Categories: DA BWAHA Award
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by SB Sarah • Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 06:46 AM
It’s March Madness time which means brackets, spoilers, and, of course, romance books! Admittedly, the last element of the list is a rarely known component of March Madness, one that is often lost amongst the basketball hoopla. Which is so wrong, we will do all kinds of crazy shit to make it right.
We thought it was time to shine a light on the major, but forgotten, player. This year, Dear Author and the Smart Bitches have combined their internet foo to bring you the DA BWAHA tournament. (That would be the Dear Author-Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors for the acronym challenged).
It is a tournament of books that will be held during this month of March to determine THE ONE BOOK THAT WILL RULE THEM ALL. (No comment on which book will bind them. That’s kinky, and we don’t go there on the first date.)
This tournament will be run exactly like the NCAA Collegiate basketball tournament. If you’re not familiar with bracketology, March Madness, or the absolute insanity that is the NCAA basketball playoffs, hold on to the seat of your pants.
GLBT?
Something, Lettuce, Bacon, Tomato?
said on...I think it stands for “gay, lesbian, bi, or trans”
Not sure about that though....
said on...Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual.
Anji said on...Taking Bracketology to a whole new level! Yay, this sounds like fun!
And nice acronym, btw! void(0);
wink
I know that it happens all the time, but I still think it’s odd to group spaceships and ray guns in the same “Paranormal” category as vampires, werewolves and wizards. Also, what category does Romantic Suspense fit into? “Novel With Romantic Elements?”
Hey it’s like the Eukenuba Dog Show but instead of a Bull Mastiff competing against a Toy Poodle and Cocker Spaniel, we have Alternate Worlds competing against Bad Prom Dates and Kinky Threesomes! WOW!
Sounds like a blast! Although dngrgirl does have a point. Shouldn’t the Yorkies compete against Yorkies before moving on to the Toy Group?
;-)
said on...Just out of curiosity, given that the sites you’ve chosen are skewed heavily toward the G and B, what are you doing to make sure the L and T are represented in this?
“Just out of curiosity, given that the sites you’ve chosen are skewed heavily toward the G and B...”
Which reminds me, back to my comment on the Paranormal category: I’m sure the SpecRom Online people would have some suggestions for SF/F Romance titles.
The thing is, you start splitting off into separate categories for SF/fantasy/urban paranormal or whatever it’s being called this week...you have to do the same for other subgenres (which era of historical? Should Recency have its own section? Must we judge gay against lesbian against menage? etc) until you end up with gazillions, and yet still someone’s left unrepresented.
Still, take heart. My mother calls all paranormal books ‘Dark-huntery’ and all paranormal TV ‘sci-fi’. Lord of the Rings? Dark-huntery book, sci-fi film. Of course. It’s like grouping an Afghan with a Daschund. No...wait, they do that, don’t they?
No, unfortunately, the L and T is not well represented. Let us know who we should contact for next year’s tourney.
Also, we did do very broad categories because in the bracketology math, you have to have 8 categories. (4 regions with 2 categories in each region).
Yes, it is a big can of worms that could present problems. There are more than a few readers who love the vampires, but want nothing to do with faster than light travel, dark matter and artificial intelligence. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
We’ll have to see how the factions battle it out then. :) The light sabers against the vampire teeth.
I personally love it all, but I think I’m in the minority on that. Maybe we’ll end up with “Dark-huntery Jedi Vampires” or something.
I looked at our slate of nominees and it isn’t very strong on the space stories. But maybe next year. You’ll have to let us know how we can improve for the next year. I think each time something like this gets done, it’s always a learning process.
Dude, if you can tell me where to buy some Dark Huntery Jedi Vampire fiction, I am so all over that.
Fr srsly.
There is a steep learning curve to something like this and each year I can see it improving. I’d suggest tapping into the SpecRom people. Linnea Sinclair had two books released in 2007: Down Home Zombie Blues and Games of Command. Susan Grant had My Favorite Earthling and How to Lose an Extraterrestrial in 10 Days. Several Shomi books came out in 2007 like Liz Maverick’s Wired, Marianne Mancusi’s Moongazer and Eve Kenin’s Driven.
So, there’s a lot of SFR to choose from right now.
Dude, if you can tell me where to buy some Dark Huntery Jedi Vampire fiction, I am so all over that.
Yes, but will you be there in costume? :)
It’s like grouping an Afghan with a Daschund. No...wait, they do that, don’t they?
See...the Dog Show competition analogy works! And, let me tell you, THAT is one mutt I’d be interested in seeing! LOL!
dangrgrl,
No. Just no. ;)
But oh, yummy Jedi with fangs. A girl can dream. ;)
said on...1st: Paperspine rocks.
2nd: Where’s the list? It’s coming out on Sunday? Will it be posted here? Where can I go to nominate?
I WANT TO NOMINATE… I’m not a blogger, though. /cry
spamword: tell76. I’ll tell more than that, if only I knew how to!!
No nominations this year. We decided to field the slate of 64 ourselves this year (kind of because of timing). Next year, we may take nominations or we may not.
Originally, when Candy and I talked way back when about how to divide up the subgenres (aside: I just had lunch with Very Cool People and was describing romance in terms of a person with a few hundred multiple personalities - so many disparate sub genres in one general genre holy crapping damn) and she came up with this amazing division, which I think worked for sorting, but didn’t work at all in bracketology.
Oh, how I love typing the word “bracketology.” And “Bracketologist.”
So anyway, Candy broke down Paranormal into four subsets, and as usual, she’s all smart and crap:
The immortal and the undead
Shapechangers
Fey folk
Celestials and the Underworld
Mutants, Superpowers and Mind Readers
She later emailed me:
“… or would it be easier to divvy it up roughly as Horror, High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and SF?”
The real test was naming a title and trying to figure out if it was an exception to the existing subcategories, and that was before we tried fitting it into a tourney system. There are so many ways to address the paranormal subgenre alone, it makes for challenging task lists when you try to sort that into a bracket.
But even if you’re not fond of the way we’ve done it this year, you know we’re reading/listening when you offer your suggestions.
Am I the only one who’s looking at this contest as Just For Fun and therefore sees no need to nitpick the book categories? Because that’s where I stand. Perhaps I’m alone, like the proverbial solo cheese.
Try to say ““bracketology” three times while rubbing your tummy and patting your head.
It is challenging and I’m glad to hear you’ve had conversations about it. In the first group, I’m not sure where SF fits in. I’m partial to Horror, High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and SF, myself.
Am I the only one who’s looking at this contest as Just For Fun and therefore sees no need to nitpick the book categories?
I am having fun. :) But I always have more fun when more SF is involved.
said on...i am totally looking forward to this. can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!
said on...Everyone who is nitpicking the categories (ahem, offering well-reasoned criticisms of the choices) is honoring the original tournament. I have never participated in a pool that didn’t feature major carping about the allocation of teams to regions. Read any sports blog during the days after the announcement, and that’s half the coverage (e.g., You can’t possibly put Gonzaga in the South, that’s totally unfair, or Why does Duke get to play in Winston-Salem but UNC goes to Syracuse, etc. etc.).
Will there be a streaming video of the bracket selection process? With commercial breaks between the regions?
I am sooo in.
Everyone who is nitpicking the categories (ahem, offering well-reasoned criticisms of the choices) is honoring the original tournament.
YES! bring on the picking of nits, only not literally because I have seen that done and omg I was psychosomatically itchy for WEEKS afterward.
note to parents: please don’t send your kids to summer sleepaway camp if you KNOW they have lice. It’s really, really awful in many, many ways.
Sunita, you are so correct. Also, since DA and SBTB were the selection committee we can’t also serve as bracketologists. That has to be someone else’s role so the streaming video has to be done by someone else.
But yes, it is supposed to be fun, but we also want to hear people’s complaints. It won’t ruin our fun, honest.
said on...I’m tellin’ ya, you need Karen Traviss in the SF category. Spaceships. Polyamory. With an alien. Seriously scary kick-ass heroine. Her new book, Judge, which is the final in the Shan Frankland/Wess’har series, comes out today. All kinds of whoop ass is about to be visited upon earth.
Ooooh, eerie submit word. feeling47. Why yes, I am feeling 47. I won’t feel 48 until May 10.
I’m down for whatever, honest! I’m not nit-picking (ohh, SB Sarah, that IS so gross!) I’m just so stoked (damn I love that word! I’m such a white girl) to be having this!
I’m not sure about streaming video, however, as I am always online at work, and that might raise a few flags I’d rather not have hoisted.
Otherwise, I’m here for the ride!
I’m tellin’ ya, you need Karen Traviss in the SF category. Spaceships. Polyamory. With an alien. Seriously scary kick-ass heroine.
Oh. My. All you had to do was say kick-ass heroine, the rest is icing on the cake.
I had not heard of Karen Traviss, but I see that she’s a Campbell and a Philip K. Dick Award finalist, each twice. Thanks for the recommendation. There goes another few books onto my heaping TBR pile…
GBLT!
guacamole, bacon, lettuce and tomato
MMMMMMM bacon!
I had not heard of Karen Traviss, but I see that she’s a Campbell and a Philip K. Dick Award finalist, each twice. Thanks for the recommendation. There goes another few books onto my heaping TBR pile…
Start with City of Pearl. The series has a bit of an animal rights slant that bothers me. OTOH, her characters are so well drawn and her world building so excellent you forgive her. And one of the really great things about the series is that the otherworld species (there are two major other intelligent species in this series) is seriously, majorly more advanced than man. Both in tech and in culture. Not a lot of overt sex but it doesn’t need it.
Start with City of Pearl.
Sounds great. It’s already added to my Amazon wish list. :)
note to parents: please don’t send your kids to summer sleepaway camp if you KNOW they have lice. It’s really, really awful in many, many ways.
OMG, Sarah, did you have to bring up that FOUR letter word?! The HORROR! I went thru that nightmare with my twins about two years ago (one of whom attracted those buggers from 50-mile radius, I swear). I’m shaving their heads next time!
Back to the Dog Show analogy, I’d much prefer to talk about fleas - they’re 10x easier to get rid of! LOL!
Leslie: SO TRUE. I’d rather battle fleas than lice. Fleas I can kill with a good shampoo. We had to hire ladies whose JOB it was to individually comb out the nits. One poor kid was with them for 5+ hours.
Fleas? Frontline baby. Gone, gone, gone. Kills ticks too.
I worship at the alter of Frontline and Interceptor.
Since the brackets deal with 2007 releases, new releases from this month won’t work.
But maybe next year, readers can nominate books - 5, 10, 25 (oooh, the DA BWAHA readers Top 25 poll!) - to propose books for the inclusion in the brackets?
I’m all about the bracketology and selection Sunday comparisons. Are you going to post them at the same time? So I can work on my brackets at the same time???
Oooh, now to speculate which books are on the ‘bubble’…
said on...Just wanted to say that this is an awesome, awesome idea!!
Just wanted to say that this is an awesome, awesome idea!!
It really is. I wasn’t sure if I made that clear earlier.
~Also, what category does Romantic Suspense fit into? “Novel With Romantic Elements?”~
RS could be thrown in with Contemporary, but I think it needs its own category. RS could replace Novel with Romantic Elements. If the book is contemporary, paranormal, GBLT or whatever, it should be able to compete within that category.
said on...Thanks. Sometimes I am sooooo stupid.
Excellent - a March pool I care about. (Sorry NCAA fans, didn’t go to a college with a Bball team...)
Awesome contest! I can hardly wait to play!
said on...sounds good and i love baskeball and all sports. go Dukies!!!
This is awesome. I’m really looking forward to all the suggestions of things to read once I turn in my thesis (APRIL 18 OMG HOLY FUCKMONKEYS), especially since my alma mater is already out of the tourney and I owe my dad five bucks (his school beat mine on Monday). Of course, I live with a Dukie and work at a sports magazine, so this will not be the only bracket I endure before that fateful day in April.
Sorry. Punchy. Really looking forward tot he bracketomologizing.
Oh, and Teddy Pig, that would a frigging amazing sandwich. I want to make one now, on toast.
Also, since DA and SBTB were the selection committee we can’t also serve as bracketologists. That has to be someone else’s role so the streaming video has to be done by someone else.
-----------
Oh, of course you’re right. Someone needs to step up and play the media. But you could be interviewed afterwards, to explain the “controversial” selections, and discuss how painful it was to have to eliminate some extremely worthy contestants.
Also, I especially encourage everyone who has NOT read very many of the books to submit brackets. This would honor the tradition of picking teams about which you know nothing and then obsessively tracking them until they fall out of contention. And don’t forget the plucky underdog choices!
I’m too excited, aren’t I ...
Dude, if you can tell me where to buy some Dark Huntery Jedi Vampire fiction, I am so all over that.
Yes, but will you be there in costume? smile
okay where do I sign up for this?
Also check out Lynn Viehl, though she writes her science fiction books under S.L. Viehl and her vampire romance books under Lynn Viehl.
said on...Squeeee...this looks like fun!
Sarah & Candy, your mad word skills crack me up, again...when’s the book out?
As a bonus, undoubtedly new books for our TBR piles!
Hey, quit with the insect comments, you’re makin’ me itcy.
said on...Joanna Bourne needs to be included in historicals list. Her book The Spymaster’s Lady is good on all levels.
I’m in.
R
said on...GLBT is too simple. At my very liberal women’s college, we had to deal with GLBTTQQA (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, transexual, queer, questioning, and allied).
That has nothing to do with books, but you just had to go and mention bacon. If you can make a sandwich out of that one…
And I have to say that I’ve read very, very few of these books (though with my brand, spaking new library card, I hope to rectify that), so I volunteer to be one of the people who decides her bracket based on characteristics like “How Many Times the Letter ‘S’ Appears In the Title,” and, “Would My Grandmother Blush If She Knew I Had Read it?”
Erin: I fill out my tourney bracket based on which city I’d rather visit more, which one I know someone who may be from or at one point drove through there… so “Would my Grandmother blush?” sounds like a perfectly reasonable method to me.
h00t! It is done. My trusty d20 and I have vanguished the bracket.
So nothing fancy is supposed to happen when I submit? My name doesn’t automatically show up on the lists? I just want to make sure I did this correctly.
Vanguished...vanquished…
Either way I’m still a huge nerd.
03.13.08 at 06:59 AM |