91原创 author Ian Weir芒鈧劉s novel Will Starling takes readers to 19th century London for a tale of grave robbing and the mad days of early medical experiments.
Now it might take Weir to an awards ceremony.
Will Starling has been named on the long list for the 2015 Sunburst Award, an award for excellence in 芒鈧揅anadian literature of the fantastic.芒鈧�
芒鈧揑 was surprised and delighted,芒鈧� said Weir, who found out about the nomination early in June.
This is Weir芒鈧劉s second adult novel. Although he芒鈧劉s been a professional writer for years, his career has been varied, and has included some young adult books for Scholastic in the 1980s and early 芒鈧劉90s, the creation of plays, radio scripts, and TV series, including Arctic Air, partially filmed in Aldergrove.
Weir was gratified to be included with a number of Canadian literary luminaries.
芒鈧揑t芒鈧劉s a really interesting long list,芒鈧� Weir said.
Alongside Will Starling are horror novel The Troop by Nick Cutter, director David Cronenberg芒鈧劉s first novel Consumed, Thomas King芒鈧劉s The Back of the Turtle, and some hard science fiction novels like Peter Watts芒鈧劉 Echopraxia.
The awards jury seems to have taken its mandate to look at literature of the fantastic very broadly, said Weir.
Weir芒鈧劉s novel certainly has some gothic aspects, and it芒鈧劉s no coincidence he set it in the same year that Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein.
However, when he was working on it, he didn芒鈧劉t think of it as a fantasy or horror novel. Now that he芒鈧劉s not writing it, he can see the ways the book holds a door open to the fantastic.
As for whether he芒鈧劉ll win the award, he says his fingers are crossed, but he芒鈧劉s just pleased to be on the list.
He芒鈧劉s also planning to read several of the other nominees, with Pastoral by Andre Alexis and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel already on his to-read list.
The award won芒鈧劉t be announced until the fall, but Weir has plenty to keep him busy until then. He芒鈧劉s hard at work on a new novel.
芒鈧揑t芒鈧劉s something of a departure for me,芒鈧� he said, as it芒鈧劉s set in North America rather than London. This story began as a revisionist Western, but is now veering into the Southern Gothic, Weir said.
