Monday, June 16, 2014

2014 Mythopoeic Awards finalists

I like the awards that, through their yearly lists of nominees, challenge my reading habits and bring into my attention books that otherwise I am unaware of or for one reason or another I pass them by with feeble consideration. I believe that is the reason for the Shirley Jackson Awards being my favorites and that is the reason for the Mythopoeic Awards gaining more and more my attention. I am aware that the Mythopoeic Awards run since 1971, but only recently I’ve started to regard the lists of nominees more closely and I discovered some very interesting shortlists there, as is the case with this year’s list of finalists. The winners of the 2014 Mythopoeic Awards will be announced during Mythcon 45, held between August 8th and 11th at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts.

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature:

The Ghost Bride” by Yangsze Choo (William Morrow)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow)
Three Parts Dead” by Max Gladstone (Tor)
Sleepless Knights” by Mark H. Williams (Atomic Fez Publishing)
The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker (Harper)

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature:

Ghoulish Song” by William Alexander (Margaret K. McElderry)
Doll Bones” by Holly Black (Margaret K. McElderry)
Killer of Enemies” by Joseph Bruchac (Tu Books)
Conjured” by Sara Beth Durst (Walker Children’s)
Shadows” by Robin McKinley (Nancy Paulsen Books)

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies:

There and Back Again: J.R.R. Tolkien and the Origins of the Hobbit” by Mark Atherton (I.B. Tauris, 2012)
C.S. Lewis and the Middle Ages” by Robert Boenig (Kent State Univ. Press, 2012)
Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays” edited by Jason Fisher (McFarland, 2011)
C.S. Lewis—A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet” by Alister McGrath (Tyndale House, 2013)
Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit” by Corey Olsen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012)

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies:

The Book of Legendary Lands” by Umberto Eco, translated by Alastair McEwan (Rizzoli Ex Libris, 2013)
Dancing the Tao: Le Guin and Moral Development” by Sandra J. Lindow (Cambridge Scholars, 2012)
Tree of Salvation: Yggdrasil and the Cross in the North” by G. Romald Murphy (Oxford Univ. Press, 2013)
As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality” by Michael Saler (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012)
Critical Discourses of the Fantastic, 1712-1831” by David Sandner (Ashgate, 2011)

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume, or single-author story collection for adults published during 2013 that best exemplifies the spirit of the Inklings. Books are eligible for two years after publication if not selected as a finalist during the first year of eligibility. Books from a series are eligible if they stand on their own; otherwise, the series becomes eligible the year its final volume appears. The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature honors books for younger readers (from Young Adults to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia. Rules for eligibility are otherwise the same as for the Adult Literature award. The question of which award a borderline book is best suited for will be decided by consensus of the committees.
The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on Tolkien, Lewis, and/or Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship. For this award, books first published during the last three years (2011–2013) are eligible, including finalists for previous years. The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies is given to scholarly books on other specific authors in the Inklings tradition, or to more general works on the genres of myth and fantasy. The period of eligibility is three years, as for the Inklings Studies award.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced during Mythcon 45, to be held from August 8-11, 2014, at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts. A complete list of Mythopoeic Award winners is available on the Awards page.
The finalists for the literature awards, text of recent acceptance speeches, and selected book reviews are also listed in this on-line section. For more information about the Mythopoeic Awards, please contact the Awards Administrator: David D. Oberhelman, awards@mythsoc.org

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!

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