I’m a second-round judge for the YA speculative fiction Cybils awards this year. (As an aside, I love the renaming of the category this year, from fantasy and science fiction to speculative fiction. I’ve long felt that’s a better term to describe the kind of stories that I love, and I hope this helps bring it into more popular use.)

The finalists were announced January 1, and I’m excited to dig into them. I’ve listed them all below, but be sure to check out the annotated list created by the Round 1 panelists at the main Cybils website.

Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Pantomime by Laura Lam
Shadows by Robin McKinley
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher