Month: March 2008

Orbital: Day One

Panels:

  • Reassessing Heinlein. You know something’s gone a bit pear-shaped when the panel starts debating, “which is morally superior: Starship Troopers or Ender’s Game?”
  • With Friends Like These, aka the “is fandom too aggresively hegemonising” panel. I was moderating, and John Jarrold, Christopher Priest, Caroline Mullan and Chris Garcia were the panellists. I think it went pretty well: Caroline Mullan talked about the nature of literary conversations, Chris Garcia talked about differences he saw in the US market, Christopher Priest talked about pressures on writers, and John Jarrold utterly failed to rise to the bait to re-iterate his objections to this year’s Clarke shortlist, and instead made useful comments about how the UK market worked. So it was all very civil, and we agreed (I think) that it would be nice if Jeanette Winterson et al were generous (per Le Guin) about their sources, but that we should recognise they’re in their own conversation.
  • When it Changed. Five women writers discuss their experiences. Lots of interesting ground covered, and certainly a better panel than last year’s “is SF publishing overly masculine?” effort, but I did sometimes feel the panellists didn’t delve as deeply into some of the issues they raised as they might have done. (Oh, and yes, Jaine Fenn was on the panel, and yes, she talked a bit about the marketing of her book.)
  • The UK Short Fiction Market. Another panel that I thought might be a bit controversial but wasn’t; I wasn’t moderating this time, but I was on it, with Jetse de Vries, Colin Harvey, Gary Couzens, and John Meaney (who, while entertaining, did tend to run away with the discussion a bit at times). There was one conversation about the technical/economic aspects of the market — where we agreed that markets will probably Find A Way, even if we can’t quite see what it is yet — and another about the creative aspects of the market — where we agreed, to my surprise, that British short fiction is in something of a creative slump, relative to say fifteen years ago. New writers aren’t coming in through short fiction, and short fiction is in no way setting the agenda. But having more or less agreed on this, we didn’t really have anywhere to take the conversation.

Book haul:

What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid
The Reef by Mark Charan Newton
The Coyote Kings o the Space Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust
A Tour Guide in Utopia by Lucy Sussex
The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford
The Patron Saint of Plagues by Barth Anderson

Notes:

  • I would have bought a copy of Celebration, the BSFA 50th anthology, but they ran out of hardback copies at the launch party before I got to the front of the queue. So an early trip to the dealer’s room is in order today.
  • The hotel is labyrinthine! And there’s no second floor, which is confusing. But I do like the atrium area.
  • I saw someone wandering around with badge number 1243. This is a big Eastercon.
  • Went out for a Friday Curry with a large contingent of third row and hangers-on, which was thoroughly pleasant, except for the walk from the hotel, which was bloody cold.
  • Geoff Ryman is still taller than me, the bastard.
  • The Independent’s view: “Orbital 2008, Britain’s 59th annual National Science Fiction Convention, which started yesterday, is dominated by the death of Clarke last week. And that has meant a hastily re-arranged programme to celebrate the legendary figure’s achievements with a series of talks and lectures. So, there is no place in this year’s programme for Klingon language seminars…” and then they talk about the bondage workshop and the slash panels.

Guess the Source

Science Fiction Mavens Offer Far Out Homeland Security Advice

[…]

Among the group’s approximately 24 members is Larry Niven, the bestselling and award-winning author of such books as “Ringworld” and “Lucifer’s Hammer,” which he co-wrote with SIGMA member Jerry Pournelle.

Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants.

“The problem [of hospitals going broke] is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren’t going to pay for anything anyway,” Niven said.

“Do you know how politically incorrect you are?” Pournelle asked.

“I know it may not be possible to use this solution, but it does work,” Niven replied.

Terrifyingly, it’s not the Onion.

Hugo Award Nominations

They’re out:

Best Novel
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit)

Not Robert Sawyer. That’s all I ask. How many consecutive Best Novel nominations has Charles Stross now had?

Best Novella
“Fountains of Age” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s July 2007)
“Recovering Apollo 8” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s Feb. 2007)
“Stars Seen Through Stone” by Lucius Shepard (F&SF July 2007)
“All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007; Subterranean Press)
“Memorare” by Gene Wolfe (F&SF April 2007)

Connie Willis Always Wins, but Lucius Shepard probably should.

Best Novelette
“The Cambist and Lord Iron: a Fairytale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham (Logorrhea ed. by John Klima, Bantam)
“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang (F&SF Sept. 2007)
“Dark Integers” by Greg Egan (Asimov’s Oct./Nov. 2007)
“Glory” by Greg Egan (The New Space Opera, ed. by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins/Eos)
“Finisterra” by David Moles (F&SF Dec. 2007)

Strong category! I’m still rooting for the Chiang, but “Finisterra” is smashing.

Best Short Story
“Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, ed. by George Mann, Solaris Books)
“Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s June 2007)
“Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?” by Ken MacLeod (The New Space Opera, ed. by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins/Eos)
“Distant Replay” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s May-June 2007)
“A Small Room in Koboldtown” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s April/May 2007; The Dog Said Bow-Wow,Tachyon Publications)

Hmm. Not so strong. The New Space Opera has done well, though, hasn’t it?

Best Related Book
The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Glyer; appendix by David Bratman (Kent State University Press)
Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium by Barry Malzberg (Baen)
Emshwiller: Infinity x Two by Luis Ortiz, intro. by Carol Emshwiller, fwd. by Alex Eisenstien (Nonstop)
Brave New Words: the Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)

An interesting mix of stuff — how you decide between The Arrival and Breakfast in the Ruins I don’t know, but then that’s a perennial problem of the category.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Enchanted, Written by Bill Kelly, Directed by Kevin Lima (Walt Disney Pictures)
The Golden Compass, Written by Chris Weitz, Based on the novel by Philip Pullman, Directed by Chris Weitz (New Line Cinema)
Heroes, Season 1, Created by Tim Kring (NBC Universal Television and Tailwind Productions Written by Tim Kring, Jeff Loeb, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, Natalie Chaidez, Jesse Alexander, Adam Armus, Aron Eli Coleite, Joe Pokaski, Christopher Zatta, Chuck Kim, Directed by David Semel, Allan Arkush, Greg Beeman, Ernest R. Dickerson, Paul Shapiro, Donna Deitch, Paul A. Edwards, John Badham, Terrence O’Hara, Jeannot Szwarc, Roxann Dawson, Kevin Bray, Adam Kane
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Written by Michael Goldenberg, Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling, Directed by David Yates (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Stardust, Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Paramount Pictures)

Five Four children’s fantasy films and Heroes. I wouldn’t like to predict the winner.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Battlestar Galactica “Razor” written by Michael Taylor, directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose (Sci Fi Channel) (televised version, not DVD)
Doctor Who “Blink” written by Stephen Moffat, directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC)
Doctor Who “Human Nature” / “Family of Blood” written by Paul Cornell, directed by Charles Palmer (BBC)
Star Trek New Voyages “World Enough and Time” written by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree, directed by Marc Scott Zicree (Cawley Entertainment Co. and The Magic Time Co.)
Torchwood “Captain Jack Harkness” written by Catherine Tregenna, directed by Ashley Way (BBC Wales)

I hope hope hope that “Human Nature” gets it. (Though “Blink” is also good.) If Torchwood gets it, I may cry.

Best Professional Editor, Short Form
Ellen Datlow (The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (St. Martin’s), Coyote Road (Viking), Inferno (Tor))
Stanley Schmidt (Analog)
Jonathan Strahan (The New Space Opera (Eos/HarperCollins), The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 1 (Night Shade), Eclipse One (NightShade)
Gordon Van Gelder (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
Sheila Williams (Asimov’s Science Fiction)

Hey, where’s Dozois? Interesting that he didn’t make it when his co-editor on NSO did.

Best Professional Editor, Long Form
Lou Anders (Pyr)
Ginjer Buchanan (Ace/Roc)
David G. Hartwell (Senior Editor, Tor/Forge)
Beth Meacham (Tor)
Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor)

A shame not to see anyone from Gollancz there, but I suspect that will be the way of things until the next British Worldcon.

Best Professional Artist
Bob Eggleton (Covers: To Outlive Eternity and Other Stories (Baen), Ivory (Pyr), & The Taint and Other Stories (Subterranean))
Phil Foglio (Covers: Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventures, Vol. 2 (Meisha Merlin), What’s New (Dragon Magazine Aug. 2007, Girl Genius Vol. 6-Agatha Heterodyne & the Golden Trilobite (Airship Entertainment))
John Harris (Covers: Spindrift (Ace), Horizons (Tor), The Last Colony (Tor))
Stephan Martiniere (Covers: Brasyl (Pyr), Mainspring (Tor), Dragons of Babel (Tor))
John Picacio (Covers: Fast Forward 2 (Pyr), Time’s Child (HarperCollins/Eos), A Thousand Deaths (Golden Gryphon))
Shaun Tan

I’m not really familiar enough with all the artists to comment properly, but on the strength of The Arrival I’d be happy to see Tan win.

Best Semiprozine
Ansible edited by David Langford
Helix edited by William Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction, edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kristine Dikeman, David Hartwell & Kevin J. Maroney

I’d object to the presence of Helix, but it’s not going to win so it would be a bit churlish of me.

Best Fanzine
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Challenger edited by Guy Lillian III
Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
PLOKTA edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies, & Mike Scott

As ever, I’m disappointed when Banana Wings doesn’t make it.

Best Fan Writer
Chris Garcia
David Langford
Cheryl Morgan
John Scalzi
Steven H Silver

Can Scalzi get that extra vote this year? (And has anyone been nominated for novel and fanwriter in the same year before?)

Best Fan Artist
Brad Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

Not my area of expertise.

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer
An award for the best new writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy appeared during 2006 or 2007 in a professional publication. Sponsored by Dell Magazines.

Joe Abercrombie (2nd year of eligibility)
Jon Armstrong (1st year of eligibility)
David Anthony Durham (1st year of eligibility)
David Louis Edelman (2nd year of eligibility)
Mary Robinette Kowal (2nd year of eligibility)
Scott Lynch (2nd year of eligibility)

Presumably Lynch in a walk; I haven’t read enough to say who I think it should be.

Swiftlinks

Sir Arthur C Clarke, 1917–2008

The BBC has the news of Sir Arthur’s death, and an obituary.

I don’t know what to say. There was a sense in which Arthur C Clarke was science fiction, for me. Looking at my shelves, I don’t actually own that many of his books; but I’ve read a lot of them, and they always seemed to capture the best — grandest, most noble — of the potential of science fiction. And, of course, his influence on some of my favourite writers and novels was evident.

I think I will read, or re-read, some of his fiction soon. Right now, I think I’ll go outside and look at the stars.

Yet more Clarke reactions

The Guardian:

The shortlist for the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction, announced earlier today, suggests a broad definition of the genre. Along with tales of androids and genetic engineers, the six books nominated this year include prize-winning literary fiction, a novel for young adults, and what has been described as “a postmodern psychological mash-up”.

(…)

Hall, who was shortlisted for the Booker prize in 2004 for Electric Michelangelo, was delighted to find herself in contention for the science fiction prize.
“Any collapsing of imposed literary boundaries heartens me,” she said, “and the possibility that writers might be freer to exercise imaginative versatility is tremendously exciting.”

The nomination for The Raw Shark Texts, an exuberant fantasy about a man whose memory is being eaten by a psychic shark, might surprise some readers, but pleased author Stephen Hall.

“The book has been described as a thriller, a romance, metaphysical adventure, part of the new horror revival, slipstream, fantasy, postmodern psychological mash-up, and science fiction too,” he said. I’m happy with all those descriptions because I’ve always felt that it isn’t a writer’s job to tell a reader how to read. If a reader decides my book is science fiction, then it is. That works for me I’m glad it worked for the judges and, who knows, it might even get me one step closer to writing that episode of Doctor Who…”

Martin Lewis:

The 2008 Arthur C Clarke shortlist has been announced. So that gives everyone something to moan about. I’ve not read Brasyl but I can easily believe that McDonald could be justifiable aggrieved to have missed out, particularly after River Of Gods ludicrously lost to Iron Council a couple of years ago. However, it is a strong, interesting list. I am constantly bemused by the suggestion that the judges set out to pick controversial or idealogical books for the award rather than just the best science fiction available.

Jeff VanderMeer:

I’m thrilled to see so many books on this list that I haven’t read, to be honest. Half of the nominees couldn’t be called the “usual suspects” at all, while Richard Morgan richly deserves his nomination for Black Man. MacLeod’s The Execution Channel was too didactic for my tastes, but a worthy attempt to inject politics into fiction. One glaring omission from this list, however, is the lyrical, daring, satirical, and just plain brilliant The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson. (US readers are just now having a chance to experience this novel, as it will be published in North America next month.)

Further Clarke Reactions

John Jarrold isn’t happy:

This is, without doubt, the most insular Clarke shortlist ever.

I’ll fly my colours from the mast: as far as I’m concerned, Ian McDonald’s BRASYL is the best SF novel of 2007. I’m not involved in it, in any way, I say this personally. And I don’t always expect my favourite to win. However, for that and some other titles that are wonderful SF novels not to even be shortlisted is ludicrous. But they are not set in the UK, so apparently they don’t have relevance ‘to the British literary scene’. Oh deary, deary me.

So farewell then, Arthur C Clarke Award.

Abigail Nussbaum sounds a little ambivalent, but hasn’t given up on the award:

In fact, what’s most striking about this shortlist is the absence of big names (MacLeod and Baxter are big names in the UK, but the latter, at least, is somewhat undercut by H-Bomb’s being a YA book). Just off the top of my head, 2007 saw the publication of novels by Michael Chabon, William Gibson, Paul J. McAuley, and Adam Roberts, and I had expected at least some of them to get Clarke nods.

That the Clarke award is esoteric and unpredictable is one of its charms. As its administrator, Tom Hunter, wrote in the press release announcing the shortlist, it “has always been about pushing at the speculative edges of its genre.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise that its nominees are not just the usual suspects, and yet I found myself oddly disappointed by those names’ absence. When I asked myself why this was, I realized that I’ve reached the point where the Clarke is not just the only SFnal award I actually care about, but the only award which I believe still holds any relevance to the field.

Elsewhere:

All other comments aside, I am utterly delighted to see Stephen Baxter’s The H-Bomb Girl there. As far as I am aware, its the first time that the Clarke Award has acknowledged a YA book. Well done Stephen.

The shortlist is noted at SF Awards Watch, but there’s no discussion yet.

Meanwhile, Paul Raven is

thinking of starting a shadow award that works off of the Clarke, wherein there is a prize for the book that everyone thought was a shortlist shoo-in, and another prize for the book whose presence on the shortlist no one can understand. Now accepting nominations!

2008 Arthur C Clarke Award Shortlist

It may look as if everything is normal, but actually, I’m in Switzerland, where I’ve just had an absurdly early breakfast in anticipation of a long day’s work. But I’ve found time (and some internet) to bring you the shortlist for the 2008 Arthur C Clarke Award anyway. (OK, I wrote most of this post at the weekend. But the principle stands.) Am I good to you, or what?

Tom Hunter, Award Administrator, says:

Featuring visions as diverse as a dystopian Cumbria and a future Hackney, time-travel adventures in 1960’s Liverpool and an alternate world British Isles in the throes of terrorist attack, through to tech-noir thrillers and a trawl through subconscious worlds where memories fall prey to metaphysical sharks, the Clarke Award has never been so close to home and relevant to the British literary scene.

The Clarke Award has always been about pushing at the speculative edges of its genre. It’s one possible map amongst many, never the whole territory, and this year’s shortlist stands as both the perfect introduction to the state of modern science fiction writing as well as a first tantalising glimpse of possible futures to come.

And those books? Read on.

Shortlist overviews
Abigail Nussbaum at Strange Horizons
Adam Roberts at Futurismic
Lisa Tuttle in The Times
Steven Shaviro
Tony Keen

A poll

The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter

The Red Men by Matthew de Abaitua

The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod

Black Man by Richard Morgan

So. Run the numbers. Six novels, five publishers. Four stories set in the future. Three first-time nominees — two debut novels, in fact. One young adult book. What else?

(When everyone in the UK’s woken up, there may well be some discussion here, here and here.)

Reactions
John Jarrold
Abigail Nussbaum
Paul Raven
The Guardian
Martin Lewis
Jeff VanderMeer

Reading Locus

1. Cecelia Holland managed to put me off Ursula K Le Guin’s Lavinia with one paragraph of praise:

Most of the time, Le Guin is vivifying a seamless, sacred, blessed time which may never have existed but which we all fervently long to believe in: the morning of the world, when the whole of nature was suffused with spirit, and people lived in reverence to it. The details of sacrifice and rite and oracle are lovingly described not for their own sake but because they reveal the deep sense of oneness with the world that supported and uplifted the ancients.

Speak for yourself: not only do I not believe in any such time, I do not fervently long to believe in it. (And if anything, I’m a bit sceptical of people who do.) If Holland’s review had said something like, “Le Guin manages to make us long for a time which may never have existed …” then I might have still been interested. But if the book doesn’t do that work, then it’s not for me, I’m afraid.

2. It’s a forthcoming books issue! Highlights from the UK section that I didn’t already know about:

PALMER, PHILIP
Ketos, Little Brown UK/Orbit, Aug 2008 (tp)
[I had no idea his next book was coming out so soon.]

JOYCE, GRAHAM
Ascent of Demons, Orion/Gollancz, Oct 2008 (hc, tp)

MIEVILLE, CHINA
Kraken, Macmillan/Tor UK, Nov 2008 (hc)
[I can’t imagine what this is about.]

SWAINSTON, STEPH
Above the Snowline, Orion/Gollancz, Nov 2008 (hc, tp)
[Time to get around to reading The Modern World, then.]

On other books, Ian MacLeod’s Song of Time is now listed (a) as a June book, sigh and (b) as being by Ken MacLeod; and I’m intrigued by this, which I think is a tie-in to this, but doesn’t seem to be being promoted as such.

3. You may want to shield your eyes for this bit, particularly if you thought the cover for the US edition of Halting State wasn’t up to much.

Astonishing, isn’t it?