From SRP author Taylen Carver:
For readers who follow the ebb and flow of the speculative fiction awards season, two of my 2025 releases are eligible for consideration in the 2026 award cycle. These stories are very different from each other, but both carry threads of magic, myth, and the quiet forces that shape us.
If either of them stayed with you, and you’re nominating for awards this year, I would be honoured if you chose to include them.
Roots of the Storm
Published: July 24, 2025
Word Count: 3,600
Category: Short Story
A weathered tree, a long-held secret, and a storm that doesn’t behave the way storms should.
This is a story about legacy, magic, and the strength that lies in choosing not to bend.
Magical realism with fantasy bones.
Eligible for:
– Hugo Award for Best Fantasy Short Story
– Nebula Award for Best Fantasy Short Story
– Aurora Award for Best Short Fantasy Fiction (English)
Sylvalight
Published: October 9, 2025
Word Count: 44,690
Category: Novel
An artist retreats to a forgotten forest and discovers that the lines between inspiration and enchantment are thinner than anyone warned her.
A contemporary fantasy about light, memory, and what it costs to truly create.
Part myth, part literary fantasy.
Eligible for:
– Hugo Award for Best Fantasy Novel
– Nebula Award for Best Fantasy Novel
– Aurora Award for Best Fantasy Novel (English)
– Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel
For those who vote
If you’re a member of SFWA, Worldcon, the CSFFA, or you nominate for the Dragon Awards, you’re eligible to cast a vote in the 2026 awards season.
Thank you for reading. And thank you, especially, to those of you who continue to support quiet, strange stories that don’t always fit easily on a shelf.
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Taylen Carver
SRP Fantasy Author
Browse Taylen’s books here.
