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2023 World Fantasy Award Winners
The 2023 World Fantasy Awards winners have been announced. In the Novel category:
WINNER:
- Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney (Solaris)
FINALISTS:
- Spear by Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom)
- The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings (Redhook; Orbit UK)
- Babel by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
- Siren Queen by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Our congrats to C.S.E. Cooney and all the finalists. See the complete list of winners in all categories.
This win also secures a place for Cooney on our ever growing Award Winning Books by Women Authors list.
Ex Libris WWEnd: Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia by Jason Pargin
Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia by Jason Pargin
St. Martin’s Press | October 31, 2023
Zoey is Too Drunk for This Dystopia is the latest installment in New York Times bestselling author Jason Pargin‘s thrilling Zoey Ashe sci-fi series.
Zoey Ashe wakes up every day feeling like she’s trying to steer a battleship while tied to the propeller. The twenty-three-year-old heiress to a criminal empire is navigating a futuristic world of high-tech liars and cutthroats, forced to learn the rules of a devious game she never asked to play. Now she’s facing a crisis that is both bigger and stranger than all that came before:
The gleaming new city of Tabula Ra$a is hosting its massive annual music festival, which every year precedes the equally massive annual drunken riot. This is all organized by Zoey’s people, including the riot. As her advisors explain, the citizens need a little controlled chaos now and then. Zoey, however, fears the chaos will not stay controlled for long.
When a horrific crime is broadcast live on an all-seeing social network, Zoey and her team suspect a carefully-stage hoax arranged by one of the Tabula Ra$a’s shadowy power players. But in a city in which lies are always served in layers, even that explanation will prove far too simple.
Read the first chapter for free at Worlds Without End.
Praise for Jason Pargin and the Zoey Ashe Series:
“Pargin’s signature fluid style keeps the gonzo action moving as he uses Zoey’s predicament to explore themes of social justice, political necessity, and the sometimes-adverse correlation of wealth to happiness.” — Publishers Weekly
“Like Jonathan Swift for the internet age, [Pargin’s] novel offers an engrossing journey and razor-sharp wit inside of an uncanny prediction of an American future. His newest is only more proof that he will be remembered as one of today’s great satirists.” — Nerdist
“[Zoey Punches the Future] is at its best when [Pargin] explores the nature of wealth and power. In the character of Zoey, [Pargin] pushes against the fairy-tale cliché where the downtrodden (through supernatural means or otherwise) are rewarded a life of carefree prosperity.” — Locus Magazine
“[Pargin] once again achieves the perfect balance between sardonic humor and satirical digs at the digital age…” — Library Journal (starred review)
JASON PARGIN is the New York Times bestselling author of the John Dies at the End series as well as the award-winning Zoey Ashe novels. He previously published under the pseudonym David Wong. His essays at Cracked.com and other outlets have been enjoyed by tens of millions of readers around the world.
Zoey Ashe:
2023 Hugo Award Winner
The 2023 Hugo Awards have been announced. In the Best Novel category the winner is:
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
Our congrats to T. Kingfisher and all the finalists!
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (Cryptid; Tor)
- The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
- The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
- Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
- The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)
You can see the complete list of winners in all categories over at Locus.
Ex Libris WWEnd: A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett
A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett
Doubleday | October 10, 2023
A delightfully funny, fantastically inventive collection of twenty newly unearthed short stories by Sir Terry Pratchett, the award-winning and bestselling author of the phenomenally successful Discworld fantasy series. This special trove–featuring charming woodcut illustrations–is a must-have for Pratchett fans of all ages and includes a foreword by Neil Gaiman.The audiobook is narrated by a stunning cast that includes David Tennant, Claire Foy, Paterson Joseph, Indira Varma, and more!
These rediscovered tales were written by Terry Pratchett under a pseudonym for British newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. The stories have never been attributed to him until now, and might never have been found–were it not for the efforts of a few dedicated fans.
As Neil Gaiman writes in his introduction, “through all of these stories we watch young Terry Pratchett becoming Terry Pratchett.” Though none of the short works are set in the Discworld, all are infused with Pratchett’s trademark wit, satirical wisdom, and brilliant imagination, hinting at the magical universe he would go on to create.
Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and embark on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morpork…
Irresistibly entertaining, A Stroke of the Pen, is an essential collection from the great Sir Terry Pratchett, a “master storyteller” (A. S. Byatt) who “defies categorization” (The Times); a writer whose “novels have always been among the most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies” (IndependentUK).
“A collection of 20 excellent, often laugh-out-loud early works…. Pratchett devotees will be moved and gratified by this unexpected gift and even casual readers will be utterly charmed. There isn’t a bad story in the bunch.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“These early stories show Pratchett’s remarkable ability to poke fun at the absurdity of the real world through fantasy full of irreverent wordplay, silly authority figures, and subverted endings…. Pratchett’s legion of fans will relish the view through this almost-overlooked window into the author’s evolution, finding much to love in these clever, funny, and tightly written tales.” — Booklist
“A collection of lost stories from early in Pratchett’s career…. Several stories set in the fictional town of Blackbury have a genial, tall-tale feel, and the “proto-Discworld” in ‘The Quest for the Keys’ is a true treat.” — Kirkus Reviews
“A short and slightly bittersweet portrait of Pratchett as a young writer, as seen through this collection of long-lost and forgotten short stories…. They reflect an author in search of his craft, but there are hints of the Discworld to come… particularly in the standout story in the collection, ‘The Quest for the Keys’…. The earliest seeds of what later became Discworld are there for readers who still miss his inimitable style.” — Library Journal
Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed author of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Color of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of more than fifty bestselling books which have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal for his young adult novel The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest services to literature was to avoid writing any. He lived in England and died in 2015 at the age of sixty-six.
