Way of the Dragon (Awards)

Well, my first post on the awards was "Enter The Dragon," and I tripped over film on DVR recently, so...

Last year, I promoted the Dragon Awards so often, even I got sick of discussing it by the end. And, since they had 8,000 votes for the final ballots, I don't think they're going to need my help this year.

So, this year, I may end up discussing it every two months or so.  I would have waited for April to make it a full two months, but I didn't have anything to blog about today. So you're out of luck.

First of all, before we do the Dragons...

The Planetary Awards

Yeah, this one is still here, and all votes must be in by the end of April

This one is a book blogger's award. They have two categories: short and long. Click on this link for the instructions on how to vote from your blog onto their award.

But yeah, if you have a blog and write about books, knock yourselves out.

.... Come to think of it, I should probably vote for this as well. Oops.

This year, Good to the Last Drop, book four of Love at First Bite is nominated.

It's going to be interesting. I don't know an awful lot about the award. And, since the book was pulled for rerelease by Silver Empire, campaigning would be odd. I don't think my publisher would appreciate me handing out ARCs of the book before he gets to edit a new version.

Oh, and while I think about it, I'm also up against Nick Cole and Robert Kroese. So, I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Once again, votes are due in at the end of April. If you have a book blog, time to vote. If you don't have a book blog ... now might be the time to start one.

The Dragon Awards

Technically, this has been open since October, 2017. In part because everything eligible for nomination is first published between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.

You can the click above in order to start voting.

Technically, I've got a single book that is eligible: Good to the Last Drop, book 4 of Love at First Bite....

This, of course, will be a problem with having Silver Empire rerelease Love at First Bite: Good to the Last Drop will not be available for purchase until the votes are already in.

We'll see what happens. Anyone who has read the book and thinks it deserves another Dragon nomination, feel free. Fire for effect.

If you have not yet read Good to the Last Drop .... sorry about that.

If you want my thoughts on the Dragons, they're not many. My reading speed this year has been severely compromised by nonstop work. Remember how, last year, I said "Please leave suggestions in the comments so I can remember what came out last year"? Pretty much goes double this year.

Best Science Fiction Novel

Karl Gallagher: Torchship Captain.  Yes, really. I haven't enjoyed a book series so much since David Weber's earliest Honor Harrington. I reviewed that one here

Robert Kroese: Dream of the Iron Dragon -- I can't give this a full throated recommendation, since I haven't read it. But Kroese puts out good stuff... I'm almost afraid to look to see if I have a Kindle copy somewhere (my Kindle died a few months back, so everything I haven't bought from Amazon is probably down the tubes).

Nope... that's it. That's all I have. Most of the others that I mentioned for the Planetary award aren't available for the Dragons, that I know of -- they were too early in the year. Karl's book came out in September, a week after my novel, so I know he's eligible. I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will correct me if I'm wrong.

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

Since Larry doesn't want it for Monster Hunter International, I don't have anything offhand. The only fantasy that I recall reading offhand in the last year has been Monster Hunter Files. That's it. I think I read Terry Goodkind's The Nest, but that's from a few years ago.

Now that several series I used to read have wrapped up (Kim Harrison, Carrie Vaughn) I'm starting to wonder how much fantasy I actually read boils down to being just Jim Butcher.

If you want a suggestion from me ... perhaps Good to the Last Drop if you want it for fantasy instead of horror?

Also, there is War Demons, by Russell Newquist, my editor and publisher over at Silver Empire books... It's another book I have yet to get to, in part because my Kindle died, and he sent me the ARC.  Take a look, tell me what YOU think, and we can have that conversation.

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel
 
The Awful Truth About Forgetting (Rachel Griffin, book #4).... seriously, can we get Jagi an award for this series already? I reviewed it here, but really people, just do it already.

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

I want to say David Weber. But I suspect that this might sooner go to Timothy Zahn for the Honorverse prequel novels. Just a guess. Again, I can't recall track when their books came out last year.

I know Jon has got a space opera, The Star Entwined, so you might want to check that out. I'd say Steam and Country, but it was eligible last year.

Now, since they removed best Apocalypse, you may also which to consider Daniel Humphrey's A Place Called Hope. Why? Because book 1 received the Dragon Award nomination last year, and Dan mentioned online that it's actually MilSF.

Best Alternate History Novel
 
.... Someone tell Lou Antonelli to hurry up and finish his sequel to Another Girl Another Planet already. Other than that...

Hans Schantz,  A Rambling Wreck. I reviewed this one a while back. It was solid. It's a book two, so you've been warned. I'd link to the review, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Huh.

Best Media Tie-In Novel


Well, this is new.

The category probably opened up as a good way to avoid having a flood of Star Wars or Star Trek books flood a category.

What I would like to happen is to nominate Timothy Zahn's Thrawn book of last year ... but that came out too early for this year.

Don't worry, there's a sequel!

.... Except that Thrawn: Alliances is coming out in July.

Argh.

Well, at least it's eligible for NEXT year's Dragon Award.

But now that we have a Media Tie-in category, can we have a best comic book movie now? That way it's not a Marvel Vs DC knock down drag out every year?

There is only one problem: This category replaced best Apocalypse. Huh. I wonder if everyone hit peak Distopia fatigue all at the same time.

And yes, you'll notice that, no, I don't actually have a nominee for this one. I have nothing. If you have something, comment below.

Best Horror Novel

And we're back to this.  Sorry, but the only horror I go near is what I write.

So, there's Good to the Last Drop. Again. Yes, sorry about that.

Now, I could argue that Good to the Last Drop is the culmination of the previous three novels, two of which were nominated for Dragon Awards. I've got demons, Vatican Ninjas, vampire hordes, shapeshifters, and anti-Vampire "civilians" (a collection of police, street gangs, and the Mafia, because welcome to New York, you bloodsucking bastards).

Personally, this might be more Urban Fantasy than horror, but the last two were in horror, so I guess no one at the Dragon Award committee objects.

Best Comic Book  & Best Graphic Novel
 
I am so far behind on comics, don't even ask me.

I know that Jon del Arroz is interested in something called XO Manowar, so there's that. I may have to ask Alfred Genesson if he could do a post on this, that way I can link to him the next time this blog is updated.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet

Going down my list of TV shows...

iZombie ... did it win last year?

Midnight Texas was fun, and Charlaine Harris has a solid fan base.

Lucifer is interesting this season. Not sure if it's good enough for the Dragons though.

Arrow ... not this year. I'm getting fed up with it.

The Punisher I haven't seen it yet, and the reviews are tipping the scales towards "AAARRRGGGHHH."

The Defenders ... meh. It ... was.

The Orville. Probably the best SFF show out within the time period. At its worst? It's just mediocre. But those are only two episodes that made me wonder what was going on with Seth MacFarlane at the time.

So, probably The Orville.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

Justice League?  Eh. No

The Last Jedi: Hell no.

Thor: Ragnarok ... maybe.

Spider-Man: Homecoming ... not out of the realm of possibility. But I haven't seen it yet.

Bright ...? I don't think was that good. It had some nice worldbuilding, and a lot of great little touches, but they could have cut 15 minutes from the film and missed nothing. In fact, they would have done so much better had they used that time to build up the story more.

It will probably go to Black Panther or Thor 3.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game

This is a problem when you have so many games doing loot boxes that I have urges to just tell all of the games to go screw themselves.

Middle Earth: Shadow of War? Depends on who you ask.
X-Com 2: War of the Chosen -- ditto
Cuphead
Super Mario Oddessy.

There are, of course, Persona and Yakuza games that came out this year.... just don't ask me when. and Nier: Automata I've heard great things about, but it came out in January or February, and thus aren't eligible.

So, if you liked any of these, look up on the release date and make certain I didn't just suggest something that came out too early.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game

Middle Earth: Shadow of War: Yes, I liked the mobile game. Move along.

Best Board Game Best Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game

Another category I'm useless in. Calling Alfred is also more useful here than I am.

Anyway, the Dragons are coming. Knock yourself out. 

And remember the Planetary Awards, if you're a book blogger.