Toronto, Ontario (December 2, 2012) The Sunburst Award Society is pleased to announce the debut of its newest literary awards. The Copper Cylinder Award is an annual member's choice award selected by members of the Sunburst Award Society for books published during the previous year.
The Copper Cylinder Award derives its name from the first Canadian scientific romance, "A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder," by James De Mille (1833-1880). The winners receive a unique, handcrafted, copper cylinder trophy.
The first winner of the 2012 Copper Cylinder Adult Award is Among Others by Jo Walton, (TOR, ISBN - 978-0765321534.)
The first winner of the 2012 Copper Cylinder Young Adult Award is Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston (Penguin Canada, ISBN - 978-0143177951).
Jo Walton lives in Montreal. Lesley Livingston lives in Toronto.
About Among Others (from www.macmillan.com):
"Startling, unusual, and yet irresistibly readable, Among Others is at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and SF, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment.
Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds. As a child growing up in Wales, she played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins. But her mind found freedom and promise in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. Then her mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, and Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled--and her twin sister dead.
Fleeing to her father whom she barely knew, Mori was sent to boarding school in England-a place all but devoid of true magic. There, outcast and alone, she tempted fate by doing magic herself, in an attempt to find a circle of like-minded friends. But her magic also drew the attention of her mother, bringing about a reckoning that could no longer be put off...
Combining elements of autobiography with flights of imagination in the manner of novels like Jonathan Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude, this is potentially a breakout book for an author whose genius has already been hailed by peers like Kelly Link, Sarah Weinman, and Ursula K. Le Guin."
About Once Every Never (from www.penguin.ca):
"Clarinet Reid is a pretty typical teenager. On the surface. She's smart, but a bit of slacker; outgoing, but just a little insecure; not exactly a mischief-maker ... but trouble tends to find her wherever she goes. Also? She unwittingly carries a centuries-old Druid Blood Curse running through her veins.
Now, with a single thoughtless act, what started off as the Summer Vacation in Dullsville suddenly spirals into a deadly race to find a stolen artifact, avert an explosive catastrophe, save a Celtic warrior princess, right a dreadful wrong that happened centuries before Clare was even born, and if there's still time-- literally--maybe even get a date.
This is the kind of adventure that happens to a girl once every ... never."
The Sunburst Award Society also confers annually the juried Sunburst Awards for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Both awards celebrate the best in Canadian fantastic literature published during the previous calendar year.
For additional information about the Copper Cylinder Awards, Sunburst Award Society membership and the voting process please visit the website at http://coppercylinderaward.ca
For additional information about the Sunburst Awards, the nominees and jurors, eligibility and the selection process, please visit the website at http://sunburstaward.org.
Contact:
Rebecca Simkin, Secretary at:
The Sunburst Award
2 Farm Greenway
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M3A 3M2,
or email us.