The 2018 Kitschies Award shortlists have been revealed. The prize, sponsored by Blackwell’s, is given to “the year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining fiction that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic..” The winners will be announced in a ceremony on April 15, and receive a total of £2,000 in prize money, as well as one of the prize’s iconic Tentacle trophies.

This year’s shortlisted books was winnowed down from 178 submissions, coming from 59 publishers.

The Red Tentacle (Novel)

Judged by Adam Roberts, Sharan Dhaliwal, Daniel Carpenter, Lucy Smee, and Matt Webb

• Circe by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury)
• Record Of A Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Rosewater by Tade Thompson (Orbit)
• The Smoke by Simon Ings (Gollancz)
• Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon Publications)

The Golden Tentacle (Debut)

Also judged Adam Roberts, Sharan Dhaliwal, Daniel Carpenter, Lucy Smee, and Matt Webb

• Children Of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Pan MacMillan)
• Frankenstein In Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)
• Semiosis by Sue Burke (Harper Voyager)
• Sweet Fruit, Sour Land by Rebecca Ley (Sandstone Press)
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)

The Inky Tentacle (Cover Art)

Judged by Dapo Adeola, Lily Ash Sakula and Maeve Rutten

• The Book Of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch, design by Rafaela Romaya. (Canongate)
• Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, design by Suzanne Dean. (Harville Secker)
• The Smoke by Simon Ings, design by James Nunn. (Gollancz)
• Square Eyes by Anna Mill and Luke Jones, design by Anna Mill and Luke Jones. (Jonathan Cape)
• Slender Man by Anonymous, design by Mike Topping. (Harper Voyager)

[Via Locus Online.]