Announcing the winner of the 2026 Manly Wade Wellman Award
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Posted on 2026-07-20 at 10:00 by admin
Monday, July 20, 2026, Durham, NC: The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation is proud to announce the winner of the 2026 Manly Wade Wellman Award for North Carolina Science Fiction and Fantasy, presented on Friday, July 17, 2026 at Con-Gregate 12 in Greensboro, NC. This year’s winner, the result of juried selection from 55 eligible titles through 34 quarterfinalists, 20 semifinalists, and 10 finalists, is Transmentation: Transience by Darkly Lem, published by Blackstone Publishing:
Durham author Craig Lincoln, one of the 5 co-authors which the “Darkly Lem” pseudonym comprises, was on hand to accept the award, delivering the following remarks:
On behalf of Darkly Lem, I am shocked, amazed, and grateful to accept the Manly Wade Wellman award for our novel. Darkly Lem is more than just one person. This pseudonym consists of myself, Craig Lincoln, as well as four other fifths: Cadwell Turnbull, Darusha Wehm, Ben Murphy and Josh Eure. The others would’ve liked to have been here, but geographic limitations and familial obligations prevented them from attending. So you just get me.
Four of us—Cadwell, Josh, Ben and myself—became acquainted thanks to the NC State MFA program, and the camaraderie that bloomed from there is directly responsible for this book’s existence. Darusha Wehm, while from far away in New Zealand, has come to visit North Carolina and found it charming…charming and hot. Three of us MFA survivors still call North Carolina home, and although Cadwell moved to Munich, his presence is still very much felt here.
Pieces of North Carolina found their way into this book and its sequels, some accidental, some intentional. One I recall is eastern style barbecue (though it’s eaten by space Vikings, so easy to miss). We appreciate this great state and couldn’t be more honored to join the remarkable company we now find ourselves in.
We would like to thank:
- The Manly Wade Wellman Award jury for choosing Transmentation | Transience (both as finalist and winner), deeming our novel worthy of this prestigious award.
- The team at Blackstone Publishing, including our editor, Diana Gill.
- Cadwell, for founding the Many Worlds collective, a cooperative of authors contributing to this vast multiversal narrative, of which Darkly Lem and our novels belong to.
- Kim-Mei Kirtland for agreeing to represent this crazy thing of ours.
- The other authors within the Many Worlds collective.
- And anyone else that was curious enough to check out our book, weirdness and all.
Thank you!
The Manly Wade Wellman Award was founded in 2013 to recognize outstanding achievement in science fiction and fantasy novels written by North Carolina authors. The 2026 award covers novels published in 2025 and marks the 13th presentation of the award.
The award is named for long-time North Carolina author Manly Wade Wellman with the permission of his estate.