priya sharma fiction

The British Fantasy Awards have just announced their shortlist and jurors for the 2025 awards.

I am so thrilled to see so many people that I know and whose work I admire on this list, but am sending my congratulations to EVERYONE.

I am thrilled to have made the short story category this year with “The Witch’s Pillowbook”. This was published in Bound in Blood: Stories of Cursed Books, Damned Libraries and Unearthly. My thanks to editor Johnny Mains and to Titan Books, and to everyone who supported this story.

The nominees are:

Best Anthology

• Nova Scotia 2, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson – Luna Press Publishing
• I Want That Twink Obliterated!, edited by Trip Galey, C.L. McCartney, and Robert Berg – Bona Books
• Fight Like A Girl 2, edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall – Wizard’s Tower Press
• Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon- PS Publishing
• The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala – Caezik SF & Fantasy
• Bury Your Gays – An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited Sofia Ajram – Ghoulish Books

Jurors: Kristen Platt, Steven French, Ariana Weldon, Stuart Conover, Jacqui Greaves

Best Artist

• Jenni Coutts
• Kelly Chong
• Greg Chapman
• L N Bayen

Jurors: Sophie Jarrell, Donna Scott, Addison Smith, Ben Moxon, Kate Towner

Best Audio

• Podcastle
• The Tiny Bookcase
• Breaking the Glass Slipper
• Pseudopod

Jurors: Elizabeth Elliott, Marc Bitterli, Jo Ross-Barrett, Edward Partridge, Graham Millichap

Best Collection

• Dirt Upon My Skin – Steve Toase – Black Shuck Books
• Limelight and Other Stories – Lyndsey Croal – Shortwave Publishing
• Mood Swings – Dave Jeffery – Black Shuck Books
• Preaching To The Perverted – James Bennett – Lethe Press
• Elephants in Bloom – Cecile Cristofari – Newcon Press

Jurors: Rosemarie Cawkwell, Heather Valentine, Ed Fortune, Mark Findlater, Rick Danforth

Best Fantasy Novel

• The Green Man’s War – Juliet E. McKenna – Wizard’s Tower Press
• Fathomfolk – Eliza Chan – Orbit
• Long Live Evil – Sarah Rees Brennan – Orbit
• A Shadow Over Haven – David Green – Eerie River Publishing
• Masquerade – O.O. Sangoyomi – Forge Books

Jurors: Rhian Drinkwater, Jackson P. Brown, Suleman Kurd, Mira Livingston, Sarah Gray

Best Horror Novel

• Withered Hill – David Barnett – Canelo Horror
• The Ravening – Daniel Church – Angry Robot
• Among The Living – Tim Lebbon – Titan Books
• Bury Your Gays – Chuck Tingle – Tor Nightfire
• My Darling Dreadful Thing – Johanna van Veen – Poisoned Pen Press
• Feast While You Can – Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta – Grand Central Publishing

Jurors: Laura Langrish, Tam Moules, Arden Fitzroy, Erin Hardee, Corinne Pollard

Best Independent Press

• Newcon Press
• Black Shuck Books
• Flame Tree Press
• Luna Press Publishing
• Swan River Press

Jurors: Andy Angel, Melanie Bell, Miguel R Peck, Alia McKellar, Bronte Rowan

Best Magazine / Periodical

• ParSec
• Interzone
• Phantasmagoria
• Ginger Nuts of Horror

Jurors: Melissa Ren, Daniel S. Katz, Jonathan Laidlow, Anna Agaronyan, Hero Owen

Best Newcomer

• Eliza Chan – Fathomfolk – Orbit
• Lyndsey Croal – Limelight and Other Stories – Shortwave Publishing
• Frances White – Voyage of the Damned – Penguin Michael Joseph
• L N Bayen – Wingspan of Treason – Bregma Publishing
• J.L Odom – By Blood, By Salt – Azimuth
• Adrian M Gibson – Mushroom Blues

Jurors: Lexie Way, Devindran Jeyathurai, Talia Nusbaum, Nicolas Gonzalez, Alasdair Stuart

Best Non-Fiction

• Spec Fic for Newbies Vol 2: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing More Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror – Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan – Luna Press
• Autism and Writing – David Green – BFS Blog
• The Full Lid – Alasdair Stuart, edited by Marguerite Kenner
• Track Changes – Abigail Nussbaum – Briardene Books
• Queer as Folklore: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters – Sacha Coward – Unbound
• Translating, Interpreting, and Decolonizing Chinese Fairy Tales: A Case Study and Ideological Approach (Studies in Folklore and Ethnology: Traditions, Practices, and Identities) – Juwen Zhang – Lexington Books

Jurors: Geoff Holder, Heather Ivatt, Ellis Saxey, Amelia Roberts, Arturo Serrano

Best Novella

• Charlie Says – Neil Williamson – Black Shuck Books
• The Last to Drown – Lorraine Wilson – Luna Press
• What Feasts at Night – T. Kingfisher – Tor Nightfire
• Millionaires Day – Kit Power – French Press

Jurors: Amanda Raybould, Ivor K Hill, Chris Hawton, Glyn Jones, Grace Woods

Best Short Story

• Godskin – CL Hellisen – Strange Horizons
• Dirt Upon My Skin – Steve Toase – Dirt Upon My Skin – Black Shuck Books
• The Oracle at Dairy – Tiffani Angus – Trembling with Fear via HorrorTree.com
• The Witch’s Pillowbook – Priya Sharma – Bound in Blood: Stories of Cursed Books, Damned Libraries and Unearthly – Titan Books
• Loneliness Universe – Eugenia Triantafyllou – Uncanny Magazine
• Jinx – Carlie St. George – PseudoPod

Jurors: Fran Moldaschl, Andrew Leon Hudson, Santiago Eastman, Abbi Shaw, Rebecca Sweetman