Three Rooms Press is thrilled to announce that our Fall 2017 title, THE OBAMA INHERITANCE: 15 Stories of Conspiracy Noir, was awarded the prestigious 2018 Anthony Award for Best Anthology. The award was presented Sunday at the premier event of Bouchercon 2018 before an audience of nearly 1000 mystery writers and fans.

Special congratulations to editor Gary Phillips who developed the concept of a collection of short stories that use the crazy conspiracy theories about the Barack Obama as the basis for even crazier tales, with  lizard people, aliens, dogs, and other weirdness. Contributors include: Eric Beetner, Christopher Chambers, Kate Flora, Adam Lance Garcia, Danny Gardner, L. Scott Jose, Lise McClendon, Walter Mosley, Andrew Nette, Gary Phillips, Travis Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Robert Silverberg, Anthony Neil Smith, and Désirée Zamorano.

The  collection has received widespread critical praise, including:

“The Obama Inheritance, a collection of 15 stories so sly, fresh and Bizarro World witty, they reaffirm the resiliency of the artistic imagination.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR Fresh Air

“Conspiracy theories about Obama spun out to their wackiest sci-fi conclusions … Resistance takes many forms, particularly in the current political climate. Few methods of protest are as cheerfully strange and purposefully bizarre as THE OBAMA INHERITANCE.” —The Washington Post

“The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir.” … Truth may be stranger than fiction, but why should the conspiracists have all the fun of creating fake narratives?” … Yet, running beneath the book’s mockery of conspiracy fanatics, the unspoken question that I raised earlier persists: Why are there so many outlandish conspiracy theories about the Obamas?” —Clarence Page, The Chicago Tribune

Copies of The Obama Inheritance are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or from your favorite indie bookstore — check indiebound.org for details.

Celebrating at the 2018 Anthony Awards, from left: contributor Eric Beetner; Three Rooms Press co-directors Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges; contributors Christopher Chambers and Lise McClendon.

The full list of the 2018 Anthony Award winners is:

BEST NOVEL
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The Day I Died by Lori Rader-DAy

BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, Gary Phillips, editor

BILL CRIDER AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL IN A SERIES
Y is for Yesterday (Kinsey Millhone #25) by Sue Grafton

BEST SHORT STORY
My Side of the Matter by Hilary Davidson from Killing Malmon

BEST CRITICAL/NON-FICTION BOOK
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

BEST ONLINE CONTENT
Jungle Red Writers

About the Anthony Awards: The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the most prestigious awards in the world of mystery writers, the Anthony Awards have helped boost the careers of many recipients.