Saturday 12 June 2010

British Fantasy Awards - Shortlist

Stephen Theaker just posted up the BFA shortlist on the society's forum. This is it:

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)

I have a terrible confession to make: I haven't read any of the nominees in any of the fiction categories. Nor have I had any of the magazines listed under that category either. It's not till we get to Best Artist that I could legitimately vote for anyone. As for Best Television, I have never watched Lost apart from one episode a couple of years ago, I can't stand Torchwood, while Doctor Who, though occassionally good, is far from what I would class as "Best" TV. Which leaves Being Human and Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately for BG, I thought the finale weak compared to the rest of the series. If this had been before I watched the final series I would have voted for it straight away. While Being Human, though it has its moments, I would hate to say represents the "Best". I suppose it is the best of what choices I have to vote for, but that's all. As for films, that's for once much easier. Without a doubt, though I loved District 9 and Watchmen, it has to be Let the Right One In. No question about it. One of the very best vampire films ever, let alone over the past twelve months. And is the very type of vampire film I was bemoaning for when I wrote about watching Daybreakers yesterday.

So that's my voting revealed to you, what there is of it!

3 comments:

  1. Very tempted to vote for BSG, though I might consider Torchwood. I never rated the few episodes of the regular series I saw, but 'Children Of Earth' was very different- almost reminiscent of 'Quatermass' at times. Very powerful, intelligent drama with some powerful performances- even the soulless charisma void that is John Barrowman couldn't spoil it.

    There's a strong line-up there in some categories, and quite a few- Best Novella, Best Collection etc- where picking a favourite will be very hard. It's been a good year for the genre in many respects, I feel.

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  2. It's always at times like this that I feel my own reading has either been misdirected or inadequate - or both. I had the same problem with the Stokers. There was nothing in the short list I could vote for because I hadn't read anything that made it that far! The same thing happened last year. I told myself then that wasn't going to happen again. And it did!

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  3. Well I'm not in it, so there's nothing worth voting for ;)

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