Indie Lit Awards 2011: Winners!

Finally! The winners of the Independent Literary Awards have been announced! You can see the full list of genres and winners HERE.

I was involved with the Speculative Fiction genre (magic, fantasy, science fiction, etc.). The shortlist was a good representation of the genre, I think.

The following five books made it to the shortlist:

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Viking)
• 11/22/1963 by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Crown)

I read these five books in the January to March period and they were all worthy of being on the shortlist. I had a great time reading these. So, here is the winner of the Speculative Fiction genre…

Winner: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Runner-Up: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

The world in Ready Player One is quite different from ours – a post-apocalyptic world where people spend a great deal of their time online (even children can go to school online – with a helmet on and special gloves, it feels as if they’re really present rather than looking at a screen). The world felt so real to me! While I was reading the book, it was as if this world really existed somewhere. A great book.

The publishers say: “At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.”

Reviews of Ready Player One:

Aths of Reading on a Rainy Day
Jenn of Jenn’s Bookshelves
Marleen of More Than a Reading Journal

Let’s make a list of reviews! Have you read this book? Let me link to your review.

Don’t forget to look at the other genre winners of the Indie Lit Awards in HERE.

What do you think of Ready Player One?

Did you read it and love it? Do you plan to read it?

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Indie Lit Awards 2011: Shortlist for Speculative Fiction

As I’ve told you in an earlier post, I’ve been chosen to be a Voting Member for the Indie Lit Awards 2011 in the Speculative Fiction category. This means I’m one of the people to read the shortlist and vote for who I think should win.

The following five books have made it to the shortlist:

• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman (Viking)
• 11/22/1963 by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor Books)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Crown)

This looks like a fine shortlist to me, and I’m happy I’ll be reading these books (Among Others I read a while ago, check my review HERE).

Check out the shortlists for the other genres on the Indie Lit webpage HERE.

Which books have you read? What is your favorite?

Last Chance: Vote for the Indie Lit Awards 2011

Have you nominated your best reads for this year yet? Yes, you! Any book blogger can nominate their favorite 2011 publications for the Indie Lit Awards, but only until the end of December.

The Independent Literary Awards are organised and nominated and voted on by independent book bloggers. After a nominations period, a panel of voting members read the five short-listed books and decide on a winner.

I’m a voting member in the Speculative Fiction genre. This may sound like something you don’t read, but it includes fantasy, dystopia, science fiction, horror and alternate history. And don’t forget anything supernatural and magic! So, if you have read one or more great new books in this genre this year, please vote for them now.

I and the other voting members will read the 5 books that were most often nominated for the Spec Fic genre. So, make sure I get to read something nice and nominate those great books that you’ve been reading.

The other genres for the Indie Lit Awards 2011 are Literary Fiction, GLBTQ¹, Non Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Poetry and Mystery.

Nominations are open until the end of the year… that’s Saturday!! So, enter your favorite books now, to be sure your nominations are included.

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¹ If you don’t know what that is, ask! It’s not a stupid question!

The Indie Lit Awards – Have You Voted Yet?

Indie Lit Awards

I hope you’ve discovered a lot of new Speculative Fiction this year that you want to enter for the Indie Lit Awards. You can nominate books until the end of the year, but you may as well do it now, unless you have another potentially great book waiting to be read.

The Indie Lit Awards are awards for Best Books as voted by you, book blog readers and writers. If you’re reading this, then you’re eligible to vote (unless you’re professionally connected with the publishing industry), so go for it!

Speculative Fiction includes Fantasy, Science Fiction, and also include anything supernatural, horror, dystopia, etc. Books have to have been published for the first time in 2011.

Out of all the nominations, the five books that are nominated most often will be read by the voting members of the Indie Lit Award and I’m one of them! So, you decide what I’m reading in January and I decide, with the other voting members, which of those five books is the best speculative fiction book of 2011.

Don’t delay, vote now! And also check out the other genres that you can vote for.