Tuesday, August 4, 2009

2009 World Fantasy Award Nominees Announced

This year's World Fantasy Award nominees were announced today. Listed below are the nominees for novel, novella and short story, but a full list can be found at the World Fantasy Convention site.

Best Novel

  • The House of the Stag, Kage Baker (Tor)
  • The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
  • The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury)
  • Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)
  • Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf)

Best Novella

  • “Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel”, Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
  • “If Angels Fight”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
  • “The Overseer”, Albert Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
  • Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury; HarperCollins)
  • “Good Boy”, Nisi Shawl (Filter House)

Best Short Story

  • “Caverns of Mystery”, Kage Baker (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
  • “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 7/08)
  • “Pride and Prometheus”, John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
  • “Our Man in the Sudan”, Sarah Pinborough (The Second Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories)
  • “A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica”, Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)

Sadly, the only one of these I have read is Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, which I loved. I've wanted to read something by Kage Baker for a while so I would like to read The House of the Stag at some point, and I am also curious about Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. It made me happy to see Catherynne M. Valente was a nominee since I really loved her novel The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden (her reaction on Twitter was actually the first I saw about the nominee announcement). I loved The Last Unicorn so seeing Peter S. Beagle on the list makes me happy, too. If you've read any of the nominated works, what did you think of them? Do you have any favorites you're rooting for?

Congratulations to all the nominees!

4 comments:

orannia said...

Congrats to all the nominees.

Sadly, the only one of these I have read is Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book...

That's one more than me Kristen :) I did try and read Kage Baker's first book but decided that it just wasn't for me.

Kristen said...

Orannia - What didn't you like about Kage Baker's book? I've wanted to read In the Garden of Iden for a while.

Thea said...

I'm currently reading Tender Morsels and it's really an amazing book. I mean, it's gritty and harsh (child abuse/incest/rape) but it's beautifully written and really an interesting take on Snow White & Rose Red.

I've got The Orphan Tales on the way - cannot wait to read that one soon :)

Kristen said...

Thea - Ooh, I didn't realize Tender Morsels was a retelling of Snow White & Rose Red! I love fairy tale retellings so it just moved up the priority list a few notches.

I can't wait to hear what you think of The Orphan's Tales!