Anthony Nominations Announced

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

The Anthony nominations went public today, and purely out of public spirit, I'm posting them here. This has nothing to do with the fact that I've got a story nominated or with the fact that one of the other stories nominated was published in an anthology I co-edited. This is purely a coincidence.

***

2009 Anthony Award Nominations

Best Novel
Trigger City by Sean Chercover [William Morrow]
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly [Little, Brown and Company]
Red Knife by William Kent Krueger [Atria]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [Knopf]
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny [Minotaur]

Best First Novel
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris [Minotaur]
Stalking Susan by Julie Kramer [Doubleday]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson [Knopf]
Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet [Midnight Ink]
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith [Grand Central]

Best Paperback Original
The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins [Hard Case Crime]
Money Shot by Christa Faust [Hard Case Crime]
State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy [Berkley]
In a Dark Season by Vicki Lane [Dell]
South of Hell by P. J. Parrish [Pocket Star]

Best Short Story
“The Night Things Changed” by Dana Cameron from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe [Ace]
“A Sleep Not Unlike Death” by Sean Chercover from Hardcore Hardboiled [Kensington]
“Killing Time” by Jane K. Cleland from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (November)
“Skull and Cross Examination” by Toni L. P. Kelner from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February)
“Scratch a Woman” by Laura Lippman from Hardly Knew Her [William Morrow]
“The Secret Lives of Cats” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July)

Best Critical Nonfiction Work
African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey [McFarland]
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson [Perseverance Press]
Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography by Jeffrey Marks [McFarland]
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale [Walker & Company]

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein [Random House]
Paper Towns by John Green [Dutton Juvenile]
Kiss Me, Kill Me by Lauren Henderson [Delacorte]
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart [Little, Brown]
Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash by Wendelin Van Draanen [Knopf]

Best Cover Art
Death Was the Other Woman designed by David Rotstein and written by Linda L. Richards [Minotaur]
Death Will Get You Sober designed by David Rotstein and written by Elizabeth Zelvin [Minotaur]
The Fault Tree designed by David Rotstein and written by Louise Ure [Minotaur]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo designed by Peter Mendelsund and written by Stieg Larsson [Knopf]
Money Shot designed by Steve Cooley and written by Christa Faust [Hard Case Crime]

Special Service Award
Jon and Ruth Jordan
Ali Karim
David Montgomery
Gary Warren Niebuhr
Sarah Weinman

[Jack Getze]

Cool, Toni. I notice you're nominated for a different short story. You ever going to send one of these prize stories to me at Spinetingler?

:-)

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

Jack,

I'm having a great year for short stories.

And I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't read Spinetingler yet. I'll definitely check it out.

[I. J. Parker]

Congratulation to Toni.

I don't know most of the novels nominated. Chercover is a very fine writer, so my best wishes to him.

Stieg Larsson and Tom Rob Smith do not, in my estimation, deserve the critical praise they received, but I do see that they would appeal to popular taste.

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

Thank you.

I haven't read most of the nominees myself, other than short stories, so I've got some reading to do in the next few months. This is what they call a good problem.

[Elizabeth Zelvin]

I'm really happy about my cover art nomination, and it's not even BSP, since the designer is not me but the talented David Rotstein, who is up for THREE different covers from Minotaur. It will certainly make Bouchercon even more fun for me than I already expected to have. Liz

[Christa Faust]

Thanks for the congrats, and congrats to everybody else on the list.

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

Right back at you, Christa.

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

I've got good news, bad news, and more good news about this year's Anthony nominated short stories.


Good News Number 1:

Four of the six stories are posted on the web for your Antnony voting information and your reading pleasure. Here are the stories and their links:

"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe (Ace)
http://www.danacameron.com/2009/02/for-your-agatha-consideration.html

"Killing Time" by Jane Cleland, Alfred Hitchock Mystery Magazine - November 2008
http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/excerpts/excerpt4.aspx

"Skull and Cross-Examinations" by Toni L.P. Kelner, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - February 2008
http://www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm/excerpts/excerpt4.aspx

"The Secret Lives of Cats" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - July 2008
http://www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm/excerpts/excerpt5.aspx


Bad News:

Unfortunately, Sean Chercover's "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" and Laura Lippman's "Scratch a Woman" are not expected to be posted because of publisher obligations.


Good News Number 2:

Now you have an excellent excuse to go forth and buy copies of Laura's collection Hardly Knew Her and the anthology Hardcore Hardboiled, edited by Todd Robinson. Because we all LIVE for the excuse to buy more books.


All in all, I'd say the good news trumps the bad.

[I. J. Parker]

Please explain the bad news. You mean their publishers won't allow them to be voted on? Seems crazy to me.

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

The only bad news is that the stories won't be posted online. Laura's is the only original story in her anthology (as opposed to reprint stories) so her publishers are reluctant to put the big selling point on the web for free. And Sean just sold reprint rights to his, so doesn't want to decrease value by posting them.

Several of us have gotten into the habit of posting nominated stories on the web, particularly if they're from long-out-of-the-stores magazines, so voters can read them instead of voting blind. But it doesn't work as well for stories from anthologies still being sold.

Laura's and Sean's publishers would be overjoyed if you voted for their stories.