The Mythopoeic Award Winners for Fantasy and Scholarship were announced on August 10.
This entry and the next provide descriptions and links for all the winners and finalists.
Those who are not familiar with The Mythopoeic Society or with its annual Mythopoeic Awards may want to read the following, quoted from the Mythopoeic Society's website
The Mythopoeic Society is a non-profit organization devoted to the study of mythopoeic
literature, particularly the works of members of the informal Oxford literary
circle known as the “Inklings.”
Overview (extract)
"The Mythopoeic Society is a national/international
organization promoting the study, discussion, and enjoyment of fantastic and
mythopoeic literature through books and periodicals, annual conferences, discussion
groups, awards, and more. We are especially interested in the works of J.R.R.
Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams, prominent members of the informal
Oxford literary circle known as the “Inklings” (1930s-1950s)… "Scholars of the
Inklings had observed that these men all created myth, so Society founder Glen
GoodKnight borrowed a Greek adjective meaning “myth-making” as the name of the
Society." (continued at The Mythopoeic Society site)
About the Awards
"The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume,
or single-author story collection for adults published during 2013 that best
exemplifies “the spirit of the Inklings.” Books are eligible for two years
after publication if not selected as a finalist during the first year of
eligibility. Books from a series are eligible if they stand on their own;
otherwise, the series becomes eligible the year its final volume appears.
"The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature honors books for younger readers (from “Young
Adults” to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia. Rules for eligibility are otherwise the same as for the Adult
Literature award. The question of which award a borderline book is best suited
for will be decided by consensus of the committees.
"The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on Tolkien, Lewis,
and/or Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship.
For this award, books first published during the last three years (2011–2013)
are eligible, including finalists for previous years.
"The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and
Fantasy Studies is given to scholarly
books on other specific authors in the Inklings tradition, or to more general
works on the genres of myth and fantasy. The period of eligibility is three
years, as for the Inklings Studies award."
"The winners of this
year’s awards were announced at Mythcon 45 in Norton, MA, on August 10, 2014. A complete list of Mythopoeic Award winners is available on the Society web site..."
"The finalists for the
literature awards, text of recent acceptance speeches, and selected book
reviews are also listed in this on-line section. For more information about the Mythopoeic
Awards, please contact the Awards Administrator:
David D. Oberhelman
306 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University Library
Stillwater, OK 74078
awards@mythsoc.org
306 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University Library
Stillwater, OK 74078
awards@mythsoc.org
Mythopoeic Society Fantasy Award Winners 2014
Adult Literature
The Golem and the
Jinni by Helene Wecker
Helene Wecker, The
Golem and the Jinni (Harper)
The publisher’s description at Amazon (Descriptions may contain spoilers)
In The Golem and the
Jinni, a chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling
journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York.
Chava is a golem, a
creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in
dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is
unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.
Ahmad is a jinni, a
being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper
flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free
Ahmad and Chava become
unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and
compulsively readable, Helene Wecker's debut novel The Golem and the Jinni
weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and
magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.
~~~~~
Children’s Literature
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Holly Black, Doll
Bones (Margaret K. McElderry)
The publisher’s description at Amazon (Descriptions may contain spoilers)
Discover the Newbery
Honor winner Doll Bones, from Holly Black, the cocreator of the Spiderwick Chronicles.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book. A School Library Journal Best Book. A Booklist
Editor’s Choice Books for Youth. A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book. A
NYPL “100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.” A People Magazine “Best New Kids
Book.” Six starred reviews!
Zach, Poppy, and Alice
have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one
continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors.
Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who
displease her.
But they are in middle
school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits
the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been
having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until
the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.
Zach and Alice and
Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But
nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic
journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something
more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it
has them in its clutches?
Doll Bones is a winner
of the Newbery Honor, is the recipient of six starred reviews, was on five Best
Book lists, and was called “perfect” by The New York Times.
~~~~~
Fantasy Award Finalists for 2014
Adult Literature
(winner) Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni (Harper) *
Yangsze Choo, The Ghost Bride (William Morrow)
Publisher’s Description
Publication Date:
August 6, 2013
"One evening, my
father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."
Part 19th century
novel, part magical journey to the Chinese world of the dead, Yangsze Choo's
debut novel The Ghost Bride is a startlingly original historical fantasy
infused with Chinese folklore, romantic intrigue, and unexpected supernatural
twists. Reminiscent of Lisa See's Peony in Love and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere,
The Ghost Bride is a wondrous coming-of-age story from a remarkable new voice
in fiction.
Li Lan, the daughter
of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when
she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They
want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died
under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage
is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a
home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.
After an ominous visit
to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her
ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim's handsome new
heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world
of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings,
vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy--including the mysterious Er Lang, a
charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim
family's darkest secrets--and the truth about her own family--before she is
trapped in this ghostly world forever.
Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (William Morrow)
Publisher’s Description
A brilliantly
imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and
terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for
adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys.
This bewitching and
harrowing tale of mystery and survival, and memory and magic, makes the
impossible all too real...
Max Gladstone, Three Parts Dead (Tor)
Publisher’s Description
A god has died, and
it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of
Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls
apart.
Her client is Kos,
recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the
metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running,
and its four million citizens will riot.
Tara’s job: resurrect
Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the
dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.
When Tara and Abelard
discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s
courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives,
and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.
Set in a phenomenally
built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen
fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, MAX GLADSTONE's Three
Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between
right and wrong blurs.
Mark H. Williams, Sleepless Knights (Atomic Fez Publishing)
Publisher’s
Description
It's not easy being
the man behind the myth.Sir Lucas is butler to King Arthur and the Knights of
the Round Table - the person who managed every quest from behind the scenes.
He's a man whose average working day involved defeating witches and banishing
werewolves, while ensuring the Royal pot of tea never crossed the thin line
separating 'brewed' from 'stewed.' What's more, 1,500 years after that golden
age, he's still doing it - here in the modern world, right under our noses.When
King Arthur and six of his knights are exposed as living among us, Merlin is
unleashed and a grim apocalypse unfolds, uncovering secrets from the past that
King Arthur would rather stay buried. When Lucas is forced to confront his own
peculiar destiny, will he choose to sacrifice his true love and lay down his
life in the service of his master? Sleepless Knights is a tale of high
adventure and warm humor, with a spring in its step, a twinkle in its eye and,
at its heart, the ultimate butler.
~~~~~
Children’s Literature
(winner) Holly Black, Doll
Bones (Margaret K. McElderry) *
William Alexander, Ghoulish Song (Margaret K. McElderry)
Publisher’s
Description
A brave girl flees a
ghoul while trying to save her city in this lively companion to Goblin Secrets,
the National Book Award winner that Kirkus Reviews calls “humorous, poignant,
and convincing.”
Kaile lives in Zombay,
an astonishing city where goblins walk the streets and witches work their
charms and curses. Kaile wants to be a musician and is delighted when a goblin
gives her a flute carved out of bone. But the flute’s single, mournful song has
a dangerous consequence: it separates Kaile and her shadow.
Anyone without a
shadow is considered dead, and despite Kaile’s protests that she’s alive and
breathing, her family forces her to leave so she can’t haunt their home. Kaile
and her shadow soon learn that the troublesome flute is tied to a terrifying
ghoul made from the bones of those who drowned in the Zombay River. With the
ghoul chasing her and the river threatening to flood, Kaile has an important
role to play in keeping Zombay safe. Will Kaile and her shadow be able to learn
the right tune in time?
Set in the delightful
and dangerous world of Goblin Secrets, Ghoulish Song is a gripping adventure
laced with humor and mystery from National Book Award–winning author William
Alexander. His “graceful prose weaves an engaging fantasy that embraces the
power of music” (Publishers Weekly).
Joseph Bruchac, Killer of Enemies (Tu Books)
Publisher’s
Description
Years ago,
seventeen-year-old Apache hunter Lozen and her family lived in a world of haves
and have-nots. There
were the Ones—people so augmented with technology and genetic
enhancements that they
were barely human—and there was everyone else who served them.
Then the Cloud came,
and everything changed. Tech stopped working. The world plunged
back into a new steam
age. The Ones’ pets—genetically engineered monsters—turned on them
and are now loose on
the world.
Lozen was not one of
the lucky ones pre-C, but fate has given her a unique set of survival
skills and magical
abilities. She hunts monsters for the Ones who survived the apocalyptic events
of the Cloud, which
ensures the safety of her kidnapped family. But with every monster she takes
down, Lozen’s powers
grow, and she connects those powers to an ancient legend of her people.
It soon becomes clear
to Lozen that she is not just a hired gun.
As the legendary
Killer of Enemies was in the ancient days of the Apache people, Lozen is
meant to be a more
than a hunter. Lozen is meant to be a hero.
GoodReads:
Sara Beth Durst, Conjured (Walker Children’s)
Publisher’s
Description
Eve has a new home, a
new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that
she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous
magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for
sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding
her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her
to remember.
At night she dreams of
a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the
day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that
she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls.
When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into
terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s
lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is
before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone
could have ever imagined.
Robin McKinley, Shadows (Nancy Paulsen Books)
Publisher’s Description
A compelling and
inventive novel set in a world where science and magic are at odds, by Robin
McKinley, the Newbery-winning author of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue
Sword, as well as the classic titles Beauty, Chalice, Spindle’s End, Pegasus
and Sunshine
Maggie knows
something’s off about Val, her mom’s new husband. Val is from Oldworld, where
they still use magic, and he won’t have any tech in his office-shed behind the
house. But—more importantly—what are the huge, horrible, jagged, jumpy shadows
following him around? Magic is illegal in Newworld, which is all about science.
The magic-carrying gene was disabled two generations ago, back when Maggie’s
great-grandmother was a notable magician. But that was a long time ago.
Then Maggie meets
Casimir, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen. He’s from Oldworld too—and
he’s heard of Maggie’s stepfather, and has a guess about Val’s shadows. Maggie
doesn’t want to know . . . until earth-shattering events force her to depend on
Val and his shadows. And perhaps on her own heritage.
In this dangerously
unstable world, neither science nor magic has the necessary answers, but a
truce between them is impossible. And although the two are supposed to be
incompatible, Maggie’s discovering the world will need both to survive.
~~~~~
The next Daily Scroll blog entry will list the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award winners and finalists
~~~~~
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