This year’s nominees for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History (for works published in 2010) have been announced. I’ve linked to some representative reviews if you want to know more about them.

Short Form 

• Eleanor Arnason, Mammoths of the Great Plains, PM Press
• Barry B. Longyear, “Alter Kameraden”, Asimov’s, 4/10
• Ken MacLeod, “Sidewinders”, The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates, Robinson Publishing/Running Press
• Alan Smale, A Clash of Eagles, Panverse Two, edited by Dario Ciriello, Panverse Publishing
• William F. Wu, “Goin’ Down to Anglotown”, The Dragon and the Stars, edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi, DAW Books

Long Form 

• Adam Chamberlain & Brian A. Dixon, Columbia & Britannia, Fourth Horseman Press
• Robert Conroy, Red Inferno: 1945, Ballantine Books
• Jay Lake, Pinion, Tor Books
• Eric Swedin, When Angels Wept, Potomac Books

The Sidewise Awards have been presented annually since 1995 to recognize excellence in alternate historical fiction.

The Short-Form Award is presented for the best work of less than 60,000 words. This includes short stories, novelettes and novellas, and poems. One winner was a three-issue comic book series.

The Long-Form Award is presented for the best work longer than 60,000 words. This category includes individual novels and longer works. If a book is part of a series, it must be able to stand on its own to be considered. If it is part of a serial novel — a series in which the storyline is continuous and no volume can stand on its own — the complete serial novel will be considered when the final volume is published.

This year’s judges are Stephen Baxter, Evelyn Leeper, Jim Rittenhouse, Stu Shiffman, Kurt Sidaway, and Steven H Silver. 

The winners will be announced at Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon, on Thursday, August 18.