None of these made the final ballot, which was completely determined by the slate. I don't regard any of the finalists as having legitimately earned their places, so I am voting No Award in this category; it does not in any way reflect the state of commentary on the genre in the last year.
Edited to add: The state of the genre last year is possibly better illustrated by the most popular Related Works among respondents to the File 770 straw poll. These were:
Letters to Tiptree, eds. Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein (24) You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost): A Memoir, by Felicia Day (12) John Scalzi Is Not a Very Popular Author and I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative Popularity Levels, by "Theophilus Pratt" [Alexandra Erin] (10) Invisible 2: Personal Essays on Representation in SF/F, ed. Jim C. Hines (5) The Wheel of Time Companion, by Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons (5) “A Detailed Explanation”, by Matthew David Surridge (4) A History of Epic Fantasy, by Adam Whitehead (4) Modern Masters of Science Fiction: Lois McMaster Bujold, by Edward James (4) Women of Wonder: Celebrating Women Creators of Fantastic Art, by Cathy Fenner, intr. Lauren Panepinto (4)
(end of edit.)
Unlike last year, though, I'm going to give a couple of transfers to maximise the chances of the worst of them being beaten by the less awful. It's subjective, of course, but my ranking is as follows:
