Heya lads, i was recently forced into re-reading the entirety of Harry Potter by my partner, a series which i'v been highly critical of for the past decade. Now having re-read it, i'm inspired to write a long long rant on why it has some of the worst world-building i'v read.
This will probably be a 5 or 6 part series of rants to be honest, as i intend on going very indepth into every aspect that i think sucked. I know a lot of these are going to be the obvious criticisms that we've all heard a million times before, including a hundred times on this very subreddit, but hopefully i can provide a more detailed analysis on why it's so detrimental to the story. Having every individual aspect be a different post can also help contain the responses to relevant information, and i can be corrected on anything i get wrong.
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Felix Felicis, the Luck Potion

The potion makes you very lucky, for approximately 12 hours if a full dose is taken. The luck is described as being potent enough to make an "average day" into a "perfect day". The main trio takes small doses of the potion each before the final battle of Hogwarts, against Voldemorts army, and basically manages to just dodge/run past the hundreds of deadly spells being shot around them effortlessly.
JK Rowling attempts to justify the potions limited narrative use in the story (and thus the world) by adding some in-world limitations. These limitations include:

1. Relatively rare ingredients.
2. Difficult to brew, and deadly if the brewing is messed up.
3. Takes six months to finish brewing.
4. Causes recklessness and dangerous overconfidence.
5. Toxic in large quantities.
6. Banned in all competitive sports.

These limitations are used by JK as a half assed explanation that she (or her fans) can fall back on when criticized, the issue is that absolutely none of them hold up as reasonable justification. The truth is, the existence of the Felix Felicis would fundamentally alter the culture and economy of the world.
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Human Ingenuity

The main reason JKs attempted reasonings to limit the existence of FF don't hold up, is because she VASTLY underestimates human ingenuity. In fact this is something many MANY authors struggle with, particularly young-adult or fantasy authors.
Human beings are far more innovative, motivated, and imaginative than authors care to admit. This is especially true in matters of financial profit or having a leg up in society. The majority of humans will go to very great lengths, and often dedicate the entirety of their lives if they have to, trying to capitalize on any advantage they can get.
This issue is somewhat related to the author attempting to make the protagonists stand out as being more resourceful or clever than their peers. However, since the author lacks the ability to make the protagonists genuinely resourceful or clever by real life standards, they resort to dumbing down everyone around the protagonists. All side characters, and all citizens of the world, are essentially brain dead morons with no aspirations or motivations, and no common sense.
Now you could be thinking that perhaps i'm expecting too much of JK, or expecting too much of any author. No author could possibly live up to the standards i'm trying to set when it comes to consistent world building with realistic character ingenuity. Well....
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Mistborn Series and Atium

Mistborn is a series of books written by Branden Sanderson (highly recommend him to anyone that wants new age fantasy). In this world, certain human beings, called Mistborns, can consume different metals to gain different powers for a short amount of time. One of those metals is called Atium, which allows them to see the future in real-time. Essentially they gain precognition to their opponents actions. The way Atium is utilized in this story is:
If you're fighting a Mistborn with Atium, you will always lose.
If two Mistborns are fighting, the one without Atium will always lose.
Two Mistborns both consuming Atium cancels out one anothers effects, resulting in a balanced fight. This however creates room for counterplay, by characters needing to judge how much Atium the opponent consumed, and how long it might last.
The fantastic part of this world however, is that the existence of Atium fundamentally alters its history in a realistic way

1. Atium is the gold standard of the worlds economic trade. What do i mean by this? All the banks, government, and rich families, keep Atium storages in the case of a financial depression, since Atium has real applicable value which paper money does not. This is most closely comparable to the use of gold storages in real life. The entire worlds free-market revolves around the existence of this Metal.
2. Different rich families attempt to keep one another in check by all trading for Atium, since if a single family ever gained a monopoly over the metal, that family would become the undisputed ruler of the world, since no one without Atium could challenge them.
3. All Mistborns carry a small vial of Atium with them wherever they go, just incase of emergencies.
4. Entire slave trades were created by the wealthy families, in order to utilize the slaves to mine as much Atium as possible. The existence of these slaves ends up playing a pivotal role in the worlds history and bigoted culture.

Now, i want you to replace the word "Atium" with "Felix Felicis" in the last few paragraphs, and you'll notice that it still makes near perfect sense. This is because they both play an identical role in terms of the practical advantage they offer, the difference being that one story put in a lot of effort into making it feel like it fits into the narrative of the story and the world at large, whereas the other basically ignored any impact it would/should have.
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Felix Felicis' limitations

The reason for discussing Mistborn, was to give you all a baseline to establish that the existence of this potion COULD have been handled properly, and why none of the in-world limitations JK created are an effective counterargument.
Rare Ingredients: Here's the first issue, because yes, while the ingredients needed to make the potion may be rare in the setting JK created, they wouldn't actually be rare when you take human innovation into account.
Lets say it requires a phoenix feather, and some elderwood tree bark, and both of these are exceptionally rare things to find. Great. In JK rowlings numbnut brain she explained away the problem.... Except in real life, people would just farm the fuck out of those two things, in order to artificially create more supply. You know, like what we do with meat and vegetables anyways? Humans are capable of manipulating the supply of just about anything to suit their needs, and as i already established, people will dedicate their entire lives to financially supporting themselves if they have to. If a large enough demand for something exists, someone will ALWAYS create a business to cater to that demand.
Difficulty to brew: It's almost as if people could spend a decade or more of their adolescent years studying and practicing this thing to perfection, and then using those skills to join a business which pays them for their expertise... Huh.
The six months taken to brew is a none factor since it would only impact the projects start up period, and would have a consistent supply after.
Causes recklessness, dangerous overconfidence, and is toxic: You mean like Alcohol? Or almost any other drug? Right, because NO ONE ever drinks alcohol or takes drugs. Of course you could argue that FF is way more toxic than most drugs, fine, but it's also way more advantageous than all drugs too. Heroine just makes you pass the fuck out on your couch all day, and people still take it. This is a drug that gives you an objective advantage over everyone else, you bet your ass people would be taking it for job interviews, or criminals would be taking it before heists, etc.
Banned in competitive sports: This is the part that's most bewildering to me, JK actually had the foresight to mention its illegality in sports, but then her bird brain totally forget all the other aspects of every day life it would impact? This makes its lack of use even more strange, because JK herself is acknowledging the insane objective advantage it provides.
However, even if she had made it illegal for consumption in all scenarios, it still wouldn't have solved the world building problem (though it would have been a step in the right direction), since real world drug dealers have existed for almost as long as the human race. All Death Eaters etc would still have it, and most Aurors would keep some on them too for when they went up against criminals using it.
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TLDR:

The existence of Felix Felicis is, in my opinion, the single biggest flaw to Harry Potters world building when you consider its impact on the plot and world, compared to the impact it should have had to the plot and world. Even bigger than the time turner, since TT's can at least be excused as being genuinely very rare and with massive ramifications to their use.
JK fell into an amateur writers trap by writing her world in a way which assumes no one ever existed in this universe before the first page of the first book. The people and characters living in this world never demonstrated basic common sense to capitalize on a gold mine throughout the entirety of the worlds history, simply because, the worlds history and functionality has no purpose past the elements which directly impact the protagonist.
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The next rant is going to be about the history and origin of magic, and its lack of religious and cultural evolution in the Harry Potter-verse. It might take a couple days, since this took a surprising amount of time and research to finish, but it was an absolute blast to write. Hope you enjoyed reading it :)

Buckle up retards cuz this autist is about to take you on a ride to tendy town. Inb4 you all check my post history and bitch about all my WKHS posts, ya no fucking shit I’m gonna post about a stock I love. Inb4 Inb4 you tinfoil hat wearing GME/AMC fucks attack me, last time I checked there’s more than two stocks on the exchanges. Anyways here goes,
Workhorse group is a Loveland, Ohio EV manufacturer. 100% American Made (insert American Eagle boner gif) and completely electric for all you who value the environment or whatever. I’m sure you’ve all come across it at some point especially when I was the top trending stock for like a week at the end of June/July. As many of you might now, this shitshow of a government we have here in the good ol’ USA is looking to upgrade their self combusting USPS fleet via a NGDV (Next Generation Delivery Vehicle) bidding process for a contract to the tune of approximately 8 billion. When all is said and done, including maintenance and upkeep, the contract in the span of a decade or more is about 20b. This NGDV contract is the “betting” portion of this stock and despite what all the retarded naysayers claim, there is a fuck ton more to WKHS besides this contract. This is the cherry on top so I’m starting top down with this masterpiece.
Currently, there are three remaining bids from companies involved in this NGDV selection process. Karsan (a Turkish company), Ford/Oshkosh (joint venture), and our beloved WKHS.
Karsan - I can’t see this winning even a fraction of a percent of the contract due to it not being American. Not because it’s a bad company but if you check the requirements for the companies, they snuck in a clause that mandated 75% American made parts to be selected. Also, Biden, for the better part of his campaign and to this day has been proclaiming that he will be bringing American manufacturing to the forefront again and we will be buying American (something he and Trump miraculously had in common). For this reason, Karsan is seen as a non-factor.
Ford/Oshkosh - The only realistic challenger to WKHS and only bear case being made against it. Undoubtedly, Ford is as American as it gets. But even more undoubtedly, they are shitty and unreliable as fuck. Millions of recalls on Ford vehicles in the past and present. Another big issue with this is that Biden was “zero-emission”. The prototype submitted for the proposal was a hybrid and not fully EV. For this reason, I think Ford receives a portion of this contract no greater than 25%. Another reason I think they’ll get only a minor stake in this is because their prototype does indeed actually fare better in rural routes where charging stations just aren’t all that practical or possible.
The whole NGDV process has been going on for about 6 years and there’s no surprise that this inefficient government has been unable to wrap the process up at this point and then Covid took over. Yes there have been delays to the contract award as recently as October 2020. In a lettememo addressed to the USPS Board of Governors, they were urged to not further delay this process as with the current degradation of the existing fleet, doing so would harm the project altogether and further complicate the process of removing these shitboxes that have been around since ‘87. With Covid being the last excuse to delay, and the vaccine now being rolled out, I DO NOT foresee another stalling of the process.
Another reason WKHS is my favorite in this race is that DeJoy’s current philosophy on the USPS is to cut costs and to have the entity become for cost efficient. In case you haven’t noticed, ICE vehicles are much more costly to run and maintain that a 100% EV vehicle. Fewer parts means fewer problems and much less maintenance and repair costs. Also, in their recent financial statements, the USPS had requested a 600% increase in their infrastructure spending. I don’t see too many post offices crumbling to the ground, so this can only mean they’re gearing up to install a metric fuck ton of charging stations. By going fully EV, billions will be saved over time by the post office, an entity that’s currently burning cash like it’s their fucking job.
THE LAST DELAY IN THE NGDV SLATES THE CONTRACT TO BE AWARDED FISCAL 2021 Q2 WHICH MEANS JANUARY-MARCH 2021.
Enough about the contract though, let’s talk other aspects. WKHS is currently partnered with UPS in testing by out their fleet and also more importantly their drone delivery capabilities. WKHS currently owns the patents to vehicle borne drone launching technology. This isn’t talked about enough. Many people think the future of this company hinges on that shitshow of a contract when in reality the really exciting part is this drone tech. It would be extremely helpful and useful in efficient package delivery especially when there’s a whole fleet management system capabilities that the company offers. As the autonomous tech and drones sector begin to grow exponentially, WKHS has a head start on it (the commercial delivery aspect).
Institutional holdings lies at almost 50%. The big boys and big girls (BAE Cathie Wood) are in on the company and they are in heavy. My wife Cathie must be seeing something in the future of this company if she’s grown her holding to over 2.2m shares and she’s not gonna throw some money into a gamble on a fucking government contract.
Many claim that production is an issue but this is more a scare tactic than an actual issue. Sister company Lordstown Motors (Ticker: Ride) is led by former WKHS CEO. They have offered their factory, which has the capability to pump out about 600k vehicles a year, if WKHS needs it. Important to note that WKHS has a 10% stake in Lordstown and will receive royalties on the first 100k Endurance EV pickup trucks that Lordstown sells. So there’s another form of revenue the company has going for it.
It’s a growth stock with a lot of potential and it’s logistically gearing up to grow. Received 200m financing from an institutional Investor during the late summeearly fall, and it entered into an agreement with Hitachi, to be assured in the logistics of the company. Hitachi is a pretty serious company to be partnered with unless you plan on slinging out vehicles. Most recently, a 6,320 truck order came in from Pritchard which totals around 250m give or take a few bucks. This is all while IKEA a company that aims to go fully electric by 2025 is testing out a fleet of WKHS C1000 vehicles.
Connect the fucking dots and join the ride fellow autists. I’ve been long WKHS since January of 2020 and there’s plenty of room to run. High risk high reward with this growth stock but that’s why we’re all here right?
Positions - 1000 shares, 11x $60c 2/12 (USPS BOG meeting Tuesday so these are scratch off lottos basically), 5x $60c 2/19 (see previous calls), 11x 45c 4/16.
Let’s ride this horse to tendy town fellas 🤝
Edit: I’m a retard blah blah blah THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE I JUST LOVE THIS STOCK blah blah blah
EDIT 2 - WKHS vehicles are being showcased at the super bowl as Pritchard is using WKHS trucks to take people to and from the super bowl and various surrounding locations. Essentially they are marketing themselves by providing shuttle services.
Edit 3 - WKHS is currently at about 30% short sold so a contract announcement in their favor will easily rocket this to 100+ as shorts scramble to cover. It sneaky made the list of highly shorted stocks.
Edit 4 - 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 (FOR THE VISUAL LEARNING RETARDS)
Edit 5 - TLDR: WKHS is 100% American made EV Last Mile Delivery Vehicle. Has Patents pending for its drone delivery tech. Frontrunner for USPS 8.2b+ Government Fleet Contract (NGDV Contract). Heavy institutional ownership including BAE Cathie Wood. 30% Short Float to be squeezed on contract announcement.

I had read the list of instructions thousands of times. The Crimson Carnival can only be found by following a series of specific directives, as outlined by those who had successfully ventured there in the past.
Just as described by the moderators of the private online forum, I found it at 3:53AM on a Friday the 13th far out in the countryside after a series of meandering twists and turns that I had followed meticulously as outlined by those who had journeyed to the carnival before me.
The detailed instructions were specific and required pain and personal sacrifice, but I was willing to do what I had to. My palm still stung from where the blade had pierced it, and I had intentionally left the wound undressed. Again, another necessary part of the journey. Blood poured from it all over the steering wheel. This seemed distant and unimportant now.
I had found the place. After years of hearing about it, reading about it, researching, and building up the courage, I had actually found it.
I turned off the engine and got out of the car, the cool night air crisp and fresh as I breathed in. Walking towards the entrance of the fairgrounds, I saw no one else around. The outside of the place was empty and devoid of visitors. Forsaken.
The moon was a sliver in the dark night sky above. Sounds of activity could be heard from within the fair, carnival barkers and rides, the loud DING DING DING of someone winning a prize. Everything that would make you think it was a regular carnival. An ordinary fair.
A clown was at the entrance, his face was painted bright red around the eyes and mouth, his hair and round nose also crimson. He wore yellow pants with suspenders and welcomed me, waving an oversized white-gloved hand as I approached.
“HOO HOO HOO hoo! I’ve got a surprise, it’s true! Who found the Crimson Carnival? What a delight, it’s you!”
The clown with the yellow pants was there. Just like all the reports had said.
“You've found the place, my friend! Get inside and have some fun! Your time now very soon will end. The crimson death can't be undone.”
His face was a toothy grin, all smiles and giggles as he recited the welcoming rhyme. All but the last line, which he said in a low growl. Following that he looked serious and angry.
I was taken aback. He was supposed to say, “The Crimson fair leaves with the sun,” as the final line in the rhyme. He was supposed to be the cheerful welcome clown. No scary shit yet. Not yet.
But instead he had said, “The crimson death can't be undone,” in that terrifying low rumbling voice and I couldn't help but wonder if I had made some mistake in the ritual. His upper lip quivered as he continued to growl at me.
He was supposed to keep smiling, waving, and looking friendly. The dark, really creepy shit was further in. Out by the entrance the carnival was reported to look bright and welcoming. It didn't usually reveal its true form until you were well inside the fences.
I just stood there, sweating, panicking, retracing my efforts.
I had made no errors, though, I realized as I went through each part of the instructions in my head and pictured myself in my memory doing exactly as instructed.
Suddenly I realized I had been standing there for a while, thinking, and the clown was still staring at me. The reply came to me immediately, after years of study I had not forgotten.
The cut on my palm still bleeding, I asked the question deliberately and verbatim. Word for word as described online.
“All I have is a nickle. Will that cover the fare?”
I held up the rare coin and it glittered red with my blood like a ruby in the moonlight.
“It lets you in. It lets you through. The bloody nickel, true true true.”
He was smiling again and I let out a sigh of relief. Just a little different for a second, but back on track now, nothing to be worried about.
I walked past him and through the turnstiles. Looking back I saw he was still smiling his wide toothy grin and took that for a good sign. He waved his white-gloved hand at me and then was swallowed up by darkness and fog.
At least he had stopped growling like a rabid dog after the toll had been offered. Something about that had really terrified me. Not that I wasn't already petrified, but when I had run through this in my mind (approximately a million times) things had always gone to plan. According to the descriptions I had read over and over, memorizing them.
No one had ever mentioned an alternate ending to the welcome rhyme. Was the place changing? Evolving somehow?
No. That was impossible. Through all the years and all the visitors it had stayed the same. Why would it change now?
Sarah would still be there, I told myself. She had to be there. Otherwise this was all for nothing. I could handle being scared, as long as it meant getting her back. I had to get her back. Her absence in my life was like a missing appendage, the memories of her a phantom limb that ached incessantly.
She was there. I could feel her somehow, as unlikely as that sounds. I felt like with every step I got closer.
The sounds rose up loudly around me from every direction as I entered the midway. First one man shouting, “STEP RIGHT UP, STEP RIGHT UP, TRY YOUR HAND AT THE DARTS! You sir! You look like a man who knows how to win, how about taking a toss at the red balloons!?” then a woman asking, “How'd you like to win a prize? Get the ball in the barrel and take home the bloody big bear!”
She pointed up and I caught myself following her finger and looking at the giant stuffed bears which hung suspended from the ceiling. Each one had a noose around its neck, with eyes red and bulging. The eyes looked real, though, and I could have sworn I saw one swollen bear-face look down at me, pleading and terrified. Red fluid seeped from their mouths and dripped down onto the counter below.
I dropped my gaze and reminded myself not to get distracted. Everything here was meant to steer you from your goal, nothing was as it seemed.
Keeping my head down, I continued to walk deeper into the midway.
“Cotton candy!”
“Hot dogs!”
“Get your ride tickets here! Ride the Ferris wheel with your true love by your side! A date she'll never forget!”
I walked past and heard him say quietly from behind me, “She will stay here. Sarah will live and die and live again, here. Always here. She will stay here. You will stay here.”
My heart nearly stopped in my chest. That definitely wasn't supposed to happen. The carnival workers were not supposed to talk out of character to visitors. They were always supposed to stay in character.
I tried to control myself but ended up running over to him, fighting my anger and hatred and fury and pushing it down deep, stopping myself somehow from leaping over the counter and grabbing the man.
“What did you say??”
His mouth opened and closed like a gold fish but he said nothing.
“What the FUCK did you just say!?”
“Ride the salt and pepper shaker! You'll get all mixed up until you don't know up from down!!”
“No. Sarah. You said something about Sarah. I’m looking for her. Please, just help me. Tell me where she is.”
“Why, Lady Luck? She's just around the corner at the spinning wheel of chance. Place your bets there and win your heart’s desire!”
I nearly screamed at him but managed to restrain myself. It would serve no purpose other than wasting time. I checked my watch and saw I had already been inside for half an hour. The time was going fast. The man was just another distraction, meant to keep me here longer, to keep me from my goal. To keep me from Sarah.
Moving on, I kept my head on a swivel, looking every possible direction, checking every face.
None of them were hers.
Far ahead in the distance, I saw the giant red canopy tent at the center of the fair. I hoped I wouldn’t have to go in there. That’s where all the most horrifying sights were, according to those few who had seen it and escaped.
The cannibal killer clowns in their little car that drove around and stopped randomly, piling out and murdering and subsequently devouring whoever was nearest and then clambering back in and driving off.
A polar bear on a unicycle that would cause similar damage during its rampages, when it got inevitably bored of riding around.
Chainsaw-wielding trapeze artists that swung down unexpectedly and cut you in half before you could even think to run away.
And further in, at the very center, who knew? No one had seen it.
Only the most extreme thrill-seekers tried for the canopy. It was reserved for the most dedicated and experienced. I shuddered to think of going in there. I had planned to avoid it at all costs.
I checked my watch again. This was taking longer than expected. The place was drawing out every second of my time, even the ground beneath my feet was sticky and muddy and each step forward came with an increasing effort.
My eyes darted around, looking in every booth and at every carnival worker. There were no other guests so that made it a little bit easier.
I walked past more carnival barkers and booths. After walking around a corner, I was confronted by a man shouting in my face, “TEST YOUR STRENGTH!”
He was huge, wearing a leather vest and holding a massive sledge hammer in both hands. Turning around, he swung it and hit the bell, causing the machine to light up and ding incessantly.
Turning away from him, I scanned the faces of every carnival worker standing behind their counters. A ring toss booth was just ahead, and I began to walk towards it, thinking the woman inside looked a bit like Sarah, when I heard the voice of the man behind me.
He had silently followed me, and now stood directly behind me with the hammer held high over his head.
“SHE IS OURS!”
The sledge hammer came down hard and I ducked out of the way just in time. My heart pounding, I stumbled to the ground, off balance. I rolled away as a second swing of the giant hammer nearly missed me again.
I got up to my feet as quickly as I could and backed away from the man. He was pursuing me still, and I turned and ran.
The muddy ground caused me to slip as I turned a corner to get away from him, and found myself heading towards the giant canopy at the center of the fair.
I checked my watch. Still nearly an hour until sunrise. Plenty of time.
No. Can’t think like that. You’ve wasted half your time and you haven’t found her yet. That means you’re behind. You need to spot her quick and get her the hell out of here.
I felt myself struggling to think clearly as adrenaline took over and something else as well, an unfamiliar feeling like the naïve recklessness of a young man, which I no longer was. I wanted to live, and yet I found myself abandoning reason and self-preservation the more time I spent there.
And yet, the giant canopy tent drew me in like a moth to a flame and I went to it, no longer looking at the other carnival workers. Every part of me was saying to go inside. That’s where she would be.
Looking back, I saw the man with the sledge hammer was no longer pursuing me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he was getting reinforcements, though, and that would be trouble.
Feeling like a piece of iron filament being drawn towards a powerful magnet, I walked towards the huge crimson red canopy tent. Up this close it was obvious how massive the thing was now. Inside would be a space lit up with lights and full of morbid wonders and curiosities.
It loomed before me, dwarfing me in size and I realized I was standing right before the entrance, every part of me saying to go inside, to look and see what could be found within. And then I heard her voice.
“Try your luck at the spinning wheel, sir?”
I stopped in my tracks, afraid to turn and look, afraid it wouldn’t really be her, that it would be just some trick again, some attempt to stall me. But then I did and it was her. It was really her. No mistaking it.
She gave a shaky smile and lifted her hand to wave.
I walked over to the booth and looked at her, my eyes filling with tears.
“I missed you so much,” was all I could say.
“I missed you too. Every day I missed you.”
And then some other force took over and her smile widened like it was being pulled at the corners by unseen strings, causing her to show her teeth.
Her voice changed and became that of a carnival barker trying to grab your attention as you pass by.
“TRY YOUR LUCK AT THE SPINNING WHEEL, SIR!?”
I was stunned, and didn’t know what to say for a second.
“Sarah… Let’s get out of here. Come on. Take my hand.”
Reaching over the counter, I saw her eyes flash back to her own for a second, but then they became full of hatred and murder.
She hissed at me like a cat, her eyes now crimson-red. Then she swiped at me with her nails, scratching my arm badly and leaving four long gashes there. She attacked my face next, flailing at it with quick lashes in succession, leaving me bleeding from her nails.
I recoiled, terrified and in pain. Blood poured from my face and my arm and I was suddenly having trouble seeing out of one eye. My vision was turning red and then black on that side.
“Run,” she said, her face turning back into her own for an instant. “You can’t save me. Just run. If you stay past sunrise you’ll be stuck here with the rest of us.”
And then her eyes flicked back to that crimson red shade and I saw her laughing at me.
“You can’t save her. She’s ours now.”
Other carnival workers started to come out from behind their booths and were now stalking towards me. A clown popped his head out from the giant canopy tent nearby and then when he saw me came running with a duck-legged stride in his oversized floppy shoes. Following behind him was a man on giant stilts, who had to duck to come through the doorway. He was juggling bowling pins that were set ablaze and threw one at me, nearly missing my face with it.
Sarah stayed stubbornly put where she was, as if the carnival knew that I wanted her to chase me, to come after me. But no, it had plenty of others to do that.
I backed away at the sight of the blood-thirsty carnies approaching, then turned and ran back towards the entrance, my instinct to survive suddenly taking over.
Running half-blind through the midway, I saw more carnival workers leaving their booths, following after me, their eyes blank and zombie-like. Looking back, I saw dozens of them now in pursuit, breaking into a slow jog and then running as they followed after me.
Increasing my pace, I felt my heart booming in my chest, sweat pouring down my face. My eyes were wide and terrified, darting around, looking for potential threats everywhere.
“Candy apple?” the elderly woman was wearing an eye patch and as she threw the boiling hot caramel sauce at me she smiled, her teeth rotten and black. Some of the liquid sugar hit my face and I screamed as it burnt me. I knew that would scar me for the rest of my life but didn’t have time to think about it.
I had a moment of pity for the woman, knowing now that she was just another victim of the carnival, the same as Sarah. No one from the online forums had ever considered that the carnies were themselves past visitors who hadn’t been able to escape before sunrise. It was always assumed that they were a part of the carnival itself and had been since the start.
My feet slipped in mud and I nearly fell as I raced past the man with the sledge hammer. He jumped up and began to chase after me with the others, carrying his heavy mallet in both hands and screaming at me.
Up ahead I saw the turnstiles and picked up my pace, seeing the faint glimmer of a sunrise on the horizon. The clown was there, appearing out of the fog once more, and as I got closer I saw he was waiting for me.
He held a small axe in his hand and chuckled when I got near.
“THE CRIMSON GLOW CAN’T BE UNDONE. THE CRIMSON GLOW CAN’T BE UNDONE. THE CRIMSON GLOW CAN’T BE UNDONE.”
The voices of others drawing closer from behind rose in volume joining his and I realized they were very close now. I had no choice. I would have to take my chances with the clown.
I ran at him full speed, knowing I didn’t have much time left. Once the sun came up I was stuck here with the rest of them. No one was coming for me. Nobody knew I was here.
The only reason I knew where Sarah had disappeared to was because of her obsession with the online forums related to the crimson carnival. She had become more and more involved until it completely took over her life, nearly ruining our relationship in the process.
Then one day she had said that she was going to find the place for herself. She had left in the middle of the night, leaving me a note while I was sleeping. She had never come home after that and I had always regretted not going with her.
She had even given me the coin, saying that she wanted me to go with her, to experience it alongside her. She said not to lose it. That there were only a few left out there, and that they were exceedingly rare and valuable. But now I had lost it, just like I had lost her. The fucking clown had it.
I had an idea at the last second as I ran towards him. The mud slipping beneath my feet made me think of when I was a kid, playing soccer. How after scoring a goal or winning a game on a rainy day, we would slide around on the grass, in the mud, celebrating.
Diving forward at full speed, I landed on my belly in the muck. It knocked the wind out of me, and since I wasn’t a kid anymore it hurt like hell, but it had the desired effect.
My forward momentum took me under the turnstiles and I surprised the clown by knocking out his legs from beneath him. He went flying into the air, his axe spinning and shining in the faint light before landing a few feet away.
Dozens of coins came flying out from his pockets also.
They landed scattered on the ground in the mud, and I grabbed a handful of them before racing off back towards my car.
I heard the clown screaming at me until his voice cut out suddenly in an instant as the sun peeked out from behind the horizon.
Looking back with my one working eye, I saw that he was gone, and so was the carnival.
But in my hand, the blood-red nickels from past visitors remained, proof of my visit. Same as the long red scratches on my arm and on my face. The scars and burns I would wear for the rest of my life.
And yet still, staring at the muddy, bloody coins in my palm, I knew I would be back. I had no choice.
JG
TCC

I tried to make it easy to skip around if you just want to see the financials or estimates. Just scroll to them if you don't care what the company is or their sectocompetition/management. TL;DR at bottom with final thoughts.
Introduction
“FuboTV ($FUBO) is an American streaming television service that focuses primarily on channels that distribute live sports, including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and international soccer, plus news, network television series and movies.
Launched on January 1, 2015 as a soccer streaming service, FuboTV changed to an all-sports service in 2017 and then to a virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) model. As a vMVPD, FuboTV still calls itself sports-first but its expanded channel lineup targets cord cutters, offering a selection of major cable channels and OTT-originated features that can be streamed through smart TVs, mobile and tablets and the web. The service is available in the United States, Canada and Spain as of 2018."
From their home page:
They are the only competitors in their space of digital sports broadcasting, offer 4K streaming and upscaling of live sports, cloud DVR capability ranging from 250 or 1000 hours on standard plans, and is available on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox One, Android TV, Android Smart TVs, and Android/iOS smartphones and tablets, with plans ranging from $24.99/month to $79.99/month (not including add-ons).
They have also recently acquired one company and have made plans to acquire another to allow for in-house sports betting. They have stated in a press release that they plan to release a sportsbook before the end of the year. This will push them into a broader spectrum outside of only TV and sports streaming, and into the sports betting sector along with DraftKings ($DKNG), FanDuel ($PDYPY), and Penn National Gaming ($PENN).
Plans and Add-ons
FuboTV offers three standardized plans as of February 8, 2021: the Family plan is priced at $64.99/month (normally $75.97/month), Elite at $79.99/month (normally $100.95/month), and Latino Quarterly at $24.99/month, along with offering additional add-ons. Each plan offers a range of channels, cloud DVR capabilities (which allows fast-forwarding through commercials), and casting to multiple devices simultaneously. Only the Elite plan does not offer a 7-day free trial (Channels page).
The Family plan includes 117 channels (mostly news and entertainment with roughly 40 that offer sports, including ESPN), up to 250 hours of DVR space, and casting to 3 devices at once. The quarterly prepaid includes a free upgrade to 1000 hours of DVR space and 5 casting devices at home with 3 on the go (Channels page).
The Elite plan includes 164 channels (includes an additional “47 entertainment channels”), up to 1000 hours of DVR space, and casting to 5 devices at home with 3 on the go. This plan does not offer a quarterly prepaid (Channels page).
The Latino Quarterly plan includes 250 hours of DVR space and can be streamed on up to 3 devices at once, but only has 32 channels. This plan needs to be prepaid every 3 months for a total charge of $74.97 and does not offer a monthly service (Channels page).
Upgrades include additional DVR space--1000 hours for an additional $6.99/month for the Family and Latino Quarterly--and increased device casting--an additional 2 devices at home with 3 on the go for another $9.99/month for the Family and Latino Quarterly plans. You can also add a variety of channels and sports packages (the Latino Quarterly has fewer channel add-ons compared to the Family and Elite plans, which both have the same channel varieties). Sports Plus with NFL RedZone is an additional $10.99/month, but includes all professional and college sports broadcasting services for football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, fighting, etc. (Channels page).
Fubo has recently removed its former Standard plan, which included only 65 channels, up to 2 casting devices, and only 30 hours of DVR support for $60/month.
Financials and Growth
Fubo has yet to file an annual report as they have gone public in October of 2020, but they have filed a 10-Q for Q3 2020. All numbers in thousands.
Assets-
Between December 31, 2019 and September of 2020, assets have increased from $368,225 to $799,313 (a 117% increase) . Total current assets increased from $17,973 to $58,016, but accounts receivable decreased from $8,904 to $6,975--this may be attributed to the increase in prepaid subscriptions which increased from $1,445 to $12,177 which shows strong customer satisfaction and retention.
Liabilities-
Liabilities have increased from $145,049 to $290,376 (a 100% increase). The largest contributors to their liabilities are “Due to related parties” increasing from $665 to $85,847, “Warrant liabilities” increasing from $24 to $28,085, and “Accounts payable” from $36,373 to $61,679. Long-term borrowings have decreased from $43,982 to $25,905.
Revenues-
Subscription revenues increased by $53,433, totaling $92,945 for the year. Total revenues including advertisements and licensing have increased by $61,202, totaling $112,669 for the year and an increase of 47% YOY. Q4 revenue is estimated to be between $94,000 and $98,000 which would be a 77-84% increase YOY.
Expenses-
Subscriber related expenses total $114,315 for the year. Total expenses have totaled $500,249 for the year.
Subscribers-
Ended Q3 with 455,000 paid subscribers, a YOY increase of 58%, and plans to end 2020 with over 545,000, an increase of 72% YOY.
Competition
Its closest competitors are Hulu + Live TV (owned by Disney ($DIS)), YouTube TV (owned by Alphabet ($GOOG)), and Sling TV (owned by Dish Network ($DISH)).
Hulu + Live TV

• Includes league networks
• 50 hours of free DVR (200 hours for $9.99/month)
• More than 74 channels
• Unskippable ads on DVR without upgrade to 200 hours
• 2 streams at a time
• $64.99/month
• Can add ESPN+ and Disney+ for an additional $7/month

YouTube TV

• Includes league networks
• Unlimited DVR storage
• More than 85 channels plus YouTube Red Originals
• 3 streams at a time
• Sports Plus package for an additional $10.99/month
• NBA LeaguePass for an additional $40/month or $119.99 annually
• Starting at $64.99/month

Sling TV Blue

• Includes league networks
• DVR up to 50 hours (200 hours for $5/month)
• More than 45 channels
• 3 streams at a time
• Sports Extra package for an additional $11/month
• Starting $35/month
• Can be combined with Sling TV Orange for a total of $50/month

Sling TV Orange

• Includes league networks
• DVR up to 50 hours (200 hours for $5/month)
• More than 30 channels
• 1 stream at a time
• Sports Extra package for an additional $11/month
• Starting at $35/month
• Can be combined with Sling TV Blue for a total of $50/month

The vMVPD Sector
Cord-cutting has become increasingly popular over the last few years with consumers dropping traditional cable and satellite networks in favor of streaming services--such as Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, etc.--and vMVPD services.
In 2019 alone, 6.3 million people cut their cable connection, totaling 39.3 million. In a survey of what they might miss most from cable networks, 52% said they don’t miss anything, 23% missed live events on TV, 22% missed news, and 19% missed live sports. Although not all of those that miss aspects of cable will pay for another subscription service, the sentiment exists for a sports-focused platform that offers other large networks as well.
Another report by Parks Associates reveals that 17% of vMVPD subscribers switched from traditional TV within the last twelve months. In the same report, a survey conducted on current broadband households determined that 43% were “likely to switch to a… vMVPD within the next 12 months." The potential growth exists for the live digital broadcasting space, although it is slowing down.
With the spread of COVID and quarantines, people have been spending more time at home. When things open and quarantines end, that will be the true test for these providers as people will spend less time watching TV.
The Sports Betting Sector
Legal sports betting has taken a huge leap in recent years with the introduction of online sports betting; the ability to place wagers from anywhere at any time and have instant gratification has boomed with its slow legalization. This sector has a forecasted value of $150 billion with other competitors already having a completed project and vast market share. In 2019, DraftKings ($DKNG) and FanDuel (PDYPY) controlled 83% of the market share.
FuboTV plans to join into this space with its own sportsbook. Their recent acquisition of Balto Sports in December of 2020, whose business was in simulating fantasy sports games, is Fubo’s first step into sports wagering. They plan to create a free-to-play gaming system alongside online sports wagering.
Their next planned acquisition, which was announced in January of 2021, will be to acquire Vigtory, a sports betting and interactive gaming company. According to BusinessWire, they plan to utilize Vigtory’s “sportsbook platform and digital gaming assets, and its consumer-driven betting technology, to develop a frictionless betting experience for fubo’s customers."
These recent acquisitions set Fubo up to create an all-in-one viewing and betting experience, which could add new customers to their subscriber list and seal them into online wagering.
It has been over two years since the Supreme Court has denied the federal ban on sports betting, which would have made online betting illegal in all of the United States. Currently, more than two dozen states have legalized sports betting, but most have only legalized in-person betting. More states may be willing to legalize to take advantage of the increased revenues and taxes associated with gambling and online wagering. As of 2020, six additional states plan to legalize some form of betting, although some are only allowing in-person. There are an additional 14 states that are considering the notion to allow legal gambling, whether in-person, online, or tribal.
Management and Investors
David Gandler - CEO / Director / Co-Founder
Appointed as CEO and director in April of 2020. Prior to Fubo, Gandler had a 15 year career in marketing and advertising in local broadcast and cable TV within both general and Hispanic markets at companies such as Time Warner, Telemundo, and Scripps Networks Interactive.
Alberto Horihuela - CMO / Co-founder
In charge of marketing, Horihuela was head of Latin America for SVOD service DramaFever.
Simone Nardi - CFO
Nardi has worked as SVP and CFO of Scripps Networks Interactive where he was responsible for the finance and strategic planning for the company’s international business. Was also a key player in refinancing TVN S.A.’s billion dollar debt.
Large Investors

• Islet Management, LP with 5,108124 shares
• Morgan Stanley with 3,317,333 shares
• FMR LLC with 1,262,907 shares
• BlackRock Inc. with 956,678 shares
• Merger with FaceBank for $100 million revolving credit

Analysts and Estimates
Average analyst ratings put Fubo at a Buy to Strong Buy rating with an average price target of $45.50 with a high of $60 and a low of $30. EPS estimates are estimated to be -5.23 for 2020 and -1.64 for 2021.
Currently has a short float of about 75%, but the short volume has been holding at roughly 15-20% over the last month and has drastically declined from its October short volume of over 50%.
Originally valued at $700 million less than a year ago, a current valuation of $3.19 billion is respectable for this company and is on par for its current performance.
Risks

• Marketing fails and Fubo is never known as a household name, so consumers stick with other more known providers
• Their sportsbook fails and becomes dead weight and wasted money
• Subscriber count and streaming drops as quarantine lifts, reducing revenues while maintaining expenses
• Consumers opt for cheaper options
• People paying for the sports package cancel when the season is over, creating a boom and bust cycle if not managed correctly

Final Thoughts / TL;DR
With its drastic growth over the last year (400% in the last 4 months), support from FaceBank and well-known investors, and plans to join the sports betting sector, FuboTV has potential to become a household name and grow well beyond its current valuation by combining both sports broadcasting and online sports betting into one convenient place. Although unlikely to overthrow any of the current forces, it can become the best live sports broadcaster that people can turn to when they cut cable but want to keep live sports. It has many hurdles to overcome (creating their sportsbook, better marketing, increasing subscriber count, etc.) before it is any real competition to its already established competition.
At a $3.19 billion market cap and very high (75%) short interest, it will be very difficult to realize consistent growth, but it is on par for a company with almost $100 million in revenue.
My Position
25 shares at $47.30
​
Edit: edited final thoughts/TL;DR
Please provide feedback! First time actually researching and compiling information for a company and not just reading about them on here. Also, please ask questions to clear up any confusion; it was kinda hard to put everything together neatly, so I might have accidentally left stuff out or oveunder explained some things.

Haven’t seen one and there’s about 14 hours to go so (window closes at 11pm UK time) - saves people creating new posts to vent, as I have a feeling the rest of the day will see a progressive rise in anger.
I don’t know about you lot, but personally looking forward to Aouar and Partey both joining later.
I will look to update this summary where possible, but if I am resting my fingers momentarily from the trauma that is the F5 key, Arseblog are doing a rather good live update feed.
Summary so far (this is the main feed - find Partey Watch below):

• Guendouzi set to join Hertha Berlin on loan for no fee but they cover his wages. Oh, there is drama. Apparently there is a loan fee after all? This is the excitement we expected from deadline day. Foot Mercato journalist also saying there is a loan fee of €4m. Deadline Day drama! Never mind, Ornstein confirms no loan fee.
• Torreira’s move to Atletico looks like it will go ahead.
• Rumours linking Nelson to Southampton, and Saliba to Fulham and Rennes (as loans obviously). Saliba to Fulham seems off, as they have gone for Andersen from Lyon. Let's see if he therefore stays.
• Ornstein has stated that moves for Aouar and Partey (as well as Jorginho) appear dashed, and it looks unlikely we can get any backup targets.
• Gunnersaurus has been made a free agent, whilst some lovely people are insulting Edu’s son on Twitter.
• Charles Watts has said Soumare is a target, so there may be movement there but again it’s unlikely. He feels Soumare is set for Italy.
• Kolasinac still should leave, some rumours that Bayer need Wendell to go first. Sokratis also may still go according to an Arseblog update at 8.08am. Simon Jones has said Sokratis and Mustafi are both still subject to loan offers from Italy.
• FootballGhana and Sky Bet Compan- *sorry* Sky Sports News claiming Partey may still move. Charles Watts said earlier that there was no Partey development last night but if Arsenal pay the release clause, the deal would be wrapped up pretty swiftly. The player would've been keen to join & personal terms apparently wouldn't have been an issue. If we want to get really desperate, there is a hollow metal object on twitter who has claimed all summer that Partey will come.
• Some positive news - the mods have agreed to a swap deal of 'Sort by Best' for 'Sort by New'.
• There are some people claiming the Telegraph have said we are interested in a loan for Thomas Lemar (yes, our £80m man). I've yet to see where that is said though so take it with a pinch of salt for now.
• From a distance I thought it was tap-in specialist Filippo Inzaghi, but turns out it's just Fabrizio Romano recycling old information for more interactions on Twitter. He says Atletico remain convinced Partey stays, as they have all summer. But 'let's see if someone triggers the clause'.
• After an early flurry of news on outgoings and general disappointment on incomings, the current transfer scene for Arsenal currently is barren.
• It's now almost 11, still barely anything in last hour.
• Right, I'm assuming we must be preparing the Gunnersaurus statue, and that's currently occupying us, hence no news. As a fun exercise, why don't we name our favourite chocolate bars? I'll start, mine currently is that Dairy Milk one with popping candy in it, really rate it.
• Nick Ames from the Guardian has said Ballard will join Blackpool on loan.
• Soumaré will stay at Lille according to La Voix du Nord. (Tier 1 for them I believe).
• David Vinuesa: Arsenal and Atlético de Madrid have signed everything for Torreira. Atletico still need to sell one more player in the next hours...
• Hertha Berlin strongly hinting at new signing (Guendouzi?).
• Arsenal to sign 18-year-old Swede Nikolaj Duus Möller for £430,000.
• ALL PARTEY UPDATES WILL BE IN PARTEY WATCH THREAD BELOW. Saves me typing it twice, all non-Partey news is above.
• I'm going to say this quietly, however Lyon are in breach of FFP currently following the collapse of Dembele to United (from Barca), and thus Depay to Barcelona. They need to sell. A private jet just landed in London from Lyon an hour ago. This could very well be Andersen to Fulham, but lets see.
• Sky Sports hearing about an Arsenal departure that isn't Guendouzi or Torreira. More to follow apparently.
• St Étienne are pushing to sign William Saliba back on loan from Arsenal, according to Téléfoot Chaine. More follows.
• Rumours that Arsenal have now pulled the Torreira loan deal, and will pressure Atletico into making a permanent offer. I don't know about the origin of the source or where it was said, its just being floated around Twitter.
• Sokratis to Roma according to John Solano.
• Andersen to Fulham is a loan without option to buy as per GFFN. I believe Lyon still fall short of FFP regulations. Interesting hours ahead, as I think Lyon are just under €30m in the red. They need a sale.
• Kicker have said Kolasinac will not join Bayer today.
• Omar Rekik set to join the club for £1m.
• In one of the weirder rumours, according to Téléfoot, we rejected a loan offer for Sokratis from PSG.

​
Partey Watch (Tier 100 rumours will be posted here, didn't want it clogging the main feed above)

• Ornstein stated this morning that a move for Partey is unlikely, barring a dramatic late change.
• STRAP YOUR SEATBELTS, ALONSO IS AT THE WHEEL. THOMAS PARTEY'S REPRESENTATIVE JUST TWEETED AN AOUARGLASS. SURELY NOT. The hollow metal object on Twitter has just said that we rang Partey's camp an hour ago to confirm we will look to complete the deal today. My body can't take this. Just so people are aware, I don't think there is anything in this, but we've been starved of news for the past hour so I figured I would drop it in for all of you who are looking for anything. Please don't actually invest yourselves into Partey again, wait for someone with a bit more credibility.
• To add to the Partey hype train from random unproven sources, an airline pilot with just over a thousand twitter followers has tweeted 'Arsenal has begun preparing official working papers on disengaging Partey from Atletico'.
• Further hype: a private jet has just touched down in Madrid, it flew from London.
• The Hollow Metal's Object best friend, the inanimate wooden desk, has tweeted that a deal for Partey is closer than ever.
• David Vinuesa: Arsenal and Atlético de Madrid have signed everything for Torreira. Atletico still need to sell one more player in the next hours...
• THE BELL IS RIGHT. Watts has said Arsenal have made a move for Partey. BENGE CONFIRMS ALSO.
• THE BELL SAYS ARSENAL WILL ACTIVATE THE RELEASE CLAUSE FOR PARTEY. WILL BE AN ARSENAL PLAYER IN A FEW HOURS
• Simeone says he is worried about the last few hours.
• COPE Journalist has said in the last hours Arsenal has communicated to La Liga its intention to pay Partey's clause. Apparently he is Tier 1 for Atletico. WHAT IS GOING ON.
• Charles Watts: 'Legal team is at Colney now working on the transfer. Negotiations not needed with Atletico.'
• Partey tweets about new Ghana kits. Arsenal Twitter, do your thing.
• ElChiringuitoTV Journalist (Spanish):Thomas Partey has told Atleti about his desire to join Arsenal officially. Atletico consider him gone.
• ORNNYYY AND GUNNERBLOG AT THE BACK POST!!!!!!!
• CRABS OUT LADS, CRABS OUT.
• David Vinuesa: Arsenal would take a great player and will have laughed at Atlético. They will be the just the winner of a battle that leaves Atlético looking very bad.
• Rumours that Arsenal have now pulled the Torreira loan deal, and will pressure Atletico into making a permanent offer. I don't know about the origin of the source or where it was said, its just being floated around Twitter. Yeah that was nonsense.
• Sorry lads, went to the shops. Partey has completed his medicals according to various sources, and is on his way to London via jet. Race against time, but what a day its been.
• Partey has landed in London
• Charles Watts: La Liga have informed Atletico that Arsenal have met Partey's release clause. Neither the player or Arsenal have communicated this with Atletico. HUGE ARSENAL MOVE.
• The Bell: Partey will sign a deal inclusive of bonuses at just over £200k a week.
• Orny and the Bell both now saying that Partey is done.
• Partey signs.
• Rest easy boys, we did it, its been a journey. See you lads tomorrow for Buendia and Cantwell rumours.

Most people here focus on AMD vs Intel or AMD vs Nvidia like it's still 2010.
In 2021, it's AMD vs Intel, Nvidia, ARM, Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Baidu, Tencent, Ampere, Nuvia.
It's tough to see an exponential trend when you're at the beginning. This post spells out the trends for all AMD markets.
ARM Attack on consumer x86 market:

• x86 market shrank by 10% the moment Apple announced a full transition to ARM
• Even worse, Apple is the forcing function for PC software makers to support ARM, paving the way for Windows ARM
• Microsoft has just announced x86 emulation on their Windows ARM OS
• Apple's entry-level M1 is faster than 4900HS by 55% in single-core and 3.7% in multi-core while using 5x less power. You can buy an M1 laptop today while the 4900HS is a highly binned-part.
• Apple's entry-level iGPU blows away the very best AMD iGPU
• Apple's ARM chip allows the entry-level Macbook Pro to have 20 hours of battery life while staying extremely cool
• Apple is readying 8,16, 32 core SoCs. For reference, M1 has only 4-high performance cores.
• Apple is poised to significantly increase PC market-share, 100% within 3 years
• In order to compete, PC makers like Dell, Lenovo, and HP will increasingly look to ARM alternatives
• Microsoft is working on in-house ARM chips for Surface
• Qualcomm is expected to become a serious player in the laptop space

ARM Attack on hyperscalers market:

• AWS's Graviton2 workload increased by 10x last year. In just one year, Graviton2 is now 10% of all AWS CPU workloads.
• Like Apple in consumer market, Amazon is the forcing function for better ARM server software support
• Amazon will most certainly prioritize in-house designs over x86 chips. In the future, Amazon will likely offer x86 only for legacy software.
• AWS controls 40% of the cloud. If AWS moves most of its future workload to its own CPUs, then AMD can control at best 60% of what Intel used to contol.
• In house ARM chips allow hyperscalers to differentiate, save on cost, and build chips tailored to their unique challenges
• Microsoft is designing its own ARM cloud chips
• You can expect Google, Baidu, Tencent to follow soon
• Hyperscalers don't want to be controlled by a duopoly. If Intel isn't grabbing them by the balls, then it's just AMD. It's the same thing. Hyperscalers want to control their own destiny and ARM allows them to.

ARM Attack on small size cloud companies:

• Ampere will allow smaller cloud companies to buy into ARM
• Anandtech just said that Ampere's latest 80-core chip is 42% better than Epyc in terms of cost/performance
• Ampere is releasing a 128-core chip in 2021
• Anandtech says Ampere's 2022 N1 Neoverse chip could be 50% faster at minimum
• Very well-funded startup Nuvia is also competing here

GPUs:

• Apple will no longer use AMD GPUs in their computers. Bloomberg reports that Apple is testing 64-core and 128-core GPUs. For reference, M1 has 8 GPU cores.
• Nvidia's grip on server GPUs and AI is tight and AMD has a mountain to climb in order to catchup
• With ARM, Nvidia can now offer complete server units from CPU to GPU to interconnects, just like AMD
• Intel is joining the cloud GPU competition, and they're expected to use TSMC to manufacture Xe GPUs.

Consoles:

• Mobile gaming is now 3x bigger than consoles
• Consoles are a low-margin business
• It's quite possible that PS5/Xbox Series X are the last consoles ever if AAA gaming moves to the cloud in the next 6-7 years

TSMC:

• As more companies move to in-house designs, competition for TSMC wafers are expected to increase significantly
• Apple is likely to continue to hold a node advantage lead because they have a lot more cash and a lot more volume. Apple's volume will likely increase significantly with Apple Silicon Macs. Ming-Chi Kuo expects Apple to sell 35 million Macs/year by 2023.
• Unlike Intel, AMD does not have a node advantage over Qualcomm, Ampere, Nuvia, Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.
• Intel is expected to make a decision on whether they will invest in their 7nm process node in Spring of 2021 or use TSMC. If Intel decides to go fabless instead, AMD will lose its node advantage over Intel and wafer prices will increase for everyone.

If you're buying into AMD long-term, you have to believe that:

• AMD will become a monopoly in the x86 market in record time
• Intel will not switch to TSMC and does not fix its node issues. Basically, you expect Intel to do nothing.
• AMD can make enough progress in Zen to delay the inevitable full ARM dominance
• AMD is working on ARM chips now, or will buy Ampere/Nuvia to enter the ARM race
• Wall Street will respond well if AMD decides to go ARM and bet against their own cash cow: Epyc
• AMD can eventually compete with Nvidia in GPUs/AI
• AMD takes a big piece of the cloud gaming pie
• Consoles will have another generation after PS5/Xbox
• Microsoft, Google, Baidu, Tencent, Qualcomm, Nuvia, Nvidia, Intel fail to compete with Zen and Radeon

My personal recommendation:

• You can own AMD
• You're crazy if you're still all-in on AMD
• You should diversify your portfolio with TSMC, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia

Edit: A lot of you are saying AMD could design ARM CPUs too. Here's what I have to say:

• If AMD is designing ARM server CPUs, then they're betting against their own cash cow: Epyc. You better hope Wall Street will respond well do that. I'm guessing not. They're entering a crowded space that is harder than x86 to differentiate while admitting defeat in their most lucrative market. Only two companies can make x86 CPUs. Anyone can license ARM designs.
• AMD would have to split their engineering team at a crucial time while they're still trying to slowly pry away Intel marketshare. Going up against companies much bigger than themselves, AMD would have to either go all in on ARM or not at all. They made that same decision when they killed their ARM designs in favor of Zen.
• AMD would have to tell their existing Epyc customers that they're buying a dead-end product
• Ampere, Nuvia, Amazon might be a few iterations into ARM server designs by the time AMD comes up with something
• AMD would have to use Nvidia's tech (assuming ARM deal goes through). Nvidia is likely to prioritize its own future CPU needs over AMD's.
• AMD would have to win against Nuvia, AWS, Nvidia, Ampere, Microsoft, and any other in-house designs. This is a zero-sum game and the company that has the best server CPU will likely become the future monopoly, replacing Intel. Example, if Amazon's server chips offer the best price/perf, then Azure, Google Cloud customers will migrate. If Ampere's chips are the best, then all cloud providers will have to buy them to stay competitive. There are high stakes in custom server chip design. PS. Right now AWS can't become a monopoly because they still use the exact same chips that Microsoft, Google, and any other cloud providers can. Personally, I'm betting it's Amazon that wins.
• In the consumer space, it's unlikely that AMD would beat Apple at ARM SoCs but AMD would have to beat out Qualcomm, who has over a decade of experience in designing ARM SoCs and basically owns modems in SoCs. In addition, Qualcomm has the advantage of sharing R&D costs with its mobile division.
• If AMD is going ARM, you should sell faster than if they stuck to x86.

INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT MATÉRIAUX

Code	Name	Nation	PCS Rank	UCI Rank
IWG	INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT MATÉRIAUX	BEL	22	20

The newest team on the World Tour has long been a staple of the ProTeam/Pro-Continental ranks, providing WT breakaway fodder and long-shot GC efforts, and poking their noses out at the pointy end of sprints and classics for years. Indeed, the team has consistently ranked as one of the top PRT/PCT teams over the last five years, but that's about to change. Last year, as teams picked the bones of the folding CCC Team, the Circus-Wanty-Gobert ownership bought Jim Ochowicz's World Tour licence. In December, Circus dropped their title sponsorship (but remained as a team sponsor), to be replaced by French supermarket chain Intermarché. With this change, a slew of ProTeam riders suddenly find themselves in the World Tour, automatically on the startlist of marquee races across the calendar and with a handful of new transfers from other World Tour teams to help with the transition.

2020 Season Recap

The cycling world's COVID-revised calendar didn't do Circus - Wanty Gobert any favours last season. The team dropped a few spots in the PCS and UCI Teams rankings and won half as many races as they did in 2019. There were some highlights, however. Danny van Poppel sprinted to a win in Gooikse Pilj, Loïc Vliegen attacked during the Tour du Doubs and won ahead of up-and-coming Eritrean youth Biniam Ghirmay, and Xandro Meurisse won a stage, the points classification and the overall GC of the two-stage Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia. In the last race, Meurisse managed to outclimb soon-to-be Tour de France stage winner Lennard Kämna in the finale of Stage 1. The team secured podiums across the .Pro, 2.1 and 1.1 race calendar, but their only notable WT result came from Andrea Pasqualon, who finished 3rd on Stage 3 of Paris-Nicet, sprinting against a respectable field that included stage-winner Iván García Cortina, runner-up Peter Sagan, Cees Bol, Nacer Bouhanni and future Italian and European champion Giacomo Nizzolo. Overall, the team's 2020 results weren't dominated by one or two riders, with a mix of several different riders taking podiums across the calendar.
Top Riders Last 5 Years

Rank	2020 (points PCS)	2019	2018	2017	2016
1	Pasqualon (358)	G. Martin (993)	Dupont (829)	G. Martin (505)	Gasparotto (557)
2	De Gendt (317)	Dupont (707)	Pasqualon (815)	Dehaes (418)	Dehaes (490)
3	D. Van Poppel (271)	Pasqualon (512)	G. Martin (541)	Meurisse (407)	Claeys (395)
4	Meurisse (224)	De Gendt (388)	Meurisse (456	Pasqualon (368)	Jans (356)
5	Vliegen (209)	Meurisse (359)	D. Smith (351)	Backaert (291)	Marcato (352)
Tot.	1954	3618	3499	2770	3059
PCS Rank	22	18	18	21	21

Results 2020

This includes stage wins, GC, Mountain, Youth and Points Classifications.

Type	Rider	1.	2.	3.	Tot.
WT		-	-	1	1
	Pasqualon	-	-	1	1
Pro		-	2	2	4
	De Gendt	-	1	1	2
	Pasqualon	-	1	-	1
	Vanspeybrouck	-	-	1	1
2.x		3	-	1	4
	Meurisse	3	-	-	3
	Devriendt	-	-	1	1
1.x		2	3	5	10
	D. van Poppel	1	-	1	2
	Vliegen	1	-	-	1
	Dupont	-	1	1	2
	De Gendt	-	1	-	1
	Lammertink	-	1	-	1
	Pasqualon	-	-	1	1
	De Decker	-	-	1	1
	Devriendt	-	-	1	1
Nats		-	-	-	-
Tot.		5	5	9	19

Top Results 2020

According to PCS Points

Rnk.	Race	Rider	Placement	PointsPCS	PointsUCI
1.	Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia	Xandro Meurisse	1	100	125
2.	Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France	Aimé De Gendt	4	90	220
3.	Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg	Aimé De Gendt	3	90	175
4.	Coppa Sabatini - Gran Premio città di Peccioli	Andrea Pasqualon	2	85	150
5.	Tour du Doubs	Loïc Vliegen	1	75	125

Sprinter Andrea Pasqualon was the team's top rider last year, racking up points with top 10 finishes throughout the year, both in one-day races and stage races. Despite a lack of consistent top results, Aimé ^{the other}De Gendt, brought in points for the team with 2nd place in Le Samyn, 3rd overall in the Tour de Luxembourg and 4th in the Bretagne Classic. Sprinter Danny van Poppel was a new signing for the team last season and delivered a win and several top 5 finishes, while climber Xandro Meurisse secured a big win for the team in Murcia. Loïc Vliegen's Tour du Doubs win was similarly significant, in a race that featured three WT teams and several strong PRT squads.

Outgoing Transfers

Rider	Born	Nation	2020 Pt.	Best Season	Type	New Team
De Decker, Alfdan	1996	BEL	62	201883	Sprinter	Tarteletto - Isorex
Degand, Thomas	1986	BEL	10	2011260	Domestique	?
Doubey, Fabian	1993	FRA	93	2019129	GC	Team Total Direct Energie
Dupont, Timothy	1987	BEL	126	2016882	Sprinter	Bingoal - Wallonie Bruxelles
Meurisse, Xandro	1992	BEL	224	2018456	Climber	Alpecin-Fenix
Offredo, Yoann	1986	FRA	0	2010310	Classics	Retirement

The team lost one of its strongest riders, as Xandro Meurisse fielded offers from several teams at the WT and PRT level, ultimately opting to move to Alpecin-Fenix. Another consistent rider, Timothy Dupont, moved to Bingoal - Wallonie Bruxelles. The team also lost one of their top GC riders in Fabian Doubey, who finished a respectable 11th in both Paris-Nice and the Saudi Tour last season. These departures leave room for other 2020 and 2021 signings to take leadership roles, especially with the team taking on the entire WT calendar. Unfortunately, the once-promising Yoann Offredo was forced to retire last season, due to lingering issues related to a 2019 injury.

2021 Roster

Rider	Born	Nat.	2020 Pt.	Best Season	Type	Joined Team
Bakelants, Jan	1986	BEL	143	2015979	Classics	2020
Bellicaud, Jeremy	1998	FRA	32	2020	Climber	2020
De Gendt, Aimé	1994	BEL	317	2019388	Classics	2019
De Plus, Jasper	1997	BEL	0	201915	ITT	2020
De Winter, Ludwig	1993	BEL	5	201724	Rouleur	2019
Delacroix, Theo	1999	FRA	0	2020	Classics	2019
Devriendt, Tom	1991	BEL	49	2017195	Sprinter	2015
Eiking, Odd Christian	1995	NOR	24	2019343	Climber	2018
Evans, Alexander	1997	AUS	0	201831	Climber	2020
Hermans, Quinten	1995	BEL	0	2018229	Classics	2020
Hirt, JanNEW	1991	CZE	79	2019354	GC/Climber	from CCC Team
Koch, JonasNEW*	1993	GER	44	2018230	Sprinter	from CCC Team
Kreder, Wesley	1990	NED	1	2012165	Domestique	2014
Lammertink, Maurits	1990	NED	115	2015359	Sprinter	2020
Meintjes, LouisNEW	1992	ZAF	167	2017745	GC	from NTT Pro Cycling
Minali, RiccardoNEW	1995	ITA	69	2018303	Sprinter	from NIPPO DELKO One Provence
Pasqualon, Andrea	1988	ITA	358	2018815	Sprinter	2017
Petilli, Simone	1993	ITA	50	2015176	Climber	2020
Planckaert, BaptisteNEW	1988	BEL	76	20161017	Classics	from Bingoal - Wallonie Bruxelles
Rota, LorenzoNEW	1995	ITA	203	2020	Classics	from Vini Zabù - KTM
Taaramäe, ReinNEW	1987	EST	278	2011746	Climber	from Team Total Direct Energie
Van der Hoorn, TacoNEW	1993	NED	49	2018395	Classics/Domestique	from Jumbo-Visma
Van Kessel, Corné	1991	NED	2	201739	Sprinter	2020
Van Melsen, Kévin	1987	BEL	28	2020	Rouleur	2009
Van Poppel, Danny	1993	NED	271	2018769	Sprinter	2020
Van Poppel, Boy	1988	NED	8	2019236	Sprinter	2020
Vanspeybrouck, Pieter	1987	BEL	23	2016401	Sprinter	2017
Vliegen, Loïc	1994	BEL	209	2019319	Puncheur	2019
Zimmermann, GeorgNEW	1997	GER	122	2020	GC/Climber	from CCC Team
Avg.	28 yrs.	29 riders	93,8 pt.

The 2021 roster adds some strength, but leaves a bit to be desired from a WT squad. Louis Meintjes joins the team, but has a long way to go to match the potential shown just a few years ago. The team added some classics depth, signing Baptiste Planckaert, and some climbing talent in Jan Hirt. German youngster Georg Zimmermann also joins the team in 2021, having shown some promise at the end of last season, finishing La Vuelta in 21st overall. Italian sprinter Riccardo Minali also steps back up to the World Tour, joining the team from NIPPO DELKO One Provence, and Taco van der Hoorn found a late World Tour contract to bolster the team's classics squad in a mix of support and leadership roles for certain races.

2021 Outlook

It remains to be seen how Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux will perform on the World Tour. Only a few riders have spent more than a couple years at the WT level, and most have spent their careers entirely on CT/PRT teams. GC and mountain-stage hopes seem to be focused on Hirt, who has shown some promise but is not a top-tier climber, Meintjes, who has some work to do to regain his previous racing level, Taaramäe, who has also not been able to replicate his best results in recent years, and Zimmermann, who has potential but has yet to be given full leadership and support. The team's best shot at winning races looks like it continues to be in sprints and classics. Pasqualon will likely still get the nod as the lead sprinter in many races, Planckaert and van der Hoorn provide some added strength to the team's classics squad and Koch joins the team after a relatively anonymous 2020 season. But for World Tour-level sprinting, Danny van Poppel is the best bet, if he can regain his 2015-2018 form. For Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, 2021 will be a transition season as the team and riders adjust to the demands of the World Tour.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's contest! There were a lot of great books released last year and I think all of them were nominated in our Best of 2020 contest. Here are the winners for the Best Books of 2020!
Just a quick note regarding the voting. We've locked the individual voting threads but that doesn't stop people from upvoting/downvoting so if you check them the upvotes won't necessarily match up with these winners depending on when you look. But, the results announced here do match what the results were at the time the threads were locked.

Best Debut of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	My Dark Vanessa	Kate Elizabeth Russell	Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher. Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood.	warpedlucy
1st Runner-Up	Shuggie Bain	Douglas Stuart	Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings. Shuggie's mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie's guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction.	nursingasmallmadhope
2nd Runner-Up	Luster	Raven Leilani	Luster sees a young black woman figuring her way into life as an artist and into love in this darkly comic novel. She meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage. In this world of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics, Edie finds herself unemployed and living with Eric. She becomes hesitant friend to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie is the only black woman young Akila may know.	lentixular

Best Literary Fiction of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	The Vanishing Half	Brit Bennett	The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing.	candlesandpretense
1st Runner-Up	Piranesi	Susanna Clarke	Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.	dampdrizzlynovember
2nd Runner-Up	Transcendent Kingdom	Yaa Gyasi	Gifty is a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her. But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive.	warpedlucy

Best Romance of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	Beach Read	Emily Henry	Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. They're polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block. Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.	assholeinwonderland
1st Runner-Up	Take a Hint, Dani Brown	Talia Hilbert	Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom. When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out, his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse? Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.	Klutzy_While_3950
2nd Runnder-Up	You Had Me at Hola	Alexis Daria	After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez finds her face splashed across the tabloids. When she returns to her hometown of New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country, Jasmine figures her new “Leading Lady Plan” should be easy enough to follow. After his last telenovela character was killed off, Ashton is worried his career is dead as well. Joining this new cast as a last-minute addition will give him the chance to show off his acting chops to American audiences and ping the radar of Hollywood casting agents. With their careers on the line, Jasmine and Ashton agree to rehearse in private. But rehearsal leads to kissing, and kissing leads to a behind-the-scenes romance worthy of a soap opera. While their on-screen performance improves, the media spotlight on Jasmine soon threatens to destroy her new image and expose Ashton’s most closely guarded secret.	chchchcher

Best Mystery or Thriller of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner TIED	Mexican Gothic	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.	CrazyCatLadyForLife
Winner TIED	The Guest List	Lucy Foley	On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?	book0saurus
1st Runner-Up	The Thursday Murder Club	Richard Osman	In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?	anchgu739

Best Short Story Collection of 2020

Place	Title	Editors	Description	Nominated
Winner	The Fight of the Century	Michael Chabon and Ayelet Walden	The American Civil Liberties Union began as a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller and Jane Addams. A century after its founding, the ACLU remains the nation’s premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In collaboration with the ACLU, prize-winning authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays about landmark cases in the ACLU’s 100-year history. In Fight of the Century, bestselling and award-winning authors present unique literary takes on historic decisions like Brown v. Board of Education, the Scopes trial, Roe v. Wade, and more. Contributors include Geraldine Brooks, Michael Cunningham, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Louise Erdrich, Neil Gaiman, Lauren Groff, Marlon James, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Morgan Parker, Ann Patchett, Salman Rushdie, George Saunders, Elizabeth Strout, Jesmyn Ward, Meg Wolitzer, and more.	sbonkers

Best Graphic Novel of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	Solutions and Other Problems	Allie Brosch	Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh’s childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.	lydiardbell
1st Runner-Up	The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist	Adrian Tomine	What happens when a childhood hobby turns into a lifelong career? The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, Adrian Tomine's funniest and most revealing foray into autobiography, offers an array of unexpected answers. When a sudden medical incident lands Tomine in the emergency room, he begins to question if it was really all worthwhile: despite the accolades, awards, and opportunities of a seemingly charmed career, it's the gaffes, humiliations, slights, and insults he's experienced (or caused) within the industry that loom largest in his memory. But as those memories are delineated in excruciatingly hilarious detail, a different, parallel narrative plays out in the background. In between chaotic book tours, disastrous interviews, and difficult interactions with other artists, life happens: Tomine fumbles his way into marriage, parenthood, and an indisputably fulfilling existence. While mining his conflicted relationship with comics and comics culture, Tomine illustrates the amusing absurdities of life and how we choose to spend our time.	Groodfeets

Best YA of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	A Deadly Education	Naomi Novak	There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.	book0saurus
1st Runner-Up	The House in the Cerulean Sea	TJ Klune	Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.	DunderMifflinthisisD
2nd Runner-Up	Cemetery Boys	Aiden Thomas	When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.	wenises3

Best Sci-Fi of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	Axiom's End	Lindsay Ellis	A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades. Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.	newenglandredshirt
1st Runner-Up	Network Effect	Martha Wells	You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you're a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you're Murderbot. Come for the pew-pew space battles, stay for the most relatable A.I. you’ll read this century.	pennydrdful
2nd Runnder-Up	The Space Between Worlds	Michaiah Johnson	Multiverse travel is finally possible, but there’s just one catch: No one can visit a world where their counterpart is still alive. Enter Cara, whose parallel selves happen to be exceptionally good at dying—from disease, turf wars, or vendettas they couldn’t outrun. Cara’s life has been cut short on 372 worlds in total. On this Earth, however, Cara has survived. Identified as an outlier and therefore a perfect candidate for multiverse travel, Cara is plucked from the dirt of the wastelands. She works—and shamelessly flirts—with her enticing yet aloof handler, Dell, as the two women collect off-world data for the Eldridge Institute. So long as she can keep her head down and avoid trouble, Cara is on a sure path to citizenship and security. But trouble finds Cara when one of her eight remaining doppelgängers dies under mysterious circumstances, plunging her into a new world with an old secret. What she discovers will connect her past and her future in ways she could have never imagined—and reveal her own role in a plot that endangers not just her world, but the entire multiverse.	OliviaPresteign

Best Fantasy of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	Rhythm of War	Brandon Sanderson	After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar's crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move. Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin's scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals, and potentially reveal the secrets of the ancient tower that was once the heart of their strength. At the same time that Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with his changing role within the Knights Radiant, his Windrunners face their own problem: As more and more deadly enemy Fused awaken to wage war, no more honorspren are willing to bond with humans to increase the number of Radiants. Adolin and Shallan must lead the coalition’s envoy to the honorspren stronghold of Lasting Integrity and either convince the spren to join the cause against the evil god Odium, or personally face the storm of failure.	Pepe_Silviaa
1st Runner-Up	Piranesi	Susanna Clarke	Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.	warpedlucy
2nd Runnder-Up	The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue	V. E. Schwab	France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.	OliviaPresteign

Best Nonfiction of 2020

Place	Title	Author	Description	Nominated
Winner	Promised Land	Barack Obama	In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.	pineapplesf
1st Runner-Up	The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz	Erik Larson	On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally--and willing to fight to the end. Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London.	candlesandpretense
2nd Runner-Up	Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents	Isabel Wilkerson	Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.	mleftpeel

Thank you for everyone who participated in this year's contest and especially thank you for bringing so many great books to our attention so we can add them to our reading lists! If you'd like to see more of the best books of 2020 here are the links to the individual contests:

• The Best Books of 2020 Megathread
• The Best Debut of 2020
• The Best Literary Fiction of 2020
• The Best Romance of 2020
• The Best Mystery or Thriller of 2020
• The Best Short Story Collection and Graphic Novel of 2020
• The Best YA of 2020
• The Best Sci-Fi of 2020
• The Best Fantasy of 2020
• The Best Nonfiction of 2020

If you'd like to see our previous contests, you can find them in the suggested reading section of our wiki.

• Best Books of 2019
• Best Books of 2018
• Best Books of 2017
• Best Books of 2016
• Best Books of 2015
• Best Books of 2014
• Best Books of 2013
• Best Books of the Decade 2010-2019