A FEAST FOR CROWS CONTENDS FOR QUILL
September 1, 2006
My fantasy novel A FEAST FOR CROWS has been named a finalist for this year’s Quill Award in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category. The other contenders are A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES (Dell) by Diana Gabaldon, CELL: A NOVEL (Scribner, Simon & Schuster) by Stephen King, THE STOLEN CHILD: A NOVEL (Doubleday) by Keith Donohue, and LABYRINTH (Putnam) by Kate Moss. All finalists in all nineteen categories, including A FEAST FOR CROWS, are also de facto nominees for the “Book of the Year” award, the grand prize of the evening.
 This is only the second year for the Quill Awards, which were established in 2005 as a new broad-based national book award, intending to promote reading, literacy, and excellence in literature. The awards are sponsored by Reed Business Information and the National Broadcasting Company, who say “The Quills [are] designed to be an industry qualified ‘consumers choice’ awards program for books, honoring the current titles readers deem most entertaining and enlightening The Quills celebrate the best books of the year in nineteen popular categories, ranging from romance to biography to graphic novels.” A full list of all of this year’s nominees and finalists can be found at http://www.bookreporter.com/features/awards-quill.asp#2006 .
 The Quill is a popular award determined by the votes of the reading public. The balloting is done on line, and all readers are eligible to help determine the winner of the award. To cast a vote for your favorite, go to the Quill website at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737579/ Voters also have the opportunity to enter the Quill Sweepstakes, for a chance to win a trip for two to New York City, or autographed copies of the nominated books.
Balloting will close on September 30. The winners will be announced on October 10 at the awards ceremony in New York City, which I expect to be attending. Some of the highlights of the evening will be broadcast on MSNBC, although I am not certain whether the SF/ Fantasy/Horror category will be among those shown.
| 
