The International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) held its annual Crawford Award ceremony this weekend in Orlando, Florida. The award recognizes an outstanding new writer whose first fantasy book was published during the previous calendar year, and is in honor of William L. Crawford, an American publisher and editor who passed away in 1984.
This year’s recipient is The West Passage by Jared Pechaček. The medieval fantasy novel was selected by judges Eddie Clark, Candas Jane Dorsey, Brian Attebery, Mimi Mondal, and Yilin Wang from 59 submissions.
Here’s the official blurb for The West Passage, per Goodreads:
When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.
Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.
The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they’ll reach their destinations, but one thing is for the world is about to change.
The “Honours List” for the award includes Meihan Boey’s The Formidable Miss Cassidy; Gareth Brown’s The Book of Doors; The Book of Denial by author Ricardo Chavez Castañeda and artist Alejandro Magallanes, translated by Lawrence Schimel; Cécile Cristofari’s Elephants in Bloom; L.B. Hazelthorn’s Rare Birds; Sung-il Kim’s Blood of the Old Kings, translated by Anton Hur; and John Wiswell’s Someone You Can Build A Nest In.
Congratulations to all who were recognized!
