The Kitschies: a joyous SF shortlist

• This year's finalists offer another very broad choice of 2012's best speculative fiction

Tentacular ... image from the Kitschies' website

Of all the things you could give a writer, booze, money and awards probably come top of most wish-lists – which is why the annual Kitschies for "progressive, intelligent and entertaining science fiction" are always a joyful affair.

The Kitschies – born out of the Pornokitsch books website – despite being for SF, are a broad church: the only rule is that the prizes go to "novels containing elements of the speculative and fantastic". The shortlists for the awards are just out, featuring the judging panel's choices for the top five novels of 2012, along with five debuts and a special category for cover art.

The awards are a very tentacular affair, the ubiquitous pseudopod somehow neatly summing up the Kitschies ethos – Lovecraftian horrors have tentacles, and so do bug-eyed monsters from outer space. Shadowy conspiracies wrap their tentacles around the innocent, and sea-monsters use them to drag unwary ships to the depths. Which, presumably, is why the Kitschies are sponsored by the achingly cool Kraken Rum, who help enable a £2,000 prize money pot and a stylish bottle of grog for the winners. Of course, there's also the handmade tentacle trophy itself, which in previous years has been draped around the grateful necks of China Miéville and Lauren Beukes.

Another former winner is Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, who is also on this year's judging panel. He says: "It's been sheer pleasure to be part of such a generous, joyous prize. The Kitschies has always seemed to be the award with mischief in its eye, and we think each of these books – from all kinds of different genres and publishers – has that something extra that makes speculative fiction such a vital pleasure. Which is all really just to say how much fun this has been.

"And the books! Everything from wry and funny hard SF to genre-as-metaphor to several that defy five-word summary. Just such a reminder of what a rich world of fiction, in all its vast and varied plumages, waits out there for the daring reader. Which I kind of think is what the Kitschies is all about."

Jared Shurin – who founded the Pornokitsch website and the awards, along with Anne Perry – adds: "We always look for books that challenge people's expectations of the speculative and fantastic. Although the pool of publishers and authors grows more diverse every year, there's still a lot of work to be done. We hope that the Kitschies helps spur more discussion about what makes great fiction."

Joining Shurin and Ness on the judging panel this year is author and editor Rebecca Levene, Lauren O'Farrell, Gary Northfield and Ed Warren. Levene says: "Each title on these shortlists surprised me. There are settings I've never seen used before, viewpoints I've never considered, ideas I'd never thought and worlds too weird for anyone but their particular author to have invented them. For me that's the essence of speculative fiction."

The winners will be announced in a ceremony at London's Free Word Centre on 26 February. The shortlists follow – what do you think of the choices? And which should win?

The Red Tentacle (best novel)

The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington (Orbit)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway (Heinemann)
A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan)
Jack Glass by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
The Method by Juli Zeh (translated by Sally-Ann Spencer) (Harvill Secker)

The Golden Tentacle (best debut)

vN by Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot)
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan (Heinemann)
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Doubleday)
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord (Jo Fletcher Books)
The City's Son by Tom Pollock (Jo Fletcher Books)

The Inky Tentacle (best cover art)

Tom Gauld for Costume Not Included by Matthew Hughes (Angry Robot)
Oliver Jeffers for The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne (Doubleday)
Dave Shelton for A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton (David Fickling Books)
Peter Mendelsund for The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus (Granta)
La Boca for The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (Sceptre)