SF Insite Logo
SearchHomeContents PageSite Map

Annual SF Site Readers' Choice: Best Read of 2002

Vote For Your Favourite Books of the Year

by Neil Walsh

Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to 2003. And, more importantly, welcome to the 5th Annual SF Site Readers's Choice Awards. Well, actually, we're not quite there yet. First we need you to vote for your favourite books of the past year -- then we can get to the awards.

So here's your opportunity to have your voice heard, to stand up and make the world take note of your opinions. If you want to have some input into this process, here's what you have to do: Vote for the 10 best SF books you've read over the past year. Pretty simple, really. But first, an explanation of what's eligible and what's not.

Definitions and Provisos

The same rules apply as in previous years. Which means that just about anything is eligible, as long as it 1) fits our definition of a "book"; 2) can be reasonably considered to be in any way related to "speculative fiction"; and 3) it appeared in 2002.

  1. "Book" is defined for our current purpose as any medium that involves reading as a primary means of conveying the message, including but not limited to novels, novellas, collections, anthologies, chapbooks, essays, biographies, comic books, graphic novels, e-books, magazines, etc.
  2. Related to "speculative fiction" means anything that could reasonably be said to be associated in some way with fiction of a speculative nature (including, but not limited to science fiction, fantasy, horror, historical fiction, and probably a large chunk of mainstream fiction, too). By "related to" speculative fiction, we mean to include such non-fiction items as biographies, essays, speculative science writing, etc.
  3. Lastly, your chosen works must have been released in English in the 2002 calendar year, either for the first time, or as a new edition, or a reprint, or a new translation to English, etc.

Rules (the Nitty-Gritty)

  • In an e-mail, list up to 10 of your favourite books of 2002, in order, with your top choice as #1, etc.
  • Remember to clearly indicate your #1 choice, etc. as the votes are weighted according to your own personal ranking. If you didn't read 10 books worthy of inclusion, you are welcome to choose fewer than 10.
  • Remember to list the title and author for each of your choices, or the specific issue (if applicable) when listing periodicals such as magazines or comic books.
  • E-mail your list to nwalsh@sfsite.com with "VOTE" in the subject line.
       Please don't forget to put "VOTE" in the subject line. I trash about 90 percent of my e-mail without opening it, so if I don't know who you are, your e-mail will likely be diverted to my unsolicited junk mail folder.
  • Each voter may vote one time only for up to 10 books. NO BALLOT STUFFING, PLEASE! Anyone voting more than once will have all their votes disqualified.
  • Deadline for voting is 15 February 2003 at midnight, Eastern Standard Time.

Results, Past & Future

In the Mid-February issue of SF Site, we'll provide you with the results of the SF Site Best Read of 2002 Top 10 list, as chosen by the SF Site editors and contributors. In the March issue, we'll post the results of the Readers' Choice Top 10 for 2002 so you can compare. Here are the results from previous years...


Readers' Choice: Best Read of 2001
Readers' Choice: Best Read of 2000
Readers' Choice: Best Read of 1999
Readers' Choice: Best Read of 1998
Best Read of the Year: 2001
Best Read of the Year: 2000
Best Read of the Year: 1999
Best Read of the Year: 1998
Best Read of the Year: 1997

As you've probably realized, you're not voting for anything chosen from a list of nominations, nor are you submitting nominations. As explained above, just about anything is eligible. Vote for whatever you want; if it's not eligible, I'll scratch it off your list and count your other votes -- you've got 10, after all.

If voting for anything seems a little overwhelming to you, and you need a place to start, why not have a look at the archive of our New Arrivals column, wherein we've listed new and forthcoming books received each month at the SF Site. Please note, however, this is not a complete list of books from the past year.

(When looking at the New Arrivals archive, note that 2002 books are in the top left-hand column.)

Some of the Books of 2002

Thanks for voting! I look forward to seeing your recommendations.

Copyright © 2003 by Neil Walsh


SearchContents PageSite MapContact UsCopyright

If you find any errors, typos or anything else worth mentioning, please send it to editor@sfsite.com.
Copyright © 1996-2014 SF Site All Rights Reserved Worldwide