BooktubeSFF Awards discussion

Yay! Most of these looks really good. I'll definitely be reading the novels as they all were already on my TBR (but since two of them are 2nd in a series, it might take some times). Also very excited to read Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi, Monstress Volume 1 by Marjorie Liu and Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. :)

I also nominated Saga, so looks like it's time to re-read alllll of them again! <3

In the graphic works section, Monstress is missing the artist, Sana Takeda. :)

It's too late for this year, but it would be great if there could only be one work by each author on the shortlist. At the very least only one per category. I can almost accept Schwab having two books up there since one is adult and one is YA, but the MG and Short Work categories are just nuts.

Anna wrote: "It's too late for this year, but it would be great if there could only be one work by each author on the shortlist. At the very least only one per category. I can almost accept Schwab having two bo..."

I'm with you on that. It's a little... disappointing. I'm sure they have merit but a bit more diversity would be excellent. I'm sure our judges could come up with something.

I am a bit underwhelmed by the nominees, because there is so little "new blood" among them compared to earlier BookTubeSFF Awards. Happy to see Ninefox Gambit on it though, since I was planning on reading that in March anyway. I also need to re-read Monstress, my first impression of it was mostly just "meh".

Really pleased to see A Gathering of Shadows on there!! (The next book comes out tomorrow!! Hype!!) Also Saga is my all time favourite comic, it's absolutely fantastic! I make sure to read every issue that comes out so I'm not sure which issues Saga 6 covers but I do know each issue is bloody fantastic ^^

I missed the nomination deadline but nice to see that with Ninefox Gambit one of the novels I wanted to nominate made the short list.

In the Graphic Work section, the artist of Descender is Dustin Nguyen, not Justin ;-).

I'll chip in and say I'm a bit underwhelmed by the selection, especially short work - two by Sanderson? - one of which you have to read 3-4 novels first if you don't want to be spoiled? meh. I have nothing against Sanderson but there was so much great short works out there last year I'm a bit bummed to see him taking two slots. I'll raise my hand for only one piece per author per category for next year - 40% of the books on the list are by 3 authors...

Having said all that '9 Fox Gambit' has been on my TBR for a while so I'll def. be doing the read along with that one...

I'm a little underwhelmed as well. Ninefox Gambit is the only one I've read and I didn't really enjoy it very much. Seems like there were a lot better options out there.

I am also a little unimpressed with some of the category shortlists. Especially, the short fiction one as I have been delving into sci-fi and fantasy short fiction this year and have read some amazing things.

However, as someone who never manages to read much in the current year and never seem to be caught up with new releases, I understand why the shortlist for this year might look the way it does.

A quick thought for next year to help people explore new authors or interesting new works that they might not get to for the nominations for the 2018 awards could be for the hosts to hold read-alongs or even just do quick videos giving viewers some ideas of what could be nominated for the next year's awards. If this happened throughout 2017 in anticipation of the 2018 awards, it would maybe help remind people to be reading new releases so they can make informed nominations when it comes time. Holding those types of discussions throughout the year would definitely help me remember to explore some of those new releases.

What do you guys think?

I'm not sure if I'll get to the Sanderson Short works. I only read 'Final Empire' and as far as I know about the Mistborn short I'll be spoiled if I haven't read the first 3, and as I also have to read a lot of firsts in a series to catch up with the shortlist, I don't see myself finding the time to cram in 'Well of Ascension' and 'Hero of Ages' before that. How about the other Sanderson Short, will that spoil something for the other series or will it be OK to read that without having read his other books?

I'm pretty interested in 'Ninefox Gambit', 'This Savage Song', 'Crooked Kingdom' (once I've finished 'Six of Crows'), all of the graphic works (I love Saga, but have so far only read the first 4 volumes), and Furthermore as I've heard interesting things about that book.

I'm happy to see Rick Riordan on the list, but I also think it would be cool for the future if one author can only take up one slot per category, as others have been suggesting.

I agree, I think it should be limited to one work per author in each category. I think an author having more than one work on the short list is fine, for example Schwab will bring different things to the YA and Adult categories. I think one work per author per category would encourage people to read a wider range and things and give readers more opportunities to take part with the readalongs, for example I have never read Sanderson's work and wish to start with his novels, not short works, which only leaves one short work for me to read (although I am looking forward to every heart a doorway, I've heard marvellous things!)

Cheyenne wrote: "A quick thought for next year to help people explore new authors or interesting new works that they might not get to for the nominations for the 2018 awards could be for the hosts to hold read-alongs or even just do quick videos giving viewers some ideas of what could be nominated for the next year's awards. If this happened throughout 2017 in anticipation of the 2018 awards, it would maybe help remind people to be reading new releases so they can make informed nominations when it comes time. Holding those types of discussions throughout the year would definitely help me remember to explore some of those new releases."

This would be amazing. But it would also be a lot more work for the judges. It's not that I didn't know about all these books earlier, it's that I just didn't get around to them and then it was already too late. Maybe if we all kept the discussion going here as well as on Youtube? We could have a 2018 section for recommendations leading up to the announcement of the awards. If I'm already on Goodreads and there's a link to the book in the post, I'm more likely to click to it immediately and add it to my tbr. I still have to make the decision to read it, but at least it's now on my shelves.

Another option would be a group for reading this year's SFF releases, especially short work. If more people were reading the same selection, maybe we'd all find something great to nominate. I for one am pretty sure my short work picks only had one nomination each. Of course the big names will get most nominations, because more people have read them. I would love to see a group like this, even if it wasn't doing official readalongs, just collecting good options as the year goes on. It would be easy to look at the shelves for options when the nomination time comes. This could start right after the awards when people haven't yet forgotten about the whole thing. So half a year for reading this year's shortlist and then the next half for reading new stuff for next year's awards in a separate readalong group.

Maybe this is a discussion for another thread?

Yeah, a new thread should probably be started for this but I think it would be a good idea to continue discussions on here throughout the year so people can keep up to date with what's being released :)

Perhaps short work might also be a category in which it wouldn't hurt anyone to expand the number of nominees? I know three each for the novels keeps the reading list doable, but there's so much short fiction every year, and so many people could use some more recommendations for diving into it. I could imagine a readalong schedule with two shorts per month being doable, especially if it opened the way for some stories on the shorter end of the spectrum to be nominated. (I'm deathly curious about what made it to spots 4-6 or so from the nominations this year.) I already read Every Heart a Doorway earlier in the year, and I won't be reading the Sanderson stories because I plan on starting with his novels first!

Kelsey wrote: "I'm deathly curious about what made it to spots 4-6 or so from the nominations this year."

Me too, especially in the short work category, but I wouldnt mind seeing all the nominations for all categories.

I'm in agreement there. I likely won't be picking up the Sanderson works because I'm so behind on what is happening in his universe. It seems a shame to have to spoil parts of the books just for a short story.
I'm definitely going to be keeping up a better track of my short fiction reading this year too to help for next year. The Reading Spreadsheet from Let's Read has a great sheet just for that, it's pretty stellar.

I'm also disappointed in the variety of titles on the short list. Limiting things to 1 title by an author would be a huge step in the right direction. I think it might be a good idea to expand the short fiction into 2 categories - 1 for novellas and another for individual short stories.

A quick thought for next year to help people explore new authors or interesting new works that they might not get to for the nominations for the 2018 awards could be for the hosts to hold read-alongs or even just do quick videos giving viewers some ideas of what could be nominated for the next year's awards. If this happened throughout 2017 in anticipation of the 2018 awards, it would maybe help remind people to be reading new releases so they can make informed nominations when it comes time. Holding those types of discussions throughout the year would definitely help me remember to explore some of those new releases...."

If you are watching their channels on a regular basis most of them do this throughout the year anyways yeah? Thanks to the organizers btw...

I agree with the idea of expanding the short fiction category, either by doubling the short list or splitting up the category because it feels more doable to read a couple novellas/short stories per month.

Re: limiting each category to one work per author - I don't necessarily disagree with this, but I'd be interested in how this would work logistically. What happens if two works by the same author receive the same number (or enough to be nominated) of nomination votes in the same category?

That would be up to the judges, but in my mind if Sanderson writes three Cosmere novellas next year, only the one with the most nominations would make it to the shortlist. I think it's highly unlikely that two works by the same author in one category would have the exact same amount of nominations, but in that case do whatever it is that would be done if two works from the shortlist have the exact same number of votes.

Cheyenne wrote: "I am also a little unimpressed with some of the category shortlists. Especially, the short fiction one as I have been delving into sci-fi and fantasy short fiction this year and have read some amaz..."

For Mistborn: A Secret History, there will be major spoilers if you have not read the original Mistborn trilogy and Elantris. It is also recommended that you read the first three books in the Wax and Wayne trilogy and Shadows of Silence in the Forests of Hell before reading it. I would also say that this one won't make sense without the original Mistborn trilogy.

For Edgedancer, you will be spoiled if you haven't read The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance first. There are also some parts that might be confusing without having read Words of Radiance first. Sanderson does a good job of explaining but a certain knowledge of the world is assumed.

Thank you, Lindsey for giving us a heads up. I definitely want to read these shorts at some point (when I've caught up to his works), but I don't want to get spoiled about any of the books in the series you're mentioning. That's no fun.

Anita wrote: "Thank you, Lindsey for giving us a heads up. I definitely want to read these shorts at some point (when I've caught up to his works), but I don't want to get spoiled about any of the books in the s..."

I'm with you. I was planning on catching up with Sanderson this year, but I'll probably skip these readalongs since I don't want to be spoiled for the books when I do get to them.

I wasn't going to read Saga or Descender because they're still ongoing, but since I read Monstress, I decided to at least read Descender and maybe Saga too. So I logged into the library and placed a hold. I'm 23rd in line for Saga6 and 12th for Descender2. Oh wow, I don't think I'll be reading these anytime soon :D

Before I pose these questions, I just wanted to say, if I'm wrong about this please please please correct me! My knowledge of these books is based on research I've done or things I've heard through goodreads/booktube, I haven't read most of the works myself.

So, as I've familiarised myself with the list of nominees, it appears to me that the only SF works on the shortlist are Ninefox Gambit (best novel), Saga Volume 6 & Descender Volume 2 (both best graphic work). (Again, correct me if I'm wrong!)

Anyway, it seems to me that the nominees have leaned a lot more heavily on the side of Fantasy. I don't consider myself well read enough in these genres at all to guess at why, but my question to you guys is - why do you think this is? Was 2016 just a weaker year for SF? Or do more people tend to read Fantasy than SF? And if this is the case, again, why?

I don't know if this is necessarily a particularly good/bad thing, but I'd love to know what other people think!

@Ellie

I'll write a longer answer later, when I have more time. But I just wanted to point out that This Savage Song appears to a dystopia, which can be categorized as a sub-genre to sci-fi.

Linnea wrote: "@Ellie

I'll write a longer answer later, when I have more time. But I just wanted to point out that This Savage Song appears to a dystopia, which can be categorized as a sub-genre to sci-fi."

Okay, thank you! That makes a lot of sense :)

Ellie wrote: "Before I pose these questions, I just wanted to say, if I'm wrong about this please please please correct me! My knowledge of these books is based on research I've done or things I've heard through..."

As I can remember, we've had similar tendencies in the previous BookTube SFF Awards. I don't think that 2016 was a weak year for sci-fi, but rather that our demographic (=booktubers) read more fantasy. Why? Is fantasy perhaps more newbie friendly and easier to get into? I don't know. Could we perhaps lay the "blame" on Harry Potter? I think many of the people we see on Booktube today is part of the "HP-generation" (including myself, though I'm not a hugh HP fan). Harry Potter was a really good doorway into fantasy for young adult readers at the time, but we kind of missed a similar equivalence in sci-fi. Hunger Games maybe? Like I mentioned, dystopias - because they do per definition take place in the future or similar setting such as alternate history- can be categorized under sci-fi (everyone may not agree on that though, but the two genres do have a long tradition of co-dependence on each other). Is the jump from sci-fi on Earth to sci-fi in space harder to make as a reader, than the jump from urban fantasy to high fantasy?

Linnea wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Before I pose these questions, I just wanted to say, if I'm wrong about this please please please correct me! My knowledge of these books is based on research I've done or things I've..."

I agree with you on this one. I definitely enjoy my SF but I got to it in a backwards kind of way that I think most wouldn't. Going from Tamora Pierce to Dragonriders of Pern (theme here of talking animals/dragons) and getting deep enough in that series to hit the SF elements. That turned me on to SF. I can't really think of anything not Earth based like a dystopia that would be a good entry point for SF. Red Rising perhaps, but I haven't read that and can't say that with any authority. It's also very dystopia though isn't it?
I also grew up being told SF, especially hard SF, was for boys by 'helpful' librarians and booksellers. That didn't help.

I have always read more science fiction than fantasy. Some of it likely due to old-fashioned gender segregation of literature (for instance, Robert Heinlein's juvenile novels were marketed as "books for boys") but also stuff like Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time books, which I'd still consider a pretty good intro to the genre. I will say that I see a lot less science fiction being promoted on social media and Booktube. Is it because publishers are doing less promotion? Is that because young readers prefer fantasy...or are perceived to want fantasy because they are still riding the Harry Potter wave? I don't know. In any case, the distinction between science fiction and fantasy has always been murky. The Dragonriders of Pern is a perfect example...despite the dragons and lack of technology, Pern is a planet colonized by humans in the distant future. I like to see it all on a continuum.

Can I ask (full disclosure, this question is prompted by the middle grade list, which having now made a run at I am deeply underwhelmed by) is 'no award' a real possibility in the way the judges are going to do their deciding? Thinking back to the awards shows previously, it didn't seem like there was ever any real question of this happening.

Jane (yesmissjane) wrote: "Can I ask (full disclosure, this question is prompted by the middle grade list, which having now made a run at I am deeply underwhelmed by) is 'no award' a real possibility in the way the judges ar..."

...If only... :P Haha I think it's a possibility for future, although we haven't discussed it so far so for this year it wouldn't be something we'd give out (probably... ;)

The middle grade and short work categories are underwhelming. Totally agree with many people on here that there should be a rule of one author's work per category. According to Lindsay, you have to read a whole slew (not just one) of Brandon Sanderson's work to even understand his short stories. And I'm sorry, a short story is not worth it to read a dozen books (some the size of bricks!).

Rick Riordan's books seem to be more accessible and being middle grade, probably a lot easier to catch up despite a dozen books preceding his two nominees. Hopefully in future years, the middle grade nominees will get better as people become more aware. I personally do not go after reading middle grade books, because I'm not that age and *there are so many books out there which are for my age to read,* thus feels like a waste of time to go after MG books. That is not to say I won't read one if it's really popular and someone I trust recommends one, but I don't actively seek them out.

And I just know, everyone is going to rip ACOMAF apart because I don't see it appealing to anyone on the judging panel.

I would love to see the long list. Is it posted already? I can't seem to find it.