2023 BSFA Shortlist

Best Novel

• The Green Man’s Quarry, Juliet E. McKenna (Wizard Tower)
• Descendant Machine, Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
• Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
• HIM, Geoff Ryman (Angry Robot)
• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (Gollancz)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

• Broken Paradise, Eugen Bacon (Luna)
• I Am AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
• Europa, Allen Stroud (Flame Tree)
• “Knotted Thorn” Kari Sperring (The Book of Gaheris)
• And Put Away Childish Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Rebellion)

Best Short Fiction

• “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub”, P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23)
• “Copper”, Jendia Gammon (Interzone 295)
• “The Spoil Heap”, Fiona Moore (Clarkesworld 3/23)
• “Lady Koi Koi: A Book Report”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Apex 6/20/23)
• “A Little Seasoning”, Neil Williamson (Interzone Digital)

Best Collection (for collections and anthologies)

• Strange Attractors, Jaine Fenn (Newcon)
• No One Will Come Back for Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow)
• The Best of British Science Fiction 2022, Donna Scott, ed. (Newcon)
• Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi, ed. (Android)
• Best of World SF: Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Bloomsbury)

Best Fiction for Young Readers

• The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, J. Dianne Dotson (Android)
• A Song of Salvation, Alechia Dow (Inkyard)
• Mindbreaker, Kate Dylan (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Library of Broken Worlds, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Harpercollins)
• We Who Are Forged in Fire, Kate Murray (Hardie Grant)

Best Non-Fiction (Long)

• Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan (Luna)
• A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, Nina Allan, ed. (Luna)
• All These Worlds, Niall Harrison (Briardene)
• Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House)
• “The Female Man”, Farah Mendlesohn (Eastercon talk)

Best Non-Fiction (Short)

• “Dominant Themes in Afro-Centric Fiction”, Eugen Bacon (Aurealis 158)
• “Weaving the Rainbow: Worldbuilding and SF”, Gautam Bhatia (Bombay Literary Magazine 4/23)
• “Project Management Lessons from Rogue One”, Fiona Moore (adoctorofmanythings.wordpress.com)
• “Exposition Tax: The hidden burden of writing from the margins”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Ex Marginalia)
• “Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real”, Charles Stross (Scientific American 12/20/23)
• “Prisoners in the Temple of the Muses”, Wole Talabi (Ancillary Review of Books 8/17/23)

Best Translated Short Fiction

Best Artwork

• Elena Betti for the cover of Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon (Apex)
• Christine Kim for the cover of Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu (Erewhon)
• Julia Lloyd for the cover of Descendent Machine by Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
• Leo Nickolls for the cover of The Surviving Sky by Krikita H. Rao (Titan)
• Juliana Pinho for the cover of “The Alphabet of Pinaa: An AI Reinvents Zerself on an Inhabited Moon” by Eugen Bacon (Interzone Digital)
• Vinayak Varma for illustrations for “Strung Along in Seaforth” by Jonathan Laidlow (Interzone 295)

Best Audio Fiction

• “When a Portal Comes Around”, Rick Danforth (Upbeat Tales 9/23)
• “Carlos Explained”, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor (Welcome to Night Vale 7/14/23)
• Simultaneous Times Podcast, Episode 67, Jenna Hanchey & Abigail Guerrero (Space Cowboy)
• The Dex Legacy, Emily Inkpen (www.thedexlagacy.com)
• “The Pigeon”, Michelle Knudsen (Drabblecast 7/21/23)

The awards will be voted on by members of BSFA and the British Annual Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon), except for Translated Short Fiction, which is selected by jury. The winners will be announced during Levitation, this year’s Eastercon, to be held March 29 – April 1, 2024 at Telford International Centre and online. For more information, see the BSFA website.

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