It's time! It's time! It's Dragon time!

 

I'm a dragon. He's a dragon. She's a dragon. Wouldn't you like to be a dragon too?

It's that time of year again, folks. Time to let everyone know what you think about your favorite books, movies, games and probably something else in the world of Speculative Fiction fandom! I love the Dragon Awards, which haven't been gamed to exclude anyone who isn't a favorite of annual WorldCon attendees from winning. Seriously, if you ever get really, really, bored and you can't find the owner's manual for your car to read, try reading the rules for the Hugos. And of course, the Nebulas have been structured recently to be "inclusive" by excluding people like myself, so I have no interest in those either.

The  Dragon Awards are awards of the fans, by the fans and for the fans. There is no cost to nominate or vote. There is no vote weighting system. One fan, one vote. Tell us what you want and MAYBE it will happen. I mean, the rest of us get to vote too, right? Lord knows I've seen enough of my nominees go down in flames. If you love Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, or maybe something I'm forgetting, you should go register and nominate here. Make your voice heard. I mean, we all know I'm a loudmouth but you can be too! You can be every bit as obnoxious and opinionated as your loving host!

Wait...

I said that wrong. 

Since when was I known for my loving nature?

Anyway...

I'm serious about these things and have been since I first heard they were coming. It's like the People's Choice Awards, except for things that I care about. This is a fun time of year. And, of course, I, being neither shy nor retiring, have decided to share my picks with all of you. Agreement, disagreement, and thrown crockery are all welcome as long you are mocking me. You will respect each other while you're here. 

So, without further ado...

Best Science Fiction Novel

I, being me, picked Blaine Lee Pardoe's Splashdown, which was just released in January. He's been putting out content a lot faster than he did for FASA/CGL and that makes me happy. You can see my review here. In case you missed it, forgot about, or think that a WHOLE THOUSAND WORDS IS JUST TOO MUCH TO READ, I liked it because it action packed, with a believable cast of characters following their own personal motivations and a kind of twist between military science fiction and a mystery novel.

Wow. That was a long sentence. You still with me?

AHEM

As I was saying, I've read the next three in the series and I'm working on the fifth, which is the most recent currently available. You need to check the Land & Sea series out, but start with Splashdown, because it's the first one and the best one.

Best Fantasy Novel

I went with Thief on King Street by Jason McDonald, Stormy McDonald, and Jason Isom. 

People from an alternate universe are visiting Earth. They're worried about whether they can get back but they can't leave without rescuing one of their own who came here by accident. There's magic where there shouldn't be because Earth doesn't have any magic. The cast came from our sister planet Gaia, though, and it has magic so they brought some with them.

There's a lot to Thief on King Street and if you want a real take on it, you can try my review.

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel

I didn't have a nominee for this. I guess I don't read much YA these days. That may have something to do with being in my mid-forties, I guess. Maybe next year.

Best Alternate History Novel

Are you serious? I can't remember reading, or find a review of, a single Alt-Hist novel that I've read in the last year. As a huge fan of the genre, I'm going to go cry. I'm going to wail. I'm going to gnash my teeth. I'm going to be crushed and driven before the true fans of Alternate History. It's just too bad you can't all hear the lamentations of my women because they're too busy laughing at me.

*SIGH*

Somebody drop some recommendations in the comments because I'm losing my mind here. Please?

Best Horror Novel

There was only one possibility for this in my mind: Declan Finn's Blue Saint. I mean, even if he made me cry. 

Listen folks, I was a little apprehensive about reading this one. If you've read the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel you know why I walked into the last book of a series apprehensively. (If you haven't read the first five. They're awesome.) Finn though, managed to save his best work for last and I was pleasantly surprised by that. 

Blue Saint is a book that has it all: Love, loss, action, betrayal and an amazing character arc. I'd nominate it twice if I could. I can't though, so you need to. Seriously. And if, after all of that, you're still on the fence, you can read what I had to say about it.

Best Illustrative Book Cover: Cedar Sanderson's Fantasry Treehouse Art and Architecture. Read about it here. 

"Nuff said

Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel

Money's tight and full length books take longer to read than comics. Any of the stuff that I read on KU was too old to nominate, so I have nothing for this category this year. Maybe next year.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet

I was torn here. I originally wanted to go with The Last of Us. It was an awesome premise and a take on the Zombie Apocalypes like I've never seen before. I loved it. I'm still kicking myself for not following it through the season instead of waiting until it was over to watch, but that's whatever. 

And then I thought about it and I just couldn't do it. That sucks, too because on any other year when Strange New Worlds hadn't debuted, The Last of Us would have gotten my nomination. 

ON THE OTHER HAND...

Strange New Worlds is epic. The cast works. The stories work. It's episodic per The Original Series and that's awesome. The visuals are amazing. The take on the Gorn is a little bit out there, but I enjoyed it. Seriously, if you're a Trek fan and you haven't watched Strange New Worlds you're missing out on something great. And, unlike the TOS pilot, Pike is actually an entertaining captain. 

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

Listen: I've been saying I'd watch a real Dungeons & Dragons movie for decades now. I was looking forward to this for months. I went to see Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves myself. I wasn't disappointed. I can't wait to see it again. You can find out here.

There were a couple of gaming categories after this, but I left them blank.

So what did you think? You think you've got a better list? You think I passed something over? GO VOTE FOR IT.

I'm waiting...

My Dragon Awards Ballot

Join us on Facebook!

I did my ballot on my phone. The pics above are actual screen caps. You can agree or disagree with how I voted, but you can't deny the fact that I was transparent with my votes.

So why did I vote how I voted?

I thought you'd never ask!

Best SF Novel: A Star Wheeled Sky by Brad Torgersen Awesome book. I feel bad about not reviewing it,but I only have so much time and I have to sleep sometime.

Best Fantasy Novel: House of Assassins by Larry Correia: One of a very few fantasy novels set outside of a pseudo-European setting and a whole lot of fun. Sorry I didn't review this one as well. I love Larry Correia, but I didn't really think he needed the help.

Best YA SF/F Novel: (or something similar. I cut off the title, but these are all YA books) I hadn't read any of them. I can't vote in a category where I haven't read any of them.

 Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel: Uncompromising Honor by David Weber I'm a little bitter here. Uncompromising Honor was my pick for Best SF novel. It should be in the bigger category. Having said as much, if it's the Best SF novel in my opinion, it's definitely better than any Mil SF titles I've read this year. See my review here.

Best Alternate History Novel: The World Asunder by Kacey Ezell This was my nominee. It's freaking awesome. It features a massively important part of history that is awesome ignored. It's entertaining as hell. It made me spit Mountain Dew all over my phone (I read it on Kindle). BUY THIS BOOK. READ THIS BOOK. VOTE FOR THIS BOOK. Do it all after you read my review though. It's posted here. 

Best Media Tie in Novel: The Replicant War by Chris Kennedy. Awesome book. I didn't realize that this was actually a media tie in, but whatever. It rocks.


Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie: Avengers: Endgame. The feels man, the feels!

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. I haven't been playing since my guild server shifted and I didn't have the money to follow, but this game is awesome, especially once you get past the fact that the pyramid the real players use as their home city (IE the Horde) is a pyramid that's hard to navigate.

Best Horror Novel: Zombie Airman by David Guenther: Lots of cool characters. Lots of good action scenes. I loved this book. See my review here.

Best Comic Book/Graphic Novel: I didn't vote Apparently, I need to get updated on my comics. Nothing I read this year was eligible for comics and the graphic novel I nominated didn't make the ballot. *SIGH* I'll get to work.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series: Good Omens I haven't read the book, but something about an angel and a devil working together to bring about the apocalypse just tickles my fantasy. Crowley is an amazing character and Azriphael is a delightfully naive individual.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game/Miniatures Game/Cell Phone App: (or something similar. I hacked off a title again.) I didn't vote. I didn't play any of these games.

I don't want to make one of the books that I voted for look bad, but I'll state here for the record that I'm bitter that one of my nominees, which was the best book in its category that I've ever read hands down, didn't make the ballot. If the author is out there reading this: I tried bro. I really did. Maybe next year?

*SIGH*

It happens. I should be used to it by now. I supposed I'll get over myself eventually.

So tell me what you think. What did I get right? What did I get wrong? Why are you throwing tomatoes at me? There is plenty of room for comments below.

It's Time... It's Time... It's Dragon Time!

(Author's Note: For those that missed it, the Dragon Awards are a fan based science fiction award show. They're the best of the year as decided by the people who love the genre. Basically,  they're what the Hugo Awards used to claim to be before they admitted that they were only for the people who attend Worldcon. The Dragons are also part of a con (in this case DragonCon) but there is no requirement to buy a membership to vote. If you love Science Fiction and Fantasy (and otherwise, why would you be here?) you should nominate and eventually vote.)

Oops,

I just realized this was probably still earlier than it should have been, but for some reason I thought the deadline was July first when it's actually the nineteenth. Oh well. Hopefully, I don't read anything worth nominating in the next few weeks. Or, hopefully I do? I mean, I love a good book but like, I don't want to miss anything...

Ya know?

At any rate...

Is anyone interested in seeing what I nominated for the Dragon Awards this year?


Well, here you go then:

I'm thinking that's not really good enough, so let me help you out with why I picked what I did.

Uncompromising Honor is the culmination of a series of books that I, as a relative newcomer, have only been following for about fifteen years. It was amazing. It was everything I hoped it would be. And, although it is the end of the official "main line" series, it's not necessarily the end of Honor Harrington. I loved this book.

My review for Come, Seeling Night is coming soon. I sat down to write that review and then ended up writing this. Paxton Locke is a bad man. This thing cooks. I'll be sharing my thoughts in the next day or two.

The Mask Shop of Dr. Blaack is a fun little Halloween story. It's got suspense and the beginnings of romance. I need to get my daughter to read this.

Aries' Red Sky was everything I love in a Mil SF: It was realistic. It was dark. It was gritty. And most importantly, it showed the way warriors think and that they don't all have the same beliefs and values. James Young is a vet and it showed when he wrote this book.

The World Asunder was amazing. It turned a character I had hated into a character I loved. The historical research that went into this was intense. I loved it.

I don't read a whole lot of horror, but I've read everything in Declan Finn's Saint Tommy NYPD series so far because it's that damn good. (Okay, so I haven't finished Crusader yet, but I just got it.) My pick was Hellspawn because it's the best of the bunch, and I'm not even a "The First One is Always the Best One" nerd. I promise.

Deadworld: Requiem for the World is good old fashioned ass-kickery with a plot. It's a reboot and I'm not usually a fan but this one is good enough to make an exception.

Good Omens: I haven't read the book, but I love the show. I haven't done a review because lazy.

Mortal Engines didn't do as well at the box office as it should have because there just aren't that many steampunk fans. It's still the best SF/F movie I've seen this year. If you love steampunk SEE THIS MOVIE. If you're curious about Steampunk, SEE THIS MOVIE. I loved this flick. For the record, I have yet to see Endgame and my GF is probably gonna kick my ass for not nominating it.

I'm hoping that World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is eligible since it's an expansion and not an entirely new game. The new patch looks awesome. I know I never took time to review it but that's because I was too busy playing it.

In looking over my picks, it comes to my attention that I need to read some new comics. I've done some comic reading, but even the stuff I bought at the comic con from the guy who wrote it is copyright 2016. So it's time to get to my LCS.

I've been doing a lot of tabletop gaming, but all of that is stuff that's too old to nominate and I guess I just don't play enough games on my phone. Actually, that may be a good thing. I've got enough things to eat up my time.

So there's my list for the year. What does your's look like? I'll be waiting for the cheers, jeers, and thrown crockery. Leave your comments below.

Some of the products listed above are available at the links below:




 

NOMINATE, NOMINATE, NOMINATE... LATER!!!!!

Friends, Romans, Country-men, lend me your ears...

Or sumfin'. I mean, it's a cool saying and why should I have to do all of the work around here?

I mean, I write about five thousand words a month on this blog. That's almost as much as a lot of indy authors write in a day. I'm clearly overworked and have no sense of irony.

Or sumfin'.

Look, I love all of you out there in cyberspace and I love the geeky people more than most but help me out here...

Listen, I understand that, once again, the Dragon Awards nominations ballots are available. I get that it's the only award truly given by the fans. (No, the Hugo Awards are not fan awards. They're given by a cabal of professionals and have intentionally run the fans out of the nominating process). I fully support what they're doing and love the fact that theirs is truly a trophy given to someone out of the love of the people who support the product. I even get the fact that they urge you to nominate early. I'm just asking you to wait.

I see you working. Yes you, out there in some other part of reality with the red face and smoke coming out of your ears.

Or sumfin'

You're trying to conflate this with an attempt to tell people to not nominate at all, but that's just not what it is.

You're trying to say that I'm denigrating the nomination process. I'm not and in fact I will release my list of nominations later this year.

I'm just using my towering perch to reach the masses of humanity..

Or sumfin'

 Look, I've received two emails recently thanking me for "all you do for the genre" and now I'm starting to suffer delusions of mediocrity. Any more of this and I'll start believing that this blog actually matters. I don't know if I can stand the ego boost that would give me. If I start thinking that I'm good at something life gets weird.

... To point out a simple fact:

Works first released between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 are eligible for this year's award. Seriously. I totes stole that wording right off of the ballot. Yup, I'm a bad boy alright. I mean, that ballot could have been copyrighted. I'm a rebel!

Or sumfin'

What that also means is that any works published between now and June 30 will not be eligible for next year's award because eligibility for the 2020 Dragon Awards will start with works published on July 1, 2019.  So, if an award worthy work comes out between when you nominate and the end of the eligibility period, you don't get to nominate it. If enough of this happens, we could end up leaving out some people whose only crime was waiting until their product was ready to release it. That sucks.

Or sumfin'

Look, I'm not telling you who to nominate. I'm not telling you to avoid nominating something that has already been published. I'm just urging you to think about this:

Today's date is March 16. The end of the eligibility period is June 30.  That's three months and fourteen days away. That means that over twenty-five percent of the eligibility period is still left. That's a quarter of all the books, games, shows and movies that aren't even released to the public yet. None of us (unless you're an ARC recipient, of course) have seen them. You can't know how good something is, and thus whether it deserves an award if you haven't laid eyes up on it.

I mean, if you've got your mind made up in some categories, that's good. I know I'll be voting the most recent WoW expansion (Battle for Azeroth) for Best Video Game. I know I'll be voting Hell Spawn for Best Horror Novel, etc.

I'm just saying to give some time to people who are still hard at work on what they're doing. They deserve it and I, for one don't want to see someone rushing out product that's not ready just so that they can get it done before nominations start. We're all better off when creators take their time to get things right. No one likes their SF/F to suck. Especially me.

Or sumfin'

Now don't get me wrong.  I understand that a lot of creators and/or publishers have published lists early. That makes sense. There are people out there, The World's Most Awesome GF(TM) included, who buy everything on a nomination list and read/watch it before voting. There are others who may not buy everything but might not ever have heard of a particular creator before they get nominated. The Dragon Awards are not just an award, they're free marketing and they attract the attention of the target market for a lot of this stuff. It makes sense to try to get onto the ballot. And guys, I approve.

Publishing, whether it's books, movies/TV or games is a for-profit business. Publishers employ people who use the money to care for their families. Creators skip the middleman and use the money they make off of their work to feed their families directly. This is a good thing. We all need food in our bellies and a roof over our head and if getting their work nominated makes it easier to do that work...

Hell, I'd do it too. Seriously.

Or sumfin'.

And there might just be an ulterior motive behind my belief that the Dragon Awards should do an award for Best Fan Site. Maybe that makes me a bad guy, but at least I'm an honest bad guy.

Here's the thing though: The marketing is the marketing. One nomination is one nomination. Think about this, too: The list isn't released until after the end of the nomination period. So, even if you are helping people to promote their product and feed their families, you're not doing a better job of it by nominating earlier. It's a wash either way.  And one that doesn't even have a harpoon sticking out of it's stomach.

Or sumfin'

 So yes, send your nominations soaring into the Dragon Awards like a leaf on the wind...

But do it three months from now and not today. Because later works deserve consideration too.

Or sumfin'

And no, I'm not including a link to the ballot now. I'll do that when I post my picks in three months time. Because I practice what I preach and I'm not locking anyone out.


Some works that have been nominated for Dragon Awards past are listed below:

Declan Finn's Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy NYPD - Book One

Did you ever stop to look around you and wonder what the Hell just happened? Yeah, so has Detective Thomas Nolan. In his case though, he meant it literally. I have to hand it to Declan Finn. I really didn't think you could do much to make a homicide detective's day worse. In Hell Spawn Finn decided to throw a demon at one. He owns it and when a demon comes out to play, it gets ugly. Like, double plus ungood ugly. Like, this thing is eviller than evil ugly. Like, I'm cackling evilly remembering how evil this thing was ugly. It's a good time.

I'd be careful with Hell Spawn though. It almost caused me to stay home from work because I couldn't put it down. Oh, and I was reading it while eating solo at a local diner and the waitress was looking at me funny because I wouldn't leave after eating my meal and paying my bill. She was a bit confused. I just wanted to know what happened next. Chick obviously doesn't have a reading problem. Her bad.

Seriously though, don't start this one twenty minutes before you need to be somewhere. Hell Spawn starts off fast and accelerates continuously. Finn has redefined the term "page turner" here. It almost felt like the pages were turning themselves and I was just watching. Sometimes as a reviewer I find myself reading something because it's my job to. This is a book that made me want to read it.

Now, Declan Finn has always considered himself to be a fantasy author. He has stated this on his blog, but I'm too lazy to go find a link. Hell Spawn is a damn good book, but this isn't fantasy. Finn has a much better sense of how to write a plot than most Eighties slasher movie writers, but he's got them beat for gore as well. A lot of what happens in the tome is sick, twisted, disturbing and awesome.

Myself and Mr. Finn don't necessarily agree on the all of the finer points of theology (the whole Catholic vs. Protestant thing) but something we do agree on is the power of prayer. There is a lot of it in Hell Spawn. As a matter of fact, there are an awful lot of times when Christian attitudes are shown. I approve. Actually, I'd like to see more of this kind of stuff. Hell Spawn is a Catholic writer telling a story about a saint in the making. It fits. The fact remains that Finn/Tommy's takes on a number of controversial topics, including abortion, are on display for all to see. They're pretty stinkin' close to what I heard from my pastor a few weeks ago. If you're the special snowflake uber liberal type and just can't stand the thought that someone might disagree with you, this might be a good time to go buy a biography of Che Guevara that conveniently omits his stances towards homsexuals and black people. I hate to say it, but Hell Spawn may not be for you. Finn pulls no punches. I love it.

Finn's view of the police is somewhat nuanced as is  - surprisingly- his view of saints, but make no mistake about it: Hell Spawn  is about a battle between good and evil. Saint Tommy versus the demon (and no, I'm not telling you which demon. That would be spoiling.) is an epic throwdown between the darkness and the light. That much is made clear.

Somewhat missing though, and this may be intentionally, is a clear view of where Tommy v. Demon fits in the framework of the grand battle of God and Satan. It's treated as a personal battle, albeit one fought with allies. We're not really given much of a sense of the more colossal grand battle. That's the view I became accustomed to a long time ago as a fan of fantasy fiction. Then again, this is horror.  It works differently. And  Hell Spawn is book one in a series, so maybe I'll get to see where this fits in later. Maybe not too. The book was freaking awesome without it and it's Earthbound, so personal appearances by God and Satan might not work.

Finn lives in New York. The book takes place in New York. I've never been to New York (I know, I'm working on it) but having read Hell Spawn I almost feel like I have been. Finn's relationship with New York is in some ways analogous to Anne Rice's relationship with New Orleans. Both have stories that take place outside of their respective hometowns but both continuously return to the city they love in their fiction. It shows in the work. Both authors lay things out in their work that make you love their cities too. I'm really impressed by this. It's almost like you could make the car trips that take place in the story using the directions in the book. Oh, and do you know how I could tell the book was written by a native New Yorker? There were no references to  the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street or Broadway. There is not a single scene in Times Square. It's almost like Tommy had lived all his life in the city and had no desire to comment on things that he took for granted. It made him feel more real and human.

I can't say much more about the plot without giving the whole book away, but it moves. It's logical. The entire thing works within the rules of the work itself. There is no massive, gaping plot hole that you could float an aircraft carrier through sideways. That's always a fear when reading a work like this. It's pretty epic and it's easy for an author to get excited and forget about something. That doesn't seem to have happened here and that's good.

That's not to say that Finn tied up all the loose strings. Hell Spawn is the first in a series, not the last. There are some very obvious plot threads still dangling but there need to be. I am, after all, looking forward to the next book. How could there be one if Tommy solved everything the first time?

Oh, and if you're wondering: Hell Spawn is the current front runner for my Dragon Award nomination for Best Horror Novel next year. That is, unless Finn beats himself with the sequel to this master piece which is due out in Mid-December, just in time for my birthday.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Praying Chaplains

Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy NYPD - Book One
Declan Finn
Silver Empire, 2018

Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy NYPD - Book One is available for purchase at the following link:

A Suggestion for the Dragon Awards

Listen, I'm a lover of the Dragon Awards. As the only award truly given by the fandom, I think they're both important and interesting, not to mention fun. So under no circumstances should this post be misconstrued as a nerd rage or anything. I really appreciate what the Dragons do for Science Fiction and Fantasy in all of its forms. I mean seriously, who else gives awards for SF/F card and board games? I started this blog with the premise that the Science Fiction community needs to open the umbrella and let more people and their hobbies in. The Dragon Awards have done exactly what I asked for and they've done a better job at my mission than I have. It sucks to admit that to myself, but it's true.

So no, I'm not here to lambaste a group that doesn't deserve it. I do, however, think that maybe, just possibly, the World's Most Awesome Awards could possibly open itself up to just one more category. It encompasses a group of people who labor away talking about what they love and spreading the word, often with zero compensation. I'm talking about people who spend their time promoting many of the same works that get nominated and win Dragon Awards. I'm talking about people like me.

I'm talking about people who have fan sites. Seriously. I hear you laughing out there, but think about it. The Dragon Awards are a celebration of Science Fiction and Fantasy. They are the expression of love from a fandom that is at times contentious, but is united in its love of all thing Science Fictional. I think it's time to bring attention to those who bring attention to the super talented authors and game designers, movie directors, etc. that the Dragons have.

No, I'm not going to lie to you. I really would love to win a Dragon someday. I'm also not delusional. There are many sites out there with a much bigger following than mine. I might, if I'm lucky and/or my girlfriend is feeling generous that day, receive one mention on a nomination ballot. This isn't about me.

I'm not trying to take away from the amount of work it takes to write a one hundred thousand word novel. I'm not trying to denigrate people who direct movies with huge casts and crews that probably number in the hundreds or the writers who work just as hard as novelists to get their stories on paper. I'm just saying that those of us who own and maintain websites work hard too.

Just the other day I was freaking out about ever completing a novel. I mean, fifty or sixty thousand words is a lot, right? Sort of. My favorite publishing house is Baen and they require a minimum of one hundred thousand words. Good gosh, golly-gee, how could I ever write a hundred thousand words?

Then, I thought about it. This is my one hundred and sixty-sixth post. After my first few posts, I was told that it was better for Seach Engine Optimization purposes if I did posts that were at least one thousand words long. I've written to at least that length ever since. Some are like ten words over and others are over twice that. Out of one hundred and sixty-six posts, I'm guessing (and I'm too lazy to count) that there are at least one hundred and seventy five thousand words contained within this blog. That's a lot. I'm not scared to write a novel anymore. I haven't exactly finished one either, but nobody's perfect.

And that's just the amount of work that I've put into this blog. There are much larger sites that put a lot more work in than I do. I post a couple of times a month. I'm at forty-nine posts for the year and I'm on pace to write more posts in one calendar year than I ever have before. There are sites out there with multiple contributors posting daily. They're the people telling people about these books, movies and games. They're putting in their blood sweat and tears too. I'm just thinking they might deserve a little recognition as well.

Now, to be fair, I might limit it to people who don't have works eligible in other categories. I'm a huge fan of both Sarah Hoyt and Larry Correia. I buy their books. I read their books. I've reviewed them both here. I go to their blogs. The fact remains that, were it up to me, I'd make their blogs ineligible for a Best Fan Site Dragon. I wouldn't allow sites like Baen.com or Tor.com to compete in this category either. Ditto the official Blizzard forums for games like WoW or Hearthstone, etc. Make this an award for the fans.

I'm not saying to rule out all professionals though. I mean, IO9 pays its writers and I'd be perfectly okay with them competing. I'm just saying that we need to keep this to people who write about science fiction and fantasy instead of people who write science fiction and fantasy. It should be about those of us who ordinarily wouldn't get the accolades. Seriously folks, this is one for the people.
I hate to do this, but I have to give the Hugos props here. They have a “Best Related Work” category. Now, I wouldn't do it the same way they do. I know of SF authors who have been nominated for Best Related Work. I know that the Hugos in general are controlled by one small group of nominators who get their own elected every year. I'm not asking to have the award (if it ever happens) limited to one person who sits at the right table at the awards banquet every year.I just think we should be part of the discussion.

The Dragon Awards are given at DragonCon every year. DragonCon is, at the end of the day, about connecting the fans with the content creators and having a good time doing it.  When the rubber meets the road though, the people carrying the load and doing our best to promote the hobby are the people out there, like me, who write about it. How about a little love for us too?

Some links to DragonCon related products are listed below:

Vote! Matter! Be a Dragon!

For decades, the fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy have deserved to have their own version of the Peoples' Choice Awards. SF/F fans are some of the most passionate fans on the planet. We love our favorites. We hate the stuff that annoys us. Very rarely is there a happy medium to us. Something either rocks or it sucks. Seriously. Have you ever met a hardcore SF fan who liked Avatar? Think Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. It's supposed to be everybody's favorite. It's not my favorite. I've always preferred Return of the Jedi. How many of you just lost your shit? I didn't. I think the rest of you are goofy. It's only fair that we should be able to show support for our favorites by giving them a trophy. Now we can. They're called the Dragon Awards and it's time to nominate.

Certainly, there have been awards in the past. The Science Fiction Writers Association has presented the Nebula Awards for decades. But only members of the SFWA are eligible to nominate or vote. It used to be a mark of excellence. Nowadays, it's more an award that you win for the proper politics, race or genitalia. Either way though, it was never up to the people who gave their money to support the genre. The Nebulas are SF/F's answer to Hollywood's Academy Awards aka The Oscars: An insider award give to other insiders. They're not a sign of excellence or awesomeness. They're not even a measure of pretty-goodness. They're pointless in a modern sense.

Worldcon has given its Hugo Awards since 1953. Once again, this is an award that has been given by a group of elitists. Only people who paid for a Worldcon membership, either Attending or Supporting, are allowed to nominate and/or vote. They have always billed themselves as being given by the fans but that is a flat out lie. The Hugos are given out by people who attend the con and/or have the money for a supporting membership. Once a mark of excellence, Hugo Awards are also given out for the wrong reasons. Politics and being one of the cool kids mean more than writing a story worth reading. The Hugos have frozen out anyone who is not part of the ruling clique and are now effectively worthless. Seriously. When I was a kid, seeing a Hugo logo on a book meant something. Now, the houses don't bother because they know the award holds no value.

So what's a fan to do? The vast majority of us aren't members of the SFWA and some can't afford even a Supporting Membership to Worldcon. I'm not too sure I'd give my money to them anyway. So, what to do now? Vote in the Dragon Awards! Well nominate for now, since final voting hasn't started yet. All you need is an email account. You're on the internet reading this, so you probably already have one. If not, you can get one free at Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail. Seriously. Go to the site, sign up, nominate, and they'll send you a ballot when it's ready. That's all there is to it.

And get this: You don't have to be in a clique to matter. You don't have to nominate according to politics, although you can if you choose to. You can nominate for whatever you want, as long as it was released between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018. And, since I've been putting writing this off, you only have until Friday to nominate. Sorry. Here is the link.

Oh, and you can only nominate a particular work in one category. It sucks, I know. How do you decide whether to nominate that totally awesome Mil SF work for Best Mil Sf and Best SF? Well, that's up to you, but honestly your favorite probably has a better chance at winning in its own subgenre. Oh, and just to prove that I never follow my own advice, here are my picks:


Best Science Fiction Novel: The Stars Entwined, Jon Del Arroz
I wanna dress up like an alien and infiltrate someone else's society! Take me with you!

Best Fantasy Novel: Redcaps Rising: A Walter Bailey Misadventure, P.A. Piatt
Funny. Entertaining. Sequel worth. Boosh farts!

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel Battletech: The Nellus Academy Incident, Jennifer Brozek
Ok, I'm a BT fanboi and have been for like twenty-five years now. Yeah, that probably effects my judgment here. Oh well. It's my list and I thought this book rocked.

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel: A Fiery Sunset, Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey
I'm in love with the Four Horsemen Universe! It's all their fault!

Best Alternate History: Minds of Men, Kacey Ezell
Looking over the past year's worth of reviews on my blog, there is precisely one five-star review. It's a work of Alternate History. Why would I nominate someone else, when this is already perfect?

Best Media Tie-In Novel: Left blank, Budget Issues
Did you write one? Will it release over the next year? Send it to me. You might get nominated next year.

Best Horror Novel: Good to the Last Drop, Delcan Finn
Declan Finn. Vampires. Uhh... What was the question again?

Best Comic Book: The Prince of Artemis V Jennifer Brozek and Elizabeth Guizetti
The art was beautiful. The story was moving. I want more.

Best Graphic Novel:Left Blank, Budget Issues

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet: Stranger Things, Netflix
OMG I love this show. It occurs to me that I never got around to reviewing it. I suck. It doesn't. I love the whole nostalgia thing. Eleven is a badass. The other kids are awesome. And they play D+D!

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie: Black Panther
I've heard way too many people state that this movie sucks because the tech wouldn't be possible without a manufacturing base. BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS! This movie rocks and you have no proof that the manufacturing base doesn't exist. Who wants to watch some guy work the line when there is ass to be kicked?

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game:Left Blank
About the only PC game I play is World of Warcraft. The latest expansion came out the year before last and isn't eligible. So, I haven't played anything and don't have a nominee.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game: Marvel Future Fight, Netmarble
I keep meaning to review this, but it's a romping good time. Collect heroes. Beat bosses. Follow storylines based on specific characters. I love it.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game: Left Blank. Budget Issues

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role-Playing Game:Left Blank. Budget Issues
I want to play an RPG. Anybody running a game? I can't do Tuesday, Friday or Saturday nights. Other than that, I'm open. I have the D+D 5e Rules PHB, DMG and MM but I haven't had a chance to play at all. Somebody hook your boy up!


So got get nominating! You've only got three days left!

SF Awards That Do Matter, SF Awards That Don't Matter, and Why

First off, let me begin by stating what this post is not: This post is in no way meant to denigrate females, minorities, LBGT+ individuals or any damn other person who thinks they have an excuse to whine. I mean that. I want to see the fields of Science Fiction and Fantasy expand. I want to see people of all races, colors, creeds and all of that other crap come together over a really awesome hobby and have more fun than they know how to handle. Seriously. I review books, movies and comics. If you produce any of the above and would like to see your work reviewed here then please see the top right corner of the page and submit your work for review.

Oh, what's that? Right. You're reading this on your phone and can't see what I'm talking about because blogger shrinks things to make it all fit on your phone. Gotcha. That happens to me too.  It's annoying as all get out. Well, here's what it says:

All submissions must be in .epub, .mobi or .pdf format. Only novella length or better works will be reviewed. All entries must be in the science fiction or fantasy genres. All submissions should be formatted in exactly the way they will be (or have been) released. Any exceptions to any of these rules will be deleted without reading. Please send any and all materials to thatjimboguy@gmail.com.

That's simple. It's easy. And I won't delete your work without reading it if you follow those guidelines. Nor will I ask you what your race/orientation/age/whatever else you think matters. I'm looking for good stories. That's all. If your story is good, you will get a good review. If it is bad, you will get a bad review. It's that simple. That's the way it should be. If you want equality, well, that's what it looks like. Same rights, same rules, same standards.

Unfortunately, it seems that neither the Hugos nor the Nebulas get this. Both seem to think that their awards should be limited to members of a small slice of the population. Both would have you believe that they're trying to be more inclusive, but they're lying. You don't become inclusive by excluding large segements of the population. That's not how it works. If you want to make an award "inclusive" then by all means allow PoCs and women and whoever compete. That's the way it's supposed to work. But handing someone an award simply because they're a female PoC (I'm looking at you Nebulas) is not "inclusion" it's EXclusion. Seriously. No, it's not a response to historical injustices. It is an injustice. Really.

Look, I know that the Nebula Award was limited to white writers for a long time. I'm aware that no woman won a Nebula the first three years they were given out. (The first female winners were Anne McCaffrey in 1968 for her novella "Dragonrider" and Kate Wilhelm for her short story "The Planner") And yes, I fully acknowledge that was sick, twisted and wrong. Yes, I'll use the word racist (and this was a racist practice) although that word is so overused that it no longer has meaning. In this case, it's actually true. Here's the thing Nebulas: You're acting the same way.

Yes, you read that right. There is no difference between excluding minorities and excluding white people. None whatsoever. I mean, you can make whatever excuses you want, but that's what it boils down to. The worst part about limiting the field (and that's what you've done) isn't even that you're leaving out talented people, although that's bad enough. No, the truth is even worse.

You're wronging your winners. When you deliberately excluded anyone who was not a female PoC in 2015 what you were in fact stating is that they couldn't write well enough to win an award if they had to compete with other demographics. Seriously. I'll be honest in stating that I don't know what percentage of SF/F authors are Female PoCs but I'm guessing it's pretty small. How many deserving authors who were not Female PoCs got screwed out of their chance to win an award because of their race and/or gender? I'm guessing it happened. What that means is that we have no  way of knowing if those women actually deserved their award or not. Seriously. They didn't win that award for writing the best story in their category that year. They won their Nebulas for having dark skin and a vagina. Maybe their stories would have been good enough to win in a year with the full field competing, but maybe not.We'll never know. Oh, and when you've limited the field that far, it's not really a victory for "diversity" either. There's no "diversity" in a group of all PoC women. That's one demographic, not many.

Once you've destroyed an entire year's worth of your own awards you no longer matter. Sorry Nebulas, but you're irrelevant now. It's sad too, because when I first started shoveling snow for cash (no, my parents didn't pay me for that, but my dad let me borrow the snow shovel and go around the neighborhood) and later started making money with my first job in June of 1991 (I was fourteen) I used to look for books with a Nebula logo on them because it meant that I was getting a good book. Now publishers don't even bother putting a logo on the cover because the logo doesn't boost sales. Why? Because winning a Nebula no longer means that you've written a good book.

Okay, sidebar: Yes, there is a long history of women in SF/F. No, there was no need for a work entitled Women Destroy Science Fiction because women have been in the field for decades. For those that missed it, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the first ever Science Fiction novel published in English and probably first ever period. Happy anniversary, ladies. Women have been making contributions in the field of Science Fiction since 1818 at the latest. That's two hundred years of inclusion. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. Anyone publishing a collection claiming that they're "destroying" SF is either lying or an idiot. I'm guessing idiot since most of the people who push that kind of drek don't bother to learn the history. They just assume. But honestly, that's a different subject for a different blog. For further reference, see Kristine Katheryn Rusch's Women of Future's Past: Classic Stories.

Now, the Hugos. The Hugos lied to us for decades. They told us that they were the peoples awards. The were "voted on by the fans." Ummm...No. They're the awards of a cabal of self-interested individuals who give each other awards for having the correct political opinions. When Larry Correia started the Sad Puppies movement he remarked on this. He talked about the political bias of the voters because of the way he was treated at the Hugo Award Banquet as a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award. (For those who may not be aware, the Campbell Award is for Best New Author and is given out at the Hugo Awards Banquet.) He wanted to expose the awards for what they were. He succeeded.

Once "the Peoples' Awards" found out the wrong people were voting, they lost their minds. Larry Correia urged people to nominate his novel, Monster Hunter Legion. His goal was to make the establishment freak out because an author who did not push the correct political agenda had been nominated. It didn't attract much attention. The next year, however, it got ugly.

Correia put his own book, Warbound up for nomination, along with some other books that he had enjoyed.  The Hugo voters lost their minds. Controversy flared. How dare this upstart author who had owned a gun store and supported the incorrect political causes encourage the great unwashed to vote in their awards? This guy was a *spit* conservative. He didn't belong here.

Then it got worse. The next year, the Puppies put together a strong campaign and dominated. Once again, the voters and officials lost went crazy. They decided to trash their own awards. The Pups had put forth more votes in the nominations than had ever been cast in one year in the history of the award. There were record numbers of memberships purchased. (A membership in WorldCon is required to vote. There is a cheaper membership offered for those who wish to vote but will not be attending the convention itself.) The members of the convention voted for no award to be given in most categories rather than allow someone who was nominated by people with the wrong politics to win.

And there you have it. Another award that practices inclusion by exclusion.  Not only was the Hugo not the award of the people as they claimed to be they decided that they'd rather lock people out because they didn't conform to an archetype.Not only that, they risked destroying their own awards ( If the No Award result is elected in two straight years in a single category, the category is scrapped. They didn't know what would happen the following year. If the Pups had dominated the nominations again they could have ended up with no Best Novel award.) in order to keep people they didn't like off of the ballot.

 Oh, and after decades of claiming to be the award of the fans, they exposed themselves as liars. The Hugo Award is an award given by the elites in the field to the people they like on a personal level. If you eat at the right table at the banquet and support the right causes you can win the award. It's not a Science Fiction award. It's a circle of people awarding their own for loyalty. It is not given for producing a good story and therefore has no relevance to the general public. Seriously, these awards are beneath notice and I'd like to thank Larry Correia, Brad Torgersen and Kate Paulk for their work in pointing that out.

It sucks. An award that was once prestigious has turned into a shadow of its former self. I used to search for Hugo Award winners on those same trips to the bookstore when I was looking for Nebula winners. Now I'd be more likely to leave a book on the shelf if I knew it were a Hugo winner than I would be to buy it. It's not an SF/F award anymore. It's a political award.

The only award that  matters in a modern sense is the Dragon Award. Why? Because it is truly an award given by the people. Don't get me wrong. A black transwoman lesbian in a wheelchair could very well win the award, but so could a straight white male, or a gay Arabic male, or a genderfluid Asian person, or well.... you get the idea. The catch is that they would have to write a good story, invent a good game, be in a good movie, etc. to win the award. You're not going to get the votes just because of your demographic

There is no requirement to vote except an email address and you can get one of those for free. I would know. I have multiple email addresses and I don't pay for any of them. Most public libraries have computers you can use for free as well. That's if you don't have/want to use a smart phone to vote/nominate. (I personally don't like to use my phone. I've got fat fingers and the fields are too small and close together.Then again, I have a desktop computer.) Having said that, if you're the person nominating and you want to see your favorite genderqueer Native American then by all means nominate them! If you want to see them on the list of finalists though, you'd better get some friends to nominate along with you. If they're fans though, it shouldn't be hard to do. It won't cost them anything either and they should be happy to support the person/project they're a fan of.

This is an award that hasn't been spoiled by politics. It doesn't go to the same small clique of content producers every year. It goes to whoever the fans want it to go to. This really is the Peoples' Award.  Anyone can win it if they can attract a big enough following. Anyone can get their favorite content producer nominated if they can organize a movement to do so. Seriously. Don't believe me? The nomination form is here. Go nominate some good stuff. If you want to nominate in every category, do so. If you don't want to nominate books and nothing else do that. You don't have to nominate in every category. I personally haven't played any new SF/F board games so I can promise you I won't be voting on that, but I will be voting in some other categories. I may share my slate, I may not. I'll nominate what I like. You nominate what you like. That's how it works.

Nominations are open until July 20, 2018. Not long after that, finalists will be named and the award will be given out at DragonCon which, according to the World's Most Awesome Girlfriend (TM), takes place at the end of August on the first weekend of college football season. I uhh... don't have the date handy, it's five thirty in the morning and I want to get this written and go to bed. I'm sure the dates are easy to google, but I'm just not feeling up to it.

So, just to quickly recap, if you freeze people out of your award for political or racial reasons (even if those people are white) you suck, you're irrelevant and you're not worth acknowledging. This includes both the Hugos and Nebulas, specifically. An award that accepts all (and all includes minorities, women and liberals but it also includes men, whites and conservatives) is worth voting for and getting excited about. Now go forth and vote! Err...Nominate now, vote later. Let's enjoy this thing together with everyone.

Fire Breathers Wanted!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your...

Actually, to hell with that. Stop listening to me and make yourself heard for a change. Do you know what time it is?

It's time. It's time. It's Dragon Time!

Yup. Nominations for the Dragon Awards are due July 24th. That gives you less than a week to nominate your favorite new Science Fiction and Fantasy related products for the coolest awards ever. I mean seriously if ypu've read or played something that was Just... Too... SWEEEEET!!!! since the last nomination period ended, here's your chance to get it recognized.

Jimbo 3:16 says that all fans should be allowed to have their voices heard. Go ahead and cross the boss. Worldcon may have erected the Walls of Jericho to keep their geriatric main eventers in the spotlight, but this is your chance to give your favorite author a Money in the Bank match. Actually, it's not just your favorite author.

The Dragons are awards that are truly given by the fans. The Hugos make the same claim but they made a heel turn about twenty years ago and haven't been worth a damn since. It's hardly surprising given the fact that Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah are both too young to get into Worldcon to share their opinions. Seriously, even a midcard blogger like yours truly can vote. Speaking of which...

Do you know who can vote? Anyone who damn well pleases. Just follow this link and nominate one work in each category. Well, unless you want to skip a category. I didn't vote for Besy Board Game because I haven't playef any new SF/F board games in the past year. I did vote for Best Video Game (Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Legion). There are also categories for things like Best Comic Book, Best Movie and Best Mobile App. They don't solely recognize fiction and treat everyone else like a member of the Job Squad. It doesn't have to be One,Two, Three for life if you more than just writing.

Seriously,  the Dragon Awards are about what this blog is about. There are a lot if awards given in writing categories and that's awesome. There is a lot more to Science Fiction and Fantasy than what a bunch of blue hairs and their traveling convention will recognize. There is a lot more to Science Fiction and Fantasy than what a bunch of blue hairs and their traveling convention will recognize. This is an award that recognizes all of the areas that the other cons should.

I want to make this point too. It's something Declan Finn offered me a chance to explain when I appeared on his podcast, The Catholic Geek, but I let the chance pass. What should have been a snap suplex turned into a missed spot. (Cue ECW fans.) Things like this are the key to introducing the next generation of fans to the classics of SF/F.

If you want to tell a kid about Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake you do it while he is watching John Cena. If you want to tell kids about Larry Niven's Ringworld is while they're playing, watching or reading Halo.

So it's time to lay The Smackdown on that old garbage and put your favorite works over. Last year's winners are going to drop the strap. Nominate your favorite works to pick it up.Everyone wants to see their favorite win a title, right?

Declan Finn's Live and Let Bite

(You can check both myself and Declan Finn out at the webcast he hosts and I appeared on. I promised him a blog at the time that the webcast was originally supposed to happen but my net has been down all day, so I'm a little late. Sorry Declan!)

First off the warning: Yes Live and Let Bite is book three. Yep, that means  there are two books before it. You should check them out too. I've reviewed them here and here. They're worth checking out. I mention this simply because you're going to want to read the first two books before reading this one. I really enjoyed this book and I'll talk about why below, but I'm not at all certain that this book would work as well as a stand-alone. There are a lot of references to what has come previously and it may be a bit confusing if you're not familiar. This is not a bad thing. It just means that you need to start at the beginning.

 Live and Let Bite is the story of our hero, Marco Catalano and our heroine Amanda Colt, the world's finest female vampire and their battle against existential evil. This time our evil takes the form of an ancient vampire assassin. She is a little off mentally and very impressive physically. In a universe where the bane of vampires is fire she takes a daisy cutter to the face and keeps running. She shrugs off things that should kill her and just keeps fighting.

Let's take a second to talk about our villain: Nualla is dark and mysterious. She  comes straight at Marco and he doesn't know why. She may work for a Council which may or may not exist. What we do know is that she is definitely an evil vampire (and one of the things I really like about these books is that vampires exist on a scale similar to the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system) who is extremely powerful and has a vendetta against Marco. The reason she gives (nope, not gonna spoil it) is nebulous at best and helps set up the next book (which will get here soon, I hope).

I don't generally do spoilers. They're not my thing. But I'm going to break the rule here: MARCO AND AMANDA ACTUALLY GET TOGETHER!!! And FINN DID IT RIGHT. When an author hints long term at a relationship it always makes me nervous when they finally let it happen. It often turns into a total cheesefest. The last episode of JAG comes to mind here. But Finn makes it believable. He makes it fun. He makes it awesome. This is a payoff worth waiting for. How things are going to work between a twenty-five year old mortal and a century old vampire is yet to be seen but at least they've admitted that they're both interested. Things are still in the early stages but I can't wait to see where this goes.

Finn once again delivers with the fight scenes. They're well planned out and vicious. I would not want to meet these guys in a dark alley. Well, meeting Marco in a back alley might not be all that bad. He tends to save the innocent, but the villains in this book are bad news. I do have a kind of complaint here though.

Marco and company have a tendency to prepare a battle space to a "T". This makes sense but it seems that once they've prepped a space the fight always goes the way they thought they would or at least close enough. The enemy gets a say in what happens and sometimes I think Finn forgets that. That doesn't mean it's not exciting. It doesn't mean that the good guys have won just because they think they've won. It's just really tightly plotted.

Finn has a healthy disrespect for government and it comes through. One of our main characters reveals that they were a government agent hunting the supernatural in the nineties and got downsized. Now another of our favorites has become the new guy with a much smaller department and budget.  So even with the lives of its citizen on the line, the US government found an excuse to cut the budget.  I'm  sure they managed to give a few phones away with the savings though. I got a good chuckle out of that.

A huge part of what I enjoyed about this book was that it always looks forward. Finn is building something here. The storyline is racing ahead and things are hinted at. There is a constant interest building. Finn is building a world one step at a time here. Things are opening up slowly and I'm following along amazed. He has very obviously planned out an extended plot going on here.

I did a post awhile back about Hollywood and some books that need to be turned into movies. In this case though, I'm going to suggest that maybe this series gets the Game of Thrones treatment. There's a television series here. I mean that. We may need to give Finn a bit of time to get a little further ahead before it gets started but this makes sense as a series. It's written that way and it works that way. I have zero pull in Hollywood but if I ever get some (about as likely as my getting hit by lightning twice on the same day as I hit the lottery) I'm going to make Finn an offer for this one.


So anyways, I'm totally waiting for the next one. Hopefully it will be here soon. I want to find out what the bigger threat is. I'm wondering if I'm right in predicting that we're going to see Marco go through a Luke Skywalker type storyline in the near future. His attitudes, his love for a vampire lass and Finn's alignment system have me wondering if we're not going to see a redemption story soon. We'll see how that goes. I'm anxious to see if I'm right.

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Vials of Holy Water

Live and Let Bite is available for purchase at the link below. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

The Dragon Awards

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!!

Or sumfin'

Listen guys. I've been over this before. The Hugos are not a fan award. They are an award given out by publishing insiders. That's all there is to it. They have no interest in the opinions of actual fandom or anyone under the age of sixty. Oh sure, they'll take your money but try to vote against established groupthink and you're done for. Try it. We did last year and they No Awarded half the damn categories because we didn't nominated who they wanted. That's seriously what that whole kerfuffle was about. Well, at least up until they passed out wooden assholes at the award ceremony to let everyone know what they think of us. But hey, I've been called worse, believe me. This year I expect them to lose their collective shit once again. We'll see if there will even be a Hugo Award going forward. There may be. Tor is doing its best to make sure that the Hugo survives and becomes a house award. Good luck to them I guess. But that's not why I'm posting. This is actually a celebratory post. Wanna know why? Good, I'll tell you.

Dragoncon is making an attempt at actual fan-driven awards. All you have to do is vote to register. I'll be voting tonight. I know I've received my ballot via email. Here is the complete ballot:


1. Best Science Fiction Novel
Raising Caine by Charles E. Gannon
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
Agent of the Imperium by Marc Miller
Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwitheriing Realm by John C. Wright
The Life Engineered by J-F Dubeau

2. Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)
Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
Asteroid Made of Dragons by G. Derek Adams
Blood Hound by James Osiris Baldwin
Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer
Grave Measures by R.R. Virdi
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

3. Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
Updraft by Fran Wilde
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Trix and the Faerie Queen by Alethea Kontis
Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley
Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett

4. Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
Allies and Enemies: Fallen by Amy J. Murphy
The Price of Valor by Django Wexler
Blood in the Water by Taylor Anderson
Chains of Command by Marko Kloos
The End of All Things by John Scalzi
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera by Gibson Michaels
Hell's Foundations Quiver by David Weber

5. Best Alternate History Novel
1636: The Cardinal Virtues by Eric Flint & Walter H. Hunt
Bombs Away: The Hot War by Harry Turtledove
Deadlands: Ghostwalkers by Jonathan Maberry
1635: A Parcel of Rogues by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis
League of Dragons by Naomi Novik
Germanica by Robert Conroy

6. Best Apocalyptic Novel
The Desert and the Blade by S.M. Stirling
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
A Time to Die by Mark Wandrey
Dark Age by Felix O. Hartmann
Ctrl Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole
Chasing Freedom by Marina Fontaine

7. Best Horror Novel
Chapelwood by Cherie Priest
Honor at Stake by Declan Finn
Souldancer by Brian Niemeier
Disappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul Tremblay
An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel
Alice by Christina Henry

8. Best Comic Book
DC Universe: Rebirth
Daredevil
Astro City
Ms. Marvel
Civil War II
Saga
Providence

9. Best Graphic Novel
Chicago by Glenn Head
The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman
Virgil by Steve Orlando
Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia
March: Book Two by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin
Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine

10. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series
Game of Thrones - HBO
Jessica Jones - Netflix
Doctor Who - BBC
The Flash - CW
The Expanse - Syfy
Outlander - Starz
Daredevil - Netflix

11. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

Crimson Peak
Deadpool
Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens
The Martian
Captain America: Civil War
Ant-Man

12. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game
Fallout 4 by Bethesda Softworks
Darkest Dungeon by Red Hook Studios
Undertale by Toby Fox
XCOM 2 by 2k Games
Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment
Metal Gear Solid V by Konami Digital Entertainment

13. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes by Electronic Arts
Quaser One by Emre Taskin
Fallout Shelter by Bethesda Softworks
Hyper Burner by Patrick Cook
PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist by Outerminds Inc.



14. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game

Codenames by Vlaada Chvatil
Monopoly: CTHULHU by USAopoly
Pandemic: Legacy by ZMan Games
Blood Rage by Cool Mini or Not
Talon by GMT Games
Star Wars: Rebellion by Fantasy Flight Games



15. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game
Star Wars: Armada by Fantasy Flight Games
Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (7th Edition) by Chaosium Inc.
Mousguard 2nd Edition by David Petersen & Luke Crane
Magic the Gathering: Battle of Zendikar by Wizards of the Coast
Magic the Gathering: Shadows over Innistrad by Wizards of the Coast
Deluxe Tunnels Trolls by Flying Buffalo

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game
Congrats to all of the nominees!


Here are my votes and why:

1.) Best SF Novel: Raising Caine by Chuck Gannon. Simple. Chuck Gannon's writing is fast paced and entertaining. Caine Riordan is an awesome character and this book just rocks.

2.) Best Fantasy Novel: For those of you out there who may not be Larry Correia fans, he constantly states that every author's mission statement should include the words GET PAID. This one has a terrific new world, an awesome main character and a story that has enough mystery that I want to read more. Congratulations, Mr Correia. You're going to GET PAID when you get my money for the next installment.

3.) Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel: Honestly, I haven't read any of these. I did buy Changelings Island, but being a YA title it got pushed to the back of the queue. I won't be voting in this category.

4.) Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel: Hell's Foundations Quiver by David Weber because OMFG SAFEHOLD ROCKS!!! Epic  cast. Epic Action. Epic Heroes. Epic Villains. God, I love this series.

5.) Best Alternate History Novel:  Bombs Away: The Hot War Harry Turtledove. I'll tell the story of how I came to love Turtledove's work on the blog sometime. For now, just know that Turtledove is the master of Alt-Hist and this is another gem.

6.) Best Apocalyptic Novel: Control Alt Revolt by Nick Cole. Computer takeover. It's like the Cylons a few centuries early. Loved this thing. Look for a review here soon.

7.) Best Horror Novel: Honor at Stake by Declan Finn. See my review. 'Nuff said.

8.) Best Comic Book: I haven't done much comic reading this year for financial reasons. I won't be voting in this category.

9.) Best Graphic Novel: Ditto

10.) Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Series: Doctor Who, because Dr Who. I want a sonic screw driver.

11.) Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens because blatant fan bias. I went with my mom to see Return of the Jedi in 1983 during its original release. I've been a fan ever since. I loved this flick.

12.) Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Video Game: I spend a massive amount of time gaming but I'm a WoWhead and that's all I really play. I have neither the time nor the money to adequately research this and so I won't be voting.

13.) Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game:  Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes by Electronic Art. I checked this out and loved it. It's something to play when I'm not at home and can't get to my WoW account.

14.) Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game: 
Monopoly: CTHULHU by USAopoly because I will play it and so will my oldest daughter.
Magic the Gathering: Battle of Zendikar by Wizards of the Coast. I don't do many of these types of things but I walked up to the comic shop near my home and checked this out while some other people were playing it. It's a good time.

15.)  Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game: 
Magic the Gathering: Battle of Zendikar. I'll be honest. My card playing is fairly minimal but I have wandered into the comic shop next to my house a couple of times and I've enjoyed this. Some of the guys were nice enough to loan me their deck.

Now, the disclaimer: Should you vote for what I did? Well, maybe. I'm certainly not telling anyone not to vote for who I did. On the other hand, I don't want anyone voting for something just because I did. I definitely wouldn't want anyone to leave something blank because I did. Make up your own mind. Read, watch, play, love. Make up your own mind and make your choices known.  There's no reason not to. There is no cost associated. Just go to this link and register to vote if you haven't already. I'm stoked. It's about time SF/F got some awards that were actually chosen by the fans and not based on who sat with who at least year's award banquet. Here's our chance. Now is our time. VOTE DAMMIT!!!


Some of the products I voted for are listed below. I'd list everything but I've only got a few minutes left on my lunch at work: