Rebellion Publishing, publishers of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine have been announced as the winners of the British Fantasy Award by the British Fantasy Society for Best Independent Press, the first time a predominantly comic book publisher has won that award.
Rebellion also won Best Anthology for one of their prose publications, New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Colour, while Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans won the “Best Comic” Award for Die, published by Image Comics, and Ben Baldwin won the award for “Best Artist”.
This year’s winners were announced last night online, via the British Fantasy Society YouTube Channel.
Presented annually by the British Fantasy Society, the British Fantasy Awards (originally known as August Derleth Fantasy Awards), the membership of the BFS vote to determine the shortlists of the awards, the winners being decided by juries.
Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award)
WINNER: The Bone Ships, RJ Barker (Orbit)
Nominations
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Orbit)
• The Migration, Helen Marshall (Titan)
• The Poison Song, Jen Williams (Headline)
Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award)
WINNER: The Reddening, Adam Nevill (Ritual Limited)
Nominations
• The Plague Stones, James Brogden (Titan)
• The Institute, Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher (Titan)
• Mistletoe, Alison Littlewood (Jo Fletcher)
• The Migration, Helen Marshall (Titan)
Best Novella
WINNER: Ormeshadow, Priya Sharma (Tor.com Publishing)
Nominations
• “Butcher’s Table”, Nathan Ballingrud (Wounds)
• Ragged Alice, Gareth L. Powell (Tor.com Publishing)
• The Deep, Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Gallery)
• The Survival of Molly Southbourne, Tade Thompson (Tor.com Publishing)
• The Ascent to Godhood, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)
Best Short Story
WINNER: “The Pain-Eater’s Daughter”, Laura Mauro (Sing Your Sadness Deep)
Nominations
• “Dendrochronology”, Penny Jones (The Woods)
• “I Say (I Say, I Say)”, Robert Shearman (Tales from the Shadow Booth, Vol. 3)
• “Tomorrow, When I Was Young“, Julie Travis (Eibonvale)
Best Collection
WINNER: Sing Your Sadness Deep, Laura Mauro (Undertow)
Nominations
• This House of Wounds, Georgina Bruce (Undertow)
• Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean)
• The Boughs Withered When I Told Them My Dreams, Maura McHugh (NewCon)
• Growing Things, Paul Tremblay (Titan)
Best Anthology
WINNER: New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction for People of Colour, Nisi Shawl, ed. (Solaris)
Nominations
• A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods, Jennifer Brozek, ed. (Pulse)
• Once Upon a Parsec: The Book of Alien Fairy Tales, David Gullen, ed. (NewCon)
• Wonderland, Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane, eds. (Titan)
• The Woods, Phil Sloman, ed. (Hersham Horror)
• The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Vintage)
Best Independent Press

WINNER: Rebellion
Nominations
• Aqueduct
• Black Shuck
• Luna
• NewCon
• Undertow
Best Non-Fiction
WINNER: The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (New York University Press)
Nominations
• Joanna Russ, Gwyneth Jones (University of Illinois Press)
• The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, Farah Mendlesohn (Unbound)
• “Notes from the Borderland”, Lynda E Rucker (Black Static 9-10/20)
• The Full Lid, Alasdair Stuart
• Coffinmaker’s Blues: Collected Writings on Terror, Stephen Volk (PS)
Best Magazine / Periodical
WINNER: Fiyah
Nominations
• Black Static
• The Dark
• Gingernuts of Horror
• Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
• Shoreline of Infinity
Best Artist

WINNER: Ben Baldwin
Nominations
• Vince Haig
• Jackie Morris
• David Rix
Best Comic / Graphic Novel
WINNER: DIE, Kieron Gillen & Stephanie Hans (Image)
Nominations
• Basketful of Heads #1, Joe Hill, Leomacs & Dave Stewart (DC)
• The Ozone Diary, Tero Mielonen & Pentti Otsamo (Luna)
• B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know, Vol. 3: Ragna Rok, Mike Mignola, Scott Allie, Laurence Campbell, et al. (Dark Horse)
• 2000AD, Matt Smith, ed. (Rebellion)
• DCeased #1-6, Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, et al. (DC)
Best Audio

WINNER: PodCastle
Nominations
• Breaking the Glass Slipper
• PseudoPod
• Speculative Spaces
Best Film / Television Production
WINNER: Us
Nominations
• Game of Thrones: “The Long Night”
• Watchmen: “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice”
• The Witcher: “Rare Species”
Best Newcomer (the Sydney J Bounds Award)
WINNER: Ta-Nehisi Coates, for The Water Dancer (One World)
Nominations
• Alix E. Harrow, for The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Orbit)
• Penny Jones, for Suffer Little Children (Black Shuck)
• Tamsyn Muir, for Gideon the Ninth (Tor.com Publishing)
• Nina Oram, for The Joining (Luna)
Karl Edward Wagner Award
RPG Reviews Editor for the British Fantasy Society, Gamer and English Tutor
Winners were chosen by jury, except for the special award (the Karl Edward Wagner Award), which was chosen by the BFS committee.
• The British Fantasy Society is online at britishfantasysociety.org

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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