World Fantasy Awards nominations

The 2009 World Fantasy Awards ballot for 2010 has been announced and I am stunned to be on the ballot. My sincere thanks to all. Also my roaring congratulations to all of my fellow nominees:

Novel
Blood of Ambrose
, James Enge (Pyr)
The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey)
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland)
In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)

Novella
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
“The Lion’s Den”, Steven Duffy (Nemonymous Nine: Cern Zoo)
The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS)
“Sea-Hearts”, Margo Lanagan (X6 )
“Everland”, Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)

Short Story
“I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 12/09)
“The Pelican Bar”, Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
“A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc, or, A Lullaby”, Helen Keeble (Strange Horizons 6/09)
“Singing on a Star”, Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
“The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale”, Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein )
“In Waiting”, R.B. Russell (Putting the Pieces in Place)
“Light on the Water”, Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy 10/09)

Anthology
Poe,  Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)
Songs of The Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Subterranean/Voyager)
Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, Danel Olson, ed. (Ash-Tree)
Eclipse Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade)
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now, Peter Straub, ed. (Library of America)
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, Gordon Van Gelder, ed. (Tachyon)

Collection
We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)
Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House)
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin)
Northwest Passages, Barbara Roden (Prime)
Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS)
The Very Best of Gene Wolfe/The Best of Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe (PS /Tor)

Artist
John Jude Palencar
John Picacio
Charles Vess
Jason Zerrillo
Sam Weber

Special Award – Professional
Peter & Nicky Crowther for PS Publishing
Ellen Datlow for editing anthologies
Hayao Miyazaki for Ponyo
Barbara & Christopher Roden for Ash-Tree Press
Jonathan Strahan for editing anthologies
Jacob & Rina Weisman for Tachyon Publications

Special Award – Non-Professional
John Berlyne for Powers: Secret Histories
Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting, & Sean Wallace for Clarkesworld
Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons
John Klima for Electric Velocipede
Bob Colby, B. Diane Martin, David Shaw and Eric M. Van for Readercon
Ray Russell & Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press

Australians in the World Fantasy Awards

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the World Fantasy Awards, when she asked me who was the first Australian to win the award? It gave me pause, if only because it’s something I’d expect myself to know.  It motivated me to do a little detective work and go looking through the thirty-four year history of the award.

From my cursory inspection, ten Australians have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award in six categories for a total of seventeen nominations and seven wins. The first Australian work to be nominated for the World Fantasy Award was Peter Carey for his novel Illywhacker in 1986. The first Australians to win were Jack Dann and Janeen Webb, who won for Best Anthology in 1996 for Dreaming Down Under.  The other recipients of the Award are Margo Lanagan (Best Collection for Black Juice, Best Short Story for “Singing My Sister Down”, and Best Novel for Tender Morsels) and Shaun Tan (Best Artist three times).

The full list of Australian World Fantasy Award nominees is below:

1986: Novel: Peter Carey, Illywhacker
1996: Anthology: She’s Fantastical, Lucy Sussex & Judith Raphael Buckrich, eds.
1996: Short Story: “Angel Thing”, Petrina Smith
1999: Anthology: Dreaming Down-Under, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb eds. **
2001: Collection: Blackwater Days, Terry Dowling
2001: Short Story: “The Saltimbanques”, Terry Dowling
2001: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2002: Collection: The Essential Ellison, Harlan Ellison, Terry Dowling with Richard Delap & Gil Lamont, eds.
2004: Anthology: Gathering the Bones, Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell & Dennis Etchison, eds.
2004: Novel: The Etched City, K.J. Bishop
2005: Short Story: “Singing My Sister Down”, Margo Lanagan **
2005: Collection: Black Juice, Margo Lanagan **
2007: Collection: Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan
2007: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2009: Collection: Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
2009: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2009: Novel: Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan**
** denotes winner