The votes are in. They've been counted too. That took a long time and, let me level with you, a couple of strong drinks. By 1am last night (or should that be 1am this morning?) I was feeling pretty tired, and very emotional. It was a blurry, confusing struggle. But I got there - and you don't want to hear about me, anyway, do you? You want to know about the results. So here goes. We have a shortlist:

Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End Of The Lane (50 votes)

Kate Atkinson - Life After Life (35 votes)

Lucy Cruickshanks - The Trader of Saigon (34 votes)

Suzie Tullett - Little White Lies and Butterflies (31 votes)

Zoe Venditozzi - Anywhere's Better Than Here (31 votes)

Meike Ziervogel - Magda (30 votes)

All your base are belong to Neil, is the conclusion so far. I'm pretty sure that he hasn't been lobbying either (which explains why he got 50 votes rather than 50m). I'm certain his presence is going to make this year's competition especially interesting.

A few other things are going to make it interesting too. For one, the Not the Booker prize is going to go live. On 12 October, just before the result is decided, there's going to be a Not the Booker panel event at The Wood Green literary festival. Everyone on the shortlist will be invited in due course – and you are invited now! So put the date in your diaries and I'll hope to see you there.

For two, as well as a public vote at the end, we're going to have a panel. You're invited to be on that, too. To qualify, you just have to read along with me, post plenty of reviews and opinions and, in true Not the Booker style, get yourself selected. Here's the relevant rule from our ever popular and delightful Terms and Conditions:

10. Three readers will be selected by the Guardian to form a panel of judges from those readers who have made substantial contributions to the discussion of the shortlisted books. The process by which these readers are chosen is left studiously vague and is at the Guardian's discretion. These judges undertake to read at least three of the six-book shortlist before the final judging meeting.

Before we get to all that, we have the enjoyable job of reading the books. I'm going to go through them in alphabetical order, at the rate of about one a week. Clever readers will already have worked out that this means that Kate Atkinson is first up with Life After Life. According to Guardian reviewer Alex Clark, this book is "a marvel." Meanwhile, according to the reviews left by voters in this competition, it is "brilliant", "glorious" and "memorable". Sounds like a good start. I'll be back in just over a week to see if I agree with all that. But for now, there's a great deal to discuss on that shortlist. There's fantasy, there's literary fiction and there's chick lit. Chick lit! I said it was going to be interesting …