First-round XYZZY voting is very widely-distributed: in many categories, the votes are spread across forty or so different games, and which ones end up earning a finalist nomination is often a matter of just a vote or two. Watching the votes come in, it can be really sad to see a game that’s a competitor in several categories, but ends up barely missing out on all of them.

So, for the first time, here’s the Further Reading list, consisting of games which almost earned at least one finalist nomination, but barely missed out – the tier of games immediately beneath the finalists in each category. The category (or categories) in which this happened aren’t listed.

This shouldn’t be construed as a new tier of awards, a participation ribbon or anything of the sort; rather, it’s a footnote acknowledging that the year’s worthy or interesting IF does not begin and end at the XYZZY finalist list. Keeping all that in mind: the games.

ANDROMEDA 1983 (Marco Innocenti)
The Baker of Shireton (Hanon Ondricek)
Below (Chris Gardiner)
Beneath Floes (Kevin Snow, Pinnguaq)
Emily is Away (Kyle Seeley)
Ether (MathBrush)
False Mavis (Ted Casaubon)
Final Exam (Jack Whitham)
Feu du Joie (A. Johanna DeNiro)
The Island of Doctor Wooby (Ryan Veeder)
Scarlet Sails (Felicity Banks)
Six Gray Rats Crawl Up The Pillow (Caleb Wilson)
A Trial (B Minus Seven)
To Burn In Memory (Orihaus)
When The Land Goes Under the Water (Bruno Dias)