Voting is open in the 36th Annual Asimov’s Readers’ Award Ballot. The online ballot is at the link. The deadline to vote is February 1, 2022.

From short stories and novellas to novelettes and poems – and even best covers! – let us know your Asimov’s favorites this year.  Winners join the pantheon of Asimov authors who represent the Who’s Who of science fiction writers over the past thirty years.

For brief synopses of Asimov’s 2021 fiction and cover art, see Sheila Williams’ editorial “Looking Backward.”

Asimov’s March-April 2020 edited by Sheila Williams, reprint art by John Picacio

Asimov’s September-October 2020 edited by Sheila Williams, art by Maurizio Manzieri

Asimovs Nov-Dec 2020 edited by Sheila Williams, art by Eldar Zakirov

The top choices for Asimov’s 35th Annual Readers’ Awards Poll are online. There are links that will allow you to read all the finalists. The winners chosen by readers will be revealed at a later date.

BEST NOVELLA

• Maelstrom by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (September/October 2020)
• Nic and Viv’s Compulsory Courtship by Will McIntosh (July/August 2020)
• Semper Augustus by Nancy Kress (March/April 2020)
• Take a Look at the Five and Ten by Connie Willis (November/December 2020)
• Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County by Derek Künsken (July/August 2020)

BEST NOVELETTE

• “Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars” by Mercurio D. Rivera (March/April 2020)
• “The Beast Adjoins” by Ted Kosmatka (July/August 2020)
• “The Hind” by Kevin J. Anderson & Rick Wilber (November/December 2020)
• “The Long Iapetan Night” by Julie Novakova (November/December 2020)
• “Tunnels” by Eleanor Arnason (May/June 2020)

BEST SHORT STORY

• “Father” by Ray Nayler (July/August 2020)
• “GO. NOW. FIX.” by Timons Esaias (January/February 2020) (audio podcast)
• “Rena in the Desert” by Lia Swope Mitchell (March/April 2020)
• “Return to Glory” by Jack McDevitt (November/December 2020)
• “Return to the Red Castle” by Ray Nayler (March/April 2020)
• “The Conceptual Shark” by Rich Larson (September/October 2020)

BEST POEM

• “After a Year of Solitude” by Lora Gray (November/December 2020)
• “Incomplete Adaptation” by Bruce Boston (September/October 2020)
• “Ode to Cassini” by Jane Yolen (May/June 2020)
• “Relic” by Jane Yolen (March/April 2020)
• “The Hot New Collectible” by Suzanne Palmer (May/June 2020)
• “Unlooping” by Marie Vibbert (January/February 2020)

BEST COVER

Asimov’s March-April 2020 edited by Sheila Williams, reprint art by John Picacio

Asimov’s September-October 2020 edited by Sheila Williams, art by Maurizio Manzieri

Asimovs Nov-Dec 2020 edited by Sheila Williams, art by Eldar Zakirov

• March/April 2020 – John Picacio
• September/October 2020 – Maurizio Manzieri
• November/December 2020 – Eldar Zakirov

[Via Asimov’s Science Fiction.]

The top five choices for Asimov’s 34th Annual Readers’ Awards Poll are online. There are links that will allow you to read all the finalists. The winners chosen by readers will be revealed at a later date.

BEST NOVELLAS

• Gremlin—Carrie Vaughn (May/June 2019)
• Surfers at the End of Time—Rudy Rucker and Marc Laidlaw (November/December 2019)
• The Work of Wolves—Tegan Moore (July/August 2019)
• Waterlines—Suzanne Palmer (July/August 2019)
• Winter Wheat—Gord Sellar (September/October 2019)

BEST NOVELETTES

• Charlie Tells Another One—Andy Duncan (September/October 2019)
• How I Found Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers—Lawrence Watt-Evans (March/April 2019)
• In the Stillness Between the Stars—Mercurio D. Rivera (September/October 2019)
• SeeApp—James Van Pelt (November/December 2019)
• Taking Icarus Home—Suzanne Palmer (January/February 2019)

BEST SHORT STORIES

• Ardy’s Choice—Maggie Shen King (July/August 2019)
• Can You Watch My Stuff—Rich Larson (September/October 2019)
• Personal Space—Lawrence Watt-Evans (September/October 2019)
• Sacrificial Iron—Ted Kosmatka (podcast) (May/June 2019)
• The Lights Go Out, One by One—Kofi Nyameye (March/April 2019)

BEST POEMS

• A Street Away—Jane Yolen (January/February 2019)
• Nine Hypotheses Concerning a Mysterious Lump Under the Rug on the Foyer Floor—Jenny Blackford (September/October 2019)
• The Dogs of the Soviet Space Program—Christopher Cokinos (March/April 2019)
• The Other SETI—David Barber (May/June 2019)
• The Ruined Library—Bruce Boston (July/August 2019)

BEST COVER

• January/February 2019 – Michael Whelan
• March/April 2019 – Eldar Zakirov
• May/June 2019 – NASA
• July/August 2019 – Maurizio Manzieri
• September/October 2019 – Dominic Harman
• November/December 2019 – Donato Giancola

[Via the loveliness that is Locus Online.]