World Fantasy Awards 1992: Complete list of winners

The 1992 World Fantasy Awards ceremony celebrated a year of remarkable storytelling that blended Americana with the supernatural in unexpected ways. Robert R. McCammon’s Boy’s Life claimed the Best Novel award, a sweeping narrative that captures small-town Southern gothic through the eyes of a young protagonist confronting mysteries both magical and deeply human. It’s the kind of work that epitomizes what the World Fantasy Awards—one of the field’s most prestigious honors—seek to recognize: fiction that transcends genre boundaries and lingers in readers’ minds long after the final page.

Beyond the top prize, the 1992 awards revealed the breadth of fantasy’s reach. Robert Holdstock earned the Best Novella award for “The Ragthorn,” while Fred Chappell took Best Short Fiction with “The Somewhere Doors,” demonstrating that the year’s most imaginative work came across multiple formats and sensibilities. These winners collectively showed a field more interested in literary ambition and thematic depth than in spectacular world-building alone—a testament to what makes the World Fantasy Awards such a respected fixture in genre recognition.

Below you’ll find the complete list of 1992 World Fantasy Awards winners and honorees:

Best Novel

• Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon

Best Novella

• “The Ragthorn” by Robert Holdstock

Best Short Fiction

• “The Somewhere Doors” by Fred Chappell