The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2023 has been announced. The awards will be presented during the 2024 World Fantasy Convention, scheduled for October 17-20, 2024 in Niagara Falls, NY

The Life Achievement Awards, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field, will go to Ginjer Buchanan and Jo Fletcher.

The World Fantasy Awards finalists are:

Best Novel

• The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga; Titan UK)
• The Possibilities, Yael Goldstein-Love (Random House)
• Starling House, Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK)
• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW; Gollancz)
• Looking Glass Sound, Catriona Ward (Viper; Nightfire)
• Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Best Novella

• The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom)
• Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
• “Prince Hat Underground”, Kelly Link (White Cat, Black Dog)
• “Half the House Is Haunted”, Josh Malerman (Spin a Black Yarn)
• A Season of Monstrous Conceptions, Lina Rather (Tordotcom)
• Mammoths at the Gates, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Best Short Fiction

• “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub”, P. Djèlí Clark
  (Uncanny 1-2/23)
• “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont”, P. A. Cornell (Fantasy 10/23)
• “John Hollowback and the Witch”, Amal El-Mohtar (The Book of Witches)
• “Waystation City”, A. T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 1-2/23)
• “The Sound of Children Screaming”, Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare 10/23)
• “Silk and Cotton and Linen and Blood”, Nghi Vo (New Suns 2)

Best Anthology

• Christmas and Other Horrors, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan UK)
• Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume One, Stephen Kotowych, ed. (Ansible)
• The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)
• Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Random House; Picador)
• The Book of Witches, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Harper
  Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)

Best Collection

• The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volumes 1 & 2, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)
• The Fortunate Isles, Lisa L. Hannett (Egaeus)
• White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra)
• No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories,  Premee Mohamed (Undertow)
• Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow)
• Jewel Box, E. Lily Yu (Erewhon)

Best Artist

• Audrey Benjaminsen
• Rovina Cai
• Stefan Koidl
• Charles Vess
• Alyssa Winans

Special Award – Professional

• Bill Campbell, for Rosarium Books
• E. M. Carroll, for A Guest in the House (First Second)
• M. John Harrison, for Wish I Was Here: An Anti-Memoir (Serpent’s Tail; Saga; 9/24)
• Stephen Jones, for The Weird Tales Boys (PS)
• Liza Groen Trombi, for Locus

Special Award – Non-Professional

• Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Trevor Kennedy, for Phantasmagoria
• Brian J. Showers, for Swan River Press
• Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, for Uncanny
• Julian Yap & Fran Wilde, for The Sunday Morning Transport

This year’s judges are Douglas A. Anderson, Stephanie Feldman, Pat Murphy, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, and Angela Slatter. For more information, see the WFC website.

[From Locusmag.com]