The inaugural Dragon Awards have taken place at DragonCon, with fifteen works of science fiction and fantasy across the fields of literature, comics, film, television, and gaming being honored with fiery-red trophies.
The Dragon Awards claim to offer “a true reflection of the works that are genuinely most beloved by the core audience,” while a report from The Verge states that the results “highlight the populist side of science fiction and fantasy.” However, a closer look reveals that the winners reflect a rather more specific side.
Since they were first announced earlier this year, the Dragon Awards caught the eyes of the Sad and Rabid Puppies campaigns, which were initiated to influence the works chosen for Worldcon’s Hugo Awards. The Dragon Awards’ voting process is conducted through a simple online poll open to anyone with an e-mail address, and the rules state that it is acceptable for authors to campaign for votes; all in all, the new awards were the perfect fit for the strategies used by the Puppy campaigns.
Four of the seven novel categories were won by pro-Puppy authors. Son of the Black Sword, by Sad Puppies founder Larry Correia, was named Best Fantasy Novel; John C. Wright’s Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm took the prize for Best Science Fiction Novel; Brian Niemeier’s Souldancer won the Best Horror Novel award; and Nick Cole’s Ctrl Alt Revolt! went away with the trophy for Best Apocalyptic Novel.
Most of these authors made specific attempts to rally Puppy supporters in their directions. Correia made multiple blog posts encouraging his “wrongfan” readers to vote, Wright stated that “your votes that were unwelcome at the World Con are most welcome at Dragon Con,” and Niemeier gave his book away for free so as to attract voters.
Outside of Puppy circles, the award for Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel went to Hell’s Foundations Quiver by David Weber, Naomi Novik’s League of Dragons was named Best Alternate History Novel, and the late Terry Pratchett won a posthumous award for Best Young Adult or Middle Grade Novel thanks to his book The Shepherd’s Crown.
It is worth noting that a few of the novels not written by pro-Puppy authors still enjoyed support from the Puppy campaigns. During the voting period, Rabid Puppies founder Vox Day posted a list of his personal picks, which, in terms of the novel categories, almost exactly tally up with the eventual winners; the only difference is that his Best Young Adult choice was Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer rather than the Pratchett book. In the case of Naomi Novik, Day was forced to begrudgingly admit that she is a good writer even while labeling her an “SJW-lite.”
One result of this campaigning is that novels with which the Sad Puppies were generally unfamiliar appear to have been at a disadvantage.
This is most evident in the category for horror fiction, a genre in which the Puppies have previously shown little interest. The winning novel, Souldancer, currently has just eight reviews on Amazon and three on Goodreads; any award handed to it clearly does not reflect “the works that are genuinely most beloved by the core audience” or “the populist side of science fiction and fantasy.” It would seem that Souldancer succeeded in beating out more popular horror nominees, such as Christina Henry’s Alice, merely because its author is pro-Puppy.
Outside of the novel categories, Sad Puppy influence is harder to discern.
The comic and moving image awards went to works that have also been honoured at the Hugos in recent years: Ms. Marvel, by G. Willow Wilson and her artistic team, was named Best Comic Book; Neil Gaiman and J. H. Williams III’s The Sandman: Overture took Best Graphic Novel; the title of Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series went to Game of Thrones; and The Martian was voted Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie.
Finally, unlike the Hugos, the Dragon Awards recognize gaming. Bethesda Softworks’ Fallout franchise won big, with Fallout 4 winning in the PC/Console Game category and Fallout Shelter taking the Mobile Game prize. In the tabletop gaming categories, Pandemic: Legacy was the choice for Board Game while the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game got the prize in the (frankly rather cluttered) category of Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role Playing Game.
Will future iterations of the Dragon Awards remain dominated by the Sad Puppies circle, or will the awards will attract a broader voting base? If the latter, we are left with the question of whether the Dragons will continue to honor self-published and niche authors or begin to lean more towards juggernauts such as Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, and Neil Gaiman.
Only time will tell. For now, the Women Write About Comics crew intend to review all fifteen of the Dragon Award winners, so watch this space.
2016 Dragon Awards: Winners and Nominees
1. Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner: Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwitheriing Realm by John C. Wright
Agent of the Imperium by Marc Miller
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Life Engineered by J-F Dubeau
Raising Caine by Charles E. Gannon
2. Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)
Winner: Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
Asteroid Made of Dragons by G. Derek Adams
Blood Hound by James Osiris Baldwin
Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer
The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Grave Measures by R.R. Virdi
3. Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel
Winner: The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett
Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Changeling’s Island by Dave Freer
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley
Trix and the Faerie Queen by Alethea Kontis
Updraft by Fran Wilde
4. Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
Winner: Hell’s Foundations Quiver by David Weber
Allies and Enemies: Fallen by Amy J. Murphy
Blood in the Water by Taylor Anderson
Chains of Command by Marko Kloos
The End of All Things by John Scalzi
The Price of Valor by Django Wexler
Wrath of an Angry God: A Military Space Opera by Gibson Michaels
5. Best Alternate History Novel
Winner: League of Dragons by Naomi Novik
1635: A Parcel of Rogues by Eric Flint & Andrew Dennis
1636: The Cardinal Virtues by Eric Flint & Walter H. Hunt
Bombs Away: The Hot War by Harry Turtledove
Deadlands: Ghostwalkers by Jonathan Maberry
Germanica by Robert Conroy
6. Best Apocalyptic Novel
Winner: Ctrl Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole
Chasing Freedom by Marina Fontaine
Dark Age by Felix O. Hartmann
The Desert and the Blade by S.M. Stirling
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
A Time to Die by Mark Wandrey
7. Best Horror Novel
Winner: Souldancer by Brian Niemeier
Alice by Christina Henry
Chapelwood by Cherie Priest
Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay
Honor at Stake by Declan Finn
An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel
8. Best Comic Book
Winner: Ms. Marvel – Marvel
Astro City – Vertigo
Saga – Image
Civil War II – Marvel
Daredevil – Marvel
DC Universe: Rebirth – DC
Providence – Avatar
9. Best Graphic Novel
Winner: The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III
Chicago by Glenn Head
Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine
March: Book Two by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin
Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia
Virgil by Steve Orlando and J.D. Faith
10. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series
Winner: Game of Thrones – HBO
Daredevil – Netflix
Doctor Who – BBC
The Expanse – Syfy
The Flash – CW
Jessica Jones – Netflix
Outlander – Starz
11. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie
Winner: The Martian, dir. Ridley Scott
Ant-Man, dir. Peyton Reed
Captain America: Civil War, dir. Joe and Anthony Russo
Crimson Peak, dir. Guillermo del Toro
Deadpool, dir. Tim Miller
Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens, dir. J.J. Abrams
12. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game
Fallout 4 by Bethesda Softworks
Darkest Dungeon by Red Hook Studios
Metal Gear Solid V by Konami Digital Entertainment
Overwatch by Blizzard Entertainment
Undertale by Toby Fox
XCOM 2 by 2k Games
13. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game
Winner: Fallout Shelter by Bethesda Softworks
Hyper Burner by Patrick Cook
PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist by Outerminds Inc.
Quaser One by Emre Taskin
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes by Electronic Arts
14. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game
Winner: Pandemic: Legacy by ZMan Games
Blood Rage by Cool Mini or Not
Codenames by Vlaada Chvatil
Monopoly: CTHULHU by USAopoly
Star Wars: Rebellion by Fantasy Flight Games
Talon by GMT Games
15. Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game
Winner: Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (7th Edition) by Chaosium Inc.
Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls by Flying Buffalo
Magic the Gathering: Battle of Zendikar by Wizards of the Coast
Magic the Gathering: Shadows over Innistrad by Wizards of the Coast
Mouse Guard (2nd Edition) by David Petersen & Luke Crane
Star Wars: Armada by Fantasy Flight Games
Dragon Con announced it on their page when it was started (in April),more than a few people spread it about on social media,Dragon Con advertised it themselves on social media (and they have 142k followers on Facebook where Dragon Con advertised it multiple times) after putting it on the Dragon Con page and both Dragon Con media and Dragon Con itself announced the awards on twitter in April and dropped reminders when the ballot came out and when deadline was approaching. In addition to that it ranged across Locus Magazine,File 770,I09 and many other online sources. The announcement was written about in multiple languages across the world. In addition to that many authors including John Scalzi (and GRRM if I remember correctly) talked about it on social media. If there had been any more advertisement they would have needed to go to television advertisements or door to door with a marching band. In short there was more publicity than most of the awards see annually.
As to the book complained about? It was in the top 100 free books on Amazon shortly after the final ballots were announced and the various authors nominated started pushing the fact they were nominated.
“As to the book complained about? It was in the top 100 free books on Amazon shortly after the final ballots were announced and the various authors nominated started pushing the fact they were nominated.”
That would suggest that Souldancer’s downloads got a boost from people who had seen the list of Dragon nominees, were curious about them, and decided to download Niemeier’s book because it was free at the time. That tells us nothing as to how many people actually read and liked the thing. I notice that Souldancer is currently at #48,041 in the paid Kindle chart and #771,119 in physical books, so the number of copies it’s been shifting appears to have plummeted once Niemeier went back to charging for it.
Plus, we’re still left with the near-total absence of word-of-mouth buzz. Where are all the bloggers eagerly reviewing it, or even acknowledging that they’ve read it? Where are all the forum discussions and podcasts?
For the Dragon Awards to be everything they claim, then Souldancer would have to be one of the top few best-loved horror novels published from mid-2015 to mid-2016. It clearly isn’t.
The new awards were patched together very last minute, with a minimum of publicity.
There was a small amount of discussion online in general, and on the usual puppy sites, but I don’t think most people attending Dragon Con had any idea they even existed.
Unfortunately, they were set up in an incredibly easy-to-game way, since all you needed to vote was a unique email.
Which is to say that this year’s award only measures some number of votes cast by an unknowable number of actual voters.
Perhaps next year they could link it to actual Dragon Com members, so that the name actually reflected something real.
And maybe even tweak the categories a bit more, tie them into the programming somehow?
Dragon com is so varied and wide-ranging, I’d like to see awards that better reflected that con’s strengths.
“Something did not go my way. It must be a conspiracy.”
– What Hugo Insiders Have Said to Mock Sad Puppies For the Last Several Years
Another classic being: “Don’t Like How the Hugos Turned Out? Go Make Your Own Awards!”
The only real difference between Dragons and Hugos, frankly, is that one of them has a poll tax.
I don’t mean to imply that there was a conspiracy. The impression I get is that the voting process simply had a low turnout, leading to a disproportionately high number of voters belonging to the same niche.
I followed the Dragon Awards since they were first announced, and it seemed clear to me that most of the people excited about them were Puppies, with a few non-Puppy small press writers on the side. The results aren’t especially surprising to me.
I don’t know how familiar with Dragon Con you are, but it’s like many cons in one – gaming, YA, sf, fantasy and comics are all separate tracks and are run by different people – so if people who attend those tracks were voting, it seems likely that the track composition and leadership might have something to do with it. Very few people I talked to at the con were even aware of the awards this year. I hope that people rally and organize to vote against the Puppies if they continue to have the award. I wonder if Con organizers will release the info on how many votes were even cast. I went to the SF lit track’s trivia game and it does seem as if that track in particular is dominated by older white dudes. Baen publishing was described as a “friend of the con.” Other tracks (like comics) are much more progressive, regularly including panels on gender, sexuality and race in comics, and with Afua Richardson, Amanda Conner and Kelly Sue DeConnick as regular guests.