Because I have the data, and because I can, some alternatives to the overall list:
Top Ten SF Novels 2001-2010 by British Writers
1. The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
2. Natural History by Justina Robson
3. Spirit by Gwyneth Jones
4. Life by Gwyneth Jones
5. Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones
6. City of Pearl by Karen Traviss
7. The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston
8. Living Next-Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson
9. In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield
10. Hav by Jan MorrisTop Ten SF Novels 2001-2010 by American Writers
1. Maul by Tricia Sullivan
2. The Time-Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
3. Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
4. Lavinia by Ursula K Le Guin
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. Passage by Connie Willis
7. Spin State by Chris Moriarty
8. Nekropolis by Maureen McHugh
9= Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
9= Hammered by Elizabeth BearTop Ten SF Novels 2001-2010 by Writers from the Rest of the World
1. Maul by Tricia Sullivan
2. Farthing by Jo Walton
3. Moxyland by Lauren Beukes
4. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
5. UFO in Her Eyes by Xiaolo Guo
6= The Etched City by KJ Bishop
6= Lifelode by Jo Walton
8. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
9. The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
10. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
Sincere apologies if I’ve mis-nationalised anyone in any of these lists — do let me know. [last update 12/12/10]
Ranking calculated from 101 responses to a poll run during October, November and December 2010.
If Jo Walton is Canadian isn’t Ekaterina Sedia US? Jo Walton has UK origins but became a Canadian resident, is Russia-born Ekaterina Sedia not a US resident? I’m personally happy with whatever highlights the excellent novels both produce, but it does look like an inconsistency.
Would that affect the rankings at all?
I wondered that about Jo Walton.
Walton is Welsh living in Canada, According to Wikipedia.
Okorafor is an American, albeit the child of immigrants, also according to Wikipedia.
Because I am American, I reacted weirdly to all of the Canadian authors being part of ‘the rest of the world’. Clearly part of my brain thinks of Canada as just another state.
seems a bit weird that Maul is on two lists, whatever TS’s nationality wouldn’t it be best just to pick one?
I don’t know if you have time to do this, but what would a list look like that treats each series as a single entry and adds together the votes for their books–does any series knock off the top stand-alones?
Kev, Evan: My understanding is that Wikipedia is wrong, and that Jo Walton is now a Canadian citizen. Presumably she can correct me if I’ve got this wrong!
I thought I read somewhere that Okorafor had proper dual citizenship, but I can’t find a citation now. If not, she shouldn’t be on the ROW list, and didn’t get enough nominations to make the US list.
Sullivan I misremembered as dual British/American, when in fact she’s dual Irish/American — so I’ll recalculate the lists based on that and update when I get home on Sunday.
Matt: I’ll give that a go; I have a feeling that it will only produce a different #1 f I count Natural History and Living Next-Door to the God of Love as a series, which although the latter is a sequel doesn’t feel quite right.
Niall’s absolutely right.
Jo: Not that it matters for anything other than Niall’s list making here and perhaps my curiosity, but would you identify yourself as a Canadian writer or a British one?
I can see how you might answer separate from your citizenship.
if I was Jo at this point I would so answer that I considered myself a Muslim :-)
I am a Canadian writer.
I don’t see any useful way of considering me as a British writer. I’ve never been published in the UK, I’ve never been part of a UK writing community, and I voluntarily and permanently chose to leave Britain.
I’m ethnically Welsh, certainly. And yes, it’s complicated when people emigrate as adults.
But if there are useful lines to be drawn on this issue, and useful sets to consider, I certainly feel I fit much more comfortably into Niall’s third ten than I would into his first.
It doesn’t matter to me which Jo defines herself as, but my point was that it looked like different standards applied to Jo and Ekaterina.
Thanks, Jo. It was the adult emigration that made me wonder about it. Plus, I didn’t know anything about your publication history outside of America.
Generally I don’t think much about the nationality of a writer because, unless there is something germane to the fiction, I’m not sure why it matters that Justina Robson and Karen Traviss are from the UK or Elizabeth Bear and Connie Willis are from the US. I’ll perk up when I find out that a writer is from the Minneapolis area, but that’s because it’s home.
Jonathan: Nice. Of course, being a semi-enlightened beast, I might then follow up with asking what that had to do with nationality. ;)
I did a quick survey of the two local Waterstones today. One had Zoo City and Time Travellers Wife the other had those plus Spirit and the omnibus including Year Of Our War. None of the other 26 were in stock.
Kev: Again, my understanding is that Sedia is a US resident, not a US citizen. If you know of anything to the contrary, please let me know.
Lists updated based on the comments above.
Top ten taking account of series votes, and counting the shared-universe Robson novels as a series:
1. Natural History/Living Next-Door to the God of Love, Justina Robson
2. The Carhullan Army, Sarah Hall
3. Maul, Tricia Sullivan
4. Small Change trilogy, Jo Walton
5. the Time-Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffeneger
6= Spirit, Gwyneth Jones
6= Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
8. Bold as Love series, Gwyneth Jones
9. The Castle/Fourlands novels, Steph Swainston
10. The Vorkosigan novels, Lois McMaster Bujold
So new entries for Bujold and Swainston, Walton and Robson move up, and Life, Lavinia and City of Pearl drop out.