2021 Kitschies Shortlists

Locus Magazine, Science Fiction FantasyFinalists for the 2021 Kitschies, awarded for “the year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining fiction that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic,” have been announced.

The Red Tentacle (Novel)

  • The Galaxy and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers (Hodder Fiction)
  • Black Water Sister, Zen Cho (Macmillan)
  • The Cabinet, Un-Su Kim (Angry Robot)
  • Bear Head, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Head of Zeus)
  • The Last House On Needless Street, Catriona Ward (Serpent’s Tail)

The Golden Tentacle (Debut)

  • Composite Creatures, Caroline Hardaker (Angry Robot
  • Several People Are Typing, Calvin Kasulke (Hodder Studio)
  • Temporary, Hilary Leichter (Faber
  • Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell (Orbit)
  • Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Rock the Boat)

The Inky Tentacle (Cover Art)

  • A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine, cover art/design by Jaime Jones (Tor
  • Velvet Was the Night, Silvia Morena-Garcia, cover art/design by Faceout Studio: Tim
    Green (Jo Fletcher Books)

  • The Seep, Chana Porter, cover art/design by Julia Lloyd (Titan)
  • Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder, cover art/design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker)
  • Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao, cover art/design by Ashley Mackenzie (Rock the Boat)

Finalists were chosen from 198 submissions, from 57 publishers. Novel and debut winners will be selected by judges Oliver Johnson, Nathalie Radmall-Quirke, Sara Taylor, and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne. Judges for art are Leila Abu el Hawa, Fleur Clarke, Anne Perry, and Jared Shurin. Winners will receive tentacle trophies and a total cash prize of £2,000, sponsored by Blackwell’s.

Awards will be presented in a ceremony on October 12, 2022. For more, see the Kitschies website.


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