The winners of the 2012 World Fantasy Awards were just announced here in Toronto, Canada - and the Best Novel Award didn't go to George R.R. Martin or to Jo Walton, who'd already swept the Nebula and Hugo Awards. Instead, it went to Lavie Tidhar's Osama, a strange pulp-oriented alt history about Osama Bin Laden.
Here's the description of Osama from Amazon.com:
In a world without global terrorism Joe, a private detective, is hired by a mysterious woman to find a man: the obscure author of pulp fiction novels featuring one Osama Bin Laden: Vigilante…
Certainly a lot more topical, and arguably a lot more experimental, than A Dance With Dragons. Here are the rest of the winners, and finalists, via the World Fantasy Awards page:
Novel
winner Osama, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman (Ace)
11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
Novella
winner "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong", K.J. Parker (Subterranean Winter 2011)
"Near Zennor", Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors)
"Alice Through the Plastic Sheet", Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors)
"Rose Street Attractors", Lucius Shepard (Ghosts by Gaslight)
"Silently and Very Fast", Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press; Clarkesworld)
Short Story
winner "The Paper Menagerie", Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)
"X for Demetrious", Steve Duffy (Blood and Other Cravings)
"Younger Women", Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean Summer 2011)
"A Journey of Only Two Paces", Tim Powers (The Bible Repairman and Other Stories)
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11)
Anthology
winner The Weird, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Corvus; Tor, published May 2012)
Blood and Other Cravings, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor)
A Book of Horrors, Stephen Jones, ed. (Jo Fletcher Books)
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Harper Voyager US)
Gutshot, Conrad Williams, ed. (PS Publishing)
Collection
winner The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, Tim Powers (Tachyon and Subterranean Press)
Bluegrass Symphony, Lisa L. Hannett (Ticonderoga)
Two Worlds and In Between, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press)
After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer)
Mrs Midnight and Other Stories, Reggie Oliver (Tartarus)
Artist
winner John Coulthart
Julie Dillon
Jon Foster
Kathleen Jennings
John Picacio
Special Award-Professional
winner Eric Lane, for publishing in translation – Dedalus books
John Joseph Adams, for editing – anthology and magazine
Jo Fletcher, for editing – Jo Fletcher Books
Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications
Jeff VanderMeer & S.J. Chambers, for The Steampunk Bible
Special Award-Non-professional
winner Raymond Russell & Rosalie Parker, for Tartarus Press
Kate Baker, Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
Cat Rambo, for Fantasy
Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker blog
Mark Valentine, for Wormwood