The Guardian a semnalat în ediţia de ieri că Sam Stone, laureata de la categoria cel mai bun roman, a returnat trofeul în urma criticilor pe marginea atribuirii premiilor. Principalul acuzator, editorul şi antologatorul Stephen Jones, a reclamat că un mare număr din premianţi au fost publicaţi de Editura Telos, al cărui director, David Howe, este unul din coordonatorii BFA. David Howe este şi soţul lui Sam Stone!
Nu există dovezi, dar Jones a menţionat că Howe ar fi trebuit să se retragă din juriu.
Sam Stone
Sam Stone a răspuns acuzaţiilor astfel:
I first appeared on the horror circuit in 2007 and attended my first FantasyCon that year.
Since then I have always held the British Fantasy Awards in high regard and it was always my dream to one day win an award.
This year I did win the award, for not only Best Short Fiction with my short story ’Fool’s Gold’, but also for my novel Demon Dance. I was delighted to be the first woman in 31 years to win this award and I had no idea that I had won either award. David – professi
onal to the core – made a point of ensuring that I did not find out.
I have seen the comments made concerning my receiving the August Derleth Award for Best novel on Sunday – I repeat again I had no knowledge I was going to receive it and remind everyone that the ballot is from the BFS membership and attendees of FantasyCon. It is their votes, not a Jury or an individual, that decide who wins the awards.
I am absolutely devastated by the comments made and the last few days have been deeply distressing for me. I do not wish to be seen as the winner that tore the British Fantasy Society in two. The society means too much to me and I cannot allow this controversy to taint the integrity of those involved. Therefore, I am returning the award for Best Novel.
Detalii pe site-ul guardian aici
Un scandal de urmărit, căci nu pare să se fi terminat aici, atâta vreme cât British Fantasy Society n-a răspuns încă acuzaţiilor.
