I just finished reading Jeffrey Ford’s novel The Shadow Year, and immediately recommended it for both a Stoker and a Nebula Award. Shortly, I’ll recommend it for a World Fantasy Award as well. But now, I’m recommending it to you.

The Shadow Year is an expansion of Ford’s novella “Botch Town,” which appeared for the first time in his collection The Empire of Ice Cream and went on to win the World Fantasy Award. “Botch Town” was about kids in the ’60s who build a replica of their town in the basement and the parallels that then crop up between that fantasy world and the real world. I loved it. It had me feeling nostalgic for a place I’d never been.

I sensed there was more to tell, and thought that the story was worthy of being expanded to novel length even before I’d learned that Jeff was considering doing so. But at the same time, I was afraid, because “Botch Town” was so perfect, and I didn’t want to see the novel … well … botched.

But I should never have doubted the miraculous Jeffrey Ford, because the novel is as amazing as the novella. I can see no seams from its expansion, no flaws in its construction, no spots at which additional information was clumsily jammed in. I imagine that someday someone will do a doctoral thesis comparing the two, but that’s not for the likes of me. I just plan on enjoying them again and again. And you should, too.

The Shadow Year was published last month by William Morrow.