It’s that time: announcing the 2019 nominees for the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards!
Cue: drum roll
Annnd: CHAOS
Category Archive: Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards
At the end of 2017, C of The Middle Shelf proposed a new set of informal awards: nominated, debated and awarded by a group of bookworms. We embraced chaos as our guiding principle, and we had so much fun we’re back for more. Welcome to the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards 2019.
This year saw lots of travelling and some intense deadlines that got in the way of me writing reviews in a timely fashion for everything I read. Still, it’s never too late for a quick look back at the ones that got away!
The Saypuri overthrew their Continental masters, killed their gods and passed the Worldly Regulations outlawing any further mention of them. But belief in the Divine lingers. Divine power can still be channelled. And now a Saypuri scholar of that forbidden history has been murdered in the Continental capital. Are the Divine returning to Bulikov?
It all started – as so many things do – with a proposal on Twitter: what would happen if a group of bookworms had a go at calling the best genre reads of 2017? Well, firstly an explosion of reading lists as our opinions cross-pollinated. Then an outbreak of glee. Finally, much Serious Debate. And now, at last, we can reveal our winners…
No Season is forever, but this one promises to be longer than humanity can endure. In the underground refuge of Castrima, Essun must master powers that might save her new people. But a powerful city state has emerged from the ashes of Sanzed, and far to the south, the Fulcrum is not yet dead. The Season is not all Castrima must survive…
The American government imprisoned Aphra’s people and let them die in the desert, far from the sea. Now they need her help, and have an irresistible offer to make. But can outcasts ever truly win the trust of a government that persecuted them? And can they trust that government in return?
We’re entering the final phase of the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards. After the initial phase of nomination and debate, we ended up with 5 categories and 33 nominees. Now we’re down to the wire after six months of reading, discussing and voting: it’s finalist time. So who has made our final cut?
Sorlost is the heart of the richest empire in the world: ancient, proud, unconquered. But its self-regard is stronger than its armies. As nobles conspire for power and mercenaries flock to their call, who will prove ruthless enough to seize – and hold – power?
Everything changes in a Season. First guard the gates. Keep storecaches clean and dry. Obey the stonelore, make the hard choices, and maybe when the Season ends there will be people who remember how civilisation should work. Or maybe not. Not this Season.
William Manderlay is old and arthritic. In his dreams, he relives his golden days as a violinist, a sailor, a lover – until the nightmares hunt him down. But William’s music holds the key to the prison at Solomon’s Eye, terrifying heart of the dream beyond dreams. Does William have enough youth left to him to help the Sleepwalkers fight off an army of nightmares intent on releasing the monster trapped there?
The Red Gods were defeated, their followers banished to the mountains to eke out a violent subsistence in the rocky heights. But their time is coming. The Blessed One of the Mireces is determined to open the door for the return of the Dark Lady and the Blood God. Is the kingdom of Rilpor ready to be tested?
Nina Beaulieu is a debutante, spending the Season with her cousin Gaetan and his glamorous wife Valerie. They will usher her into a glittering world of balls and find her a suitable husband. But Nina has a mind of her own, and talents that aren’t welcome in polite society. Can she be satisfied within its constraints?
Doctor Greta Helsing isn’t your regular Harley Street practitioner: she specialises in the lesser-known maladies of the supernatural. When a mysterious group of monks try to murder a local vampire, she gets drawn into solving London’s ills to keep her patients safe…
Seth has always lived for the future, but his musical partner Carter has his heart set on the past. When Carter pushes Seth to create a retro track that sounds straight out of the 20s, they unleash a memory of musicians past. The blues don’t forget, and the devil still lingers at the crossroads…
