2025 Finding Fantasy Reads Awards [Bonus episode]

Karyne (00:00:07) - Hi fantasy readers. This is Karyne Norton, your fellow book binger, and you are listening to the Finding Fantasy Reads podcast where you can test out a new fantasy story every single week to find your next favorite author.

Although today is a bonus episode, so we're giving out awards for episodes from season two. (audience cheering) It also happens to be our 100th episode, if you count the bonus episode that you can get when you sign up for the newsletter, which is a super fun way to celebrate the end of season two, as well as these awards.

With dozens of stories and episodes shared over the last ten months, the awards are more of a fun way to recognize stories that stood out in listeners' memories than to truly say any one story is better than another. I picked each and every one of the featured episodes. So in many ways, they're all my favorite, which is why I tried to leave most of the award decisions up to all of you.

I'll start out with the Most Played Award, which is something I measure manually across a variety of platforms. And the clear winner for the episode that had the most plays was (drum roll) People of Water by Rachelle Nelson. (audience cheering) Technically, it was the first episode of the two-part series, but episode two had a close second. If you haven't gone back to listen to this super fun YA fantasy story that has unique people groups and magic, you really should. And then go snag the book it connects to, Sky of Seven Colors. Although I went straight for her newest book, Embergold, because who doesn't love dragons? Congrats, Rachelle. Watch your email for your fancy badge to prove how popular your story is. (audience cheering)

The second and third awards are our Narrator's Choice Awards. Paeter and I each pick which story was our favorite to narrate. It could be because it was our favorite story or because it has the most fun characters for us to portray. I thought Paeter would pick another sword and sorcery type story like last year, because those are usually his jam. But he actually picked one of our flash fiction stories, which are usually right around a thousand words. Those are so tough to write because you have to be good at packing a lot in very few words. Paeter's Narrator's Choice Award for this year goes to (drum roll) Bittersweet by H.L. Davis. (audience cheering)

This isn't as shocking as it first appears. Paeter and I are very similar in how we kind of like sad stories or at least stories that have hard things that are purposeful, which is basically the definition of bittersweet and why that story stuck out to him so much. So congrats, Holly, who actually happens to have the same name as Paeter's wife, and that is entirely unrelated to why he picked her story. But Holly, be sure to check your email for your shiny badge. (audience cheering)

My Narrator's Choice Award pick was all about fun and which one allowed me, or maybe forced me, to experiment with character voices. It's super satisfying to work hard at getting them right and then to find out from the author that they think I nailed it. So my pick for this year's Narrator's Choice Award is (drum roll) The Aquamancer's Secret by Jeremy P. Madsen. (audience cheering) Ironically, his story is a two-parter, so while Pater picked a super short one, I picked a super long one. And also weirdly fascinating is that this is one that Paeter's wife, Holly, loved, because for her, it felt like a story about a magical pharmacist. And for those who don't know, when she's not listening to the episodes early for mistakes, she's probably filling your prescriptions. Anyway, congrats, Jeremy, on writing a story that was super fun to narrate. Go look for your new badge. (audience cheering)

This last category has several subcategories, and I think it's the most important of all because these Reader's Choice Awards were voted on by all of you. The Romantic Fantasy Award is our first Reader's Choice Award, and it had a clear winner with about half of the votes. It was a super fun one to read with a cat for the main character, (well, for part of the story) and I even got to meet the author at a conference in January. The winner of the Favorite Romantic Fantasy award is (drum roll) Cinders by Kendra E. Ardnick. (audience cheering) Congrats on having the favorite romantic fantasy short story for season two. (audience cheering)

The Fantasy Adventure Award also had a clear winner with over half of the votes, and I think the author will be surprised because all of her full novels land square in the Romantasy category. I'm pretty excited that she won because she's also a good friend and critique partner of mine. The winner of the Favorite Fantasy Adventure Award is (drum roll) Of Draecons and Disaster by Constance Lopez. (audience cheering) Congrats, Constance. You'll have a shiny badge in your email later today to celebrate. (audience cheering)

The YA Fantasy Award was a much closer call with three stories all pretty evenly matched. A single vote tipped the winner of this award, which is why every one of your votes counts. The winner of the YA Fantasy Award is (drum roll) The Courtship of Giants by Kristi Simonson. (audience cheering) Congrats, Kristi, on having the Favorite YA Fantasy short story for season two. (audience cheering)

The epic fantasy short story also had a clear winner with around fifty percent of the votes. I love that it's a lesser known author amongst several other big name authors because that's one of my goals of the podcast. I want to connect readers and authors, but I especially want to find those gems that people didn't expect. The winner of the Epic Fantasy Award is (drum roll) Keeper of Light by Drew Avera. (audience cheering) Congrats, Drew. Be sure to check your email for your badge. (audience cheering)

And last but not least, although it is the smallest in word count, is the Flash Fiction Award. This was another close call with votes spread out over almost all the stories listed. But I'm happy to say the winner of the Flash Fiction Award goes to (drum roll) The Midnight Embezzlement by Jennifer Dyer. (audience cheering) Congrats, Jennifer.

For those of you who voted, thank you for taking the time to shower our featured authors with this kind of praise. It's a fun way to finish off the season and celebrate the people who write the stories you love.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer. If you're looking for something else to listen to until the podcast is up and running again on August 6th, don't forget I podcasted my entire first novel over the last nine months. You can listen to the entire thing at the Blood of the Stars podcast, which I'll link to in the show notes. Otherwise, don't expect to hear my voice again until that first Tuesday in August.

Thank you all for listening to season two of Finding Fantasy Reads. Happy reading.