Rushing to Review Dragon Award Nominees

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Books mentioned in this blog post:

When I opened my Dragon Award ballot yesterday, I was APPALLED to discover that in three Major Award categories, I had not read/reviewed a single entry, and in two more, had only read/reviewed one each. This is not acceptable to me!

So, I am making it my goal to read and review as many of them as possible.

QUERY: DO I HAVE TIME TO FINISH?
According to the Dragon Award FAQ,

"Voting for the finalists will begin in early August and end at 11:59 pm, EDT, on the Saturday of Dragon Con weekend, September 1, 2018."

That gives me 22 days to read and review 40 major works, excluding comic books, graphic novels, TV series, movies, and games+. I likely will exclude the BEST HORROR NOVEL category (six titles), since I don't read horror. I will also probably exclude BEST MEDIA TIE-IN NOVEL (six titles), since I live in a cave in a swamp over a burned castle, and know nothing about media. Excluding both of those categories leaves me with 28 works to read, and I have no idea how long each one is, and I have no idea if they are all going to be available to me.

To make this at all possible, I stopped, immediately at 44%, reading the glamorous and voluptuous Tom Ashwell's book, "The Halo Effect'. I explained the circumstances to him in a private communication. By the way, I was enjoying that read IMMENSELY; it's what Douglas Adams would have written, if he had known anything about science.

And then, last night, I set about reading the nominated titles. I am 64% of the way through "The Mutineer's Daughter," by Chris Kennedy and Thomas A Mays, a nominee in the "Best Science Fiction Novel" category.

My plan is to make a blog post, as well as Amazon and Goodreads reviews, for each of the books I can accommodate in the time left to me.

And now, for the apologies: I have six books in my TBR&R queue, in addition to the aforementioned 'The HALO Effect.' I RARELY disrupt my queue once it is formed, but I WILL insert a book out-of-sequence if it has JUST been published, since early reviews can help readers decide where to spend their money and time. The same applies with awards; reviews may make a difference, for people who haven't had the opportunity to read everything that has been nominated.

Therefore, I pray you will overlook my actions, gentle authors, in postponing my reviews of your works for a brief season: Amanda S. Green, writing as Sam Schall, 'Fire From Ashes;' David L. Burkhead, 'Study in Black and Red;' Lloyd Behm II, 'Ghosts of Baikonur;' Cyn Bagley, 'Dark Moon Rising;' Mackey Chandler, 'Been There, Done That;' Tom Rogneby, 'Escort Duty.' I will return to this list JUST AS SOON as I have read and reviewed the 2018 Dragon Award Nominees, or, at least as many of them that I can access, which means that I should be open for regular business on or about September 2.

Peace be on your household.