Territory is on the World Fantasy Award final ballot for best novel. So is The Gospel of the Knife. Since I’m married to Will Shetterly, who’s the author of The Gospel of the Knife, there’s considerable household glee over this, partly because we think it sounds like the seed of a plot for a sitcom episode (hilarity ensues!).

By the time you read this, this year’s winner has probably been announced. But if not, I’m going to leak the results. Yes, I’m going to tell you who’s winning the World Fantasy Awards this year.

Eventually.

When the final ballot was posted, with its five nominees for Best Novel, I read it with interest, because, well, you know. I spotted a novel I hadn’t heard of on it, by an author I hadn’t read. The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith. Smith’s previous work has been mostly in the horror genre, which I haven’t kept up with; I can’t keep up with fantasy and science fiction, either, so that’s no surprise.

But if someone thought this book ought to win an award, well, that’s a reason to have a look at the thing, right? The reviews I found were encouraging. Some of them spent a good bit of space debating whether it was an adult or a young adult novel, which was interesting in itself.

So I found a copy, and read it.

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