World Fantasy Award Nominees 2012

And now, the nominees for my favorite award of the year havebeen announced!  The best part about this list is that there is very littlethat I have actually read. 
  World Fantasy Award Ballot  Novel
•  Those Across the River, ChristopherBuehlman (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) 

I’veread Among Others and still consider it to be my favorite novel published lastyear and I recently finished King’s 11/22/63.  I enjoyed the King, butWalton’s novel was better.  I am still on a GRRM moratorium until I catchup my re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire, so while I own A Dance With Dragons, Istill prefer to reread A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows before I getaround to his latest novel.  On the plus side, this hopefully gets me that muchcloser to finishing the book with less of a gap between that and the nextnovel.  We’ll see.

I’veheard good things about Osama, but haven’t been all that keen on readingit.  Until now.  Those Across the River is a complete unknown to me.  

Novella
•  "NearZennor", Elizabeth Hand (A Book ofHorrors)
•  "ASmall Price to Pay for Birdsong", K.J. Parker (Subterranean Winter 2011)
•  "Alice Through the PlasticSheet", Robert Shearman (A Book ofHorrors)
•  "Rose StreetAttractors", Lucius Shepard (Ghosts byGaslight)
•  Silentlyand Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press; Clarkesworld)
Theonly novella I’ve read from this list is Valente’s Silently andVery Fast.  I didn’t appreciate it.  Shepard is consistently excellent. I was delighted by Shearman’s World Fantasy nominated collection TinyDeaths, so I’m excited to read this story.   

Short Fiction
•  "Xfor Demetrious", Steve Duffy (Blood andOther Cravings)
•  "YoungerWomen", Karen Joy Fowler (SubterraneanSummer 2011)
•  "ThePaper Menagerie", Ken Liu (F&SF3-4/11)
•  "AJourney of Only Two Paces", Tim Powers (TheBible Repairman and Other Stories)
•  "TheCartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11) 

I’ma big fan of Yu’s “The Cartographer Wasps”, it was such animaginative and inventive story and I’m glad to see it recognized acrossmultiple awards.  Liu has likewise had an impressive year and if he maintainsthe level of quality and output that he has done thus far, I’ll expect tosee him on ballots for years to come.  The other three stories are new to me.

Anthology
•  Blood and Other Cravings, Ellen Datlow,ed. (Tor)
•  A Book of Horrors, Stephen Jones, ed. (JoFletcher 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. (PSPublishing) 

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, ReggieOliver (Tartarus)
•  The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, TimPowers (Tachyon) 

Theonly collection here that was on my radar is After the Apocalypse.  It’sone of those that I’ve been *meaning*to get to and just haven’t.

Artist
•  JohnCoulthart
•  JulieDillon
•  JonFoster
•  KathleenJennings
•  JohnPicacio 

Ilike Foster and Picacio.  This is a good time to look at the other artists andsee what they are all about.

Special Award Professional
•  JohnJoseph Adams, for editing - anthology and magazine
•  JoFletcher, for editing - Jo Fletcher Books
•  EricLane, for publishing in translation - Dedalus books
•  BrettAlexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications
•  JeffVanderMeer & S.J. Chambers, for TheSteampunk Bible
 
Special Award Non-Professional
•  KateBaker, Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
•  CatRambo, for Fantasy
•  RaymondRussell & Rosalie Parker, for Tartarus Press
•  CharlesTan, for Bibliophile Stalker blog
•  MarkValentine, for Wormwood