Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 2009, the Libertarian Futurist Society demonstrated why so few people take the Prometheus Awards seriously by nominating John C. Wright's novel The Golden Age for induction into its Hall of Fame. There's nothing wrong with the novel, but it was published in 2002, which is so close in time to 2009 as to make the idea that the Hall of Fame is to honor "classic" works of libertarian fiction into a farce. Furthermore, in 2003, when it would have been eligible for the honor of Best Novel, The Golden Age wasn't even nominated, which makes one wonder what happened in the intervening years to make it worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. And it isn't like The Golden Age was an unknown work published by a small press in 2003: The book was prominent enough to be nominated for a Locus Award and the Campbell Award. An observer might note that John C. Wright very publicly converted to Roman Catholicism after having visions of "ghosts and spirits". A cynical observer might then note that the Libertarian Futurist Society seems to have been at least partially captured by religious conservatives and consider the possibility that the important change from 2003 and 2009 didn't have anything to do with the book, but rather with the author's religious affiliation. But that's silly - religious conservatives would never promote a work they snubbed earlier merely because they wanted to reward the author for converting and accepting their superstitious nonsense. Also, I have a bridge to sell you.

Best Novel

Winner:
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Other Nominees:
Half a Crown by Jo Walton
The January Dancer by Michael F. Flynn
Matter by Iain M. Banks
Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove
Saturn's Children by Charles Stross

Hall of Fame

Winner:
The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King) by J.R.R. Tolkien

Other Nominees:
As Easy as A.B.C. by Rudyard Kipling
Courtship Rite by Donald M. Kingsbury
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Golden Age by John C. Wright
The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

Book Award Reviews     Home

Sunday, November 1, 2009

2009 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, San Jose, California.

Comments: One thing that is notable about the 2009 World Fantasy Awards is that Neil Gaiman was nominated for two awards. That this is notable is in itself notable. During this same time frame, Gaiman routinely appeared on the ballots of the Hugo and Nebula Awards - so often that it is somewhat unusual when he doesn't appear on the slate of nominees for those awards. The World Fantasy Awards, on the other hand, seem to have avoided this trend, and Gaiman, although he has been nominated now and then, hasn't appeared nearly as frequently on the ballots for them.

The other event that seems notable is the Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed upon Jane Yolen. The interesting thing here is this award was given to her despite her having so very few nominations for her work. This isn't to say that her work is not good - it is almost uniformly excellent. But it highlights the fact that the World Fantasy awards have made it a practice to ignore female authors and editors, and the authors of young adult works. Yolen is (obviously) a woman, and her best work has generally been in the young adult arena. This combination of a lack of nominations for her work and the Lifetime Achievement Award granted to Yolen almost seems like the World Fantasy Awards noting that while they have the (correct) feeling that she is important to the genre, they are not really sure why.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford
(tie) Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Other Nominees:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The House of the Stag by Kage Baker
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

Best Novella

Winner:
If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes

Other Nominees:
Good Boy by Nisi Shawl
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
The Overseer by Albert Cowdrey
Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel by Peter S. Beagle

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson

Other Nominees:
A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica by Catherynne M. Valente
Caverns of Mystery by Kage Baker
Our Man in the Sudan by Sarah Pinborough
Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel

Best Anthology

Winner:
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy edited by Ekaterina Sedia

Other Nominees:
The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Ellen Datlow
The Living Dead edited by John Joseph Adams
Steampunk edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant

Best Collection

Winner:
The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford

Other Nominees:
Filter House by Nisi Shawl
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Strange Roads by Peter S. Beagle
Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Ellen Asher
Jane Yolen

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Shaun Tan

Other Nominees:
Janet Chui
Kinuko Y. Craft
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

Other Nominees:
Farah Mendlesohn
Stephen H. Segal and Ann VanderMeer
Jerad Walters
Jacob Weisman

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Michael Walsh

Other Nominees:
Edith L. Crowe
John Klima
Elise Matthesen
Sean Wallace, Neil Clarke, and Nick Mamatas

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

Book Award Reviews     Home

Saturday, October 17, 2009

2009 WSFA Small Press Award Nominees

Location: CapClave in Rockville, Maryland.

Comments: Perhaps as a result of the anonymous voting process, the WSFA Small Press Award has an established track record of diversity among its nominees. It seems that once one strips away the identities of the authors and judges the works solely on their own merits, the very white and very male and very American state of the genre faces away, and the cast becomes far more colorful, far less masculine, and far less provincial.

In 2009, out of seven stories, three were written by women. One nominated story was by an Israeli-born author, another by a Nigerian-American, still another by an Australian writer. One story wasn't even originally printed in English. For those people who claim that they only look for good stories and don't care about the identities of the authors of those stories, and yet end up reading little other than works authored by white American men, the make-up of this blindly chosen list should be something of an eye-opener. Such individuals might want to consider that it could be something other than the quality of the story that is driving their selections.

WSFA Small Press Award

Winner:
The Absence of Stars: Part 1 by Greg Siewert

Other Nominees:
Drinking Problem by K.D. Wentworth
Hard Rain at the Fortean Café by Lavie Tidhar
His Last Arrow by Christopher Sequeira
Silent as Dust by James Maxey
Spider the Artist by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
The Toy Car by Luisa Maria Garcia Velasco, (translated from Spanish by Ian Watson)

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

Book Award Reviews     Home

Sunday, August 9, 2009

2009 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: Anticipation in Montreal, Quebec.

Comments: In 2009 Neil Gaiman continued his dominance of the Hugo Awards by winning the award for Best Novel for the second time, taking home the rocket statue for The Graveyard Book. At this point, it seems like anyone who is nominated for a Hugo against a work by Gaiman, a work related to something by Gaiman, or a work that Gaiman may have once approvingly thought about, should just start practicing their concession smile. The same could probably be said for Ted Chiang, but he tends to write more short fiction and not things like novels, novels that are adapted into movies, and episodes of the Doctor Who television series, so he isn't as widely known as Gaiman.

And while I'm mentioning the Doctor Who television series, I think I would be remiss if I pointed out that it didn't win the Hugo Award for Best Short Form Dramatic Presentation, which instead went to the brilliant Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. This is interesting, because it shows that an internet based project will be taken seriously by the Hugo voters. That the Doctor Who show not winning is notable is a testament to how dominant that show has become. I have to wonder, though, if the combined dominance of Neil Gaiman and Doctor Who is a passing thing, or an indication that the tastes of science fiction fans who vote for the Hugo Awards is narrowing?

Finally, this year saw the introduction of a new category - an award for Best Graphic Story, which was promptly won by Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius story Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones. Given the history of graphic novels, this award was long overdue. On the other hand, given the greatness of the Sandman series, if this award had been around for longer, it probably just would have given Neil Gaiman more Hugos to put on his trophy shelf.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Other Finalists:
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Saturn's Children by Charles Stross
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

Best Novella

Winner:
The Erdmann Nexus by Nancy Kress

Other Finalists:
The Political Prisoner by Charles Coleman Finlay
The Tear by Ian McDonald
True Names by Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow
Truth by Robert Reed

Best Novelette

Winner:
Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear

Other Finalists:
Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders by Mike Resnick
The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi
Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel
The Ray-Gun: A Love Story by James Alan Gardner

Best Short Story

Winner:
Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Other Finalists:
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
Article of Faith by Mike Resnick
Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal
From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled by Michael Swanwick

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 by John Scalzi

Other Finalists:
Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn
Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Arnie Fenner and Cathy Fenner
The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold by Lillian Stewart Carl and John Helfers
What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid

Best Graphic Story

Winner:
Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones by Phil Foglio, and Kaja Foglio

Other Finalists:
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher, illustrated by Ardian Syaf
Fables: War and Pieces by Bill Willingham, art by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy
Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic by Howard Tayler
Serenity: Better Days by Brett Matthews and Joss Weedon, art by Will Conrad
Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores by Brian K. Vaughan

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Winner:
WALL-E

Other Finalists:
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Iron Man
METAtropolis

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Winner:
Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Other Finalists:
Battlestar Galactica: Revelations
Doctor Who: Turn Left
Doctor Who: Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead
Lost: The Constant

Best Professional Editor: Short Form

Winner:
Ellen Datlow

Other Finalists:
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams

Best Professional Editor: Long Form

Winner;
David G. Hartwell

Other Finalists:
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Beth Meacham

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Donato Giancola

Other Finalists:
Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:
Weird Tales edited by Stephen H. Segal and Ann VanderMeer

Other Finalists:
Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Neil Clarke, Nick Mamatas, and Sean Wallace
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, and Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kristine Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin J. Maroney

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima

Other Finalists:
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian III
The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Cheryl Morgan

Other Finalists:
Chris Garcia
John Hertz
Dave Langford
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Other Finalists:
Alan F. Beck
Brad W. Foster
Sue Mason
Taral Wayne

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
David Anthony Durham

Other Finalists:
Aliette de Bodard
Felix Gilman
Tony Pi
Gord Sellar

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's finalists: 2008
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 2010

2009 Hugo Longlist     Book Award Reviews     Home

Monday, July 20, 2009

2009 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Mythcon XL in Los Angeles, California.

Comments: The roster of authors with works nominated for the 2009 Mythopoeic Awards include two amazing female authors - Patricia A. McKillip and Ursula K. Le Guin. Both women have had prolific careers that have combined substantial longevity and consistently high quality writing, resulting in nominations for this award and others across multiple decades. In a way, it was the writing of these two women that shaped me as a fantasy fiction fan, as I read several of their works when I was growing up, and because of their continued production of excellent fantasy fiction, they continue to shape my as a fantasy fiction fan.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone by Carol Berg

Other Nominees:
The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip
An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Other Nominees:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Savvy by Ingrid Law

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:
The History of the Hobbit (Part One, Mr Baggins and Part Two, Return to Bag-End) by John D. Rateliff

Other Nominees:
Charles Williams: Alchemy and Imagination by Gavin Ashenden
The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-Earth by Elizabeth A. Wittingham
Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward
Tolkien on Fairy-Stories: Expanded Edition, with Commentary and Notes by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:
Four British Fantasists: Place and Culture in the Children's Fantasies of Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper by Charles Butler

Other Nominees:
Folklore and the Fantastic in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction by Jason Marc Harris
One Earth, One People: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Series of Ursula K. Le Guin, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L'Engle and Orson Scott Card by Marek Oziewicz
Oz in Perspective: Magic and Myth in the Frank L. Baum Books by Richard Carl Tuerk
Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

Book Award Reviews     Home

Sunday, July 12, 2009

2009 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: As glad as I am that Cory Doctorow won a well-deserved Campbell Award for his novel Little Brother, the 2009 slate of nominees seems to me to have been a distinct step backwards. In the couple of years leading up to 2009 women and minority writers were distinctly underrepresented in the lists of nominees for this award, but at least they had some representation. In 2009, there was a distinct lack of books penned by female or minority authors on the ballot. In effect, the judges seem to be saying there were no books by female authors or non-white authors that were even worthy of consideration for the award, which seems to be both an amazing and completely unbelievable statement.

The other striking thing about the 2009 Campbell Award ballot is the extremely truncated list of finalists included on the ballot. Since the Campbell Awards began reporting the list of non-placing finalists, most years had a roster of nine or ten "also-rans", but for some reason the 2009 list only included three. There seems to be no reason for such a short list - just as many good science fiction novels seem to have been published in 2009 as in any other year. As with so many of the odd and inexplicable decisions made by the Campbell Award judges, this one seems to be a complete mystery.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
(tie) Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod

Third Place:
The Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow

Finalists:
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
City at the End of Time by Greg Bear
Valley of Day-Glo by Nick Di Chario

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

Book Award Reviews     Home

Saturday, June 27, 2009

2009 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Seattle, Washington.

Comments: Once again the Best Art Book category was eliminated as an independent entity and folded into the Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book category. Once again this new supercategory seems to make little sense, throwing together wildly different works and expecting the voters to be able to meaningfully compare them one against another. Once again, this merger of categories makes little sense. Once again, I have no idea what the rationale for this merger was, or what it was intended to accomplish.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Other Nominees:
2.   Matter by Iain M. Banks
3.   City at the End of Time by Greg Bear
4.   Saturn's Children by Charles Stross
5.   Marsbound by Joe Haldeman
6.   Half a Crown by Jo Walton
7.   Incandescence by Greg Egan
8.   Rolling Thunder by John Varley
9.   Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams
10. House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
11. The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley
12. The January Dancer by Michael F. Flynn
13. Escapement by Jay Lake
14. Pirate Sun by Karl Schroeder
15. Flood by Stephen Baxter
16. Weaver by Stephen Baxter
17. The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod
18. Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod
19. The Company by K.J. Parker

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
2.   The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick
3.   An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe
4.   The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford
5.   The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip
6.   An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham
7.   The Knights of the Cornerstone by James P. Blaylock
8.   The Hidden World by Paul Park
9.   Shadowbridge/Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost
10. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
11. The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll
12. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
13. The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
14. Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney (aka How to Make Friends with Demons by Graham Joyce)
15. The Engine's Child by Holly Phillips
16. Varanger by Cecelia Holland

Best Young Adult Book
Winner:
1.   The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Other Nominees:
2.   Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
3.   Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
4.   Nation by Terry Pratchett
5.   Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
6.   How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
7.   Chalice by Robin McKinley
8.   Flora's Dare by Ysabeau S. Wilce
9.   The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
11. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
12. Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (aka The Two Pearls of Wisdom) by Alison Goodman
13. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
14. Monster Blood Tattoo, Book Two: Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.    Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko

Other Nominees:
2.   Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
3.   Thunderer by Felix Gilman
4.   Black Ships by Jo Graham
5.   The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
6.   Graceling by Kristin Cashore
7.   The Painted Man (aka The Warded Man) by Peter V. Brett
8.   Last Dragon by J.M. McDermott
9.   The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski
10. The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick
11. Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst
12. The Long Look by Richard Parks
13. The Ninth Circle by Alex Bell

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link

Other Nominees:
2.   The Erdmann Nexus by Nancy Kress
3.   The Tear by Ian McDonald
4.   Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman
5.   True Names by Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow
6.   The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten by Thomas M. Disch
7.   The Philosopher's Stone by Brian Stableford
8.   Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key by Kage Baker
9.   Truth by Robert Reed
10. The Surfer by Kelly Link
11. The Hob Carpet by Ian R. MacLeod
12. The Man with the Golden Balloon by Robert Reed
13. The Political Prisoner by Charles Coleman Finlay
14. Mystery Hill by Alex Irvine
15. Arkfall by Carolyn Ives Gilman
16. Tenbrook of Mars by Dean McLaughlin
17. The Overseer by Albert E. Cowdrey

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi

Other Nominees:
2.   Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear
3.   The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away by Cory Doctorow
4.   The Ice War by Stephen Baxter
5.   Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel
6.   The Rabbi's Hobby by Peter S. Beagle
7.   Crystal Nights by Greg Egan
8.   The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi
9.   Turing's Apples by Stephen Baxter
10. Five Thrillers by Robert Reed
11. Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel by Peter S. Beagle
12. The Hour of Babel by Tim Powers
13. The Star Surgeon's Apprentice by Alastair Reynolds
14. Lost Continent by Greg Egan
15. If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes
16. Days of Wonder by Geoff Ryman
17. Conversation Hearts by John Crowley
18. The Ray-Gun: A Love Story by James Alan Gardner
19. The Tale of Junko and Sayuri by Peter S. Beagle
20. Fury by Alastair Reynolds
21. Memory Dog by Kathleen Ann Goonan
22. Radio Station St. Jack by Neal Barrett, Jr.
23. Machine Maid by Margo Lanagan
24. Special Economics by Maureen F. McHugh
25. The Dust Assassin by Ian McDonald
26. An Eligible Boy by Ian McDonald
27. An Alien Heresy by S.P. Somtow
28. Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe by Garth Nix
29. Following the Pharmers by Brian Stableford

Best Short Story
Winner:
1.   Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Other Nominees:
2.   After the Coup by John Scalzi
3.   Boojim by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
4.   The Kindness of Strangers by Nancy Kress
5.   King Pelles the Sure by Peter S. Beagle
6.   From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled by Michael Swanwick
7.   Private Eye by Terry Bisson
8.   26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
9.   The Scarecrow's Boy by Michael Swanwick
10. Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal
11. A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica by Catherynne M. Valente
12. The Thought War by Paul J. McAuley
13. The Goosle by Margo Lanagan
14. Fixing Hanover by Jeff VanderMeer
15. The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black by Jay Lake
16. Ass-Hat Magic Spider by Scott Westerfeld
17. The Dream of Reason by Jeffrey Ford
18. Invisible Empire of Ascending Light by Ken Scholes
19. The Film-makers of Mars by Geoff Ryman
20. The House Left Empty by Robert Reed
21. Reader's Guide by Lisa Goldstein
22. Fifty Dinosaurs by Robert Reed
23. Goblin Music by Joan Aiken
24. The Seventh Expression of the Robot General by Jeffrey Ford
25. Snatch Me Another by Mercurio D. Rivera

Best Collection
Winner:
1.   Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi

Other Nominees:
2.   The Best of Michael Swanwick by Michael Swanwick
3.   Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
4.   The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford
5.   The Best of Lucius Shepard by Lucius Shepard
6.   Dark Integers and Other Stories by Greg Egan
7.   H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction by H.P. Lovecraft
8.   Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories by Nancy Kress
9.   Other Worlds, Better Lives: A Howard Waldrop Reader by Howard Waldrop
10. The Wall of America by Thomas M. Disch
11. The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories by John Kessel
12. The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James P. Blaylock
13. The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories by Joan Aiken
14. Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Strange Journeys by Ken Scholes
15. Works of Art by James Blish
16. Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters by John Langan
17. The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories by James Patrick Kelly
18. The Ant King and Other Stories by Benjamin Rosenbaum
19. Gateway to Paradise: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Six by Jack Williamson
20. The Autopsy and Other Tales by Michael Shea
21. Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods by Paul Melko

Best Anthology
Winner:
1.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fifth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2.   The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-first Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant
3.   Galactic Empires edited by Gardner Dozois
4.   Eclipse Two edited by Jonathan Strahan
5.   The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan
6.   Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders
7.   Fast Ships, Black Sails edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
8.   Steampunk edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
9.   Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
10. The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Ellen Datlow
11. The New Weird edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
12. Year's Best SF 13 edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
13. Sideways in Crime edited by Lou Anders
14. The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two edited by George Mann
15. Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology edited by Nick Gevers
16. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two edited by Jonathan Strahan
17. Poe's Children: The New Horror edited by Peter Straub
18. Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy edited by William Schafer
19. A Science Fiction Omnibus edited by Brian W. Aldiss
20. Clockwork Phoenix edited by Mike Allen
21. A Book of Wizards edited by Marvin Kaye
22. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Nineteen edited by Stephen Jones
23. Year's Best Fantasy 8 edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
24. Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann

Best Nonfiction, Art, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:
1.   Coraline: The Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell

Other Nominees:
2.   Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner
3.   Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn
4.   What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid
5.   Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
6.   Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden, and Stephen R. Bissette
7.   The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold edited by Lillian Stewart Carl and John Helfers
8.   H. Beam Piper: A Biography by John F. Carr
9.   A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft edited by Jerad Walters
10. The Worlds of Jack Williamson: A Centennial Tribute 1908-2008 edited by Stephen Haffner
11. An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett edited by Andrew M. Butler
12. Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton by J.G. Ballard
13. Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle, Second Edition by Michael Andre-Driussi
14. The Paintings of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master of Fantasy by Stephen D. Korshak
15. The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
16. Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography by Jeffrey Marks
17. Paint or Pixel: The Digital Divide in Illustration Art edited by Jane Frank

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Ellen Datlow

Other Nominees:
2.   Gardner Dozois
3.   Gordon van Gelder
4.   David G. Hartwell
5.   Jonathan Strahan
6.   Patrick Nielsen Hayden
7.   Lou Anders
8.   Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
9.   Sheila Williams
10. Peter Crowther
11. Jim Baen
12. Gavin Grant and Kelly Link
13. Stanley Schmidt
14. Terri Windling
15. William Schafer
16. Shawna McCarthy
17. (tie) Teresa Nielsen Hayden
      (tie) Martin H. Greenberg
19. Toni Weisskopf
20. Ginjer Buchanan
21. Beth Meacham
22. Andy Cox
23. Sharyn November

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Fantasy & Science Fiction

Other Nominees:
2.   Asimov's
3.   Analog
4.   Subterranean
5.   Realms of Fantasy
6.   Interzone
7.   Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet
8.   The New York Review of Science Fiction
9.   Clarkesworld Magazine
10. Strange Horizons
11. Weird Tales
12. SF Site
13. Jim Baen's Universe
14. Ansible
15. Postscripts
16. SF Weekly
17. Electric Velocipede
18. Cemetery Dance
19. Fantasy Magazine
20. Black Gate
21. The Internet Review of Science Fiction
22. SFRevu

Best Book Publisher or Imprint
Winner:
1.   Tor

Other Nominees:
2.   Subterranean Press
3.   Night Shade Books
4.   Baen
5.   Ace
6.   Del Rey
7.   Gollancz
8.   Bantam Spectra
9.   Pyr
10. PS Publishing
11. DAW
12. Orbit
13. NESFA Press
14. Small Beer Press
15. Tachyon
16. Eos
17. Golden Gryphon
18. Roc
19. St. Martin's
20. Firebird
21. Solaris
22. SF Book Club
23. Arkham House

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Bob Eggleton
3.   John Picacio
4.   Shaun Tan
5.   Charles Vess
6.   Stephan Martiniere
7.   Dave McKean
8.   Donato Giancola
9.   Kinuko Y. Craft
10. Thomas Canty
11. Frank Frazetta
12. John Jude Palencar
13. Jim Burns
14. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
15. J.K. Potter
16. Vincent Di Fate
17. Don Maitz
18. Boris Vallejo
19. Michael Kaluta
20. Frank Wu
21. Tom Kidd
22. Yoshitaka Amano
23. Julie Bell

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

2009 Clarke Award Nominees

Location: Sci-Fi London at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus in London, United Kingdom.

Comments: I've said this before, but the 2009 slate of Clarke Award nominees will make me say it again: The volume of excellent science fiction being produced in recent years has simply been overwhelming. On this ballot I am partial to Neal Stephenson's book Anathem, but that's mostly because I like Stephenson's work. Being perfectly honest, all of the books on this list would have been worthy winners of the award, and probably would have been shoo-in's to win if they had been nominated in earlier decades.

Winner
Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod

Shortlist
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
Martin Martin's on the Other Side by Mark Wernham
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

2009 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Los Angeles, California.

Comments: 2009 was a good year for female authors. The year saw two of my favorite authors - Ursula K. Le Guin and Catherine Asaro, both win Nebula Awards, and also saw Nina Kiriki Hoffman pick up an award as well. The Andre Norton Award went to Ysabeau Wilce. One might think that with four of the six available awards going to works authored by women, that this was a very good year for gender equity.

And for the most part, one would be correct. Most of the award categories had fields of nominees that were more or less evenly balanced between the sexes, with women gaining a very slight edge overall. The field of Andre Norton nominees was dominated by female writers. On the other hand, while Le Guin won the Nebula for Best Novel, she did so against an entirely male field of other nominees and there were no writers among those nominated for the Best Script Award. On the whole, however, 2009 indicates just how far the Nebula Awards had come from the almost exclusively boys' club of the 1960s and 1970s, to being a much more representative and inclusive honor.

Best Novel

Winner:
Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
Cauldron by Jack McDevitt
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Superpowers by David J. Schwartz

Best Novella

Winner:
The Spacetime Pool by Catherine Asaro

Other Nominees:
Dangerous Space by Kelley Eskridge
Dark Heaven by Gregory Benford
The Duke In His Castle by Vera Nazarian
The Political Prisoner by Charles Coleman Finlay

Best Novelette

Winner:
Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel

Other Nominees:
Baby Doll by Johanna Sinisalo, translated by David Hackston
Dark Rooms by Lisa Goldstein
If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes
Kaleidoscope by K.D. Wentworth
Night Wind by Mary Rosenblum
The Ray-Gun: A Love Story by James Alan Gardner

Best Short Story

Winner:
Trophy Wives by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Other Nominees:
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
The Button Bin by Mike Allen
Don't Stop by James Patrick Kelly
The Dreaming Wind by Jeffrey Ford
Mars: A Traveler's Guide by Ruth Nestvold
The Tomb Wife by Gwyneth Jones

Best Script

Winner:
WALL-E by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, and Peter Docter

Other Nominees:
The Dark Knight by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer
Stargate Atlantis: The Shrine by Brad Wright

Andre Norton Award

Winner:
Flora's Dare by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Other Nominees:
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Monster Blood Tattoo, Book Two: Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish
Savvy by Ingrid Law

Go to previous year's nominees: 2008
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2010

Book Award Reviews     Home

Friday, January 30, 2009

Biased Opinion - Nitpicking Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings

I first saw all three Lord of the Rings movies in their theatrical release. Every year, for three years, the Christmas gift I looked forward to was the Special Extended Edition DVD of each movie. Before I go any further, I must emphasize that I like the Peter Jackson movies. They are better than anything a fan could have hoped to expect, and certainly leaps and bounds better than the Bakshi or Rankin Bass animated movies.

Even so, when recently rewatching them after not having seen them for about a year, I became convinced that, as good as they are, the movies should have been much better. Elements that I mentally glossed over in my mind jumped to the forefront when seen again. This, and the following posts, are the result of the observations I made while watching the extended editions of the movies, and listening to the various commentary tracks on them (for the record, there are four commentary tracks on each movie).

Note: All of my comments relate to the Special Extended Edition DVD versions of the movies The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

My first nitpick applies to all three films, although it isn't so much a Lord of the Rings nitpick as it is a general complaint about movie making. I am referring to the phenomenon I think can be best described as Hollywood Armor - specifically, the fact that on screen, armor provides absolutely no protection against anything at all. In all of the Lord of the Rings movies this is true as well - armor is little more than decorative clothing that doubles as a uniform.

This lack of protection manifests itself in many ways in the film - armored arms are cut off with ease, arrows pierce every armored chest (I believe that every arrow fired in the movies kills someone, no matter how much protection they are wearing). There is only one scene I can remember in the trilogy in which armor actually protects someone, and I suspect that is because the scene is drawn directly from the original books - when Frodo is stabbed by the cave troll in Moria and is saved by his mithril shirt. But I think that three scenes illustrate just how useless armor is in the Lord of the Rings:

1. The first is quite short, part of a much larger battle sequence in fact. In The Return of the King, after the forces of Mordor have battered down the gates of Minas Tirith and are flooding into the city, a wild melee takes place as poorly armored orcs take on the city's soldiers who are clad in what appears to be plate armor. I say "what appears" because it seems to be made of tinfoil. Orcs armed with wooden clubs batter the defenders into submission. In the silliest part of the fight, an orc grabs a guardsman and bites him on the shoulder. His plate armored shoulder. From the resulting pained expression on the soldier's face, apparently orcs can bite through steel.

2. In the climatic battle scene in The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn manhandles a helmed Uruk, bashing his head against a stone pillar. Or rather, bashing his helmet against a pillar. Apparently, Uruk helmets provide no protection against blows to the head, as the Uruk immediately collapses, apparently knocked out.

3. And in the silliest scene: When Eomer is banished by Wormtongue in The Two Towers, some of Wormtongue's henchmen grab the hero and rough him up, by punching him in his mail armored midsection. This is just ridiculous - punching an armored person in the stomach won't hurt them in the slightest, and will just injure your hand. So, in the scene, does Eomer smirk as the henchmen howl in pain from their broken fingers? No, he doubles over, since his armor provides no protection at all, even against unarmed attackers. The real stupidity of this scene derives from the fact that it could have been easily changed to make sense: the hoodlums could have hit Eomer in his unarmored face, or menaced him with knives or swords. But no. We have a typical, boring, and ultimately stupid roughing up sequence reminiscent of a B grade mafia movie.

The lack of usefulness of armor in the movies extends to shields as well. For example, the Uruk-Hai and other orcs often carry shields. But they don't seem to actually use them as protective devices - Uruk shields are used as weapons or snowboards more often than they are used as protection. The Rohirrim seem to have figured the uselessness of shields out though, since they carry them to the Battle of Pelennor Fields, but leave them hanging off their saddles. (One wonders why they bothered to weight their horses down with heavy equipment they obviously considered useless). Often, you see characters carrying shields in a fencing stance, with their shield behind their bodies, so they can have a range of motion to parry with their sword. Note to Hollywood fight coordinators: When a character carries a shield, he should use that to block incoming attacks, not his sword.

Once again, shields prove useful (in a limited sense) exactly once, and for the same reason armor proved useful once - when Eowyn confronts the Witch-King, she grabs a shield and it protects her from one blow of the Nazgul's giant flail. I strongly suspect that if Tolkien had not explicitly written the shield smashing element into that battle, Eowyn would not have bothered with this sort of protection.

The Lord of the Rings movies aren't the only offenders in this area - the full plate armor worn by the knights in Excalibur proves to be surprisingly ineffective. The Normans in the Robin of Sherwood BBC series universally wear mail armor and carry shields, both of which prove to be entirely useless when it comes to actually protecting them.

This is a Hollywood trope that needs to die, and die soon. Quit putting characters in armor and then treating it like they were wearing sweaters or sheets of aluminum foil. If someone carries a shield, they should treat it as more than a cumbersome bashing tool. These sorts of silly fight conventions just make movies look stupid, and pull the viewer out of the action with their ridiculousness. Just stop it. Stop it now.

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