I’m late to announce this, but no less thrilled. On May 29, 2017, the Sunburst Award Society revealed their longlist for novels/short stories in the running for the Sunburst Award. The Angels of Our Better Beasts was on it. Well, I was completely taken by surprise, and deeply honored at the same time. A friend told me “Congratulations!” and I had to ask why. I quickly went to the website to see. The list is full of amazing works by writers in Canada–and there I was among them. The Sunburst Award is given for “excellence in Canadian literature of the Fantastic.” Five judges read all the submissions and make their longlist. Later they will make a short-list of about five works per category, and in September, they will announce winners. I’m so stoked even to make the longlist with my debut book, that I’m going to revel in this for a long time! I want to buy all the other books in the Adult Fiction section and read them! And put them on a little shelf in this order, because I’m cheesy that way. And because, if you like great lit of the fantastic, you’ll love what’s on this list Sunburst has made for us. Thank you, Sunburst Award Society, for making lists like this, for loving literature of the fantastic, and especially, right now, for choosing my book for your longlist. It means a lot to me as both a writer and a Canadian.
The List:
- ADULT FICTION:
- Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Spawning Grounds [Knopf Canada]
- Madeline Ashby, Company Town [Tor Books]
- Jay Hosking, Three Years With the Rat [Hamish Hamilton]
- Claire Humphrey, Spells of Blood and Kin [Thomas Dunne Books]
- Ami McKay, The Witches of New York [Knopf Canada]
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Certain Dark Things [Thomas Dunne Books]
- Sylvain Neuvel, Sleeping Giants [Del Rey]
- Jerome Stueart, The Angels of Our Better Beasts [ChiZine]
- Jo Walton, Necessity [Tor Books]
- Robert Charles Wilson, Last Year [Tor Books]
- YOUNG ADULT FICTION:
- Jonathan Auxier, Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard [Puffin Canada]
- Karen Bass, The Hill [Pajama Press]
- Kate Blair, Transferral [Dancing Cat Books]
- Lena Coakley, Worlds of Ink and Shadow [HarperCollins]
- Marina Cohen, The Inn Between [Roaring Brook Press]
- Catherine Egan, Julia Vanishes [Doubleday Canada]
- Ian Donald Keeling, The Skids [ChiTeen]
- Arthur Slade, Flickers [HarperCollins]
- Jeff Szpirglas, Sheldon Unger vs The Dentures of Doom [Star Crossed Press]
- Moira Young, The Road to Ever After [Doubleday Canada]
- SHORT STORY:
- Brad C. Anderson, “Naïve Gods” [Lazarus Risen, Bundoran Press]
- K.T. Bryski, “La Corriveau” [Strange Horizons, October 2016]
- James Alan Gardner, “The Dog and the Sleepwalker” [Strangers Among Us, Laksa Media Groups Inc.]
- Kate Heartfield, “The Seven O’Clock Man” [Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction, Exile Editions]
- Rich Larson, “All That Robot…” [Asimov’s, September 2016]
- Helen Marshall, “Caro in Carno” [The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu: New Lovecraftian Fiction, Constable-Robinson (UK)/Running Press (US)]
- Michael Matheson, “Until There is Only Hunger” [Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling, Apex]
- Peter Norman, “The Night Stylist” [Pulp Literature, Issue 12]
- Kelly Robson, “The Eye of The Swan” [Tor.com, October 2016]
- Madeleine Thien, “The Second Waltz” [Catapult, June 2016]
- A.C. Wise, “The Men from Narrow Houses” [Liminal Stories, #1]
- A.C. Wise, “The Sailing of the Henry Charles Morgan in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw (1841)” [The Dark, #14]
Bear Witness 