The finalists have been announced for the Ignotus Awards, Spain’s equivalent of the Hugos. The categories are novel, novelette, short story, anthology, non-fiction book, article, art, audiovisual production, comic, magazine, translated novel, translated short story, and website. The winner receives a trophy in the shape of a black monolith.

I used to live in Spain, and I’m a member of the Asociación Española de Fantasía, Ciencia Ficción y Terror, which presents the awards.

Here are the nominees for best novel, which might give you an idea of what’s popular in Spain.

Bionautas [Bionauts] by Cristina Jurado
If you realized that no one on Earth is like you because your father is a bionaut, a human being who came from space, would you listen to the recording in which he tells you his story?

Neimhaim. El azor y los cuervos [Neimhaim: The Goshawk and the Crows] by Aránzazu Serrano Lorenzo
In the kingdom of Neimhaim, Jörn, son of the White Monarchs, is now 18 years old and has returned from his exile in the mountains, only to face grave challenges before fulfilling his prophecy of a great destiny.

Genesis. El libro de Phlàigh [Genesis: The Book of Phlàigh] by Juani Hernández
Kyra flees personal failure to Boston, her home town, when a mysterious man with intense blue eyes invades her dreams and holds a terrifying fate, the apocalypse itself.

Ojos verdes, negra sombra [Green Eyes, Black Shadow] by Javier Quevedo Puchal
In 1935, as Spain’s Second Republic begins to fall apart, a woman accused of a crime flees with her brother to a tiny town balanced between the past and present, magic and reality, love and hate.

Tiempo de caza [Time to Hunt] by José A. Bonilla
A business magnate is invited to join a hunting club that acts in secret at the limits of the laws of physics and the future of humanity.