Subjective Kind of Chaos Awards 2021

It’s that time again! Both Fab and I (Sun) are back as part of the judging team for the Subjective Kind of Chaos Awards for 2022. These are blogger awards, focused on speculative fiction across multiple categories and the awards have a shiny new website which can be found here. This year there are 14 of us, so plenty of scope for interesting choices and various chaos. The team consists of Adri (@adrijjy/Nerds of a Feather), Arina (@voyagerarina/Queen’s Book Asylum), C. (@themiddleshelf1), Imyril (@Imyril/There Is Always Room For One More), Kris (@hammard_1987/Cloaked Creators), L.A. (Aquavenatus), Lisa (@deargeekplace/Dear Geek Place), Matt (@runalongwomble/Runalongtheshelves), Leigh (@leighowyn), Robin (@spicymisorobin/The Book Wormhole) and Sia (Every Book a Doorway). But you’re not here to read about us – you’re here to see our fabulous nominees!

FANTASY

• Lucy Holland, Sistersong
• Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, The House of Rust
• Tasha Suri, The Jasmine Throne
• C.L. Clark, The Unbroken
• Zoraida Córdova, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
• Shelley Parker-Chan, She Who Became the Sun
• A.C. Wise, Wendy, Darling
• Laure Eve, Blackheart Knights
• P. Djèlí Clark, A Master of Djinn

SCIENCE FICTION

• Tade Thompson, Far from the Light of Heaven
• Calvin Kalsuke, Several People are Typing
• Nicole Kornher-Stace, Firebreak
• Claire North, Notes from the Burning Age
• Catriona Silvey, Meet Me in Another Life
• Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shards of Earth
• Brent A. Harris, Alyx: An AI’s Guide to Love and Murder
• Benjamin Rosenbaum, The Unravelling
• Arkady Martine, A Desolation Called Peace

BLURRED BOUNDARIES

• Ryka Aoki, Light from Uncommon Stars
• K. Eason, Nightwatch on the Hinterlands
• Un-Su Kim, The Cabinet
• Monica Byrne, The Actual Star
• T.L. Huchu, The Library of the Dead
• E. Lily Yu, On Fragile Waves
• Rena Rossner, The Light of the Midnight Stars
• Rivers Solomon, Sorrowlands
• Marshall Ryan Maresca, The Velocity of Revolution

DEBUT

• Lorraine Wilson, This is Our Undoing
• Ava Reid, The Wolf and the Woodsman
• Elly Bangs, Unity
• Louise Carey, Inscape
• Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow
• Genevieve Gornichec, The Witch’s Heart
• E.J. Beaton, The Councillor

YOUNG ADULT

• Anna-Marie McLemore, The Mirror Season
• Namina Forna, The Gilded Ones
• Lilliam Rivera, We Light Up the Sky
• Krystal Sutherland, House of Hollow

SHORT STORY

• Ellen Kushner, Immortal Coil
• Malka Older, The Badger’s Digestion, or The First First-Hand Description of Deneskan Beastcraft by an Aouwan Researcher
• A.C. Wise, The Amazing Exploding Women of the 20th Century
• Isabel J. Kim, Homecoming Is Just Another Word For The Sublimation Of The Self

NOVELLA

• Shingai Njeri Kagunda, & This Is How We Stay Alive
• Yaroslav Barsukov, Tower of Mud and Straw
• Aliette de Bodard, Fireheart Tiger
• Chris Willrich, A Manslaughter of Crows
• Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Well-Built
• Premee Mohamed, These Lifeless Things
• Adrian Tchaikovsky, One Day All This Will Be Yours
• Alix E. Harrow, A Spindle Splintered
• Catherynne M. Valente, The Past is Red
• Premee Mohamed, The Annual Migration of Clouds
• Dilman Dila, The Future God of Love
• Aimee Ogden, Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters

GRAPHIC NOVEL

• Molly Knox-Ostertag, The Girl from the Sea
• Hiromi Goto & Ann Xu, Shadow Life
• Rachel Smythe, Lore Olympus
• Wendy Xu, Tidesong

SERIES

• Natasha Ngan, Girls of Paper and Fire
• C.L. Polk, The Kingston Cycle
• T. Frohock, Los Nefilim
• Malorie Blackman, Noughts and Crosses
• James SA Corey, The Expanse

So as you can see, we’ve got quite a bit of reading to do in the next few months – between the two of us, we’re covering all the categories! But we’re excited to dive in, and looking forward to get back to you all with our thoughts on the nominees, and the finalists in due course.