The winner of the 2008 Compton Crook Award is Mark L. Van Name for his novel One Jump Ahead. The award ceremony, which includes the presentation of a plaque and a $1000 check, will be during the opening ceremonies for Balticon 42 at 8PM on Friday 23 May.
The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society to “the best first novel of the year written by a single author in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror. The prize is named for the Towson State College Professor of Natural Science who wrote under the pseudonym Stephen Tall. Crook died in 1981.
This year’s nominees were listed in this article.
One Jump Ahead is the story of:
Two wolves in a galaxy of larger predators.
Jon Moore: nanotech-enhanced solider-of-fortune.
Battlewagon Lobo: A.I.-equipped intelligence and weapons platform (think: a fortress on wheels) of enormous destructive potential.
Two very dangerous wolves in a galaxy of deadly corporate and paramilitary predators. But Moore has grown weary of the killing and just once he/d like to finish a job without leaving a trail of blood behind him. Not going to happen. Not on a pristine planet called Macken, where two gigantic corporations vie for control of the local jump gate and access to the riches of an undeveloped world. Dealing with a kidnapping and extortion scheme is only the beginning for Moore and Lobo. Next they must survive an enormous bounty placed on Moore’s head long enough to rescue yet again the young woman they accidentally delivered into the wrong hands. But with the help of an old lover and under-the-table support from the mercenary outfit that made him, Moore just might beat the odds, save the girl, and get out of this one a little richer and one step closer to making it back to the strange world of his origin.