixed my bracket I had sword when I meant Laser. I figure its before the roll up so it would be safe but thought I'd tell you anyhow

I'd like to nominate Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz for the Laser bracket.

I nominate Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove for the Sword bracket.

I nominate Pearl Bound by Natalie G. Bergman for the Sword bracket.

I'm not totally sure which bracket would be best for it, but since it involves time travel, I'll nominate The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien for the Laser bracket.

nothing to see here. move along