The United Federation of Charles 2020 Indie Book Awards

Hey folks,

I thought 2019 was a year that was going to be an enormous pair and I actually missed out on doing my awards for that year. Well, it had absolutely nothing on 2020 and I was actually expecting it to be skipped as well. However, being quarantined for as long as I was turned into a chance to read even more books than my normal bibliophile brain.

Sculpture of HP Lovecraft by Bryan Moore/copyright 2009.

You may wonder why I'm presenting a bust of H.P. Lovecraft as my award. Well, for two reasons, the first is the World Fantasy Awards aren't using it anymore and second since this is just a picture of a bust that costs nothing--I might as well actually make it look good.

All of the contest awards are judged and presented by me with no input involved. I am completely fair in my judgement and will explain why I made the choices I need. If you have a problem with my decisions, well, it's just a blog award dude. I know a couple of these authors but that has not influenced my vote and even if it did--it would still be more honest than Hollywood.

For those who are enjoying these awards, they may wonder what the criteria for my awards are for. Well, out of the couple of hundred books I've read this year, I choose those that best fit my categories as well as being published in 2020. They also have been indie books not published by any of the big six publishers. This isn't meant to represent even a fraction of the books published this year but just bring attention to books I think really deserve it.

Enjoy!

BEST OF 2020

 
WINNER: Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn

This is going to be a surprising choice to many as it ended up being one of my last reads of the year. However, this wonderful steampunk fantasy story about a mining boom town under the control of an evil corporation was fantastic. Very LGBT friendly too. It was up against some stiff competition but its my pick of the year. It would normally be the winner of my "Best Steampunk" award but it's the only one in that genre I read this year so I decided to give it this award instead.

RUNNER UP: Paternus: War of Gods by Dyrk Ashton

Paternus: War of Gods could have easily won any of the other categories but I think it deserves to be acknowledged as the second best book I read this year. The epic conclusion to Paternus was something that just blew me away and I have to say I mourned the death, cheered the victories, and was very satisfied with the ending.

BEST INDEPENDENT FANTASY 

 
WINNER: A Wizard's Sacrifice by A.M. Justice

This was a tough call because there were so many fantastic books out this year in fantasy. I could name dozens of them really. However, if I was going to say which one affected me the most then I'm going to definitely say the sequel to A Wizard's Forge did it for me. This is just a fantastic book and really steps up the game from what I already felt was a great book.

 RUNNER UP: Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher

Michael R. Fletcher is a grandmaster of grimdark and fantasy both. Black Stone Heart is one of his best novels yet, though. The protagonist is on a quest to recover the fragments of his heart but is a savage, unspeakable monster until then or perhaps just an animal. However, can regaining his heart actually make him worse? A fantastic dark fantasy novel that easily could have been one of my favorite grimdarks this year.

BEST GRIMDARK

WINNER: Kings of Heaven by Richard Nell

This was always going to happen because the Ash and Sand series has been one of my favorite since Kings of Paradise won a previous "Best Of" on this blog. However, I think it was slightly edged out by its brethren even as it remains the best grimdark work I've read. Ruka's story is one of triumph and tragedy with traditional morality simply not applying to him. It was a satisfying and tremendous conclusion to a fascinating story.

RUNNER UP: The Last Benediction in Steel by Kevin Wright 

Honestly, Kevin Wright should be as famous as Rob Hayes and both of them should be as famous as Joe Abercrombie or Mark Lawrence. Kevin Wright is a fantastic author with a special gift for grimdark. This story follows up Lords of Asylum in a way that's arguably even darker than that awesome book. Religious fanatics have taken over the one town in Europe not afflicted with the Black Death. Unfortunately, a heretic, a pagan, a heathen, a fallen noblewoman, and a Jew are our heroes.

BEST INDEPENDENT SCIFI/CYBERPUNK

WINNER: Neon Leviathan by T.R. Napper 

Neon Leviathan was always going to win this category because it is a fantastic cyberpunk book and if it had been published in the 1980s would have entered the pantheon of Neuomancer, Snow Crash, and other legends. Now, it's sadly still underrated. Basically, a bunch of short stories tied together in a cyberpunk Australia after a second Vietnam War--it just oozes atmosphere from beginning to end. This could easily be adapted into a Black Mirror-esque TV show.

RUNNER UP: Star Quest: All that Remains by Patricia Lee Macomber

This could not be more far removed from Neon Leviathan and had a tough competition with several other novels. However, I just love Patricia Lee Macomber's fantastic homage to Star Trek that is just bursting with bright bubbly optimism about the future. This is the sequel to a previous novel and forming into a kind of television series-esque sequel. I certainly could read dozens of these.

BEST CTHULHU MYTHOS

WINNER: Ashes of Onyx by Seth Skorkowsky

 
I'm a big fan of Seth Skorkowsky's writing and I really recommend his Valducan and Tales of the Black Raven series. Ashes of Onyx is a very different sort of book, though. Dealing with a drug addicted magician who must journey to the plane of Dreams as well as deal with distant Carcosa, it is a wild and psychadelic trip. While not tentacles and Cthulhu, it does make a fantastic homage to HPL's Dream Cycle.

RUNNER UP: War of the God Queen by David Hambling

I am a huge fan of David Hambling's Harry Stubbs series and I hope he continues that for at least twelve books. However, I was also a fan of his book The Dulwich Horror that dealt with a group of turn of the (previous) century English schoolmates. They ended up summoning something they couldn't put down and one of them was cast into the distant past. Now trapped in a time when humans were nomads and monsters were eating people, our heroine has to become a Connecticut Yankee without any knowledge of metallurgy or what Mark Twain's hero was weirdly possessed of.

BEST SUPERHERO

WINNER: Bones of the Past by Drew Hayes

I was a big fan of Drew Hayes' Forging Hephaestus and the fantastic workd that he created here. So I was very pleased to discover that it had a sequel this year. I loved the friendly enemy relationship between the villains and heroes that was severed in the previous book. If you like superhero fiction then this will be a fantastic addition to your collection.

RUNNER UP: Accused Hero by Darius Brasher

I'm probably annoying the author by putting this above his Crisis book. That book has been built up for multiple volumes and is a massive conflict between good and evil. Yet, I have to say I really liked this even more. Accused Hero is a gritty superhero detective story about sex, lies, blackmail, and murder. Perhaps it is more noir than comic book but I still loved it.  

BEST URBAN FANTASY

WINNER: Holy Sheoly by Hunter Blain

Holy Sheoly is the latest book of an amazing series I discovered called the Preternatural Chronicles. They've been recently re-released and have some truly fantastic audiobooks as narrated by Luke Daniels. A vampire vigilante named John Cook has been tasked with fighting the Devil and it only gets crazier from there with missions to hell and places worse than hell.

RUNNER UP: Wannabe Wizard by Rick Gualtieri and R.E. Carr

Wannabe Wizard almost got the main spot here but I admit I kind of gave extra props for how each of the Preternatural Chronicles added up together into something more than the whole of is parts. However, I absolutely love the Second String Savior books that combine Greek mythology, urban fantasy, and teen drama into the funniest thing since Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I hope you enjoyed my recommendations!