Longlist for the 2021 Manly Wade Wellman Award

The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation was proud to announce this longlist of 24 titles for the 2021 Manly Wade Wellman Award for North Carolina Science Fiction and Fantasy, the result of a juried selection from the 64-title eligibility list, presented in alphabetical order by author last name:

  • Renee Ahdieh, The Damned (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
  • Paul Barrett, Cry of Decay (Falstaff Books)
  • Natania Barron, Queen of None (Vernacular Books)
  • Emily Colin, Sword of the Seven Sins (Blue Crow Books)
  • Tracy Deonn, Legendborn (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
  • Patrick Dugan, Storm Shattered (Falstaff Books)
  • T. Frohock, Carved from Stone and Dream (Harper Voyager)
  • Jenna Glass, Queen of the Unwanted (Del Rey)
  • Crymsyn Hart, Forest of Bones (Mocha Memoirs Press)
  • A.J. Hartley, Impervious (Falstaff Books)
  • Whitney Hill, Elemental (Benu Media)
  • T. Kingfisher, Paladin’s Grace (Argyll Productions)
  • T. Kingfisher, The Hollow Places (Gallery / Saga Press)
  • Robin Kirk, The Hive Queen (Blue Crow Books)
  • Gail Z. Martin, The Sellsword’s Oath (Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency)
  • James Maxey, Dragonsgate: Devils
  • Kwame Mbalia, Tristan Strong Destroys the World (Rick Riordan Presents)
  • Jay Posey, Every Sky a Grave (Skybound Books)
  • Scott Reintgen, Ashlords (Crown Books for Young Readers)
  • Christopher Ruocchio, Demon in White (DAW)
  • Christopher Ruocchio, The Lesser Devil
  • Lisa Shearin, The Entity Game (Murwood Media)
  • Meagan Spooner, The Other Side of the Sky (HarperTeen, with Amie Kaufman)
  • Rysa Walker, Now, Then, and Everywhen (47North)

A shortlist of finalists will be announced on Monday, June 28, and the winner(s) will be announced at ConGregate 7 / DeepSouthCon 59 on Saturday, July 10, 2021.

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 2021 award covers novels published in 2020.

The award is named for long-time North Carolina author Manly Wade Wellman with the permission of his estate.

To promote the writing and reading of speculative fiction in North Carolina and to recognize outstanding achievements in North Carolina science fiction and fantasy.