OT: Unreality-SF.net - Story of the Year Award 2011/2012

[Defcon]

March 9th marked Unreality SF's fourth birthday and like in the last three years we're marking that occasion by awarding the Unreality-Sf.net Story of the Year Award:

How it works

Starting today, you can nominate three stories here. At the end of the week, we’ll count up the suggestions to find the ten that are most popular.

Next Monday, we’ll post that final shortlist and give you seven days to pick one absolute favourite.

And then the authors of the first- and second-placed stories each get a block of glass with their name engraved in it.
Woo.

What’s in it for me?

“Shit off, Unreality,” we hear you say. “This sounds rubbish. Am I expected to participate in this structured boosting of writers’ egos out of the kindness of my own heart? When I could be doing important things like eating sandwiches and hoovering?” No. No you are not. When we get to the final voting bit next week, one participant will win an Amazon voucher.

The dull bit

There are some rules. Here they are:

1) You can only nominate three stories in the nominations bit this week, and only vote once in the poll bit next week. The forms log your IP and if we think you’ve taken part multiple times we’ll ignore all your choices.

2) Stories are only eligible if they are licensed tie-ins to a fictional universe originating in another medium (so, for example, official books, audios, comics, websites, or ARGs based on TV series, films, or games are fine – like the latest Buffy comic, Doctor Who audio drama, Star Trek novel, online Sherlock case blog, whatever – but fanfiction and/or peripheral stories in the same medium as their parent – like webisodes or extra scenes on a DVD – are not), were released for the first time in the last 12 full months (between March 1st 2011 and February 29th 2012, because the poll is supposed to mark our birthday and our birthday is in March and look we know this is a rubbish rule which is completely unfair to things that have only been out for a couple of weeks but we’ve set a precedent and we’ve got to stick to it *sad face*), and are individual stories (so feel free to pick your favourite tale from an anthology or single separately-titled instalment of a miniseries, but don’t nominate the whole thing unless the constituent parts are just ‘Part 1′, ‘Part 2′ etc). And non-fiction counts if it tells a story (so ‘making of’ narratives are eligible but encyclopedias aren’t).

3) THAT’S ALL.

4) Incidentally we will be entering this into Boredom-SF.net’s ‘Tedious Paragraph of the Year’ contest.

You can nominate your favourites here.

 

[Defcon]

Some additional points:

That I have posted it here doesn't mean that you have to nominate Star Trek stuff. Everything that fits the criteria outlined in the rules is fair game. It's just that this is pretty much the biggest place with an active tie-in discussion I know, so I think that's the best place to get the word out. If you're active on other tie-in related boards or are involved with tie-in related projects (like podcasts, websites, etc.) fell free to spread the word about the award poll.

Same goes for authors with eligible works: Feel free to campaign for your stuff.

Some writers already mentioned which of their works are eligible on their personal blogs, Facebook etc.

Keith R.A. DeCandido Facebook ; Blog
David Mack Facebook Facebook ; Blog
Dayton Ward Facebook ; Blog

To show what a hypocrite I am : Despite my opening paragraph I have actually nominated three Trek works this year:

Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer
Rise Like Lions by David Mack
What Judgments Come by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

(I had nominated works from three different franchises last year, though.)

 

[xortex]

I wouldn't start by saying 'Shit off, unreality' and then follow with the dull bit. that's a little off putting and seems alot of people are leaving it like that and ending with it. Just a bit of advice. Americans are not as self depricating as say Englanders are.

 

[JD]

I would vote, but so far DTI is the only book from this year that I've read.

 

[Stevil2001]

I'm so far behind with my tie-in reading that the only 2011 Star Trek book I've read is my own! So I nominated three Doctor Who audio dramas instead.

 

[Thrawn]

I almost wrote in "Children of the Storm" three times, but I figured that wouldn't actually be helpful, so I nominated a couple of others as well. If that doesn't win, though, it will have to be because not enough people read it. Far and away the standout of the last year, imo.

 

[Defcon]

Just a little reminder. The nomination will close within the next two days and the Top Ten vote will go up on Monday, so if you haven't nominated already, but want to participate, now is the time to do it.

I would vote, but so far DTI is the only book from this year that I've read.

If you feel that it is a really, really good novel I don't see why you couldn't nominate it. And BTW after a quick look at your Shelfari shelf you seem to have read 5 more stories that would be eligible: the four novellas in Declassified plus New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff.

I almost wrote in "Children of the Storm" three times, but I figured that wouldn't actually be helpful, so I nominated a couple of others as well. If that doesn't win, though, it will have to be because not enough people read it. Far and away the standout of the last year, imo.

Yeah, the triple nomination probably would have done more harm than good - I'm not involved with the actual evaluation of the votes, but I figure in the best case it would have counted as one vote and in the worst case it would have led to the vote being disregarded altogether.

Re: Children of the Storm: If you had told me a few years ago that I would vote for a Voyager novel in this award I would have probably told you that you're nuts, but her I am doing exactly that.

 

[JD]

Just a little reminder. The nomination will close within the next two days and the Top Ten vote will go up on Monday, so if you haven't nominated already, but want to participate, now is the time to do it.

I would vote, but so far DTI is the only book from this year that I've read.

If you feel that it is a really, really good novel I don't see why you couldn't nominate it. And BTW after a quick look at your Shelfari shelf you seem to have read 5 more stories that would be eligible: the four novellas in Declassified plus New Frontier: Blind Man's Bluff.

Oh, for some reason I was thinking that you could only nominate stuff with a 2012 release date.
EDIT: I voted.

 

[Christopher]

^But DTI: Watching the Clock has a 2011 release date. I haven't yet had anything published in 2012 (Forgotten History is next month's book).

 

[JD]

Oh, it did. I was thinking for some reason it was the January book for this year. I don't know where that idea came from.

 

[bok2384]

After much deliberation (so many great novels in 2011), I went for...

• Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer
• Rise Like Lions by David Mack
• Typhon Pact: The Struggle Within by Christopher L. Bennett

 

[JD]

I went with Watching the Clock, and The Ruins of Noble Men and The Stars Look Down from Vanguard: Declassified.

 

[Defcon]

The nomination phase has closed and the ten stories with the most nominations are now up for the final poll:

These are the ten stories that received the most nominations for the annual Story of the Year poll last week, in alphabetical order:

Borrowed Time by Naomi Alderman (a Doctor Who novel – BBC Books, June 2011)


Children of the Storm by Kirsten Beyer (a Star Trek novel – Pocket Books, June 2011)


Choices of One by Timothy Zahn (a Star Wars novel – Del Rey, July 2011)


The Cold Equations by Simon Guerrier (a Doctor Who audio drama – Big Finish, June 2011)


Darth Plagueis by James Luceno (a Star Wars novel – Del Rey, January 2012)


The First Wave by Simon Guerrier (a Doctor Who audio drama – Big Finish, November 2011)


The House of the Dead by James Goss (a Torchwood radio play – BBC Radio 4, July 2011)


Rise Like Lions by David Mack (a Star Trek novel – Pocket Books, November 2011)


To the Death by Nicholas Briggs (a Doctor Who audio drama – Big Finish, March 2011)


Watching the Clock by Christopher L. Bennett (a Star Trek novel – Pocket Books, May 2011)

Over the next seven days, you can vote for one favourite from this shortlist. The story with the most votes at the end of the week gets the Story of the Year title, and its writer gets a trophy. There’s also a trophy for the runner-up.

You can vote here: http://unreality-sf.net/2012/03/26/ten-top-tie-ins/

 

[Greg Cox]

Congrats to all the nominees!

 

[JD]

Voted.

 

[David Mack]

I think I voted; I selected a title, clicked VOTE, and got a blank screen with no confirmation message. I'd vote again to make sure, but I don't want to cancel out my original vote.

 

[Defcon]

Hmm, usually you should be directed to a screen where it confirms your vote (It did for me when I voted earlier.) I will point Dan to your post here, just in case.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

I just voted. Good luck to all the nominees

 

[Defcon]

Update on the problem with voting:

Obviously there was a problem with the confirmation page for some people. The confirmation page has been removed for the moment, so if you're vote was successful you'll be redirected to the front page (ETA: I've been informed there now should be a Thank You page).

If you have voted earlier today and got the same blank screen David Mack got and not the confirmation page, you should recast your vote as it hasn't gone through. Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Stevil2001]

Oh man, if Simon Guerrier loses because the Simon Guerrier vote is split, I am gonna be ANGRY.