2015 Goodreads Choice Awards Now Open for Voting
Where did the year go? The Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 are now open for opening round voting!
This is one of our earliest looks at a “Best Books of 2015” list. Goodreads chooses 15 books and leaves a write-in spot. They then put up 20 choices for the next round of voting. Since that is such a broad list, and we have at least 3-4 categories that overlap with the Hugos/Nebulas in some capacity (Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and YA SF+F), it’s a pretty safe bet that the eventual Hugo/Nebula winner will show up on this list in some capacity.
Goodreads is also run by a huge internet vote, so if you wonder why kind of SFF books would win under those rules, here’s your chance.
A couple notes:
SF: Aurora by Kim Stanely Robinson doesn’t make the initial 15, but Ancillary Mercy, Seveneves, The Dark Forest, The End of all Things, and Nemesis Games are all there.
Fantasy: This list continues to be an awkward mix of Urban Fantasy and Fantasy novels. I’m not sure those audiences are the same, and we’d probably be better off with two lists. The big snub here is Uprooted, which incomprehensibly shows up on the YA list, not this one. Jemisin, Gaiman, Schwab, Sanderson, and Butcher all show up here. Other snubs include the more experimental fantasy novels of the year, including Grace of Kings, Sorcerer to the Crown, and The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
Horror: I’m not seeing a lot of Hugo/Nebula crossover potential from this year’s Horror list.
YA SF+F: Like I said, Uprooted is to be found here. Weirdly, Golden Son isn’t here, but over in the Adult SF category. Who knows how they make these decisions.
It doesn’t look to my eye that anyone from the Fiction category has speculative elements.
This is just the opening salvo in the rush of year end lists—they’ll be everywhere in the next month or two, and Chaos Horizon will do it’s best to keep on top of them.
Chaos Horizon 
Speaking of goodreads, did you see this list ?
It didn’t seem much to me at first glance, but when you look at the figures, it is actually the most powerful (in the statistic sens) reccomendation list you will ever get on the Hugos !
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/88604.Hugo_2016_Eligible_Works#23943137
Good link. Only 50 voters so far, but it certainly gives some good direction as to what might happen. I think Goodreads overestimates the popularity of the Schwab and underestimates the Cixin Liu (there are some demographic issues on Goodreads that slant the results), but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Novik / Stephenson / Leckie at the top of the ballot come next Spring.
Actually, checking back, 226 voters. It is Uprooted which lead with 51 vote so far. That early in the season I find the feast impressive.
After that, it is of course impossible to know whether the taste of the Hugo voters and of those goodreaders lay in the same direction.
Thanks for the correction. 226 is a pretty good turnout this early in the season.
There is a 2015 version if you want a retrospective impression.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/78740.Hugo_2015_Eligible_Works
So, 2 obvious campaigning for minor books (with less then 100 ratings !), one book nominated despite being not eligible, and one obvious difference with the actual voters (the Sanderson).
But once you do the pruning, not such a bad prediction of the puppy-free list : 3 out of 5. They spectacularly miss the Liu, though.