Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

Dragon Awards are awarded for Best science fiction, fantasy, horror, and alternate history works of previous year. They are voted on by fandom and presented annually since 2016 by Dragon Con for excellence in various categories.

The Dragon Awards were first presented in 2016, created on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Dragon Con to "recognize excellence in all things Science Fiction and Fantasy." In 2018, 11,000 voters cast a ballot. They are given out annually at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia.

website: https://www.dragoncon.org/awards/

2019 Dragon Awards Winners
September 3, 2019
Winners of the 2019 Dragon Awards were announced at Dragon Con on September 1, 2019 in Atlanta GA.

Best Science Fiction Novel

WINNER: A Star-Wheeled Sky, Brad R. Torgersen (Baen)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager)
Tiamat’s Wrath, James S.A. Corey (Orbit)
Europe at Dawn, Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (Tor)
Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

WINNER: House of Assassins, Larry Correia (Baen)
Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch (DAW)
Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown)
Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com Publishing)
The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie (Orbit)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

WINNER: Bloodwitch, Susan Dennard (Tor Teen)
Sawkill Girls, Claire Legrand (Katherine Tegen)
The King’s Regret, Philip Ligon (Silver Empire)
Archenemies, Marissa Meyer (Feiwel and Friends)
Armageddon Girls, Aaron Michael Ritchey (Shadow Alley)
The Pioneer, Bridget Tyler (HarperTeen)
Imposters, Scott Westerfeld (Scholastic)

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

WINNER: Uncompromising Honor, David Weber (Baen)
Order of the Centurion, Jason Anspach & Nick Cole (Galaxy’s Edge)
Sons of the Lion, Jason Cordova (Seventh Seal)
Marine, Joshua Dalzelle (self-published)
The Light Brigade, Kameron Hurley (Saga)
A Pale Dawn, Chris Kennedy & Mark Wandrey (Seventh Seal)

Best Alternate History Novel

WINNER: Black Chamber, S.M. Stirling (Ace)
The World Asunder, Kacey Ezell (Theogony)
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
The Iron Codex, David Mack (Tor)
Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese)
Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)

Best Media Tie-In Novel

WINNER: Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances, Timothy Zahn (Del Rey)
Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town, Adam Christopher (Del Rey)
Star Wars: Master & Apprentice, Claudia Gray (Del Rey)
The Replicant War, Chris Kennedy (Anticipation)
Firefly: Big Damn Hero, James Lovegrove & Nancy Holder (Titan)
Star Trek: Discovery: The Way to the Stars, Una McCormack (Pocket)

Best Horror Novel

WINNER: Little Darlings, Melanie Golding (Crooked Lane)
Zombie Airman, David Guenther (self-published)
We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk)
Riddance, Shelley Jackson (Black Balloon)
100 Fathoms Below, Steven L. Kent & Nicholas Kaufmann (Blackstone)
Cardinal Black, Robert McCammon (Cemetery Dance)

Best Comic Book

WINNER: Saga, Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples (Image)
Batman, Tom King & Tony S. Daniel (DC)
Mister Miracle, Tom King & Tony Daniel (DC)
Black Hammer, Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston & Dave Stewart (DC)
The Batman Who Laughs, Scott Snyder & Jock (DC)
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, Chip Zdarsky & Adam Kubert (Marvel)

Best Graphic Novel

WINNER: X-Men: Grand Design: Second Genesis, Ed Piskor (Marvel)
I Am Young, M. Dean (Fantagraphics)
Hey, Kiddo, Jarret J. Krosoczka (Graphix)
Monstress Vol. 3, Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda (Image)
Berlin, Jason Lutes (Drawn and Quarterly)
On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden (First Second)

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series

WINNER: Good Omens
Game of Thrones
Lucifer
The Orville
Star Trek: Discovery
The Umbrella Academy

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

WINNER: Avengers: Endgame
Alita: Battle Angel
Aquaman
Captain Marvel
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse

Still infested by the Puppies, I see.

My other sci-fi book club is reading The Calculating Stars this month and An Empire Called Memory next month, both nominated in their respective categories.

Silvana wrote: "Still infested by the Puppies, I see."

Seems so, even if judging by number of sales, Correia won fairly according to this post's calculations for year 2016: https://contrariusest.blog/2017/09/04...

Both SF & F nominees sometimes intersect with Hugo/Nebula, e.g. Record of a Spaceborn Few and Spinning Silver. Also for sure Deep Roots is anti-puppies in a sense (it is a re-imagining Lovecraftian world by clearly showing his racism). The rest of both SF and F are solid works. I haven't read the winners and cannot ascertain their quality

Also, the winners for SF, F, mil-SF are all published by Baen but none of other nominees in these categories are. So maybe not the Puppies. but more of a publisher-attuned fandom (like Tor for Hugo/Orbit)

Thanks for putting up MORE books I now HAVE to read :-)

I must admit I haven't even heard of any of the winners. (with some other awards I at least know the titles even if I haven't read them)

Oleksandr wrote: "Also, the winners for SF, F, mil-SF are all published by Baen but none of other nominees in these categories are. So maybe not the Puppies. but more of a publisher-attuned fandom (like Tor for Hugo..."

Mayhaps. The voters this year are surely Baen oriented (I completely forgot to vote), last year's was more diverse. And Correia has won the fantasy category three or four times in five years.

This year Dragons are definitely not Puppy driven
Best Science Fiction Novel

The Last Emperox by John Scalzi



Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern



Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

Finch Merlin and the Fount of Youth by Bella Forrest



Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

Savage Wars by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole



Best Alternate History Novel

Witchy Kingdom by D. J. Butler



Best Media Tie-In Novel

Firefly – The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove



Best Horror Novel

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher



Best Comic Book

Avengers by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness



Best Graphic Novel

Battlestar Galactica Counterstrike by John Jackson Miller, Daniel HDR



Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series

The Mandalorian, Disney+



Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker by J. J. Abrams



Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn Entertainment & Electronic Arts



Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game

Minecraft Earth, Mojang Studios & Xbox Game Studios



Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game

Tapestry, Stonemaier Games



Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game

Magic: The Gathering: Throne of Eldraine, Wizards of the Coast

https://www.dragoncon.org/mediarelati...

Cool, thank you for posting the list! I'm certainly curious about the Witchy Kingdom series. And now I really need to read Collapsing Empire, as well!

Kingfisher is a great author - if I read horror, I'd definitely check out The Twisted Ones.

If anyone wants to know who the nominees for novels were:

1. Best Science Fiction Novel
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson
Network Effect by Martha Wells
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

2. Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Jade War by Fonda Lee
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
The Burning White by Brent Weeks

3. Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel
Finch Merlin and the Fount of Youth by Bella Forrest
Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Force Collector by Kevin Shinick
The Poison Jungle by Tui T. Sutherland
Cog by Greg van Eekhout

4. Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
Savage Wars by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Edge of Valor by Josh Hayes
Aftershocks by Marko Kloos
Defiance by Bear Ross
Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio
System Failure by Joe Zieja

5. Best Alternate History Novel
The Girl with No Face by M. H. Boroson
Witchy Kingdom by D. J. Butler
Revolution by W. L. Goodwater
As Our World Ends by Jack Hunt
Up-time Pride and Down-time Prejudice by Mark H. Huston
A Nation Interrupted by Kevin McDonald

6. Best Media Tie-In Novel
Firefly – The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove
Star Trek: Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack
Star Trek: Discovery: The Enterprise War by John Jackson Miller
Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse
Aliens: Phalanx by Scott Sigler

7. Best Horror Novel
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
Scavenger Hunt by Michaelbrent Collings
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North
The Toll by Cherie Priest

Here is an interesting post that sums up reactions to Dragon winners this year http://file770.com/reaction-to-2020-d...

LOL! I can read it, but alas I lack understanding. I'm definitely out of the current acronyms. :D (joke, I did get the gist, but can't folks just write normally?)

Gabi wrote: "LOL! I can read it, but alas I lack understanding. I'm definitely out of the current acronyms. :D (joke, I did get the gist, but can't folks just write normally?)"

I knew/guessed PITA (pain in the ass?) but had to Google CHORF:
CHORF is an acronym coined by Brad R. Torgersen to describe the worst sort of fans. The term actually stands for Cliquish, Holier-than-thou, Obnoxious, Reactionary, Fanatics. Unlike terms such as SMOF there is no good side to being labeled with this term.

A person who is a CHORF is specifically trying to prevent others from enjoying the topic that they profess to enjoy. Their group of friends and accepted acquaintances/allies are the only true fans. They often administer 'tests' that are designed to force someone to prove that they're a real fan (think of the kid who confronts you at a comic convention demanding that you answer them when they ask, "What happened in issue 12 of Green Lantern, volume 1, page 7, panel 4?"). They express a superiority over others for their self-perceived superior knowledge on the subject. When confronted by any change or imagined threat to their favorite subject they react with volatility (think of the kids who drop rape and death threats because you suggested that maybe a comic book cover shouldn't pose the women in sexually suggestive ways when it's specifically targeted at little girls).

Ennnnh there is already a word for this, it's called gatekeeping.

Kalin wrote: "Ennnnh there is already a word for this, it's called gatekeeping."

it is too long to write and may in theory be positive :)

I just was reminded to nominate for this award by this article http://file770.com/what-are-you-nomin...

You way do it too

Thanks Z, do you have to nominate books to vote?

Rebecca wrote: "Thanks Z, do you have to nominate books to vote?"

Yes, at least last year it was so