Here are the finalists for the 2026 World Fantasy Awards
The World Fantasy Convention has announced the finalists for this year's awards. The World Fantasy Award has been been handed out annually since 1975, and they're amongst the highest honors in the fantasy and horror genres alongside the Hugo and Nebula Awards. This year's jury was composed of Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, Tamsyn Muir, Madeleine E. Robins, Richard Thomas, and Ann VanderMeer.
This year's winners will be announced at this year's convention, which will be held October 22-25 in Oakland, California.
Here are the finalists for this year's award:
Best Novel
- Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill
- Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey
- The Secret Market of the Dead by Giovanni De Feo
- The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
- The Adventures of Mary Darling by Pat Murphy
Best Long Fiction
- The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
- “The Secret Diary of Mina Harker" by Theodora Goss (Letters from an Imaginary Country)
- “Uncertain Sons” by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories)
- The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella
- “The Spotter” by Josh Malerman (You, Human: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction, Vol. 2)
- Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce
- A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo
Best Short Fiction
- “The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home” by Renan Bernardo (Reactor 8/27/25)
- “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
- “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny 3-4/25)
- “St. Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls” by Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (Weird Horror Spring ‘25)
- “Unfinished Architectures of the Human-Fae War" by Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny 5-6/25)
Best Anthology
- Night & Day edited by Ellen Datlow
- Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney
- The Best Weird Fiction of the Year: Volume 1, edited by Michael Kelly
- Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume Three edited by Stephen Kotowych
- Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror edited by Hollie Starling
Best Collection
- Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
- Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
- The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip
- The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories by Salman Rushdie
- Black Hole Heart and Other Stories by K.A. Teryna and translated by Alex Shvartsman
Best Artist
- Galen Dara
- Kathleen Jennings
- Daniele Serra
- Rachel Smythe
- Charles Vess
Special Award – Professional
- Clive Bloom, for London Uncanny: A Gothic Guide to the Capital in Weird History and Fiction
- Jaymee Goh, Jill Roberts & Jacob Weisman, for Tachyon Publications
- Tim Lucas, for Succubus
- Blumhouse & Dave Schilling, for Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse
- Becky Siegel Spratford, for Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature
- Richard Wolinsky, for Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends
Special Award – Non-Professional
- Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies
- Andy Cox, for Remains
- Patrick Swenson, for Fairwood Press and for the Rainforest Writers Village Retreat
- Elise C. Tobler, for The Deadlands
- Wendy Wagner, for Nightmare
Congratulations to all of the finalists! Thanks for reading. Let me know what stood out for you on this list. For me, I really loved Alix Harrow's The Everlasting (here's my review), but there are a ton of other really exciting books included.