… Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer.

While I’ve still only read two of the nominees on the ballot (I’ll be reading the other four sometime in August) I’m going to take a punt and say that this is was the correct choice from the judges.  The entire Southern Reach trilogy is fantastic, but Annihilation is a masterpiece of atmosphere, paranoia and creeping, unknowable horror.  And it’s a great character study as well.

The full list of nominees and winners can be found here.  A special shout out goes to the wonderful Helen Marshall for winning the best author single collection category with Gifts For The One Who Comes After.  If you haven’t read Helen’s short fiction before now, then this is a perfect opportunity to order this amazing collection from Chizine, or her first brilliant collection Hair Side, Flesh Side from the same publisher.