The June 2025 meeting recognized Award-Winning First Books. Collectors showed copies of an author's debut book with an emphasis on the awards it received. While the topic was not limited to fiction, all the books shown were novels except for one short story collection; no non-fiction titles were presented. Various literary awards were represented among titles offered, with many of the books picking up specific debut novel prizes.
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| The Name of the Rose |
Eco, Umberto. The
Name of the Rose. New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1980. First
English edition. This historical murder
mystery follows Brother William of Baskerville, a Franciscan friar, and Adso of
Melk, a Benedictine novice, as they investigate a series of mysterious deaths
at 14th-century Benedictine abbey in northern Italy. The Name of the Rose won the 1981
Strega Prize, an Italian literary award given to the best work of prose written
in the Italian language, and the 1982 Prix Medicis Étranger, a French
award for a book published in translation.
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| Chiefs |
Woods, Stuart. Chiefs. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1981. First edition. This mystery novel spans three generations as
three successive police chiefs attempt to identify and catch a serial killer
operating in Georgia. Chiefs won
the Mystery Writers of America's 1982 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First
Novel. This copy is signed by the author
on the title page.
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| Neuromancer |
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books, 1984. First edition. Paperback original.
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| Neuromancer |
Gibson, William. Neuromancer.
West Bloomfield, MI: Phantasia Press,
1986. First US hardcover edition. Signed, slip-cased edition limited to 375
copies.
This science fiction novel, set in the near future, follows
Case, a computer hacker hired by a mysterious new employer to join a team to
carry out a series of crimes that set the stage for the employer's ultimate
purpose of merging two super artificial intelligence systems. Neuromancer won the 1984 Philip K.
Dick Award, the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1985 Hugo Award for
Best Novel.
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| Song of Kali |
Simmons, Dan. Song
of Kali. New York: Blue Jay Books,
1985. First edition.
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| Song of Kali |
Simmons, Dan. Song of Kali. London: Headline, 1987. First UK edition.
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| Song of Kali |
Simmons, Dan. Song of Kali. Concord, MA: Earthling Publications, 2005. 20th anniversary edition, signed, slip-cased, limited to 400 copies.
This horror novel follows Robert Luczak, an American literary editor, on a trip to Calcutta to seek out the poetry of a legendary Indian poet, where he becomes embroiled in a series of horrific and mysterious events tied to a cult which worships Kali, the goddess of time, death, and destruction. Song of Kali won the 1986 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
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| War for the Oaks |
Bull, Emma. War for the Oaks. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2001. First published in 1987, this fantasy novel
follows a rock musician, guitarist Eddi McCandry, as she leaves her band and is
chosen by a sinister fairie to represent the mortals in a faceoff against the supernatural
Dark Queen in a dual of music and magic which could decide the fate of the
mortals. War for the Oaks won the
1988 Locus Award for First Best Novel.
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| Lincoln's Dreams |
Willis, Connie. Lincoln’s
Dreams. New York: Bantam Books,
1987. First edition. This science fiction story follows Jeff
Johnston, a historical researcher, who is studying the Civil War when he meets
Annie, a young woman who seems to be experiencing vivid dreams about the war,
particularly dreaming General Robert E. Lee's own dreams. Lincoln's Dreams won the 1988 John W.
Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
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| The Blue Edge of Midnight |
King, Jonathon. The Blue Edge of Midnight. New York: E.P. Dutton, 2002. First edition.
This mystery novel follows Max Freeman, an ex-cop from Philadelphia haunted
by a past shooting, who retreats to the Florida Everglades. When he discovers a young girl's body, he
becomes the prime suspect and must solve the mystery to clear his name. The Blue Edge of Midnight won the 2003
Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.
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| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
Haddon, Mark. The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York: Doubleday, 2003. First American edition. This modern mystery novel follows a
15-year-old boy with autism as he investigates the suspicious death of his
neighbor's dog. The Curious Incident
of the Dog in the Night-Time won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize's
2003 Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction; the Book Trust Teenage Fiction
Award; the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, and the Whitbread Book of
the Year. In 2004, it won the
Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book; the Society of Authors's
McKitterick Prize for a first novel by an author over 40; the Waverton Good
Read Award; and South Africa's Boeke Prize.
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| The Night Circus |
Morgenstern, Erin. The Night Circus. New York: Random House. 2010. First edition.
This speculative fiction novel follows Marco and Celia, two young
magicians in a traveling circus, who have been trained since childhood to
compete against one another but who fall in love instead. The
Night Circus won the American
Library Association's 2012 Alex Award and the 2012 Locus Award for First Best
Novel.
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| The Yellow Birds |
Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds. New York: Little Brown & Co., 2012. First edition.
The novel follows Private John Bartle through the Gulf War and its
physical and psychological impacts in the aftermath of such an intense
experience. The Yellow Birds won the
2012 Guardian First Book Award and the 2013 Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction.
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| If You Could Be Mine |
Farizan, Sara. If
You Could Be Mine. Chapel Hill, NC:
Algonquin Books, 2013. First
edition. The story is narrated by an
Iranian teenage girl who is willing to undergo gender reassignment surgery to
be with her girlfriend; in Iran homosexuality is banned but gender reassignment
surgery is legal and surgically transitioned persons are recognized as their
new gender and allowed to marry. If
You Could Be Mine won The Publishing Triangle's 2014 Edmund White Award, honoring
debut novels by writers within the LGBT community, and the 2014 Ferro-Grumley
Award for LGBTQ Fiction. It also won the
2014 Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. This copy is inscribed by the author on the
title page.
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| The Spinning Heart |
Ryan, Donal. The Spinning Heart. Hanover, NH: Steerforth Press, 2013. The novel tracks a group of interconnected
characters in the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger, the strong economy of the
mid-1990s to the late-2000s. Following
Ireland's financial collapse, these characters struggle through the recession
and its impact on their small town. The Spinning Heart won the 2012 Irish Book Awards' Newcomer of
the Year.
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| Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda |
Albertalli, Becky.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2015. First edition. Simon… tells the story of its titular
character's online relationship with "Blue," another student at his
high school; in a climactic scene, Blue finally reveals himself as a known
character throughout the story. Simon
vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda won the American Library Association's 2016 William
C. Morris Award for Best Young Adult Debut of the Year. In its first year, the book also won at least
18 reader-selected awards including the Georgia Peach Teen Readers' Choice
Award. This copy is signed by the author
on the title page.
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| There, There |
Orange, Tommy. There,
There. New York: A. A. Knopf, 2018. First edition. This novel traces a dozen Native American characters
or characters closely related to Native Americans living in the Oakland,
California, area. The book also weaves
in several essays on Native American history and identity, and shows the
characters' struggles with alcoholism, depression, unemployment, and living in
an urban setting. There, There won
the 2018 National Book Critic Circle Award's John Leonard Prize for the first
book by a new voice, and the 2019 Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction.
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| Sharks in the Time of Saviors |
Washburn, Kawai
Strong. Sharks in the Time of Saviors.
New York: MCD/Farrar Straus & Giroux,
2020. First edition. This novel follows Nainoa Flores and his
family in Hawaii after Nainoa is miraculously rescued from drowning by sharks
and subsequently develops the ability to heal others. Sharks in the Time of Saviors won the 2021 Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction and
the 2021 Minnesota Book Award.
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| Afterparties |
So, Anthony Veasna.
Afterparties: Stories. New
York: Ecco Press, 2021. First
edition. Afterparties is a
collection of short stories exploring the lives of immigrant and
first-generation Cambodian Americans living in Northern California. It was So's debut book, though he did not
live to see its publication; he died several months after the collection was
selected for publication, but before it was released. Afterparties won the National Book
Critics Circle's 2021 John Leonard Prize for Best First Book and The Publishing
Triangle's 2022 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction. The story "Superking Son Scores
Again" won the Joyce Carol Oates Award in Fiction from Syracuse University.
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| Shuggie Bain |
Stuart, Douglas. Shuggie
Bain. London: Picador, 2021. First edition. Hugh "Shuggie" Bain is a kind young
boy who is isolated within his struggling, working-class Glasgow community by
his alcoholic mother, as they both battle their own demons or supposed secrets,
which are clearly known to others but not necessarily to themselves. Shuggie Bain won the British Book
Awards' 2021 Debut Book of the Year and the American Academy of Arts and Letters's
2021 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction.
