The OF Blog: 2012 World Fantasy Award finalists announced

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

2012 World Fantasy Award finalists announced

Novel

  Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman (Ace)
  11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
  A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
  Osama, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
  Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor) 


Interesting shortlist.  Out of the three that I've read (I just bought the Buehlman e-book edition), Osama was the best-executed and intriguing work.

Novella

  "Near Zennor", Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors)
  "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong", K.J. Parker (Subterranean Winter 2011)
  "Alice Through the Plastic Sheet", Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors)
  "Rose Street Attractors", Lucius Shepard (Ghosts by Gaslight)
  Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press; Clarkesworld)

No opinion, although I have liked previous works by Hand, Shepard, and Valente.

Short Fiction

  "X for Demetrious", Steve Duffy (Blood and Other Cravings)
  "Younger Women", Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean Summer 2011)
  "The Paper Menagerie", Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)
  "A Journey of Only Two Paces", Tim Powers (The Bible Repairman and Other Stories)
  "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11)

 The Powers was fairly good, if I recall from my reading last year, but other than that, not informed enough yet of the others to give a strong opinion.

Anthology

  Blood and Other Cravings, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor)
  A Book of Horrors, Stephen Jones, ed. (Jo Fletcher Books)
  The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Harper Voyager US)
  The Weird, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Corvus; Tor, published May 2012)

  Gutshot, Conrad Williams, ed. (PS Publishing)

Two strong entries by the VanderMeers.  I'm quite biased here, as I have a translation that was published in The Weird, but I think that is the best anthology out of what seems to be a strong field.  Will try to read more of the others.

Collection

  Bluegrass Symphony, Lisa L. Hannett (Ticonderoga)
  Two Worlds and In Between, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press)
  After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer)

  Mrs Midnight and Other Stories, Reggie Oliver (Tartarus)
  The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, Tim Powers (Tachyon) 

Good shortlist here.  I liked the McHugh slightly more than the Kiernan and Powers collections.

Artist

  John Coulthart
  Julie Dillon
  Jon Foster
  Kathleen Jennings
  John Picacio

Good sampling of talent.

Special Award Professional

  John Joseph Adams, for editing - anthology and magazine

  Jo Fletcher, for editing - Jo Fletcher Books
  Eric Lane, for publishing in translation - Dedalus books
  Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications
  Jeff VanderMeer & S.J. Chambers, for The Steampunk Bible

Good shortlist.
 
Special Award Non-Professional

  Kate Baker, Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
  Cat Rambo, for Fantasy

  Raymond Russell & Rosalie Parker, for Tartarus Press
  Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker blog
  Mark Valentine, for Wormwood

Each of the ones I've highlighted (not aware of the others' work, unfortunately) does good work.


So, which works do you think are most likely to win/deserve to win? 

2 comments:

James said...

I am surprised that Those Across the River made it onto the list. Partly because it got so little play around the community (and someone mentioned not knowing it was genre). Partly because it was fucking terrible.

Larry Nolen said...

Well, I'm going to be reading it over the next day or so, so I guess we'll see what I think of its qualities soon enough.

 
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