The Harper's Pen Award (2009) Finalists

The time has come, the walrus said, to announce the eight finalists for The Harper's Pen Award (2009). This has been an emotional two weeks, beginning with my decision to delay the award a year in order to enlarge the pool of nominations, followed by my decision not to delay the award but to change its name to The Harper's Pen Award, followed by my decision to migrate the award to a new site and establish an organization to administer and distribute the award - The Sorcerer's Guild.

From the nominations I received, and also from stories I found on my own, I chose eight tales that I believe best represent the tradition as well as the future of Heroic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery. These stories were published by a variety of publishers - from legendary print magazines to new webzines to anthologies by small, independent publishers. Some of these stories include links, so you can read them yourself if you haven't already (you should!).

Here they are, alphabetized by publisher:

• "Slow Stampede" by Sara Genge (Asimov's)
• "Where Virtue Lives" by Saladin Ahmed (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• "The Face in the Sea" by John C. Hocking (Black Gate #13)
• "Tomb of the Amazon Queen" by Michael Ehart (Dark Worlds 3)
• "Bright Wings in the Ebony Hall" by Dale Carothers (Electric Spec)
• "The Last of His Kind" by Bill Ward (Heroic Fantasy Quarterly)
• "Serpents Beneath the Ice" by Carl Walmsley (Rage of the Behemoth)
• "The Dark Blessing" by James Lecky (Silver Blade)

Congratulations to the finalists! I will announce the winner in a week or so.

The winner of the The Harper's Pen Award (2009) will receive:

• Publisher - $200 and a handsome certificate of recognition
• Author - $200, a handsome certificate, and this handmade pen by Syzygy Pens, engraved in recognition of the award