Fabulous news, Space Unicorns! An Uncanny Magazine story, 2 poems, and an essay are Ignyte Award finalists! Congratulations to Christopher Caldwell! “Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan” is a finalist for a Best Short Story Ignyte Award! Congratulations to Brandon O’Brien! “Elegy for the Self as Villeneuve’s Beast” is a finalist for a Best in Speculative Poetry Ignyte Award! Congratulations to Tamara Jerée! “goddess in forced repose” is a Best in Speculative Poetry Ignyte Award finalist! And Congratulations to Tananarive Due! “Black Horror Rising” is a Best in Creative Nonfiction Ignyte Award finalist!

Plus, congratulations to Uncanny Magazine Interviewer Caroline M. Yoachim! “The Archronology of Love” is a Best Novelette Ignyte Award finalist!

It is a fabulous ballot. Congratulations to all of the finalists!

From the Ignyte Award website:

The FIYAHCON 2020 Committee is thrilled to announce the finalists for the inaugural Ignyte Awards. The Awards seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre. To that effect, the committee feels that these creators, creations, entities, and perspectives from 2019 represent the brightest lights in speculative fiction’s future. We encourage you to seek out the nominees unfamiliar to you on this list, engage with their works of fiction or acts of community, and to use those experiences to inform your vote.

The short list is derived from 15 BIPOC voters on the FIYAHCON staff, of varying genders, sexualities, cultures, disabilities, and locations throughout the world. They are referred to as the Ignyte Awards Committee. Committee members were not permitted to nominate their own works or works of which they were a part. The Committee was not limited to selections authored or otherwise created by BIPOC. Public voting on the shortlist does not permit write-in nominations. We intend to ask one year’s winners to be part of the subsequent year’s committee to ensure fresh perspectives and to help prevent repeated nominations of the same popular authors as recognized in many other genre awards. Details on that process as well as the longlist and the process of submitting works for consideration will be released after FIYAHCON 2020

Voting is now open to the public through September 11th at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Click here to vote.

Inquiries can be forwarded to director(at)theconvention.fiyahlitmag.com.