SCKA 2019 - The finalists

We have read.
We have politely disagreed.
We have discussed some more.
There's been some chaos.

We have finalists!

Chaos is kind of our trademark. So one book has moved from category to the other after we have started reading and we've missed one deadline. Could have been worse!
Subjectivity is also our trademark. Which is why our point system means that we can end up with two, or three (or four, last year!) finalists. As demonstrated below.

SCIENCE-FICTION

Our finalists  are:

• Tade Thompson, Rosewater. Thompson won last year in the novella category and he's back in form this year. (I suppose there's a chance he'll appear next year in the Series category!) The reprint of Rosewater gave us the opportunity to nominate it.
  
• James Smythe, I Still Dream. Quite an interesting novel, which I enjoyed reading despite some niggles and a worthy finalist.
• Catherynne Valente, Space Opera. You either love it or hate it. I, for one, was amazed by the writing tour de force, and the sheer, unabashed Eurovision-ess of it!

FANTASY

Two incredibly different novels made it to the final, both very worthy of it.

• R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War. An epic fantasy, often grim, which really gripped me for the first half of the book.
  
• Aliya Whiteley, The Loosening Skin. It's no secret I'm a big fan of Aliya Whiteley and I've loved this sometimes hard, sometimes bitter sweet novel, about love, relationships and the never ending quest of finding oneself.

NOVELLAS

I may be biased, but I think we have here two of the finest novellas published last year.

• Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Prime Meridian. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
  
• Aliette de Bodard, The Tea Master and the Detective. Another fine story in her Xuya universe, it offers a retelling of Holmes and Watson.
  

SERIES

I'm not taking part in the voting in either round for the series category this year, but my fellow jurors have picked two series that have been praised a lot.

• Dave Hutchinson, Fractured Europe.
  
• Yoon Ha-Lee, Machineries of Empire.
  

BLURRED BOUNDARIES

What I love with the Blurred Boundaries category is how these books challenge any attempt at putting them in a box and I wasn't disappointed in the offerings this year again.
Our finalists are:

• Maria Dahvana Headley, The Mere Wife. A hypnotic retelling of Beowulf, with a social class discourse. Quite bleak but it remained with me for a long time.
  
• Rebecca Roanhorse, Trail of Lightning. Taking place in a quite interesting setting, this novel is packed with action.
  
• Maria Mascarenhas, The Psychology of Time Travel. Part whodunnit, part time travel novel, part psychological exploration of characters, part romance. Wonderful!
  

We are now into the second round. Some of us will re-read, others will attempt to sway the others. We may find new, inventive way to introduce chaos.

We will announce the results in August, during WorldCon because a bunch of us will be there. You can follow us on Twitter (we do not argue in the open, though you may find your timeline inundated with gifs) to get the results as we announce them.
We are @imyril, @hammard_1987, @runalongwomble, @lazyhedwig, @bluebookballon, @eowyn_w and @themiddleshelf1.

Disclaimer: Hammard's bunnies were harmed during the making of these awards.