And there’s another new award on the block. It’s organised by DragonCon, which turns 30 this year, and which bills itself as the world’s largest “multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction & fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music & film”, which is a lot of focus, and which may be why there are so many awards . It’s a fan award, apparently voted on by members of DragonCon, and there are so many categories (Best Comic Book, Graphic Novel, PC Console Game, Mobile Game, Board Game, Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role-Playing Game) that I’m not going to list all of them. You can find the full shortlists here (I would direct you to the DragonCon site, but although they have lots of information about the awards, they don’t seem to have the actual shortlist announcement anywhere).

The major science fiction categories are:

Best Science Fiction Novel

The Life Engineered, J-F. Dubeau (Sword & Laser)

Raising Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)

Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit)

Agent of the Imperium, Marc Miller (Far Future Enterprises)

Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm, John C. Wright (Castalia House)

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

Blood in the Water, Taylor Anderson (Roc)

Chains of Command, Marko Kloos (47North)

Wrath of an Angry God, Gibson Michaels (Arc Flash)

Allies and Enemies: Fallen, Amy J. Murphy (Self-published)

The End of All Things, John Scalzi (Tor)

At the beginning of the year, Scalzi announced that he didn’t want his books to be considered for any awards this year. He has specifically asked that The End of All Things should be removed from this shortlist. In the absence of any official announcement on the DragonCon site, it is not clear whether this has been done.

Hell’s Foundations Quiver, David Weber (Tor)

The Price of Valor, Django Wexler (Roc)

Best Alternate History Novel

Germanica, Robert Conroy (Baen)

1635: A Parcel of Rogues, Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis (Baen)

1636: The Cardinal Virtues, Eric Flint & Walter H. Hunt (Baen)

Deadlands: Ghostwalkers, Jonathan Maberry (Tor)

League of Dragons, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Bombs Away: The Hot War, Harry Turtledove (Del Rey)

Best Apocalyptic Novel

Ctrl Alt Revolt!, Nick Cole (Castalia House)

Chasing Freedom, Marina Fontaine (Self-published)

Dark Age, Felix O. Hartmann (Self-published)

The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

The Desert and the Blade, S.M. Stirling (Roc)

A Time to Die, Mark Wandrey (Henchmen)

DragonCon is its own little world, but I do wonder if these are the shortlists we might have expected to see if the Puppies had had complete freedom to decide the Hugo shortlists? The winners will be announced at DragonCon early in September.