What the Wind Brings Shortlisted for the 2020 Endeavour Award

We are delighted to announce that What the Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes is a finalist for the 2020 Endeavour Award! Published last year by Pulp Literature Press, this sweeping slipstream historical epic tells the story of African slaves who were shipwrecked on the jungle coast of 16th-century Ecuador. They allied with local indigenous people and together outfought and out-thought Spanish conquistadors to preserve their freedom.

Through a braided narrative, Hughes tells the stories of three unusual protagonists whose lives intersect. An excerpt in Pulp Literature Issue 23, Summer 2019 brought readers aboard La Virgen and introduced Alonso Illescas, an educated slave loyal to the merchant family who put him in charge of their ship’s cargo. His fellow protagonists are Alejandro Espinosa, an idealistic Trinitarian monk fleeing the Inquisition, and Expectation, a hermaphroditic Nigua shaman. 

In 1971, Hughes came across an intriguing footnote in a university textbook on cross-cultural conflicts and assimilations. In fewer than two dozen words, the footnote mentioned a group of shipwrecked slaves who became castaways on the coast of 16th-century Ecuador and built a new society in cooperation with the indigenous people. 

Hughes thought, “That would make a great historical novel.” 

And, wow, did it ever! Garnering praise and rave reviews, What the Wind Brings is Matthew Hughes’s magnum opus, and we couldn’t be happier for him. Congratulations, to Matt and the other finalists:

• Merlin Redux by Dave Duncan, Night Shade Books
• Middlegame by Seanan McGuire, Tor Books
• Shadow Stitcher by Misha Handman*, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
• What The Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes, Pulp Literature Press
• The Witch’s Kind by Louisa Morgan, Redhook

*Misha Handman is also a PL alumnus.  You can read his story ‘Embers’ in Pulp Literature issue 17, Winter 2018

Order your copy of What the Wind Brings here.

Matthew Hughes writes in many genres under many names including Matt Hughes and Hugh Matthews. He has won the Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada and has been short-listed for the Aurora, Nebula, Philip K Dick, Endeavour (twice), AE van Vogt, and Derringer Awards. He was recently inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s Hall of Fame. His work appears in Pulp Literature Issues 13, 23, and 26. Visit Matt at matthewhughes.org for updates on his many projects.