The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation (NCSFF) has announced the preliminary eligibility list for the 2015 Manly Wade Wellman Award. Seventy-nine novels written in 2014 are eligible.
The Manly Wade Wellman Award honors outstanding achievement in science fiction and fantasy in novels written by North Carolina authors, defined as writers who have made their primary residence in North Carolina for six months out of the twelve months preceding publication. In the case of a novel with more than one author, half or more of the listed authors must be North Carolina authors. The novel may be published or self-published, available electronically, in print, and/or in audiobook format.
To view the complete preliminary eligibility list, click here.
The yearly lifecycle of The Manly Wade Wellman Award is as follows:
- in December, a preliminary list of eligible novels is published and publicized along with a solicitation for additions and corrections
- at illogiCon in mid-January, nominations will open based on the list of eligible novels as well as write-in options; nominations will close and the list of finalists announced in March (at StellarCon, when held)
- at ConCarolinas in late May, final voting will open; final voting will close at ConTemporal in late June
- at ConGregate in mid-July, the winner(s) will be announced, and (anonymous) voting data will be published
A versatile, award-winning writer in many genres, Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986) was born in Angola, West Africa. Although his work has been called “science fiction,†he successfully blended his varied interests to create a genre now referred to as speculative fiction. His fascination with Appalachian history and folklore form the basis for his fantastic Silver John series, which features a virtuous folk-ballad-singing young hero who battles supernatural forces of evil in the North Carolina mountains, defending the innocent and timid. Wellman’s numerous works of speculative fiction also include a Martian murder mystery, tales of loathsome alien invaders, and Twice in Time, the story of a man who falls into the fifteenth century and becomes Leonardo da Vinci.
Wellman was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1996.
The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation (NCSFF) was founded in December 2013 to promote the writing and reading of speculative fiction in North Carolina and to recognize outstanding achievements in North Carolina science fiction and fantasy. The first and currently only project administrated by the NCSFF is The Manly Wade Wellman Award. Their website is http://ncsff.org/.