Author: Niall

BSFA Awards: Shortlists

Announced last night:

Best Novel:
Alice in Sunderland – Bryan Talbot (Jonathan Cape)
Black Man – Richard Morgan (Gollancz)
Brasyl – Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
The Execution Channel – Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
The Prefect – Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union – Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate)

Not much I can say about this category, for obvious reasons, except that I called five out of the six nominees ahead of time, and I only didn’t call the sixth (the Talbot) because the shortlist usually has five items on it (ie there must have been a tie this time). Clearly, BSFA members, you are too predictable.

As has been noted elsewhere, in a friendslocked livejournal post I can’t link to, this and all the other lists are all-male. That this list is all-male doesn’t surprise me in the slightest: taking a broad view of “science fiction”, there were a grand total of eight science fiction novels by women published in the UK last year, and only five of those were published as genre science fiction, compared to about sixty science fiction novels by men, of which about fifty were published as genre science fiction. Fantasy novels, of course, are also eligible for the award, but we all know that BSFA members don’t read fantasy.

Best Short Fiction:
‘Lighting Out‘ – Ken MacLeod (disLocations; NewCon Press)
‘Terminal‘ – Chaz Brenchley (disLocations; NewCon Press)
‘The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate‘ – Ted Chiang (F&SF, September)
‘The Gift of Joy‘ – Ian Whates (TQR)
‘The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter’ – Alastair Reynolds (Interzone #209)

Not, it has to be said, the strongest list in the world. Chiang should obviously win.

Best Artwork
‘Cracked World‘ – Andy Bigwood (cover of disLocations anthology, published by NewCon Press)
‘H P Lovecraft in Britain‘ – Les Edwards (cover of chapbook by Stephen Jones, published by the British Fantasy Society)
‘Lunar Flare‘ – Richard Marchand (cover of Interzone #211)
‘Metal Dragon Year’ – Kenn Brown (cover of Interzone #212)

An ok list; suspect I’ll be voting for the Marchand.

BSFA Fiftieth Anniversary Award: Best Novel of 1958:
A Case of Conscience – James Blish (first published by Ballantine)
Have Spacesuit, Will Travel – Robert A Heinlein (first published in F&SF, August – October 1958)
Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss (first published by Faber & Faber)
The Big Time – Fritz Leiber (first published in Galaxy, March/April 1958)
The Triumph of Time – James Blish (first published by Avon; subsequent UK title A Clash of Cymbals)
Who? – Algis Budrys (first published by Pyramid)

Quick! To Amazon marketplace! I’m really looking forward to reading these, and will try to post my thoughts before Eastercon.

You may have noticed that the non-fiction category is missing. The reason for that is:

Nominations were also invited for the best non-fiction of 2007, but although a number of works were nominated there was no consensus and so no shortlist could be formed. A non-fiction award will therefore not be presented this year.

So it goes. Paul Raven isn’t thrilled, but says:

I suppose there are a lot of ways to look at that – I’m going to take the charitable view and assume they knew that the limited number of us who care about such things would rather thrash it out for ourselves than submit to a consensus we couldn’t agree with.

In which case, ladies and gentlemen – start your engines!

I do find it a little disappointing that BSFA members can come up with a shortlist for novels published fifty years ago, but not non-fiction published last year. So: I already mentioned some of the non-fiction I liked; if I get a chance this weekend, i’ll mention some of the individual articles, essays and reviews I rated, as well. If the limited number of the rest of you who care about this category would like to chime in with the things you nominated, and why, that’d be neat.

No Country For Old Links

… but some of these are pretty old. Still, that only means you’ll be able to find something to read, right?

The Gates Between the Kingdoms are Infinitely Wide and Always Open

At some point today I will try to put together a proper links post, since I have a hugenormous accumulation of links to deal with. But I have to get my head around this first: according to Jason Sanford, who got it from the SFWA Bulletin, Michael Chabon has joined the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

On the one hand, how cool is that? On the other hand, given SFWA’s recent and rather public string of cock-ups, and the disillusionment that seems to have pervaded large parts of the sf-writing community as a result, it seems downright surreal to see someone joining the organisation out of (I assume, since I can’t imagine that he needs to do it) principle.

BSFA Awards: Cover Art

I’m finding this category the most difficult to nominate for. The rules say:

The Best Artwork award is open to any single science fictional or fantastic image that first appeared in 2007. Again, provided the artwork hasn’t been published before 2007 it doesn’t matter where it appears.

First, establishing whether or not artwork has been previously published is, well, challenging. I do like some of Clarkesworld’s covers, for instance — particularly those for issue 5 and issue 8 — but I’m almost certain I remember seeing that the cover of issue 12 is a reprint, and I have no idea about the others. Second, this doesn’t seem to have been a particularly exciting year for sf artwork on book covers. You’d really be hard-pushed to tell, from the covers, that recent books by Paul McAuley, Ken MacLeod and Richard Morgan are sf, and while the covers of books like Splinter and the “Future Classics” edition of Fairyland are terribly pretty, I’m not sure they’re science fictional or fantastic images. (Although the award has taken a pretty broad view of what that means in past years, it has to be said.)

Here are the other nominations listed on the BSFA website:

Cover of Dark Benediction – Dominic Harman (novel by Walter M Miller; Gollancz SF Masterworks edition)
Cover of Interzone #209 – Jim Burns
‘Cracked World’ – Andy Bigwood (cover of disLocations, ed. Ian Whates; Newcon Press)
‘Dada Jihad’ – Chris Nurse (Interzone #212)
‘It Will Never Fly Again’ – Alexander Kruglov (cover of Albedo One #32)
‘Looking In, Looking Out’ – Martin Deep (Murky Depths #1)
‘Lunar Flare’ – Richard Marchand (cover of Interzone #211)
‘Transcendance Express’ – Vincent Chong (cover of Hub #2)

I quite like the Dark Benediction cover, and “Lunar Flare” is a very fine spaceship, but beyond that I’m not being particularly inspired. What else can I think of? The cover of Interfictions, which I think probably can be justified under “fantastic image”; the cover of The Fade, although to an extent that is just Edward Miller (I assume) doing what Edward Miller does; and I’m quite fond of the cover of In War Times. But I feel I must be missing something. Any suggestions, anyone? Remember, the deadline for your nominations is midnight tonight…

Reimagining History

Sighted in the wild, so here’s the contents:


A Letter from Daud al-Musafir al-Khilafahi bin ‘Ammar ibn al-Afrangi
Torque Control — editorial essay featuring interviews with Jo Walton and Guy Gavriel Kay
The Limits of Alternate History — by Edward James
History Around the Margins — by Juliet E. McKenna
History Repurposed: the Celestial Empire stories — by Chris Roberson
First Impressions — book reviews, edited by Paul N. Billinger
Obituary: Douglas Hill — by Jessica Yates
The New X — a column by Graham Sleight

I have to say, I’m happy with how this one turned out, so I hope y’all enjoy it. (And, of course, the first issue of Matrix under the stewardship of Ian Whates, which looks spiffing.) I may even get around to updating the website again. Next issue will be Vector‘s review of 2007, and will see some changes — but more about that closer to the time.

P.S. Less than 53 hours to get your nominations in for the BSFA Awards!

Torchwood

Gareth David-Lloyd the only person involved with any discernible talent? Check.

Still wants to be Angel? So very badly.

Total Bollocks Overdrive? Present and correct. Or rather, as Nic points out, present and very very wrong.

Ah, welcome back Torchwood. It’s like you’ve never been away, but not in a good way. Also, I’m not entirely certain that responding to criticisms that everyone in Torchwood is an idiot by writing a plot that depends on the fact that everyone in Torchwood is an idiot was the right choice for the episode that relaunches the show. But hey, at least it had Spike in it. If you like Spike. Which I don’t.

London Meetings — Change of Venue

Tony Keen has an announcement about the BSFA London Meetings. January’s meeting (Robert Holdstock the guest, a week tomorrow) will take place in the Star Tavern, but after that the upstairs function room will no longer be available. As of February, then, the meetings will take place at:

The Antelope
22, Eaton Terrace
London
SW1W 8EZ

Here are some details for the pub; it’s not actually that far from the Star, but the closest tube stop is now Sloane Square. Here is a map.

EDIT: And here‘s the programme for 2008. Mark your diaries, everyone.

Wednesday 23rd January:
Robert Holdstock, interviewed by Paul Kincaid.

Wednesday 27th February:
Chris Beckett, interviewed by Niall Harrison.

Wednesday 26th March:
Paul Kincaid, interviewed by Graham Sleight.

Wednesday 23rd April:
Ken Slater, interviewed by Peter Weston.

Wednesday 28th May:
Andrew Wilson, interviewed by Tony Keen.

Wednesday 25th June: Terrance Dicks, interviewed by Tim Phipps.

Wednesday 23rd July:
Christopher Priest, interviewed by Paul Kincaid.

Wednesday 27th August:
TBC.

Wednesday 24th September:
TBC.

Wednesday 22nd October:
John Clute, interviewed by Andrew McKie.

Wednesday 26th November:
Party for the BSFA’s 50th anniversary.
(Venue TBC.)

BSFA Awards: Short Fiction

I was hoping to write up some thoughts on my favourite stories of last year, but time is moving on and I don’t seem to be getting around to it. So I’m just going to do what Martin did, and list the stories I’m planning to nominate for the BSFA Awards. You can also see what other members have nominated so far, and the tables of contents for Gardner Dozois‘ and Rich Horton‘s Year’s Best SF books.

So, my nominations:

“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang (F&SF, September)
“Dead Horse Point” by Daryl Gregory (Asimov’s, August)
“Light” by Kelly Link (Tin House 34)
“The Master Miller’s Tale” by Ian R MacLeod (F&SF, May)
Sulphuric Acid by Amelie Nothomb (Faber & Faber)
“Three Days of Rain” by Holly Phillips (Asimov’s, June)
Of Love and Other Monsters by Vandana Singh (Aqueduct Press)
“Dispersed by the Sun, Melting in the Wind” by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean, Summer)

I read much less short fiction in 2007 than usual, but I read some good stuff. The notable omission from the list, perhaps, is Greg Egan, but although I read three good stories by him (“Glory”, “Dark Integers” and “Steve Fever”), I didn’t think any of them were quite first-rank.

Remember: if you’re a member, the deadline for your nominations is this Saturday.

Yet More Awards

Farah Mendlesohn thinks there’s something missing from the nominees for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, specifically the science fiction, and has some suggestions for filling the gap.

While this is a nice idea, I can’t help thinking the Nebulas are now pretty much a waste of space, and that the only viable solution is to take off and nuke the site from orbit. Here’s the full preliminary ballot. I just want to pull out the nominees for Best Novel:

Ragamuffin, by Tobias Buckell (Tor, Jun07)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, May07)
Species Imperative #3: Regeneration, by Julie E. Czerneda (full PDF on Private Edition) (DAW, May06)
Vellum: The Book of All Hours, by Hal Duncan (Del Rey, Apr06 (Macmillan hardcover Nov05 (UK)))
The Accidental Time Machine, by Joe Haldeman (Ace, Aug07)
The New Moon’s Arms, by Nalo Hopkinson (Warner Books, Feb07)
Mainspring, by Jay Lake (Tor, Jun07)
Odyssey, by Jack McDevitt (full PDF on Private Edition) (Ace, Nov06)
The Outback Stars, by Sandra McDonald (Tor, May07)
Strange Robby, by Selina Rosen (full PDF and hardcopy offer on Private Edition) (Meisha Merlin Publishing Jul06)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic Press, Jul07)
Rollback, by Robert J. Sawyer (Analog, Feb07 (serialized in Oct06 through Jan/Feb07 issues; Tor book, Apr07))
Blindsight, by Peter Watts (free Creative Commons versions) (Tor, Oct06)

These are, apparently, the novels that professional science fiction and fantasy writers think are the best examples of their craft from the most recent Nebula nomination period. You will see there are a couple of problems with this idea. First is the presence of the names “Jack McDevitt” and “Robert J Sawyer”. Second is the fact that about 40% of the nominees were published in 2006, and one was first published in 2005.

The BSFA doesn’t do a preliminary ballot for its awards, but just as a contrast, here are the nominations received so far for the BSFA Award for Best Novel, which is of course primarily nominated for by fans.

Alice in Sunderland – Bryan Talbot (Jonathan Cape)
Bad Monkeys – Matt Ruff (Bloomsbury)
Black Man – Richard Morgan (Gollancz)
Bone Song – John Meaney (Gollancz)
Brasyl – Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
Glasshouse – Charles Stross (Orbit)
Harm – Brian Aldiss (Duckworth)
Helix – Eric Brown (Solaris)
Ink – Hal Duncan (Macmillan)
Season of the Witch – Natasha Mostert (Bantam)
Selling Out – Justina Robson (Gollancz)
Sixty Days and Counting – Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins)
Sound Mind – Tricia Sullivan (Orbit)
Spook Country – William Gibson (Viking)
Stealing Light – Gary Gibson (Tor)
The Atrocity Archive – Charles Stross (Orbit – collected in The Atrocity Archives)
The Blood Knight – Greg Keyes (Tor)
The Dreaming Void – Peter F Hamilton (Tor)
The Execution Channel – Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
The H-Bomb Girl – Stephen Baxter (Faber)
The Prefect – Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union – Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate)
Tourniquet: Tales from the Renegade City – Kim Lakin-Smith (Immanion Press)

Now, this is not a list without its own omissions (in my opinion) and oddities (I thought the long-ago magazine publication of The Atrocity Archives would make it ineligible, but apparently not). However, the large majority of these books were eligible for this year’s Nebula Award. Is there anyone out there who wants to argue that, of the two, the Nebula list is a better snapshot of contemporary science fiction? Hell, does anyone want to argue that it includes better books?

This is, of course, not to mention the many excellent novels that were published in the US only this year, and were therefore not eligible for the BSFA Awards. Books by Jo Walton, Susan Palwick, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Robert Charles Wilson, Charles Stross, and Karl Schroeder, for instance. Heck, any of the books on the PKD shortlist wouldn’t have been out of place. Of course, some of them will still be eligible next year, thanks to the Nebula’s rolling eligibility rules. But you do start to wonder what the point of having an award nominated for by professionals is.

In better Nebula news, Abigail Nussbaum points out that Ted Chiang’s nominated story, “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, is already up on the F&SF website. Go forth and read.

Philip K Dick Award Shortlist

I’m on my way out the door, but I just spotted this news:

GREY by Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
UNDERTOW by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey)
NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra)
GRADISIL by Adam Roberts (Pyr)
ALLY by Karen Traviss (Eos)
SATURN RETURNS by Sean Williams (Ace Books)

The PKD is, of course, given to science fiction novels published in paperback original form in the US. This looks like a fine shortlist to me and hey, I can actually have an opinion — Nova Swing to win!

In other news, looks like we have a Baroque Cycle reading group. Tentative schedule, based entirely on my own constraints: read the three books of Quicksilver in March/April/May, then do The Confusion in May/June, and The Systen of the World in July, possibly stretching into August.