The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2019 WSFA Small Press Award:

• “Baggage,” by Leslie Burton-Lopez, published in When to Now: A Time Travel Anthology, Fairfield Scribes, (October 2018);
• “The Djinni and the Accountant,” by Hal J. Friesen, published in Fire: Demons, Dragons, and Djinn, ed. by Rhonda Parrish, Tyche Books, (August 2018);
• “Familiar in Her Angles,” by E.A. Brenner, published in Metaphorosis, ed. by Morris Allen, (September 21, 2018);
• “The Hydraulic Emperor,” by Arkady Martine, published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 20, ed. by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas (January/February 2018);
• “The Spider and the Stars,” by DK Mok, published in Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers, ed. by Sarena Ulibarri, World Weaver Press (June 2018);
• “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander, published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 23, ed. by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas (July/August 2018);
• “The Thing in the Walls Wants Your Small Change,” by Virginia M. Mohlere, published in Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 34, ed. by Jennifer Lyn Parsons, (May 30, 2018); and
• “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow, published in Apex Magazine, Issue 105, ed. by Jason Sizemore, (February 2018).

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2018). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org) and will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 18-20, 2019 at the Rockville Hilton, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD.