The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) today named the finalists for the 2024 Compton Crook Award for best first novel in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. One of these five authors will win $1,000 for Best First Novel:
- Deathwind: War of the Harbingers Book 1 by Brad Pawlowski (Sunquake Books)
- How to Be Remembered by Michael Thompson (Sourcebooks Landmark)
- Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa (S&S/Saga Press)
- To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
- These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs (Orbit)
The award includes a framed award document and, for the novel’s author, a check for $1,000 and an invitation to be the Compton Crook Guest of Honor at Balticon (the BSFS annual convention) for two years. Balticon will be held in Baltimore over Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-27th.
Members of BSFS selected the finalists by reading and rating debut novels published between Nov 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023. The last round of reading and rating will close April 8th and the winner will be notified on Sunday, April 10th and announced to the public on Monday, April 11th.
Recognizing the importance of new writers, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) has been giving out the Compton Crook Award for best first novel since 1983. Past winners have included Donald Kingsbury, Elizabeth Moon, Michael Flynn, Wen Spencer, Maria Snyder, Naomi Novik, Paolo Bacigalupi, Myke Cole, Charles Gannon, Fran Wilde, Ada Palmer, R.F. Kuang, Arkady Martine, Micaiah Johnson, and P. Djèlí Clark . Last year’s winner was Alex Jennings for The Ballad of Perilous Graves.
The award was named in memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981. Professor Crook was active for many years in the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and was a staunch champion of new works in the fields eligible for the award. For more details visit the award web page.
BSFS will begin reading and rating books for the 2025 award this summer. For more information contact [email protected].
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society was launched on January 5, 1963 and has been holding Balticon since 1967. BSFS is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, charitable, literary and educational organization, dedicated to the promotion of, and an appreciation for, science fiction in all of its many forms.
[Based on a press release.]
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Don’t novels previously published under a different name make authors ineligible for this award?
Moniquill Blackgoose put out Cygenic under the name of Monique Poirier in 2020. Kobo lists it as 72k words, so it’s definitely a novel rather than a novella.
As far as I can tell, these author names are the same person; the copyright assignation on the copyright page of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath says “Copyright (c) 2023 by Monique Poirier”.
Congrats to the finalists. These Burning Stars is a really strong book, but not for everyone.
I don’t know about the Compton Crook award criteria but that does sound like a problem, John. (unless their definition of novel doesn’t match other awards)
You’re right, ErsatzCulture. And that also means Blackgoose is ineligible for the Astounding Award, as can be seen by checking isfdb, though she also has more erotic fantasy publications than are listed there.
Click.
And I belatedly see that the button to follow isn’t there
Andrew (not Werdna): Gone again, eh? I went and turned it back on.
Jetpack or the Postal Service — when it comes to getting things to subscribers it’s like they’re in some kind of dystopian contest.
Thanks Mike!
Just a click . . .
Thank you for alerting us to this issue. Investigation and appropriate corrective action is in process. An update will be provided to File 770 in due course.
—Dale S. Arnold, President,
Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc.