Malaysian author Zen Cho was named Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards yesterday. — Picture by Darren Johnson/IDJ Photography via ZenCho.org

LONDON, Sept 26 — Malaysian-born author Zen Cho was named Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards at FantasyCon 2016 in Scarborough, United Kingdom, yesterday.

Cho, who is now based in the UK, was nominated for her book, Sorcerer to the Crown, which is published by Macmillan.

According to the bio on her official site, the debut novel is the first in a historical fantasy trilogy.

It is set in Regency-era London and follows Zacharias Wythe, England’s first African Sorcerer Royal, as he tries to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.

Cho beat four other contenders for the prize.

They were: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers; The Vagrant by Peter Newman; The Heir to the North by Steven Poore; and When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner.

Sorcerer to the Crown was also nominated for Best Fantasy Novel category, but lost out to Naomi Novik’s Uprooted.

Cho is the author of Crawford Award-winning short story collection Spirits Abroad, and editor of anthology Cyberpunk: Malaysia, both published by Buku Fixi.

She was nominated for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer and honour-listed for the Carl Brandon Society Awards for her short fiction.