It’s official! The Adult SFF Backlist Books reading challenge is here to stay. Launched at the end of 2021, this challenge grew from an insatiable hunger for adult fiction in a still YA-driven reading community. It was difficult to find adult books online, with nearly every list, blog, and reading group offering mostly young adult recommendations.
There was also the desire to rediscover backlist books lost to the oblivion of our tbr graves. Much of modern reading is chasing the new release with our eyes pinned on the publishing horizon. But what of the stories that fell through the cracks, lost to the misty depths of our tbr piles? That, my friends, is the heart of this endeavor.
Welcome to the challenge, Valkyries ♥
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How It Works
General Guidelines
- The challenge runs from January 1 to December 31 each year. Readers can join anytime in the year before December 1.
- To qualify, books must be categorized as adult; MG, YA, and crossover stories do not count for this challenge. This is only for adult fiction.
- Books must fall under the science fiction or fantasy genres. All subgenres of SFF count; blending with horror and thriller genres is also allowed so long as strong, central elements of fantasy and science fiction are present.
- Books must have been published before 2023. So 2022 and all years prior are fine.
- Rereads, ebooks, audiobooks, anthologies, and short stories all count.
- To sign up, fill out the enlistment form. This will also add you to our reading challenge participant progress page 😀
- If joining us through Twitter or Instagram, we ask that you use our hashtag #ASFFBB23 so participants can easily find each other.
Earn the Official Badges
For the first time, we’re awarding readers who successfully complete 10 of the 12 monthly themes with an official badge! We’ve also created a second badge for those who meet 50% of the challenge with Indie books.
Badges will be awarded based on self-reporting through Storygraph, where our challenge is live!
Themes by Year
January — Beyond the World as We Know It
February — A Quiet Longing
March — Possession of the Magical Kind
April — Sidekick Club: Nonhuman Edition
May — May Our Fates Be Bound
June — Secrets That Should Have Stayed Buried
July — Sentient Technology
August — Unlikely Heroes
September — Dark Academia Vibes
October — Haunts of the Living
November — Gunpowder Plots
December — Nordic Nights
January — Winter
February — Time
March — Oaths
April — Hidden Places
May — Starlight
June — To Sea
July — To Sky
August — Sacrifices
September — Fire
October — Ritual
November — Forest
December — Omens
To keep the spirit of this challenge exploratory, interesting, and fun, each theme is open to interpretation. So long as the book fits within the guidelines, readers have free reign to determine, based on their own subject interpretations, which they’d like to read for each prompt. During our first year, we gave ample examples of just how creative you can be.
Have a suggestion for future ASFFBB reading challenges? Fill out this form!
Sign Up to Join the Ranks
The fate of the world rests within the hands of the Gods. But the fate of books and their creators rest within ours. We’d love for you to join the Valkyrie ranks and enlist in the second year of the Adult SFF Backlist Books reading challenge.
To officially participate, sign up using our enlistment form. You will them be added to our official listing on the progress page, which is coming soon.
Share your progress on our Storygraph reading challenge page, or across social media using the #ASFFBB23 hashtag.
Grab a Cuppa & Let's Chat
So, what are your thoughts? Are you stoked? Nervous? Already got ideas mulling around that brilliant mind? Grab a warm mug of spiked cocoa and drop us a comment to let us know ♥
Oh wow, really like the monthly themes this year. Looking forwards to getting involved again.
We did our best to be a little more creative with the themes this year 🙂 We’re stoked that you’ll be joining again, Peat. Happy Reading!
I love this so much and just signed up! I am already focusing on backlisted titles (specifically my owned TBR) in 2023 and this will be a nice addition!
I saw you were doing a backlist reading challenge and joined it 🙂 figured there could be some good overlap there. Plus, I have so many books rusting in the tbr grave.
2023 will be a good year of digging into the backlist and finally clearing the tbr!