The 2013 and 2014 WISB Awards
It’s been almost two years since I last posted my selections for the WISB Awards. The 2013 Awards should have gone up in January of 2014, but I got a tad overwhelmed with podcasting, Hugo stuff, and academia. Such is life! But now the awards are back like a weird plague that never really goes away, but takes brief hiatuses to make you feel safe from its wicked grasp. To make up for the absence of the awards last year, I’m going to double up this year, which makes this doubly hard, since I cannot fall to temptation by allowing myself to select best books or movies I enjoyed in 2014, even though I’m basically in love with so many things right now (new and old). First, the rules: I must have consumed the item in 2013 or 2014.[1] No more than 3 runners up per category. I can drop or add categories as necessary. I will use “genre” to mean “science fiction and fantasy” in order to distinguish categories without using 3 extra words. So, without further ado, here are the 2013 and 2014 WISB Awards: Best Novel 2014 Selection: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (Broadway Books) Bennett’s recent novel brought a delicious noir flavor to an imperialist landscape in a world where the gods have been murdered…maybe. It’s the kind of book someone like me devours because it hits all of their little interest buttons. Colonialism and empire? Check. Cultural exploration? Check. Colonial detectives? Check. Weird world-changing craziness? And check. There were a lot of great novels in 2014, but this one still haunts me, and it will probably haunt me for years to come. Runners Up: Breach Zone by Myke Cole (Ace Books), Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Orbit Books), and The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder and Stoughton) 2013 Selection: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit Books) By now, you’ve heard so much about this book that you’re probably not surprised that it graced my WISB Awards list in some fashion. Leckie’s debut novel took the science fiction field by storm, garnering wins from just about every science fiction award. It was probably the single most talked about science fiction novel in 2013 — and possibly in the last decade. And it deserved all of that attention. Leckie’s novel took some familiar ideas and beautifully weaved them into a complex, socio-political jacket of colonialism. It’s the kind of book I would teach if ever given the opportunity, because it’s just that good. Runners Up: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (Little, Brown, and Company), Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan (Orbit Books), and Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central Publishing) Best Collection or Anthology 2014 Selection: N/A For some monumentally stupid reason, I have not read enough collections or anthologies this year, which means I am a terrible person… 2013 Selection: Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee (Prime Books) I was blown away by Yoon Ha Lee’s collection of stories from Prime Books. Though I’d read some of her work before (mostly through Clarkesworld), the collection of stories in Conservation of Shadows were so refreshing that I have continued to read everything Lee has written since 2013. If you’re looking for unique, intellectual, and diverse/rich short fiction, Conservation of Shadows is the place to go. Runners Up: Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond edited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall (Rosarium Publishing) and The Love Machine and Other Contraptions by Nir Yaniv (infinity plus) Best Publisher 2014 Selection: Tor Books Tor continues to be on the forefront of science fiction and fantasy publishing. This year, they released a number of superb titles and were involved in everything from traditional sf/f fair to English translation, including Ken Liu’s translation of Liu Cixin’s The Three Body Problem. Tor is always high on my favorite publishers list because they always strive for greater and better publishing pastures. Runners Up: Angry Robot Books, Orbit Books, and Hodder and Stoughton 2013 Selection: Orbit Books Orbit had a good year in 2013. A really good year. They published Brian McClellan’s Promise of Blood and Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, both of which are superb works. On top of that, they continue to publish the James S.A. Corey Expanse novels. These elements alone made Orbit one of the top spots for sf/f fiction. Hopefully, they will continue to publish new and exceptional works in 2015. Runners Up: Tor Books, Angry Robot Books, and Hodder and Stoughton Best Magazine 2014 Selection: Tor.com 2014 was certainly Tor.com’s year. They published another excellent story by John Chu (“A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade”), one by Ken Lieu (“Reborn”), and one by Yoon Ha Lee (“Combustion Hour”) — all writers whose work I gobble up like some kind of writerly pumpkin pie. We will see how the awards season will turn out for them, but I suspect we’ll see quite a few Tor.com stories on the Hugo ballot! Runners Up: Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons and Interzone 2013 Selection: Clarkesworld In the last few years, Clarkesworld has published some pretty extraordinary fiction. In 2013, they were on top of their game. They published “Effigy Nights” by Yoon Ha Lee, “Silent Bridge, Pale Cascade” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, and a ton of other amazing work, including some from Aliette de Bodard (sweet heavens yes). Clarkesworld, of course, has been consistently good for years, but for reasons that I can’t quite explain, it has been my go-to-magazine since 2013 — hence its placement on this list. Runners Up: Strange Horizons, Interzone, and Tor.com Best Cover 2014 Selection: The Pilgrims by Will Elliot (art by Kekai Kotaki) The artwork for Will Elliot’s second novel so overwhelmed me when I first saw it that I promptly forgot the name of the book. All I could remember was that gorgeous cover art. Granted, the cover art is supposed to make me remember the book, but I think there is something of value in art that explodes something in your