The long-listed stories for this year’s James White Award have been announced. Below are the titles of the stories that made it through the first stage of judging. This year’s award received a record 354 entries, so the authors who made it through to this stage have already seen off some very strong competition.

As the anonymous judging process is still ongoing – the winner will be announced over the Easter holidays at the BSFA Awards – we are not in a position to attach authors’ names to these stories at the moment. However, if your story is not listed here, you should consider it released for submission to other markets.

• Antarctica
• As Close to the Sun
• Augmentation Day
• Let the Bells Ring Out
• Chasing The Sea
• Could You Spare Some Change
• Dead Focused
• Deadly Dance
• DeMille and Me
• Glory Whales
• How I Am Feeling Now
• If Only Kissing Made It So
• Playing Prometheus
• Rock, Paper, Incisors
• Run
• Squared
• (Perhaps The Answer Is) That We Question At All
• The Finders
• The Old Fighting Goose
• Water of Life
• Wreckwalkers
• Zen Garden

The final stage of the judging – picking the winner – is now taking place. The final shortlist will be announced soon.

2016 JUDGING PANEL

We are pleased to be able to announce the team of authors judging this year’s competition.

RUTH EJ BOOTH
Ruth EJ Booth is a writer and photographer based in the North-East of England. Her short story “The Honey Trap” won the 2014 BSFA Award for short fiction. A semi-retired music critic and magazine editor, her non-fiction work has appeared in The Independent and Kerrang! Magazine, while her fiction and poetry have been published by NewCon Press, Far Horizons magazine, and most recently in Fox Spirit Books anthology Winter Tales.

IAN SALES
Ian Sales is the author of the critically acclaimed Apollo Quartet and the Age of Discord series of space opera novels. He won the 2012 BSFA Award for Adrift on the Sea of Rains, the first of the Apollo Quartet, which was also nominated or the Sidewise Award. He is a frequent reviewer and critic and was nominated for a BSFA non-fiction award in 2011 for his work on the SF Mistressworks website.

NEIL WILLIAMSON
Neil Williamson is a writer and musician based in Glasgow. His debut novel, The Moon King, was nominated for the 2014 BSFA Award and the 2015 Holdstock Award. His short story “Arrhythmia”, shortlisted for the BSFA Award in 2010, features in Secret Language, a new collection forthcoming from NewCon Press in 2016.