Here are the nominees for the 2010 British Fantasy Awards. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at FantasyCon in September.
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)
Members of the BFS, FantasyCon 2009 and FantasyCon 2010 can vote via the online voting form at www.tinyurl.com/bfashortlist2010 or by emailing your choices to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . A voting form will also be included in the June mailing to BFS members for postal voting.
The deadline for voting is 31 July 2010.
FAQs
Q. Are these the BFA nominees?
A. Yes.
Q. How does something get onto the shortlist?
A. Each shortlist collects the five items that scored most highly in each category. Ties for fifth place were decided by discounting third and then second place votes, per the BFA constitution. In the Best Magazine category the tied items could not be separated in this way, and so six items went forward to the shortlist.
Q. How is each shortlist ordered?
A. Alphabetically.
Q. How are the winners decided?
A. BFS and FantasyCon 2009 and 2010 members will vote for one item in each category. The item that gets the most votes will win. Any ties will be decided by referring back to voting on the longlist.
Q. Are write-in votes allowed at this stage?
A. No.
Q. Did you know that X is in the wrong category, or that it’s ineligible?
A. No, please let us know: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Q. Why is X on the list, when it’s horror, not fantasy?
A. The British Fantasy Society covers horror, science fiction and other fantastical genres in addition to traditional, heroic and epic fantasy.
Q. Why is X on the list, when it isn’t fantasy, horror or science fiction?
A. There are no rules in the BFA constitution on the content of eligible works. In some cases, a work may not be a fantasy work itself, but be of interest to fantasy fans.
Q. My work is on the shortlist. Are there any rules on making it available to your members?
A. We are entirely in favour of people giving free things to our members. Please make such offers on the BFS forums, in the British Fantasy Awards section.
