Tuesday, December 31, 1991

1991 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Tuscon, Arizona.

Comments: The 1991 World Fantasy Awards were the home of some small controversy when Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess won the Best Short Story Award for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The problem was not that the story wasn't good enough to win, but rather that it had been published in graphic form, as part of the Sandman comic book series. I've always found these kinds of controversies to be silly - if the writing is good enough, and the work otherwise meets all of the requirements of the category, why does it matter if it was published in a "traditional" format or as a graphic novel? This sort of complaint seems almost petty to me. If great fantasy fiction is being produced, then it should be recognized regardless of the details regarding its publication.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow
(tie) Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner

Other Nominees:
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Best Novella

Winner:
Bones by Pat Murphy

Other Nominees:
The Barrens by F. Paul Wilson
Black Cocktail by Jonathan Carroll
The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess

Other Nominees:
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
The Last Feast of Harlequin by Thomas Ligotti
Stephen by Elizabeth Massie

Best Anthology

Winner:
Best New Horror edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell

Other Nominees:
Alien Sex edited by Ellen Datlow
Borderlands edited by Thomas F. Monteleone
Dark Voices 2: The Pan Book of Horror edited by David Sutton and Stephen Jones
Walls of Fear edited by Kathryn Cramer
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Third Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Best Collection

Winner:
The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories by Carol Emshwiller

Other Nominees:
The Brains of Rats by Michael Blumlein
Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub
The Leiber Chronicles by Fritz Leiber
Prayers to Broken Stones by Dan Simmons

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Ray Russell

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Dave McKean

Other Nominees:
Janet Aulisio
David Bergen
Brian Froud
Don Maitz
J.K. Potter

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Arnie Fenner

Other Nominees:
Ellen Datlow
S.T. Joshi
Paul Mikol and Scot Stadalsky
David Pringle

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Richard T. Chizmar

Other Nominees:
Barry Hoffman
Marc Michaud
Steve Pasechnick

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

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