2017 Sidewise Awards

The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were presented August 19 at Worldcon 76 in San Jose. The Sidewise Awards recognize excellence in alternate historical fiction.

Nominees Gregory Benford, Brent A. Harris, Alan Smale, Harry Turtledove, and Bryce Zabel, as well as former judge Moshe Feder and founder, judge, and administrator Steven H Silver were in attendance.

Following a thirty-minute discussion of alternate history, Feder announced the winner of the short form award and Silver announced the winner of the Long Form Award.

Short Form

  • Harry Turtledove, “Zigeuner,” Asimov’s, 9-10/17

Long Form

  • Bryce Zabel, Once There Was a Way, Diversion Books, 2017

This year’s awards judges were Karen Hellekson, Matt Mitrovich, Jim Rittenhouse, Kurt Sidaway, and Steven H Silver.

The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were conceived in late 1995 to honor the best allohistorical genre publications of the year. The first awards were announced in summer 1996 and honored works from 1995. The award takes its name from Murray Leinster’s 1934 short story “Sidewise in Time,” in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with their analogs from other timelines.

[Thanks to Steven H Silver for the story.]