The 2015 British Fantasy Awards Shortlist Announced!

First off, congratulations to everyone who’s been nominated!

Secondly, it looks like my reading pile just got a little bit bigger..

So without any further ado here are the nominees:

Best Anthology

• The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2, ed. Jan Edwards and Jenny Barber (The Alchemy Press)
• Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease, ed. by Joel Lane and Tom Johnstone (Gray Friar Press)
• Lightspeed: Women Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue, ed. Christie Yant (Lightspeed Magazine)
• The Spectral Book of Horror Stories, ed. Mark Morris (Spectral Press)
• Terror Tales of Wales, ed. Paul Finch (Gray Friar Press)

Best Artist

• Ben Baldwin
• Vincent Chong
• Les Edwards
• Sarah Anne Langton
• Karla Ortiz
• Daniele Serra

Best Collection

• Black Gods Kiss, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
• The Bright Day Is Done, Carole Johnstone (Gray Friar Press)
• Gifts for the One Who Comes After, Helen Marshall (ChiZine Publications)
• Nick Nightmare Investigates, Adrian Cole (The Alchemy Press and Airgedlámh Publications)
• Scruffians! Stories of Better Sodomites, Hal Duncan (Lethe Press)

Best Comic/Graphic Novel

• Cemetery Girl, Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden and Don Kramer (Jo Fletcher Books)
• Grandville Noël, Bryan Talbot (Jonathan Cape)
• Saga, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
• Seconds, Bryan Lee O’Malley (SelfMadeHero)
• Through the Woods, Emily Carroll (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
• The Wicked + The Divine, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (Image Comics)

The Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel

• Breed, KT Davies (Fox Spirit Books)
• City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett (Jo Fletcher Books)
• Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children’s Books)
• A Man Lies Dreaming, Lavie Tidhar (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Moon King, Neil Williamson (NewCon Press)
• The Relic Guild, Edward Cox (Gollancz)

 Best Film/Television Episode

• Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Black Mirror: White Christmas, Charlie Brooker (Channel 4)
• Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn and Nicole Perlman (Marvel Studios)
• Interstellar, Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan (Paramount Pictures)
• Under the Skin, Walter Campbell and Jonathan Glazer (Film4 et al)

The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel

• The End, Gary McMahon (NewCon Press)
• The Girl With All the Gifts, M.R. Carey (Orbit)
• The Last Plague, Rich Hawkins (Crowded Quarantine Publications)
• No One Gets Out Alive, Adam Nevill (Macmillan)
• Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel (Knopf)
• The Unquiet House, Alison Littlewood (Jo Fletcher Books)

Best Independent Press

• The Alchemy Press (Peter Coleborn)
• Fox Spirit Books (Adele Wearing)
• NewCon Press (Ian Whates)
• Spectral Press (Simon Marshall-Jones)

Best Magazine/Periodical

• Black Static, ed. Andy Cox (TTA Press)
• Holdfast Magazine, ed. Laurel Sills and Lucy Smee (Laurel Sills and Lucy Smee)
• Interzone, ed. by Andy Cox (TTA Press)
• Lightspeed, ed. John Joseph Adams (Lightspeed Magazine)
• Sein und Werden, ed. Rachel Kendall (ISMs Press)

The Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer

• Edward Cox, for The Relic Guild (Gollancz)
• Sarah Lotz, for The Three (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Laura Mauro, for “Ptichka” (Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease)
• Den Patrick, for The Boy with the Porcelain Blade (Gollancz)
• Jen Williams, for The Copper Promise (Headline)

Best Non-Fiction

• D.F. Lewis Dreamcatcher Real-Time Reviews, D.F. Lewis (D.F. Lewis)
• Ginger Nuts of Horror, ed. Jim McLeod (Jim McLeod)
• Letters to Arkham: The Letters of Ramsey Campbell and August Derleth, 1961–1971, ed. S.T. Joshi (PS Publishing)
• Rhapsody: Notes on Strange Fictions, Hal Duncan (Lethe Press)
• Sibilant Fricative: Essays & Reviews, Adam Roberts (Steel Quill Books )
• Touchstones: Essays on the Fantastic, John Howard (The Alchemy Press)
• You Are the Hero: A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, Jonathan Green (Snowbooks)

Best Novella

• Cold Turkey, Carole Johnstone (TTA Press)
• Drive, Mark West (Pendragon Press)
• Newspaper Heart, Stephen Volk (The Spectral Book of Horror Stories)
• Water For Drowning, Ray Cluley (This Is Horror)

Best Short Story

• “A Change of Heart”, Gaie Sebold (Wicked Women)
• “The Girl on the Suicide Bridge”, J.A. Mains (Beside the Seaside)
• “Ptichka”, Laura Mauro (Horror Uncut: Tales of Social Insecurity and Economic Unease)
• “A Woman’s Place”, Emma Newman (Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets)

I’m pleased to see City of Stairs on there as I read that on holiday and it was really good, and also pleased to see The Boy with the Porcelain Blade on there as just the title and cover have me very intrigued so it’s good to know it’ll be good!