Tor.com is pleased to announce that the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas has revealed the 2015 finalists for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best novel of the year. The nominees include five Tor novels: A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias, Afterparty by Daryl Gregory, The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Lock In by John Scalzi, and Echopraxia by Peter Watts. Congratulations to them, and to all the other nominees!

Nominees for the 2015 John W. Campbell Memorial Award:

The Race by Nina Allan

A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias

The Peripheral by William Gibson

Afterparty by Daryl Gregory

Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson

Wolves by Simon Ings

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Defenders by Will McIntosh

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

The Bees by Laline Paull

Bête by Adam Roberts

Lock In by John Scalzi

The Martian by Andy Weir

Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer

by Jeff VanderMeer Echopraxia by Peter Watts

The Campbell Award was created to honor the late editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, now named Analog. Campbell, who edited the magazine from 1937 until his death in 1971, has been called by many writers and scholars the father of modern science fiction. Writers and critics Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss established the award in Campbell’s name as a way of continuing his efforts to encourage writers to produce their best possible work.

The Campbell Award is selected by a committee small enough to discuss among its members all of the nominated novels. The current jury consists of Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Sheila Finch, James Gunn, Elizabeth Anne Hull, Paul Kincaid, Christopher McKitterick, Pamela Sargent, and T.A. Shippey.

The Award will be presented at the 2015 Campbell Conference, held in Lawrence, Kansas, from June 11-14.