Sidewise Award for Alternate History

Sidewise Award for Murray Davies's novel Collaborator

The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.

The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with their analogs from other timelines.

The awards were created by Steven H Silver, Evelyn C. Leeper, and Robert B. Schmunk. Over the years, the number of judges has fluctuated between three and eight, including judges in the UK and South Africa.

Each year, two awards are presented, usually at Worldcon. The Short-Form award is presented to a work under 60,000 words in length. The Long-Form award may be presented to a work longer than 60,000 words, including both novels or complete series. At their discretion, the judges may also elect to recognize an individual or work with a Special Achievement Award in recognition of works that were published prior to the award's inception.

Award winners

Long Form

1995 Paul J. McAuley, Pasquale's Angel

1996 Stephen Baxter, Voyage

1997 Harry Turtledove, How Few Remain

1998 Stephen Fry, Making History

1999 Brendan DuBois, Resurrection Day

2000 Mary Gentle, Ash: A Secret History

2001 J. N. Stroyar, The Children's War

2002 (tie) Martin J. Gidron, The Severed Wing & Harry Turtledove, Ruled Britannia

2003 Murray Davies, Collaborator

2004 Philip Roth, The Plot Against America

2005 Ian R. MacLeod, The Summer Isles

2006 Charles Stross, The Family Trade, The Hidden Family, and The Clan Corporate

2007 Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union

2008 Chris Roberson, The Dragon's Nine Sons

2009 Robert Conroy, 1942

2010 Eric G. Swedin, When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Short Form

1995 Stephen Baxter, "Brigantia's Angels"

1996 Walter Jon Williams, "Foreign Devils" (in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches)

1997 William Sanders, "The Undiscovered"

1998 Ian R. MacLeod, "The Summer Isles"

1999 Alain Bergeron, "The Eighth Register" (translated by Howard Scott)

2000 Ted Chiang, "Seventy-two Letters"

2001 Ken MacLeod, "The Human Front"

2002 William Sanders, "Empire"

2003 Chris Roberson, "O One"

2004 Warren Ellis, The Ministry of Space

2005 Lois Tilton, "Pericles the Tyrant"

2006 Gardner Dozois, "Counterfactual"

2007 (tie) Michael Flynn, "Quaestiones Super Caelo Et Mundo" & Kristine Kathryn Rusch, "Recovering Apollo 8"

2008 Mary Rosenblum, "Sacrifice"

2009 Alastair Reynolds, "The Fixation"

2010 Alan Smale, "A Clash of Eagles"

Special Achievement

1995 L. Sprague de Camp, lifetime achievement

1997 Robert N. Sobel: For Want of a Nail

1999 Randall Garrett: The Lord Darcy Series

2010 Award Nominees

Long Form

Adam Chamberlain & Brian A. Dixon, Columbia & Britannia

Robert Conroy, Red Inferno: 1945

Jay Lake, Pinion

Eric Swedin, When Angels Wept

Short Form

Eleanor Arnason, Mammoths of the Great Plains (PM Press)

Barry B. Longyear, “Alter Kameraden” (in Asimov's, 4/10)

Ken MacLeod, “Sidewinders” (in The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates)

Alan Smale, “A Clash of Eagles” (in Panverse 2, edited by Dario Ciriello)

William F. Wu, “Goin’ Down to Anglotown” (in The Dragon and the Stars, edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi)

External links

• The Sidewise Award website.