STARBURST Magazine has released the shortlist for its Brave New Words Award. The winner will be announced on July 11.

The nominees are:

• Evan Winter – Rage of Dragons (Orbit Books)
• Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar – This is How You Lose the Time War (Quercus Books)
• Tyler Hayes – The Imaginary Corpse (Angry Robot)
• Sady Doyle – Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers (MHP Books)
• Nisi Shawl – New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color (Rebellion)
• Tamsyn Muir – Gideon the Ninth (Tor)

STARBURST invited nominations from publishers and creators earlier this year.  The award goes to an individual, not a specific work. The magazine’s team actively sought out examples published in 2019 that most define a creator’s output. STARBURST editorial staff assembled the shortlist from roughly 100 entries, which included blog posts, comic books, short stories, screenplays, poetry, anthologies and novels. This was then discussed vigorously amongst the team at the Starburst International Film Festival in March.

STARBURST Magazine’s own Literary Editor, Ed Fortune, is the head judge.  He said “Blimey, it gets harder every year. Some very different entries this year, but we are very proud of this year’s short list and recommend any book on this list.”

The panel of judges for the Brave New Words Award includes genre critics and media professionals. The panel includes Urban Fantasy author Russell Smith, media expert Rebecca Derrick, book podcaster Jane Hanmer and book blogger Matt Cavanagh. Finally, we welcome narrative expert Professor Esther MacCallum-Stewart to the team.

A ceremony presenting the awards is planned to take place at Edge Lit 9, the UK’s premier annual indie book event. In 2020 the event will be held at the Derby Quad on the 11th and 12th of July. Guests will include John Gwynne and David Quantick. If the event cannot go ahead due to current circumstances, an online ceremony will replace it.

[Based on a press release.]