Let’s take a look, see if we know any names.

• Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey
• A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
• Death’s End by Cixin Liu
• Rise by Brian Guthrie
• Space Tripping by Patrick Edwards
• The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
• The Secret Kings by Brian Niemeier
• Escaping Infinity by Richard Paolinelli

YES! Richard got nominated! Richard got nominated! YES.

Anyway, I’m a fan of Paolinelli’s work. I’m happy to claim him as a Catholic. If you haven’t read his work yet, do so.

Hmm… On the other hand, Brian Niemeier, who is a good author, and a Catholic Catholic, says he’ll give his award to L Jagi Lamplighter, and that’s another complication, to be discussed below.

Hmm, who else is there? Let’s see. I know Scalzi; wouldn’t vote for him on a bet. And Cixin Liu looks familiar. And that’s … it. Huh. Where’s Zhan’s Thrawn?  Hmm. I guess it came out too late for most fans to read and vote for it — otherwise, Zahn didn’t want it.

I suppose this year it’s between Brian and Richard.

• A Sea of Skulls by Vox Day
• Beast Master by Shayne Silvers
• Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter
• Dangerous Ways by R.R. Virdi
• Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by Larry Correia and John Ringo
• The Hearthstone Thief by Pippa DaCosta
• Wings of Justice by Michael-Scott Earle

Okay. I know who Vox Day is.

Okay. I liked both Sinners and Grunge … crap. Larry said he didn’t want an award. But hey, let’s see if Ringo wants one.

I don’t even know everyone else here. It’s between Vox and Ringo, really. And even Vox Day doubts his odds here, so my money is on Ringo to win. If Ringo isn’t back with the church yet, Grunge is actually the one I looked at and said, “Come home to Rome, John.”

• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
• Firebrand by A.J. Hartley
• It’s All Fun and Games by Dave Barrett
• Rachel and the Many Splendored Dreamland by L. Jagi Lamplighter
• Swan Knight’s Son by John C Wright
• The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

Yup, it’s a Wright double header! Jagi is Mrs John C Wright. And my goal this year was to see if they could have a his and hers set of Dragons… Except Jagi has mentioned she wants John to win for Swan Knight’s Son…But I think she deserves an award for Rachel Griffin…

Yes, Brian will literally give his award to Jagi. But I want Richard to win that one….

So many choices…

My bet? JCW will win. Vox is throwing his people behind Mr. Wright, and so is Jagi. So is Happy Frogs.

Has Jagi told Dragon Con she’d like to withdraw her nomination?

• Allies and Enemies: Exiles by Amy J. Murphy
• Caine’s Mutiny by Charles E. Gannon
• Cartwright’s Cavaliers by Mark Wandrey
• Invasion: Resistance by J.F. Holmes
• Iron Dragoons by Richard Fox
• Star Realms: Rescue Run by Jon Del Arrox
• Starship Liberator by B.V. Larson and David Van Dyke
• The Span of Empire by Eric Flint and David Carrico

Starship Liberator is a Vox Day pick, and he has a small army, so I’m not surprised.

Wait, they misspelled Jon’s name in the list? Oy. It should be del Arroz.

Mark Wandrey and John Holmes are good people. Charles Gannon is friendly as all heck, and smart as a whip.

I think I’m going to vote for Jon. I wanted John Ringo’s Monster Hunter spin off to have been in this category. So, who knows who’ll actually win. Especially since Gannon has the Baen vote, but I know that Wandrey, Holmes, and Jon will all campaign.

Boy, am I glad I’m not going to be in this middle of this shootout.

• 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught by Eric Flint
• A Change in Crime by D.R. Perry
• Another Girl, Another Planet by Lou Antonelli
• Breath of Earth by Beth Cato
• Fallout: The Hot War by Harry Turtledove
• No Gods, Only Daimons by Kai Wai Cheah
• The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville
• Witchy Eye by D.J. Butler

Oh gee. Flint and Turtledove have gotten nominations. Who ever could have imagined…

I did. Several times. That was the easy part.

Kai Wai Cheah was a Vox pick, so no surprise there. I’m actually surprised that more of his picks weren’t on the list.

LOU ANTONELLI GOT NOMINATED!!!!! LOU GOT NOMINATED!!!!!! YES!

Yes, Lou’s cool. His book was awesome. Read it. That’s my vote.

My bet? Turtledove and Flint will split the vote, leaving it as a fight between Lou and Vox’s pick. And Happy Frogs is backing Lou.

• A Place Outside the Wild by Daniel Humphreys
• American War by Omar El Akkad
• The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
• The Seventh Age: Dawn by Rick Heinz
• Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
• ZK: Falling by J.F. Holmes
• Codename: Unsub by Declan Finn and Allan Yoskowitz

Littlewood is a Vox pick. No surprise there, even though I don’t know her. Tom Tinney’s been a guest on the podcast a few times. Dubeau? Larrinaga? Summers, LaValle…. Yikes. Do I know these people? Answer, of course not, I don’t actually read horror.

Technically, I don’t even write horror, I write paranormal romance or Urban Fantasy, depending on who you ask. But the Dragons don’t have this pick.

Tom is up against Dan Wells.  Well, that’ll suck. I’ve heard of Wells, he’s supposed to be Catholic Stephen King, only he writes well. Tom’s win will depend on whether or not

…. Live and Let Bite.

I got two nominations? Huh. To my rabid fan base, thank you. Yes. Really. Thank you. I’m … wow. Well. That’s … wow.

• Monstress by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eleven by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs
• Motor Girl by Terry Moore
• Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa
• Saga by Brian K Vaughan, Fiona Staples
• Wynonna Earp Legends by Beau Smith, Tim Rozon, Melanie Scrofano, Chris Evenhuis
• The Dresden Files: Dog Men by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers, Diego Galindo

Okay. I know of Liu, I’ve heard she’s good. I know of Buffy, obviously. And I’ve heard of Brian K Vaughn….

Nevermind. Jim Butcher is nominated. We know who’s winning.

• Clive Barker Nightbreed #3 by Marc Andreyko, Clive Barker, Emmanuel Xerx Javier
• Girl Genius: the Second Journey of Agatha Heterodyne, Book 2: The City of Lightning by Phil and Kaja Foglio
• Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files: Wild Card by Jim Butcher, Carlos Gomez
• Love is Love by Marc Andreyko, Sarah Gaydos, James S. Rich
• March Book 3 by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
• My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris
• Stuck in My Head by J.R. Mounts

Hey, I like Girl Genius. It’s a fun series and … Butcher is here, too. I guess it depends on which ones he wants. Assuming he’s not going to give all the comic awards away to his artists.

• Doctor Who, BBC
• Lucifer, Fox
• Marvel’s Agents of Shield, ABC
• Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Sky1
• Stranger Things, Netflix
• The Expanse, Syfy
• Westworld, HBO
• Wynonna Earp, Syfy

I’m generally apathetic about these picks.

• Arrival directed by Denis Villeneuve
• Doctor Strange directed by Scott Derrickson
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 directed by James Gunn
• Logan directed by James Mangold
• Passengers directed by Morten Tyldum
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story directed by Gareth Edwards
• Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins

My pick was Doctor Strange: Because Cumbersmaug, Sorcerer Supreme. Guardians isn’t a surprise. Or Wonder Woman. Several people I know like Passengers. Logan was a Vox pick….

No bet on who wins this one.

• Dishonored 2 by Arkane Studios
• Final Fantasy XV by Square Enix
• Mass Effect: Andromeda by Bioware
• NieR: Automata by PlatinumGames
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by Nintendo
• Titanfall 2 by Respawn Entertainment

Of these picks, Dishonored 2, Titanfall 2, Zelda, FF15 are not surprises. I guessed at least two would be there. But no Warhammer? Even Vox picked that one out.

My bet is between those three. I wouldn’t vote Bioware if you paid me.

• Con Man: The Game by Monkey Strength Productions
• Fire Emblem Heroes by Nintendo
• Monument Valley 2 by Ustwogames
• Pokemon GO by Niantic
• Sky Dancer by Pine Entertainment
• Super Mario Run by Nintendo

Pokemon GO. No bet. We’re done. It was so addictive and so popular last year, it’s not even funny.

• Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk by Avalon Hill
• Gloomhaven by Cephalofair Games
• Hero Realms by White Wizard Games
• Mansions of Madness (Second Edition) by Fantasy Flight Games
• Scythe by Stonemaier Games
• Terraforming Mars by Stronghold Games

Vox is behind Gloomhaven. So … bet on that? I don’t know. I haven’t played any. I may not vote for them.

• A Shadow Across the Galaxy X-Wing Wave X by Fantasy Flight Games
• Bloodborne: The Card Game by CMON Limited
• Dark Souls: The Board Game by Steamforged Games
• Magic the Gathering: Eldritch Moon by Wizards of the Coast
• Pulp Cthulhu by Chaosium
• Star Wars: Destiny by Fantasy Flight Games

Again, not my scene.

Once again, I’d like to thank all of you folks in the fan base for chipping in in the first place, and coming out to vote. If you look at my two nominations with thoughts of “If I vote for him twice, will that be a problem?” No. If I get both wins, I’ll give one to my co-author on UnSub. Assuming I get either.

If you don’t want to try reading every single book on the list, you can vote below.

Remember, you may register to receive a ballot until Sunday, August 28th at 11:59PM. You must be submit your ballot by Tuesday, August 29th, 11:59 EDT

But if you want to vote NOW, vote here.