In late April/early May, the winners of three major genre fiction awards were announced: the Edgar & Agatha awards for mystery, and the Nebula awards for science fiction & fantasy. If you need some new ideas for your summer reading list, the nominees and winners of these awards can get you started.
The Edgar® Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, are named for Edgar Allan Poe, whose
Murders in the Rue Morgue,
The Mystery of Marie RogĂȘt, and
The Purloined Letter are seen by many to be the first modern detective stories. The winners of the three main fiction categories are:
Best Novel:
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
Best First Novel by an American Author:
The Foreigner by Francie Lin
Best Paperback Original:
China Lake by Meg Gardiner
A complete list of this year's and past winners and nominees, as well as information about the Mystery Writer's of America can be found at:
http://www.mysterywriters.org/The Agatha® Awards are given for traditional mysteries, exemplified by the writing of Agatha Christie, that are often categorized as "cozies." Works considered for this honor, according to the awarding body, Malice Domestic, generally "contain no explicit sex; contain no excessive gore or gratuitous violence; usually feature an amateur detective; take place in a confined setting and contain characters who know one another." The winners of the top awards were:
Best Novel:
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Best First Novel:
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet
More information about the winners, nominees, and Malice Domestic can be found at
http://www.malicedomestic.org/The Nebula® Awards for science fiction and fantasy writing are brought to us by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. These can be harder to track down, since the categories include many shorter works of fiction, which may only appear in magazines, as well as one for best screenplay. The two awards given for novel-length works this year went to:
Best Novel:
Powers by Ursula Le Guin
Andre Norton Award (for best young adult work):
Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom Despite Being Confined to Her Room by Ysabeau S. Wilce
For a complete list of these nominees and winners, including past years’, go to
http://www.nebulaawards.com/