For Immediate Release
Monday, August 25, 2008

Portland - Five novels written by Pacific Northwest writers are finalists for the tenth Endeavour Award and the $1,000.00 honorarium that accompanies it.  The winner will be announced in November at OryCon, Oregon's annual science fiction convention.  Thirty seven books published in 2007 were entered for the Award.

The finalists for 2008 are: "The Book of Joby," by Mark J. Ferrari; "Bright of the Sky," by Kay Kenyon; "Not Flesh Nor Feathers," by Cherie Priest; "Powers," by Ursula K. LeGuin; and "The Sliver Ship and the Sea," by Brenda Cooper.  Mark Ferrari, Kay Kenyon, Cherie Priest, and, Brenda Cooper are from Washington are first-time finalists.  Oregon writer Ursula K.LeGuin has won the Endeavour Award twice.

The annual Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest.  All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers.  The five highest scoring books then go to three judges, who are all professional writers or editors.

The judges for the 2008 Award are Ellen Asher, Steven Barnes, and Russell Davis.

Ellen Asher entered science fiction professionally when she became science fiction editor at New American Library (1970-72.)  In February 1973 she became editor of the Science Fiction Book Club, where she remained for over three decades, retiring in 2007 as Editor-in-Chief.

Steven Barnes is an author, teacher, and screenwriter who lives and works in Southern California.  He won the Endeavour Award in 2003 for his novel "Lion's Blood," which he wrote while living in Southwest Washington.

Russell Davis is an author, editor and book packager, and an active member of both SFWA and WWA.  He has written and sold over 20 novels and more than 30 short stories in virtually every genre under numerous pseudonyms. He lives in northern Nevada with his family where they train horses for endurance riding.

Award Eligibility for 2009

To be eligible for 2009's Endeavour Award, a book -- either a novel or a single-author collection -- must have been published for the first time in English during 2008.  The majority of the book must have been written, and the book accepted for publication, while the author was living in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, British Columbia, or the Yukon.)  Deadline to enter books published during 2008 is February 15, 2009. Full information on entering the Award is available on the Endeavour Web site: www.osfci.org/endeavour.

The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.