BooktubeSFF Awards discussion

Here is what you need to know for the 2020 BooktubeSFF Awards. (Note: a longlist will be published after awards season closes.)

SCHEDULE
Reading begins: March 1
Reading ends: May 31
Voting begins: June TBD
Voting ends: June TBD
Liveshow: June TBD

SHORTLIST
BEST (ADULT) FANTASY:
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
- The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

BEST (ADULT) SCI FI:
- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

BEST DEBUT:
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

BEST YOUNG ADULT:
- The Wicked King by Holly Black
- Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
- The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

BEST MIDDLE GRADE:
- Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab
- Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
- Dead Voices by Katherine Arden
- Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

BEST SHORT WORK:
- The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
- To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

more interested in the Sci-Fi, have already read some on the list.
Not big on fantasy and NO YA or Middle Grade for me, (I know I'm a grumpy old grouch!)
so that leaves The Ten Thousand Doors, and Recursion in novels to be read, and in short works How To Lose The Time War,
wasn't impressed with Sylvain Neuvel's last reads but might try The Test, but not sure?
Am interested to see what others think of those I've read and if the "new" to me are worth their place on the 'list'?
So a few to read, and then the excitement of voting?
(LOL)

I haven't read anything on the short list, but I will try to get through all of it. I don't generally read YA or Middle Grade, either, but I can get out of my comfort zone once a year.

I have read Gods of Jade and Shadow from the fantasy-list which was okay/good but was YA enough for my annual ration?
(BAH HUMBUG! I CURSE ALL THE YOUNG TO GROW OLD!)
There was no YA in my youth and I suspect these labels of being there to protect 'teachers, librarians', and other adults from reality.
In my youth BLOOD, GORE, and SEX would have been selling points. And now I've grown it's SEX, GORE, and BLOOD.
(LOL)

Hmmm i've barely read any of these and I actually didn't like recursion, a memory called empire, or the thousand doors of january. *sigh* hope other stuff is better.

"In your youth" YA would have been called "juveniles," and it would have comprised a significant portion of books in the field, including authors you probably revere today as titans of the genre.

I grew up reading Heinlein juveniles, and Madeleine L’Engle. I think they were all just in the children’s section of the library, along with the Berenstain Bears or whatever. I remember when my home town library got a YA section...I think it was heavy on classics and stuff assigned for summer reading more so than genre stuff.

Thomas wrote: ""In your youth" YA would have been called "juveniles," and it would have comprised a significant portion of books in the field, including authors you probably revere today as titans of the genre."

Indeed. I picked up Earthsea from the Juvenile section of my uni library, and thus began a lifelong love affair with the work of Ursula Le Guin.

Thomas wrote: ""In your youth" YA would have been called "juveniles," and it would have comprised a significant portion of books in the field, including authors you probably revere today as titans of the genre."

:-) I was in UK about the time that Jo Walton's Among Others is set, but no girls boarding school for me :-(
But the dodging of elves, fairies, and trolls was an everyday occurrence.
(that's a good story and the books mentioned in it were often my reading at the time, along with an unhealthy dose of 'sword and sorcery', Conan, Elric,etc.)

Already Read:

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine - 5 Stars!
The Wicked King by Holly Black- 5 Stars!
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi- 3 Stars
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow- 5 Stars and this is my favorite so far!
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers - 3 stars
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone- 3 stars

TBR:

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Starsight by Brandon Sanderson
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

Based on what I can obtain from the library within the next eight weeks, I'll be able to vote in at least three categories. WOOT! This is so exciting, especially since I wanted to read all of these anyway! (I would probably have voted in the YA category, except that I don't know if I could bring myself to read Cruel Prince/Wicked King just for this.) EDIT: Ok, gonna go for YA category after all

My TBR:

BEST (ADULT) FANTASY:
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
- The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

BEST (ADULT) SCI FI:
- Recursion by Blake Crouch
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

BEST DEBUT:
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

BEST YOUNG ADULT:
- The Wicked King by Holly Black (& Book #1 The Cruel Prince)
- Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (& Book #1 Skyward)
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
- The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

BEST MIDDLE GRADE:
- Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab (& Book #1 City of Ghosts)
- Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
- Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (& Book #1 Small Spaces)
- Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

BEST SHORT WORK:
- The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
- To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

No graphic novels this time? *phooey*

I'm thrilled to see Silvia Moreno-Garcia on the shortlist - it's so good to see more people finally reading her work. I've just started The Priory of the Orange Tree and I'm enjoying it so far, and I'm hoping my reservation for The Starless Sea will come in from the library before the live show...

I've been wanting to read A Memory Called Empire and Gideon the Ninth, and Recursion is another one I can get from the library. I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January, too! Don't know if I'll read along with the YA shortlist; I've read The Wicked King, which I loved, and The Gilded Wolves, which wasn't for me, and I'm interested in checking out A Sorcery of Thorns, too. I don't have any interest in Brandon Sanderson's series, though - I couldn't get into the first book last year.

Looking forward to reading the Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Debut shortlists, though!

I've read almost all the Fantasy, Sci-fi and debut books. I just have to get to The Starless Sea, Ten Thousand Doors of January, and Gods of Jade and Shadow. I have to read all of the middle grade selections, of which my library has none, so hopefully I can find them somewhere. I don't think I'll be reading the two books left in the YA that I haven't read yet (Wicked King and Gilded Wolves) because neither of them interest me. It's an interesting shortlist this year. I'm curious to see how it all plays out. Will there be read alongs happening? Are most discussions happening on the discord?

I highly recommended listening to Time War in audio. It was wonderful!

So glad the lost this year is attainable. Last year there were so many sequels there was no to get to everything. I’m posting my tbr here. I’ll cross off anything I’ve already read and add in anything I need to read first!

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
The Wicked King by Holly Black
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Starlight by Brandon Sanderson
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
Dead Voices by Katherine Arden
Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Motar & Max Gladstone

Any tips for us first timers? Like, are there buddy reads being organized somewhere?

I'm starting Priory of the Orange Tree today :)

I’m looking forward to reading the MG and short works, since I mostly read fiction for adults.

Anyone else excited about MG? Sal and Gabi... was on my TBR last year, but I couldn’t get to it...

I'm listening to the Sal & Gabi audiobook right now. It's really funny. I've already listened to Dead Voices, and I was sure that was going to get my vote, but now I'm not so sure.

Usually readalongs happen and threads are created for each but there are new people running it this year so I'm not sure what they are doing. Check out the discord server maybe? That seems to be more active.

In past years there was a more structured reading schedule, and judges hosted readalongs with discussion threads. I don't think they are doing that this year, but there's no reason we can't still have informal discussion threads.

I saw a comment from Cass in the discord that the readalongs are starting in March. 😊

Ugh Priory of the Orange Tree should NOT be up there. the book drives me crazy because it's objectively sooo flawwed. I thinks the writing was great and Eide/ Sabran and Niclayz were well characterized but the other characters had nothing going for them. Everything was so flat. the main issue of course is the pacing. nothing happens for the first 250pgs and so when we got to the big fight at the end of the book she didn't have enough pages to work with. everything just feel into place so easily. for God's sake the big evil dragon was only on the page for 9 pages before it was defeated and that's because the beginning was so long

Matthew wrote: "Ugh Priory of the Orange Tree should NOT be up there. the book drives me crazy because it's objectively sooo flawwed. I thinks the writing was great and Eide/ Sabran and Niclayz were well character..."

Matthew, please mark all spoilers with the < spoiler > tag for people who have not yet read the book.

Alistair wrote: "I have read Gods of Jade and Shadow from the fantasy-list which was okay/good but was YA enough for my annual ration?

Thank you so much for saying that. I felt it read like a YA book as well. I love YA but this is shelved as adult fantasy everywhere so I was very surprised when the tone was so young adulty, sometimes even child-like.
A nice enough book but I don't see how it can compete in its category.

having only a vague notion of how the categorising of books works
I would also suggest on the debut list 10,000 Doors could also be YA?
(I know I'm a 'grumpy-old-man' so perhaps everything with a young-ish person counts as YA for me?) LOL.

i think what trips people up is that pretty much every ya story is a bildungsroman but that does not necessarily mean that every bildungsroman is ya.

Jocelyn wrote: "i think what trips people up is that pretty much every ya story is a bildungsroman but that does not necessarily mean that every bildungsroman is ya."

Really good point, Jocelyn! I think the genre bender Babbles topic is an interesting one for exactly this reason - there are so many blurry lines between genres, so many aspects that are hard to categorize as one genre or another. I always struggle with what to call YA versus not, since having a teenage protagonist doesn't necessarily equal YA. Gideon the Ninth is interesting too, since it's so in between SciFi and Fantasy.

I could be wrong, but I feel like I tend to see a lot more books by/about women listed as YA when they're not? Not that there's anything wrong with YA at all, but I do think it's interesting that some people will categoriese The Ten Thousand Doors of January as YA because January is a teenager but won't do the same for Red Sister even though Nona and her friends are teenagers during the majority of that book. Same goes for Assassin's Apprentice - I don't know of anyone who considers it YA, but Fitz isn't an adult in that book.

Jess wrote: "I could be wrong, but I feel like I tend to see a lot more books by/about women listed as YA when they're not? Not that there's anything wrong with YA at all, but I do think it's interesting that s..."

I haven't read Red Sister etc.
but 10,000 Doors was in part January's growing up?
I know nothing about how they categorise books,
(in 'my day' there was no YA so working blind?)
a few yrs ago when I inquired about On The Edge Of Gone it was included as YA because main characters were young/teenagers.
'

I didn't feel that 10,000 Doors was YA, but I categorize books mostly by writing style rather than the protagonist's age.
The protagonist may be young but if the writing style is more elaborate or if the story itself is more complex, than I count that as adult fantasy (like Assassin's Apprentice). But if the style is almost child-like, very simple - which doesn't mean bad! - or the plot is episodic, that just screams YA or even Middle Grade.

Gods of Jade and Shadow was exactly that for me, although I know I'm in the minority with that opinion. It was a really sweet story but it became quite predictable after a while. Every chapter meant meeting a new character and doing a mini-quest, then follows more of the same. I'm not saying the author doesn't do some great stuff with it but it's nowhere near as complex as 10,000 Doors.

Either way, I'm curious to see which books will win. :)

Cheryl wrote: "I highly recommended listening to Time War in audio. It was wonderful!"

I'll second that recommendation! My husband and I were spellbound 🖤

Hello everyone!

The judges have decided to extend the reading period for this year's BooktubeSFF Awards. We know the current pandemic has changed lots of people's schedules (reading and otherwise) and hope this will alleviate some of that pressure.

The reading period will now be through May, with the final voting and liveshow sometime in June.

Woo! I'm glad the reading period is extended. I could definitely use more time to get my hands on some of the more popular ebooks.

extending the 'reading period' does have 1 major disadvantage, now I will have to remember things for even longer? :-)
I'm not doing all the nominee lists, no fantasy, YA, or middle grade, for me.
I was thinking that I was doing well?
Read all the necessary books, made my mind-up
and ready to pass judgement?
(damn pandemics!!! thoughtless! bloody world coming to an end before I've passed judgement!) ;-)

jocelyn wrote: "Hello everyone!

The judges have decided to extend the reading period for this year's BooktubeSFF Awards. We know the current pandemic has changed lots of people's schedules (reading and otherwise..."

Thanks so much! This year's list was looking pretty manageable originally, but then between my reading having crawled in a hole and died, and having to shift everything from the library to e-holds, I've only read a novella and half a novel from the list, when I had expected to have finished at least 3 novels before now. Just starting to get back on track, so here's to hoping everyone is figuring out their new normal for reading as well.

Excellent news about extending the reading period! I think I'll be able to read additional categories then... Thank you Booktube SFF Awards!!!

This has been THE MOST FUN I've had reading in a while, as the SFF awards have "forced" me to read so many insanely good books. Like Sal and Gabi Break the Universe - It never even would've been on my radar because it's criminally underrated. And it might just be the very BEST book I've read out of the 16 I've read for this. It's definitely one of the best of the best out of the 72 books I've read so far this year! 😻

Just started reading Gideon the Ninth,. Different from my usual reads, but will try and get through at least all the cross over nominations from this list and the `HUGO nominations.
Really enjoying Gideon the Ninth so far.
Looking forward to Memory Called Empire, which I think I'll read next. this type of challenge is not designed for slow readers like myself however, so I'll just get as far as I can into the nominations.

Voting is happening now or soon, yes?
Edit: scanned previous messages to see that I remembered it wrong. Reading was extended "through May", not "through until May." 👍👍

It's now June. When and how do we vote please?

Keep in touch with NewZealandCon, they will supply the information and the necessary 'pin numbers'.
unusually for a vote type system, the system allows you to update your vote (I.E. change your preferences) right up until almost a week or so before Worldcon starts in late July.

@Rod, thanks but my question about voting is about the Booktube SFF awards, not Worldcon.

Oh sorry I'd be interested in the answer to that too.

Rod wrote: "Oh sorry I'd be interested in the answer to that too."

Oh, no problem! I hope they answer soon...I suppose I could go looking on YouTube for updates. I've been so busy reading I haven't watched any Booktube the last couple months! ;)

Heather-Lin wrote: "It's now June. When and how do we vote please?"

Hey Heather-Lin! I don't think there has been any official announcement yet, but I'm pretty sure the judges are just trying to get everything organized right now. I think it might tentatively be planned for voting by mid-June. As soon as there is any announcement, even if the judges don't post here, I'll make sure to make a post so you'll see it and know the dates!

Shannon (That's So Poe) wrote: "Hey Heather-Lin! I don't think there has been any official announcement yet, but I'm pretty sure the judges are just trying to g..."

Thanks so much Shannon!!! 😽

Quick note: I just wanted to check in and say that I'm still monitoring announcements, but I haven't seen any yet. It looks like the voting might be pushed back a little further. There's a lot of other things regarding Black Lives Matter on Booktube right now, so I'm sure the judges are being considerate of that and waiting a little longer. I'll post here as soon as I see any dates announced, though!

Just to give an update, it looks like they are still figuring out when to open up the voting. One of the judges mentioned that it might be in late July or early August, but nothing official has been posted yet. I'll check in once dates are announced!

Thank you Shannon for the updates! I did check the discord server a while back to see what's happening and I saw that the voting was pushed back but I wasn't sure what the current status is. Maybe I can knock some other books off the list until the voting begins. I appreciate you updating! ^^

Hey all! It looks like there has been an announcement for the liveshow (https://mobile.twitter.com/kittygbooks/status/1290378001608212487), now scheduled for Aug 30 (12pm EDT).

I haven't seen anything yet about when the voting for the public is going to be open, but my guess is it will be soon! I'll post that once I see a link to it.