British Fantasy Awards Shortlist

[David A. Riley]

Here's something for everyone to chew over, the British Fantasy Society's shortlist for awards this year (final results to be announced at Fantasycon in September).

I have a confession to make before you read the list, though. I haven't read any of the items listed under the various fiction categories. Apart from Best Artist, there's nothing I'm familiar with till TV and Films.

Best Novel
BEST SERVED COLD, Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz)
FUTILE FLAME, Sam Stone (House of Murky Depths)
ONE, Conrad Williams (Virgin)
THE NAMING OF THE BEASTS, Mike Carey (Orbit)
UNDER THE DOME, Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)

Best Novella

OLD MAN SCRATCH, Rio Youers (PS)
ROADKILL, Rob Shearman, from Roadkill/Siren Beat (Twelfth Planet) and Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical (Big Finish)
THE LANGUAGE OF DYING, Sarah Pinborough (PS)
THE WITNESSES ARE GONE, Joel Lane (PS)
VARDOGER, Stephen Volk (Gray Friar)

Best Short Story

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, Justin Carroll, in Dragontales: Short Stories of Flame, Tooth and Scale, ed. Holly Stacey (Wyvern)
GEORGE CLOONEY’S MOUSTACHE, Rob Shearman, in The BFS Yearbook 2009, ed. Guy Adams (BFS)
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER, Nina Allan, Black Static #12
THE CONFESSOR’S TALE, Sarah Pinborough, in Hellbound Hearts, ed. Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (Pocket)
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE NIGHT, Michael Marshall Smith (Nightjar)

Best Anthology

CERN ZOO: NEMONYMOUS 9, ed. D.F. Lewis (Megazanthus)
DRAGONTALES: SHORT STORIES OF FLAME, TOOTH AND SCALE, ed. Holly Stacey (Wyvern)
HELLBOUND HEARTS, ed. Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (Pocket)
SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH: STORIES IN HONOUR OF JACK VANCE, ed. George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (HarperVoyager)
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR 20, ed. Stephen Jones (Constable and Robinson)

Best Collection

CYBERABAD DAYS, Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
JUST BEHIND YOU, Ramsey Campbell (PS)
LOVE SONGS FOR THE SHY AND CYNICAL, Robert Shearman (Big Finish)
ONCE & FUTURE CITIES, Allen Ashley (Eibonvale)
THE TERRIBLE CHANGES, Joel Lane (Ex Occidente)

PS Publishing Award for Best Small Press

NEWCON PRESS (Ian Whates)
SCREAMING DREAMS (Steve Upham)
SUBTERRANEAN PRESS (William Schafer)
TELOS PUBLISHING (David Howe)
TTA PRESS (Andy Cox)

Best Comic/Graphic Novel

FABLES, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
FREAKANGELS, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield (Avatar & warrenellis.com)
LOCKE AND KEY, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
THE GIRLY COMIC, ed. Selina Lock (Factor Fiction)
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER? Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert (DC)

Best Artist

CHARLES VESS, for work including Neil Gaiman’s Blueberry Girl
LES EDWARDS, for work including the cover of Cemetery Dance #62
SHAUN TAN
STEVE UPHAM, for work including the Estronomicon Sketchbook Special
VINCENT CHONG, for work including covers for The Witnesses are Gone (PS) and Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20 (Constable and Robinson)

Best Non-Fiction

ANSIBLE LINK, David Langford (http://news.ansible.co.uk)
CASE NOTES, Peter Tennant, Black Static
IT LIVES AGAIN! HORROR MOVIES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM, Axelle Carolyn (Telos)
JOHN SCALZI, WHATEVER (http://scalzi.com/whatever)
KNOWING DARKNESS: ARTISTS INSPIRED BY STEPHEN KING, George Beahm and various artists (Centipede Press)

Best Magazine

BLACK STATIC, ed. Andy Cox (TTA)
CEMETERY DANCE, ed. Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance)
INTERZONE, ed. Andy Cox (TTA)
MIDNIGHT STREET, ed. Trevor Denyer (Immediate Direction)
MURKY DEPTHS, ed. Terry Martin (The House of Murky Depths)
THEAKER’S QUARTERLY FICTION, ed. Stephen Theaker and John Greenwood (Silver Age)

Best Television

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (Sci Fi/Sky 1)
BEING HUMAN (BBC3)
DOCTOR WHO (BBC1)
LOST (ABC/Sky 1)
TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH (BBC1)

Best Film

AVATAR, dir. James Cameron (Twentieth Century Fox)
CORALINE, dir. Henry Selick (Focus)
DISTRICT 9, dir. Neill Blomkamp (Tristar)
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, dir. Tomas Alfredson (EFTI)
WATCHMEN, dir. Zack Snyder (Warner)

[dem bones]

Jun 12, 2010 7:52:07 GMT David A. Riley said:

I have a confession to make before you read the list, though. I haven't read any of the items listed under the various fiction categories. Apart from Best Artist, there's nothing I'm familiar with till TV and Films.

join the club!

[andydecker]

Wow, I am really not up with the current stuff.

At least I have Hellbound Hearts thanks to the Vault. And I read The Confessor´s Tale, which was at least original. But not that original.

Gaiman´s Batman two-parter isn´t award material.

[marksamuels]

I could rant about this, but I'm not going there.

Not after what happened last time.

Mark S.

[noose]

Jun 12, 2010 13:23:54 GMT marksamuels said:

I could rant about this, but I'm not going there.

Not after what happened last time.

Mark S.

With you right there on that one Mark.

[Craig Herbertson]

I've seen Avatar... I just don't get out enough