I’m quite surprised to say that my story The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home, published at Reactor in 2025, is a World Fantasy Finalist for Best Short Fiction! It goes beyond mentioning that I am extremely happy and excited about it. It is my first nomination for the World Fantasy and it’s a true honor to share the ballot with authors I deeply admire! The winners will be announced in the 52nd World Fantasy Convention, happening at Oakland, California from October 22nd to 25th.
Keep your fingers crossed for me but for all the other finalists too!
This is the complete list of finalists:
Best Novel
Audition for the Fox, Martin Cahill (Tachyon)
Once Was Willem, M.R. Carey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Secret Market of the Dead, Giovanni De Feo (Saga)
The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK)
The Adventures of Mary Darling, Pat Murphy (Tachyon)
Best Long Fiction
The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia)
“The Secret Diary of Mina Harker”, Theodora Goss (Letters from an Imaginary Country)
“Uncertain Sons”, Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons and Other Stories)
The Death of Mountains, Jordan Kurella (Lethe)
“The Spotter”, Josh Malerman (You, Human: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction, Vol. 2)
Psychopomp & Circumstance, Eden Royce (Tordotcom)
A Mouthful of Dust, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Best Short Fiction
“The Hungry Mouth at the Edge of Space and the Goddess Knitting at Home”, Renan Bernardo (Reactor 8/27/25)
“In My Country”, Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
“10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days”, Samantha Mills (Uncanny 3-4/25)
“St. Dymphna’s School for Borderland Girls”, Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (Weird Horror Spring ‘25)
“Unfinished Architectures of the Human-Fae War”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny 5-6/25)
Best Anthology
Night & Day, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Saga)
Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology, Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett & Craig Laurance Gidney, eds. (Essential Dreams)
The Best Weird Fiction of the Year: Volume 1, Michael Kelly, ed. (Undertow)
Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume Three, Stephen Kotowych, ed. (Ansible)
Bog People: A Working-Class Anthology of Folk Horror, Hollie Starling, ed. (Chatto & Windus)
Best Collection
Letters from an Imaginary Country, Theodora Goss (Tachyon)
Uncertain Sons and Other Stories, Thomas Ha (Undertow)
The Essential Patricia A. McKillip, Patricia A. McKillip (Tachyon)
The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories, Salman Rushdie (Random House; Jonathan Cape)
Black Hole Heart and Other Stories, K.A. Teryna, tr. Alex Shvartsman (Fairwood)
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 (Bloomsbury Academic)
Jaymee Goh, Jill Roberts & Jacob Weisman, for Tachyon Publications
Tim Lucas, for Succubus (PS/Electric Dreamhouse)
Blumhouse & Dave Schilling, for Horror’s New Wave: 15 Years of Blumhouse (Simon Element)
Becky Siegel Spratford, for Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature (Saga)
Richard Wolinsky, for Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends (Tachyon)
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