2017 Audie Awards Nominees

SF and fantasy are heavily represented across the entire spectrum of 2017 Audie Awards categories. The shortlist of the best audiobooks of the year was announced February 8.

The audiobooks in the Science Fiction and Fantasy categories are shown below. In addition —

  • Neil Gaiman is a finalist in the Narration by Author category for his work on The View from the Cheap Seats.
  • Original Work is dominated by familiar sf/f names and series — The Adventures of Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent by Larry Correia, narrated by Adam Baldwin, Alien: Out of the Shadows: An Audible Original Drama by Tim Lebbon and Dirk Maggs, with seven voice talents, and The Dispatcher by John Scalzi, narrated by Zachary Quinto.
  • The Alien and Doctor Who franchises claimed three of the five Audio Drama finalist spots
  • One finalist in Short Stories/Collections is The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke by Arthur C. Clarke, narrated by Ray Porter, Jonathan Davis and Ralph Lister.
  • And there is some kind of yin/yang dynamic at work in having a Best Female Narrator nominee for The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (narrated by Bahni Turpin) and a Best Male Narrator nominee for Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters (narrated by William DeMeritt).  Also recognized as Best Narrators are the men who voiced End of Watch by Stephen King and Jerusalem by Alan Moore. And The Underground Railroad received a second nomination, in the Literary & Classic Fiction category.
  • There is even a genre entry for the best Business Book — Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek by Manu Saadia, narrated by Oliver Wyman

Winners will be revealed at the Audie Awards® Gala on June 1, 2017. A roll-call of all the nominees, many with samples you can listen to, appears here.

The Audie Awards generated extra attention this year by having guest presenters tweet each set of finalists — genre participants included Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, Marissa Mayer, Neil Gaiman, Colson Whitehead, and Locus Magazine.

ORIGINAL WORK

FICTION

NONFICTION

AUDIO DRAMA

EROTICA

LITERARY FICTION & CLASSICS

BEST FEMALE NARRATOR

BEST MALE NARRATOR

INSPIRATIONAL FAITH-BASED FICTION

INSPIRATIONAL FAITH-BASED NONFICTION

THRILLER/SUSPENSE

LITERARY FICTION & CLASSICS

SCIENCE FICTION

FANTASY

MIDDLE GRADE

NARRATION BY THE AUTHOR

YOUNG ADULT

ROMANCE

PARANORMAL

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR

HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY

SHORT STORIES/COLLECTIONS

BUSINESS/PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

YOUNG LISTENERS

HUMOR

MYSTERY

MULTI-VOICED PERFORMANCE