World Fantasy Awards

The 2004 World Fantasy Awards have been awarded. In the three fiction categories, Jo Walton won for Tooth and Claw, Greer Gilman for "A Crowd of Bone", and Bruce Holland Rogers for "Don Ysidro".

It's an especially interesting group of winners for many reasons, particularly in that the two short story winners were from small press anthologies: "A Crowd of Bone" in Trampoline and "Don Ysidro" in Polyphony 3. I haven't read Polyphony 3 yet, since I didn't buy a copy until WorldCon in September, but Trampoline is a phenomenal book, without any real clunkers for stories and quite a few that are breathtaking, particularly "Crowd of Bone". It's nice to see Greer Gilman's hyper-lyrical tale getting the attention it deserves. I can't think of anyone else who so vividly and vehemently uses all the tools of fantastic literature to reconceive not only storytelling, but language.

As for Tooth and Claw, it's been on my must-buy-soon list ever since Kelly Link recommended it to me. And how can you resist the premise: If Trollope wrote about dragons...

In terms of quality, the World Fantasy Awards tend to be the most trustworthy. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners.

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