This fic that I'm looking for might be hard to find.

I can't recall if it was an alt world or elsworld fic but the part that I can remember is that Clark was gone for some time (four years?) and that he was somehow in China with some kryptonite in his brain.

He had gone under an unusual name but I can't recall what it was exactly. I was looking through the Kierth listings and I don't remember if I saw it in there somewhere or not.

I also see that the 2017 list is not up in the archives.

I think you want The Forgotten by Jenny Debbage. The alias he used was Letour.

The prequel is This Child Belongs to You

The sequel to The Forgotten is My Wife the Boss

My understanding is that the folks are working on the archives to get the Kerth Awards updated. They're aware that the 2017 results are not listed. These links give you the winners and nominees:

2017 Kerth Award Winners

2017 Kerth Nominees

I see. Thanks for finding the story for me. I think I had read the sequel and didn't know it was a collection of stories or I forgot.

Thanks for the info on the archives thing.