And it’s a bloody good set of shortlists – and I don’t just say that because I’m on the short fiction shortlist for Adrift on the Sea of Rains. (Which astonishes and pleases me.) I’m also on the non-fiction list in spirit via Karen Burnham’s ‘The Complexity of the Humble Spacesuit’ from the anthology I edited, Rocket Science.
It is all together a strong set of shortlists. Unusually, I’ve read more of the shortlisted items than for most years – three of the five novels (and the other two are on the TBR); two (well, three) of the short fiction; and four of the five non-fiction nominees (if you can be said to “read” an entire website).
Anyway, the shortlists goes like this…
Best Novel
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett (Corvus)
Empty Space: A Haunting by M John Harrison (Gollancz)
Intrusion by Ken Macleod (Orbit)
Jack Glass by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
Best Short Story
‘Immersion’ by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld #69)
The Flight of the Ravens by Chris Butler (Immersion Press)
‘Song of the Body Cartographer’ by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz (Phillipines Genre Stories)
‘Limited Edition’ by Tim Maughan (1.3, Arc Magazine)
‘Three Moments of an Explosion’ by China Mieville (Rejectamentalist Manifesto)
Adrift on the Sea of Rains by Ian Sales (Whippleshield Books)
Best Artwork
Ben Baldwin for the cover of Dark Currents (Newcon Press)
Blacksheep for the cover of Adam Roberts’s Jack Glass (Gollancz)
Dominic Harman for the cover of Eric Brown’s Helix Wars (Rebellion)
Joey Hifi for the cover of Simon Morden’s Thy Kingdom Come (Jurassic London)
Si Scott for the cover artwork for Chris Beckett’s Dark Eden (Corvus)
Best Non-Fiction
“The Complexity of the Humble Space Suit” by Karen Burnham (Rocket Science, Mutation Press)
“The Widening Gyre” by Paul Kincaid (Los Angeles Review of Books)
The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge University Press)
The Shortlist Project by Maureen Kincaid Speller
The World SF Blog, Chief Editor Lavie Tidhar
January 18, 2013 at 11:06 am
As an engineer, I need to go and lie down in a very dark room… I can’t believe one of the titles made it to the shortlist… (not any of yours I hasten to add)… it’s enough to make me give up science fiction writing… scccreeaaaammmmmm!
January 18, 2013 at 11:42 am
Dare I ask which one?
January 18, 2013 at 10:04 pm
You can dare to ask… but sorry, I’m not going to give an answer… I’ve come up with a lovely SF story idea about a science fiction author who writes stuff with awful engineering in it… if the said offending title wins, you can bet I’ll be getting that story published…
January 18, 2013 at 10:22 pm
Ah well. You did your best, Rosie! And there are some books below the cut-off line that I’m definitely going to make time to read this year too because of all the good recommendations that came through with the nominations.
January 18, 2013 at 11:37 am
Congratulations!
January 18, 2013 at 11:42 am
Thanks🙂
January 18, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Reblogged this on wikz reads; weird tales, punks and literary ghosts and commented:
Don`t they realize that women write science fiction? But,, I’m really glad to see that Harrison and Stanley Robinson made the ballot. I Really loved those books. I’m also really glad to see Tidhar and Burnham there too.
January 18, 2013 at 2:53 pm
Nice to see that my prediction of your ending up on awards’ shortlists very soon has proven prophetic indeed. And the fact that ADRIFT… had to overcome the indie/self-published stigma, yet was still deemed worthy of inclusion–well, that says a lot about the quality of the writing.
And there are even brighter days ahead.
Congratulations to a most deserving finalist.
January 18, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Given your (entirely justified) views on the majority of lists, both ‘best of…’ and award shortlists, would it be excessively smug to suggest that the quality of these shortlists reflects a more discerning reader base for sf in the UK?
January 18, 2013 at 7:59 pm
Well done, Ian. (On both counts.)
January 23, 2013 at 10:11 pm
I haven’t been keeping up with things the last few days, so this is my first look at the shortlists.
Congratulations on your nomination.
Regards,
Nader
January 23, 2013 at 10:12 pm
Thanks🙂