After a mammoth fifth birthday extravaganza last year, this year’s Subjective Chaos Awards are back – a little older, a little wiser, and a little more focused. Once again, a chaotic panel of readers and reviewers have read, wrangled and agonised our way into an entirely subjective selection of the best works of speculative fiction published in the previous calendar year. Let’s take a look at this year’s nominees…

Book cover: Firebreak - Nicole Kornher-StaceMal dreams of living off streaming BestLife, the massive multiplayer version of reality. After snagging the first footage of an elusive SecOps NPC in weeks, a sponsor offers to pay her to do just that. The price is a quest that will put Mal face to face with real SecOps – and toe to toe with Stellaxis, the corporation that controls every aspect of her life…

I’ve been making steady progress on my Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards shortlists, thanks in part to traveling a lot this past month. There’s nothing quite like the enforced downtime of flying to motivate me to inhale books I’ve been looking forward to or bull through ones I haven’t. Today I’m looking back at the fantasy novellas in a Wyrd and Wonder cross-over.

Book cover: This Is Our Undoing - Lorraine Wilson

Lina fled London to work for a European conservation corps, but her fragile peace shatters when her ex is arrested for assassinating a Minister. While Lina tries to extract her family from London, the Minister’s family also flee to the mountain reserve she works on. Everyone has deadly secrets – but will they kill to preserve them? 

Book cover: The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah JohnsonWhen Adam Bosch discovered how to travel the multiverse, alternate realities became resources to exploit. Cara escaped Earth Zero’s slums because she’s dead in nearly every timeline, meaning she can safely traverse to 372 worlds. But can she survive the Earths that killed her other selves?

Five years ago, C of The Middle Shelf floated the idea of a jury-based award given by a panel of bloggers to their pick of the best works of genre fiction each year. Fast forward to 2022 and our fifth annual Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards will be bigger and more chaotic than ever, with more categories, more nominees and more opinions. Buckle up, it’s time to say hello to our 2022 panel and subjective shortlist!