2011 British Fantasy Awards nominees announced

Last week, the British Fantasy Society announced the finalists for the 2011 British Fantasy Awards, and more than a few well known authors are among those nominated for awards this year.

For those of you unfamiliar with these awards, they were first awarded in 1971 and BFS members and the members of FantasyCon 2010 and FantasyCon 2011 selected the nominees and the winners. This year’s slate of winners will be announced at the British Fantasy Convention Sept. 30-Oct. 2.

This year’s awards include awards in the following categories – Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Collection, Best Anthology, Best Non-fiction, Best Artist Best Small Press, Best Magazine and Best Graphic Novel.

What follows are the nominees in the “book categories.” (For a complete list of this year’s nominees, visit www.britishfantasysociety.org.)

Best Novel:
- Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
- Demon Dance by Sam Stone
- The Leaping by Tom Fletcher
- Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon
- The Silent Land by Graham Joyce

Best Collection
- Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
- The Gravedigger’s Tale: Fables of Fear by Simon Clark
- Last Exit for the Lost by Tim Lebbon
- One Monster Is Not Enough by Paul Finch
- Walkers in the Dark by Paul Finch

Best Anthology
- Back From the Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories, edited by Johnny Mains
- The End of the Line, edited by Jonathan Oliver
- The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 21, edited by Stephen Jones
- Never Again, edited by Allyson Bird & Joel Lane
- Zombie Apocalypse!, edited by Stephen Jones

Best Non-Fiction
- Vincent Chong, Altered Visions: The Art of Vincent Chong
- Cinema Futura, edited by Mark Morris
- Fantastic TV: 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction by Steven Savile
- M.P. Shiel: The Middle Years 1897-1923 by Harold Billings
- The Shrieking Sixties by Darrel Buxton

Best Magazine
- Black Static
- Cemetery Dance
- Murky Depths
- Shadows & Tall Trees
- Strange Horizons

Best Graphic Novel
- CLiNT by Mark Millar
- Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot
- Neonomicon by Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows
- At the Mountains of Madness by I.N.J. Culbard
- The Unwritten Vols. 1 & 2 by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

Arguably the most prestigious of these awards is the Best Novel award, which is also known as the August Derleth Award. What follows is a list of the all-time winners of that award.

1972 - The Knight of the Swords by Michael Moorcock
1973 - The King of the Swords by Michael Moorcock
1974 - Hrolf Kraki's Saga by Poul Anderson
1975 - The Sword and the Stallion by Michael Moorcock
1976 - The Hollow Lands by Michael Moorcock
1977 - The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson
1978 - A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
1979 - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
1980 - Death's Master by Tanith Lee
1981 - To Wake the Dead by Ramsey Campbell
1982 - Cujo by Stephen King
1983 - The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe
1984 - Floating Dragon by Peter Straub
1985 – Incarnate by Ramsey Campbell
1986 - The Ceremonies by T. E. D. Klein
1987 - It by Stephen King
1988 - The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell
1989 - The Influence by Ramsey Campbell
1990 - Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
1991 - Midnight Sun by Ramsey Campbell
1992 - Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll
1993 - Dark Sister by Graham Joyce
1994 - The Long Lost by Ramsey Campbell
1995 - Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
1996 – Requiem by Graham Joyce
1997 - The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
1998 - Light Errant by Chaz Brenchley
1999 - Bag of Bones by Stephen King
2000 – Indigo by Graham Joyce
2001 - Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
2002 - The Night of the Triffids by Simon Clark
2003 - The Scar by China Miéville
2004 - Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
2005 - Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King
2006 - Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
2007 – Dusk by Tim Lebbon
2008 - The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell
2009 - Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney
2010 – One by Conrad Williams

In the end, how many of the books mentioned above have you had a chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.