The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
,
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
Baltimore Science Fiction Society
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) is a literary organization focusing on science fiction, fantasy and related genres. A 501c3 literary society based in Baltimore, Maryland, the BSFS sponsors Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fict ...
at their annual science fiction convention,
Balticon
Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS). It has been held annually since 1966. The name "Balticon" is trademarked by BSFS.
Overview
Balticon brings together over 18 ...
, held in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
on
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
weekend. The award, also known as the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award, has been presented since 1983.
The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so that all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author is invited to Balticon (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) for two years, and presented with the cash award of $1,000. Compton Crook, who wrote under the name of Stephen Tall, was a long-time Baltimore resident,
Towson University
Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...
professor, and science fiction author who died in 1981.
Winners
* 1983 -
Donald Kingsbury
Donald MacDonald Kingsbury (born 12 February 1929, in San Francisco) is an American–Canadian science fiction author. Kingsbury taught mathematics at McGill University, Montreal, from 1956 until his retirement in 1986.
Bibliography Books
...
, ''
Courtship Rite
''Courtship Rite'' is a science fiction novel by Canadian writer Donald Kingsbury, originally serialized in ''Analog'' magazine in 1982. The book is set in the same universe as some of Kingsbury's other stories, such as "Shipwright" (1978) and th ...
''
* 1984 -
Christopher Rowley
Christopher Rowley (born 1948) is an American writer specializing in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He is also a former journalist and television screenswriter.
Christopher Rowley was born in 1948 in Lynn, Massachusetts, to an America ...
Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.
Emergence ...
''
* 1986 -
Sheila Finch
Sheila Finch (born 1935) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. She is best known for her sequence of stories about the Guild of Xenolinguists.
Biography
Sheila Finch was born in London, UK, 29 October 1935. She attended Bishop O ...
Christopher Hinz
Christopher Hinz (born March 10, 1951) is an American writer best known for the Paratwa science fiction trilogy. Hinz has also written comic books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He won the Compton Crook Award in 1988 for his novel ''Liege-Killer' ...
, ''
Liege-Killer
''Liege Killer'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Christopher Hinz. The book and its sequels ''Ash Ock'' and ''The Paratwa'' are set in human colonies in orbit around a desolated post-apocalyptic Earth.
The antagonists of the books ...
''
* 1989 -
Elizabeth Moon
Elizabeth Moon (born March 7, 1945) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her other writing includes newspaper columns and opinion pieces. Her novel '' The Speed of Dark'' won the 2003 Nebula Award. Prior to her writing career, sh ...
Josepha Sherman
Josepha Sherman (December 12, 1946 – August 23, 2012) was an American author, folklorist, and anthologist. In 1990 she won the Compton Crook Award for the novel ''The Shining Falcon''.
Works
Series
Buffyverse
*'' Visitors'' (1999) (wit ...
Michael Flynn
Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...
, ''
In the Country of the Blind
IN, In or in may refer to:
Places
* India (country code IN)
* Indiana, United States (postal code IN)
* Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN)
* In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Businesses and organizations
* Independ ...
''
* 1992 -
Carol Severance
Carol Severance (1944 – February 19, 2015) was a U.S. science fiction writer.
Life
Carol Severance was a Hawaii-based Science Fiction and Fantasy writer known for her strong female characters. As an artist she had a special interest in Paci ...
Holly Lisle
Holly Lisle (born 1960) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, paranormal romance and romantic suspense novels. She is also known for her work in educating writers, including her e-book ''Mugging the Muse: Writing Fiction for Love An ...
Mary Rosenblum
Mary Rosenblum (born Mary Freeman; June 27, 1952 – March 11, 2018) was an American science fiction and mystery author.
Biography
Rosenblum was born in Levittown, New York and grew up in Allison Park, Pennsylvania. She earned a biology de ...
, ''
The Drylands
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
E. E. Knight
E. E. Knight (born March 7, 1965) is the pen name for American science fiction and Fantasy literature, fantasy writer Eric Frisch, born in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota and now resides in Oak Park, Illinois, with his w ...
Ghosts in the Snow
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
Naomi Novik
Naomi Novik (born April 30, 1973) is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the ''Temeraire'' series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her ''Scholomance'' fantasy series (2020 ...
, ''
His Majesty's Dragon
''His Majesty's Dragon'', published in the UK as ''Temeraire'', is the first novel in the '' Temeraire'' alternate history/fantasy series by American author Naomi Novik. The story is set during an alternate-history version of the Napoleonic Wars ...
''
* 2008 -
Mark L. Van Name
Mark L. Van Name (born 14 March 1955) is an American science fiction writer and technology consultant. As of 2009, Van Name lives in North Carolina.
About
With John Kessel, Van Name co-founded the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop in 1985, and ...
, ''One Jump Ahead''
* 2009 -
Paul Melko
Paul Melko (born May 22, 1968) is an American science fiction writer whose work has appeared in ''Realms of Fantasy'', ''Asimov's Science Fiction'', ''Strange Horizons'', and '' Live Without a Net''.
His first professional story appeared in ''Real ...
, ''
Singularity's Ring
''Singularity's Ring'' is the debut science fiction book by Paul Melko. The novel was published on February 5, 2008 by Tor Books.
Plot
The story is set in a future after a singularity event, which caused the bulk of humanity to disappear. The f ...
''
* 2010 -
Paolo Bacigalupi
Paolo Tadini Bacigalupi (born August 6, 1972) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell, Compton Crook, Theodore Sturgeon, and Michael L. Printz awards, and has been nominated for the Na ...
, ''
The Windup Girl
''The Windup Girl'' is a biopunk science fiction novel by American writer Paolo Bacigalupi. It was his debut novel and was published by Night Shade Books on September 1, 2009. The novel is set in a future Thailand and covers a number of contempo ...
Myke Cole
Myke Cole is an American author of fantasy, science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science ...
, ''Control Point''
* 2014 -
Charles E. Gannon
Charles E. Gannon is a novelist and game designer who has worked primarily on hard science-fiction and role-playing games.
Career
Charles Gannon wrote '' Hard Times'' (1991), a '' MegaTraveller'' book which pushed the background metaplot up b ...
, ''Fire With Fire''
* 2015 - Alexandra Duncan, ''Salvage''
* 2016 -
Fran Wilde
Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Wellingt ...
, ''Updraft''
* 2017 -
Ada Palmer
Ada Palmer (born June 9, 1981) is an American historian and writer and winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her first novel ''Too Like the Lightning'' was published in May 2016. The work has been well received by criti ...
Arkady Martine
AnnaLinden Weller, better known under her pen name Arkady Martine (born April 19, 1985), is an American historian, city planning, city planner, and author of science fiction literature. Her first novels ''A Memory Called Empire'' (2019) and A Des ...