The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) has announced that the 2022 Compton Crook Award winner is A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. The award is given for best first novel in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Clark is the fortieth winner of the award. He will receive $1,000 and an invitation to be the Compton Crook Guest of Honor at the club’s annual convention, Balticon, for the next two years.

Judging for the Compton Crook Award has two parts. First, members of BSFS pick six finalists by reading and rating the year’s debut novels. Then, in the finalist round, club members pick a winner.  The other finalists this time were: 

• Assassin’s Orbit by John Appel
• Nucleation by Kimberly Unger
• The Councillor by E. J. Beaton
• The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
• We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

Balticon will be held in Baltimore over Memorial Day weekend, May 27-30 in 2022. Because the convention was held online for the previous two years, this year’s con also will feature past Compton Crook winners Micaiah Johnson (2021), Arkady Martine (2020), and R.F. Kuang (2019).

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) has administered the Compton Crook Award for best first novel since 1983. Last year’s winner was Micaiah Johnson for The Space Between Worlds.

The award was named in memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall and 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.

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. The Baltimore Science Fiction Society was launched on January 5, 1963 and has been holding Balticon since 1967.

[Based on a press release.]