Editor Neil Clarke has announced the finalists for the 2022 Clarkesworld Magazine Reader’s Poll for best story, novelette/novella and cover art.  

Clarke commented:

…As the voting progressed, several stories and covers traded places at the top of the ballot for each category. This continued down to the final hours and at the buzzer, we were once again left with several ties. As per tradition, ties in the top five progress to the final round. Each category had a small cluster of ties just one vote shy of making the final ballot. We’ve added honorable mentions to this year’s results to recognize the quality of their work as well…

The public is invited to pick the winners. Go to: www.surveymonkey.com/r/clarkesworld2022poll Voting will close on February 15 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and the winners will be announced in the March issue.

FINALISTS: BEST SHORT STORY

• “Calf Cleaving in the Benthic Black” by Isabel J. Kim
• “Termination Stories for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Protagonist” by Isabel J. Kim
• “The Massage Lady at Munjeong Road Bathhouse” by Isabel J. Kim
• “The Dragon Project” by Naomi Kritzer
• “Timekeepers’ Symphony” by Ken Liu
• “Company Town” by Aimee Ogden
• “Two Spacesuits” by Leonard Richardson

Runners Up: Short Story

• “Meddling Fields” by R.T. Ester
• “The Rhythm of the Soul” by Michelle Julia John
• “Accountability, and Other Myths of Old Earth” by Aimee Ogden
• “Sub-son” by Amal Singh

FINALISTS: BEST NOVELETTE/NOVELLA

• “The Lonely Time Traveler of Kentish Town” by Nadia Afifi (novelette)
• “Bishop’s Opening” by R.S.A. Garcia (novella)
• “Carapace” by David Goodman (novelette)
• “Sweetbaby” by Thomas Ha (novelette)
• “Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness” by S.L. Huang
• “The Sadness Box” by Suzanne Palmer (novelette)
• “We Built This City” by Marie Vibbert (novelette)

Runners Up: Novelette/Novella

• “The Direction of Clocks” by Jess Levine (novelette)
• “Inhuman Lovers” by Chen Qian, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan (novelette)
• “Babirusa” by Arula Ratnakar (novella)
• “Polly and (Not) Charles Conquer the Solar System” by Carrie Vaughn (novella)

FINALISTS: BEST COVER ART

Runners Up: Cover Art