Review - Realms of Fantasy (October 2010) edited by Douglas Cohen and Shawna McCarthy

Stories included:
Cutter in the Underverse by Daniel Hood
Middle by Eilis O'Neal
The Fall of the Moon by Jay Lake
Saint's-Paw by Alan Smale

Halloween: Comprising a Cautionary Acrostic of Nine Bedtime Stories for Reading to the Tiresome or Disobedient Child by Euan Harvey

Full review: A genre magazine that has seriously struggled of late (although almost all of the genre magazines seem to have struggled at least some over the last couple years), Realms of Fantasy closed up shop briefly and reopened under new management. Though the format has not changed since the relaunch, subsequent issues seem to have been hobbled with a creeping malaise as the magazine's quality slowly drains away. The October 2010 issue of Realms of Fantasy seems to have halted that downward trend, but whether subsequent issues can reverse it remains to be seen.

Cutter in the Underverse by Daniel Hood is a decent ghost story about a New York City cop who can see the ghostly world that exists underneath the normal world. The story also throws in a couple of ghostly gangsters seeking to even the score that they left unbalanced in life, giving the story something of a noir feel. The story manages to be gritty while giving the feel of an ethereal version of a 1940s gangster movie.

Middle by Eilis O'Neal, depicting the travails of a more or less forgotten middle child, is what I would imagine Jan Brady's story would be like if she lived in a world where fantasy was real. And Marcia went to sleep for days on end. And Marcia's dreams were visible to everyone. In this story the middle child's name is Jenny, her sleeping sister is Addy, and their younger brother Jake has an invisible were-llama named Clyde for a best friend. Despite the layering of winged puppies, businesses that sell time travel trips, and dreamcatchers, Jenny's problems are the same as any adolescent girl struggling to find her own way in the shadow of her pretty and popular sister. Even asleep, Addy dominates her parent's attention, and Jenny engages in more and more extreme behavior, seemingly hoping to claim at least some of her family's time away from her dormant sibling. Despite the somewhat silly trappings, the story is serious and strong.

The Fall of the Moon by Jay Lake is a story of cultural conformity and the need to break those constraints set in a world that sits at the intersection of fantasy and science fiction. A culture of human refugees, seemingly lost on a hostile shore beneath the beautiful creations of their ancestors is content to scrape out an existence on the edge of a deadly sea. Hassan, the protagonist of the story, adopts his deceased grandfather's dream to seek more, and builds a boat using his grandfather's notes as a guide and his grandfather's bones as building material. Hassan's obsession with building his boat and sailing the deadly sea to presumed immortality disturbs his neighbors, who want him to settle down, get married, and become a productive member of their society. The story carefully avoids opining on whether Hassan's assumptions about the profit to be gained from his intended voyage are true or not, allowing the reader to focus on the idea that unfettered ambition is worthwhile in and of itself, despite the consternation it may cause in those around him.

Of all the stories in the issue, Saint's-Paw by Alan Smale is probably the one that follows the most traditional fantasy format. In the story, a curious young girl named Rachel is accused of witchcraft when she decides to see how human bodies work by dissecting her dead father. She seeks sanctuary in a church dedicated to a martyred saint whose only remaining body part is a severed hand kept as a holy relic. As soldiers lay in wait outside, Rachel tries to explain herself to the resident priest, who is, as one might expect, horrified. After he leaves her to her fate, the soldiers try to claim their prize. Rachel, with some unexpected supernatural assistance, has other ideas. Despite its conventional setting, the story deals with the struggle between superstition and knowledge, and the place women should hold in society. Through most of the story it seemed to be almost a paint-by-numbers style fantasy, but by the end it turned out to be much more than that.

The last story in the issue, Halloween: Comprising a Cautionary Acrostic of Nine Bedtime Stories for Reading to the Tiresome or Disobedient Child by Euan Harvey is a series of interconnected horror stories, all involving children or teenagers with names starting with letters that spell the word "Halloween". The individual stories are all quite short, but are all individually fairly scary, drawing upon some fairly standard (and effective) horror tropes. Together they add up to a more or less cohesive narrative that reminded me of a Edward Gorey painting crossed with a George Romero movie.

This issue's installment in the ongoing feature Folkroots is titled Mad, Bad & Dangerous: The Androgyne, dealing with gender ambiguous characters in myth and fantasy. The subject seems like one that could have formed the basis for an interesting article, but unfortunately this is not that article. Seemingly spending about half of its space on the travails of being gender ambiguous in the modern world, and the other half jumping from one example to the other, the article lacks focus, and never gives anything more than a very shallow examination of the androgynous character in folklore. The other feature article in the issue is a bio piece about artist Tiffany Prothero, titled The Magic Is in the Details. I was unfamiliar with her work before seeing this issue, and even after reading the very brief article, I'm still not really that familiar with it, and not sure if I there is any reason to rectify that situation. Of all the elements of Realms of Fantasy that have suffered since the change in ownership, the one that has suffered the most has been the non-fiction feature articles and this issue continues that depressing trend.

With some good fiction, some bad feature articles, and competent movie and book reviews, the October 2010 issue of Realms of Fantasy is a reasonably good magazine, but not as good an issue as the publication used to turn out. While it seems like the downward trend in quality that the magazine had suffered in the last several issues has been halted, at least temporarily, the jury is still out on whether this situation can be reversed. As, in my opinion, there can never be too many good genre magazines being published, I hope that this marks the turnaround for the magazine, and we will be able to enjoy a revived and reinvigorated Realms of Fantasy in the future.

Subsequent issue reviewed: December 2010.

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Review - Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 71, No. 4 (November 1986) by Edward L. Ferman (editor)

Stories included:
Killing Weeds by Bradley Denton
Stones Edward F. Shaver
Face Value by Karen Joy Fowler
The Year All the Kennedy Children Ran for President by Gerald Jonas
The Uncorking of Uncle Finn by Jane Yolen
On the Dream Coast in Winter by Richard Mueller
The Deathtreader by Julie Stevens
Agua Morte by Alan Boatman
The Place of Turnings by Russell Griffin

Poems included:
Epicenter by Robert Frazier

Science fact articles included:
The Unmentionable Planet by Isaac Asimov

Full review: Reviewing an older issue of a genre magazine is always interesting because of the perspective that the distance of time gives one. In the November 1986 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction one can see the lingering effects of the Vietnam war, and the newly discovered knowledge the Voyager probes revealed concerning our outer solar system. Despite the passage of more than twenty years, the stories contained in this issue have mostly held up, with a few exceptions.

The lead story, and featured cover story is Face Value by Karen Joy Fowler, a sad love story involving two people, a xenologist and a poet, separated from humanity trying to understand an enigmatic alien species. The story delves into what is and is not art, and what a species may or may not value. The tale turns tragic at the end when the protagonist realizes that despite his best efforts he has completely misunderstood his companion and the aliens. The story is a bittersweet story of the cost of success, and is quite good. Another story involving the convoluted path of lover is On the Dream Coast in Winter by Richard Mueller, which uses the traditional Hawaiian gods as a framing device in a story in which a man discovers that the relationship he has with the woman he loves is not, as he had thought, as satisfactory an arrangement as he had believed. While Face Value is tragic, On the Dream Coast in Winter is hopeful, but is equally as good a story. Another story dealing with the interaction between alien cultures is The Place of Turnings by Russell Griffin, in which human explorers encounter something truly alien in a bizarrely mutated human culture on a distant planet. Two different expeditions plunge forward, confident that their technology will ensure their survival without taking into account the wholly alien culture of their hosts, a miscalculation that proves to be most unwise.

The story Killing Weeds by Bradley Denton is an example of "Vietnam veteran" speculative fiction, which one does not find very often these days, but once was incredibly common. The story itself would not even really be speculative fiction, but instead just be an examination of the delusions of a veteran gone crazy save for one element: his twelve year old son sees the supposed delusions as well. And the delusions are threatening: Viet Cong popping up out of nowhere around the struggling family farm as the characters try to kill the weeds that threaten to overwhelm their crop. In the end, one comes away wondering if anything that the veteran sees is real, including the protagonist himself. This is not the best veteran cracking up story I've read, but it is a fine effort nonetheless. Also a story about a man coming unhinged, and billed as a modern day version of the Jekyll and Hyde story, Agua Morte by Alan Boatman is more or less that, although it is not anything more. The story is so spare and bare bones that it seems to be lacking, especially in comparison with the original.

In Stones Edward F. Shaver mixes together astronomy and marine biology in a manner somewhat reminiscent of David Brin's Uplift series as the protagonist blindly tries to unravel the language of the whales at the behest of the armed services. Shrouded in fairly clumsily executed mystery through much of the story, the motivation of the military men is revealed at the end, with potential dire consequences for humanity. In a twist unusual for a science fiction story, the sinister looking military men that surround the protagonist turn out not to be the villains, although the story offers little comfort concerning humankind's potential survival when the nature of the villains is ultimately revealed. Stones is a decent story that isn't nearly as good at hiding the mysterious part of the story as it thinks it is.

The Uncorking of Uncle Finn by Jane Yolen is a fantasy supposition involving a pious Christianized elf and a drunken not so pious human abbot. The two come into conflict with fairly humorous results. The story is funny, but nothing more than that.

Taking on both telepathy and death, The Deathtreader by Julie Stevens is a story about a woman with the gift to telepathically ease the way for people who are on the verge of death. Set in a strangely warped future in which Portland has become an isolated backwater, she bargains her services for a horse to give to the man who means the most to her. The ideas contained in this story seem to have been reflected in the way telepaths handle people about to die in the Babylon 5 television series, and the timing is such that this story may have served as a partial inspiration, although that is pure speculation on my part. The story has a promising beginning, and develops well, but the ending is a rushed mess that cuts off abruptly.

One recurring set of oddities in genre magazines are stories that aren't actually genre stories, and The Year All the Kennedy Children Ran for President by Gerald Jonas falls into this category. A tale involving a protagonist who appears to have multiple personality disorder, it is quirky and fun, but lacking any science fiction or fantasy element, it is simply out of place.

The issue also includes the science fact article The Unmentionable Planet by Isaac Asimov, focused on the "unmentionable" planet Uranus written shortly after the exploration of that celestial body and its satellites by Voyager II. Asimov begins the article by referencing his own Lucky Starr series of book (a series that I have a somewhat unexplainable fondness for) and noting that not only did he not write a book about Uranus for that series, it was the only planet that he had no intention of writing a book for in the series. he attributes this lack of interest to the then presumed boring nature of the planet, a presumption that the information supplied by Voyager II shattered. Although the information about Uranus discussed in the article will probably be old hat to anyone who is interested in planetary astronomy, but it is an interesting window on how the information was viewed when it was first revealed, and should be interesting for anyone who has not immersed themselves in amateur astronomy for the last couple decades.

Despite the inclusion of one completely out of place story, one story that simply isn't very good, and two stories that more or less fall apart as they near their end, the remaining fiction in the issue is good enough to make the overall issue a serviceable one. With stories that have held up reasonably well over the last two decades, this issue is a reminder of the generally good quality fiction that Fantasy & Science Fiction is known for.

Subsequent issue reviewed: January 1987

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Review - Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 93, Nos. 4 & 5 (October/November 1997) edited by Gordon van Gelder

Stories included:
Deus X by Jerry Oltion and Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Everything's Eventual by Stephen King
God Is Thus by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Transcendence by Nancy Springer
The Hole in the World by Jack Williamson
Paul and Me by Michael Blumlein
To Church with Mr. Multhiford by Robert Reed
Down the Fool's Road by Lisa Goldstein
The Player by Terry Bisson
Like the Gentle Rain by Lewis Shiner

Science fact articles included:
Selfness by Gregory Benford

Full review: The October/November 1997 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction is both a double issue, and the 48th Anniversary issue of the magazine. In my experience reading genre magazines, either one of these elements is often a recipe for a subpar issue. This issue, however, is a happy exception to this trend, with several good stories, a good science fact article, and a very good "celebrity author" story.

Featured on the cover is the novella Everything's Eventual by Stephen King, concerning a man with a very strange talent, a very strange job, and even stranger working conditions. The story fills in slowly, revealing the oddities of the main character's life. This being a Stephen King story, there has to be a monster lurking in the corner somewhere, but the twist in this story is that the monster is front and center, staring everyone in the face for the whole book. Eventually the protagonist figures out who the villain of the story is, and he doesn't like the revelation very much. The story sits at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and King blends them skillfully to produce a great story. Unlike many featured stories contributed by famous authors for special magazine issues that seem to be little more than whatever the author had on his desk when the request came in, this story is excellent. Also sitting at the intersection of science fiction and horror is Jack Williamson's The Hole in the World a very short story in which a man has to face the titular threat, with disastrous personal results. There isn't really much more to it than that.

One mini-theme of the issue appears to be stories with a religious theme, starting with Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s God Is Thus, set in the same post-apocalyptic world as A Canticle for Liebowitz. In the story, a disgraced monk traveling with a motley crew that includes a powerful church official going incognito come across a colony of outcast mutants. The protagonist discovers more about himself and his traveling companions than he probably wanted to. The story is more or less an excerpt from Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, although people who have not read Canticle might find it a bit confusing. As with other Miller tales, this one is layered with people confronting reality as it is, while attempting to reconcile it with their faith in God. The longest religiously themed story in the issue is Deus X by Jerry Oltion and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a tale about a minor politician who has his seemingly insane sister committed to prevent her from messing up his reelection chances. When the invisible people she had been talking to begin to show up on the protagonists doorstep, he gets a little in over his head. The story is basically a "what if" about the birth of Jesus, but the authors make a rather unusual speculation about the saviour's possible parentage in a way that leads to speculation but no conclusions. The only weak part of the story is the ending, which seems both rushed and forced, like the authors decided that the story was long enough and needed to end it in a couple hundred words or less. The last, and most tangentially religiously related story is To Church with Mr. Multhiford by Robert Reed, a tale about a teenager who lets himself get dragged into some mischief by his friends, and finds himself confronted by a victim who knows a lot more about him than he expected. The church angle comes from the fact that the kid's father is a minister, but it doesn't go much further than that. The story takes an unusual view of the relationship between humanity and agriculture that is a little unsettling, but also quite interesting.

A second mini-theme of the issue is fairy tale inspired stories. Transcendence by Nancy Springer is a sort of twisted modern tale, in which an ardent young fan communicates with the author he has fallen for, despite her protestations concerning her unattractive appearance and vile personal nature. The story is told in a series of back and forth letters that detail their initial contact, modest relationship, and eventual parting. It is cast as a modern fairy tale, but if it is an effort to evoke a classic fairy tale either I am too dense to see which one, or the story is too opaque. Another modern take on a fairy tale type story is Paul and Me by Michael Blumlein, which takes on the Paul Bunyan legend and sets him into the modern day. The story is told through the eyes of a man as he grows from adolescence into middle-age, and Paul's story more or less parallels the protagonist's increasing disillusionment, as the world stops valuing what Bunyan stood for. The story takes a tall tale about a giant lumberjack and makes it into a touching tragedy. The third fairy story is Down the Fool's Road by Lisa Goldstein, in which a collection of enigmatic fairies lead a woman away from her daily routine into a bizarre series of encounters. The story is confusing through most of its run, but eventually winds up in a manner that ties up the confusion and makes it makes some semblance of sense.

The Player by Terry Bisson is a very short, quirky story about an interstellar wanderer and the people who find and repair it. The story seems to aspire to be deep and meaningful, but I must have missed the deep lesson, because it just seemed to me like a technically inclined version of a catch and release fish story.

Also included in this issue is the science fact article Selfness by Gregory Benford, written in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of Dolly the cloned sheep. Although many of the more heady predictions following the announcements have not and likely will not come to pass - cloning livestock appears to be so impractical as to likely never be worthwhile - the question of identity in a world potentially full of genetic duplicates remains timely. Benford takes on the question of identity in such a world from the point of view of someone who already has a genetic duplicate in existence: he's an identical twin. Benford allows his imagination to range freely on the issue of personal identity coming to conclusions that are both intriguing and disturbing. This is by far the best science fact article I have read in Fantasy & Science Fiction. Somewhat related to the article is the dystopian story Like the Gentle Rain by Lewis Shiner which imagines a world in which children determined to be destined to be "scientists" are taken from their parents in infancy to be radically altered into coldly rational beings. The story follows a mother's attempts to find and recover her son after he has been taken. Along the way she discovers that the world doesn't work the way she thought it did, and that even when she gets what she wants it isn't what she expected. The future the story posits is all too plausible, which makes it that much more effective.

In the end, despite a couple mediocre stories, this is a very good issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Both the King and Miller stories are very good, and the Oltion and Rusch piece is pretty good too. The Shiner story is the scariest in the issue, which is odd for an issue in which King has a contribution. Lacking any poor stories, and with a very good science fact article, the October/November 1997 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction avoids both the double issue flab and the anniversary issue doldrums. One generally expects good material from one of the flagship genre magazines out there, and this issue delivers.

Previous issue reviewed: April 1987

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2010 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne, Australia.

Comments: In 2010, Harry Turtledove had a good year at the Prometheus Awards, garnering two nominations for Liberating Atlantis and The United States of Atlantis, both books from his Atlantis series. While these are both good books, the "libertarian" theme in them is fairly minor, while the changed geography is quite prominent, meaning that, once again, the Libertarian Futurist Society's nominations for the Prometheus Award seem to be a clear indication of just how thin the ranks of works of libertarian fiction really are.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin

Other Nominees:

Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card

Liberating Atlantis by Harry Turtledove
Makers by Cory Doctorow
The United States of Atlantis by Harry Turtledove

Hall of Fame

Winner:

No Truce with Kings by Poul Anderson

Other Nominees:
As Easy as A.B.C. by Rudyard Kipling
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison

Go to previous year's nominees: 2009
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2011

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2010 Hugo Finalists

Location: Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne, Australia.

Comments: In 2010 the Best Novel Hugo Award resulted in a tie for only the third time in the history of the award category, with China Miéville's The City & the City sharing the honor with Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl.

Other than that, the Hugo Awards for 2010 were fairly bland in their results. The Foglio's won the Best Graphic Novel Hugo for the second year in a row for Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm, Jack Vance won the Best Related Work Hugo for his autobiography, Doctor Who won the Short Form Dramatic Presentation Hugo for the episode The Waters of Mars, and so on and so forth. The entire slate of nominees for the Best Short Form Editor was the same as the slate for that award in 2009. About the only notably unusual thing that happened this year was that Farah Mendlesohn pulled off the difficult feat of getting herself nominated for two works in the same category, and Neil Gaiman was nominated for an award and didn't win.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) The City & the City by China Miéville
(tie) The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Other Finalists:
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22^nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer

Best Novella

Winner:

Palimpsest by Charles Stross

Other Finalists:
Act One by Nancy Kress
The God Engines by John Scalzi
Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow
Vishnu at the Cat Circus by Ian McDonald
The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Island by Peter Watts

Other Finalists:
Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky
It Takes Two by Nicola Griffith
One of Our Bastards is Missing by Paul Cornell
Overtime by Charles Stross

Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster

Best Short Story

Winner:

Bridesicle by Will McIntosh

Other Finalists:
The Bride of Frankenstein by Mike Resnick
The Moment by Lawrence M. Schoen
Non-Zero Probabilities by N.K. Jemisin
Spar by Kij Johnson

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:

This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is "I") by Jack Vance

Other Finalists:
Canary Fever: Reviews by John Clute

Hope-In-the-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees by Michael Swanwick

The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction by Farah Mendlesohn

On Joanna Russ by Farah Mendlesohn

The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminisms by Helen Merrick

Best Graphic Story

Winner:

Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio

Other Finalists:

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman, penciled by Andy Kubert, inked by Scott Williams

Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State by Paul Cornell, penciled by Leonard Kirk with Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona, and Ardian Syaf

Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages by Bill Willingham, penciled by Mark Buckingham, art by Peter Gross, Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, and David Hahn, color by Lee Loughridge and Laura Allred, letters by Todd Klein

Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse by Howard Tayler

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Winner:
Moon

Other Finalists:
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Up

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Winner:
Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars

Other Finalists:
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead
Dollhouse: Epitaph 1
FlashForward: No More Good Days

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;
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Other Finalists:
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
Liz Gorinsky
Juliet Ulman

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Shaun Tan

Other Finalists:
Bob Eggleton
Daniel Dos Santos
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:

Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, and Sean Wallace

Other Finalists:
Ansible edited by Dave Langford
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, and Liza Groen Trombi
Weird Tales edited by Stephen H. Segal and Ann VanderMeer

Best Fanzine

Winner:

StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith

Other Finalists:
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian III
Drink Tank edited by Christopher J. Garcia with guest editor James Bacon
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Frederik Pohl

Other Finalists:
Claire Brialey
Christopher J. Garcia
James Nicoll
Lloyd Penney

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Brad W. Foster

Other Finalists:
Dave Howell
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Seanan McGuire

Other Finalists:
Saladin Ahmed
Gail Carriger
Felix Gilman
Lezli Robyn

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's finalists: 2009
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 2011

2010 Hugo Longlist     Book Award Reviews     Home

2010 Campbell Award Nominees

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

Comments: In 2010, two women made it to the finalist list for the Campbell Awards. Nancy Kress, an author with a long and impressive career writing thought-provoking science fiction, was nominated for her novel Steal Across the Sky. And Margaret Atwood, an author with an impressive writing career but who also continues to yelp that she doesn't write science fiction even when she clearly has, was nominated for her novel The Year of the Flood. Even though the female representation on this ballot is paltry, I kind of wish that the Campbell Award judges had given Atwood her wish and not nominated her novel, perhaps replacing her book with a work by one of the many female authors who are proud to be science fiction novelists. As long as Atwood insists that she doesn't write science fiction, and as long as she looks down her nose at the genre, there is simply no reason to bother honoring her for her work with genre awards rather than honoring people who enjoy and respect science fiction.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Second Place:

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22^nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson

Third Place:

The City & the City by China Miéville

Finalists:

The Caryatids by Bruce Sterling

Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
Gardens of the Sun by Paul J. McAuley
Makers by Cory Doctorow
Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
Transition by Iain M. Banks
WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts

Go to previous year's nominees: 2009
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2011

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2010 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Mythcon 41 in Dallas, Texas.

Comments: From a certain perspective, the two scholarship categories look a little bit like a figure skating competition. Every year it seems that one or both of the winners are works that appeared on the list of final nominees in a previous year, creating the impression that in order to win, a work has to "wait its turn" before being selected. This also creates the impression that the nominees are of progressively declining quality. If, One Earth, One People, the current winner in the Myth and Fantasy Studies category, was the second or third best nominee in 2009, does that mean that all of the nominees in 2010 are worse than a work that was at best the second-best nominee of 2009? If one of the also-rans from 2010 wins in 2011, does that mean that all of the other 2011 nominees are no better than the second best option from 2010, and compare even more unfavorably to the nominees from 2009? I'm sure this isn't impression that the Mythopoeic Society wants outside observers to take away from their process, but it is the impression that their process gives nonetheless.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:

Lifelode by Jo Walton

Other Nominees:

Avilion Robert Holdstock

Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales Greer Gilman
Palimpsest Catherynne M. Valente
Trickster's Game trilogy (Heartwood, Bloodstone, and Foxfire) by Barbara Campbell

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Other Nominees:

Ash by Malinda Lo

Books of Bayern (The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Forest Born) by Shannon Hale

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
The Hotel Under the Sand by Kage Baker

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:

Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits by Dimitra Fimi

Other Nominees:

Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion by Douglas Charles Kane

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. Whittingham

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:

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

Other Nominees:

Lilith in a New Light: Essays on the George MacDonald Fantasy Novel by Lucas H. Harriman

Metamorphoses of the Werewolf: A Literary Study from Antiquity Through the Renaissance by Leslie A. Sconduto

Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn
The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale by Caroline Sumpter

Go to previous year's nominees: 2009
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2011

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2010 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Seattle, Washington.

Comments: With nominated works by Roger Zelazny, Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Silverberg, Michael Moorcock, and Jack Vance in the Best Collection category, 2010 exemplified the genre fiction fans' nostalgic yearning for short fiction written by authors who cut their teeth in the 1950s and 1960s. As forward-looking as most science fiction fans like to pretend they are, the market (and the voting for awards) demonstrates that a large proportion of them look to the past more than they look to the future, which to my mind explains to a certain extent why short fiction continues to prosper in the genre world, while it has nearly died out completely in mainstream fiction. The world of short fiction is changing, however, as indicated by the appearance of online outlets for short fiction such as Tor.com and Clarkesworld on the list of Best Magazine nominees.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Other Nominees:
2.   The Empress of Mars by Kage Baker
3.   Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   Julian Comstock: A Story of 22^nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
5.   Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
6.   Transition by Iain M. Banks
7.   Under the Dome by Stephen King
8.   Gardens of the Sun by Paul J. McAuley
9.   This Is Not a Game by Walter Jon Williams
10. Ark by Stephen Baxter
11. The Devil's Alphabet by Daryl Gregory
12. Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
13. The Sunless Countries by Karl Schroeder
14. The Walls of the Universe by Paul Melko
15. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
16. Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts
17. Buyout by Alexander C. Irvine

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   The City & the City by China Miéville

Other Nominees:
2.   Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
3.   Drood by Dan Simmons
4.   Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente
5.   Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
6.   Green by Jay Lake
7.   The Revolution Business by Charles Stross
8.   Canticle by Ken Scholes
9.   Avilion by Robert Holdstock
10. Lifelode by Jo Walton
11. The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham
12. The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan
13. Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales by Greer Gilman
14. Madness of Flowers by Jay Lake
15. The High City by Cecelia Holland
16. Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan
17. Spell Games by T.A. Pratt
18. Dragon in Chains by Daniel Fox
19. Gears of the City by Felix Gilman
20. Last Days by Brian Evenson
21. In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield
22. The Painting and the City by Robert Wexler

Best Young Adult Book
Winner:
1.   Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Other Nominees:
2.   The Hotel Under the Sand by Kage Baker
3.   Liar by Justine Larbalestier
4.   Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
5.   Going Bovine by Libba Bray
6.   Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
7.   The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
8.   Sacred Scars by Kathleen Duey
9.   Gullstruck Island (aka The Lost Conspiracy) by Frances Hardinge

Best First Novel
Winner:

1.    The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Other Nominees:
2.   Lamentation by Ken Scholes
3.   The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
4.   Soulless by Gail Carriger
5.   Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout
6.   Ash by Malinda Lo
7.   Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
8.   Harbinger by Jack Skillingstead
9.   Total Oblivion, More or Less by Alan DeNiro
10. Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder
11. Living with Ghosts by Kari Sperring
12. The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
13. Lightbreaker by Mark Teppo
14. Blood of Ambrose by James Enge

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker

Other Nominees:

2.   Palimpsest by Charles Stross

3.   Vishnu at the Cat Circus by Ian McDonald
4.   Ace One by Nancy Kress
5.   Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow
6.   Cuckoo by Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, and Leah Bobet
7.   Hot Rock by Greg Egan
8.   The Far End of History by John C. Wright
9.   A Special Place by Peter Straub

10. Paradiso Lost by Albert E. Cowdrey (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 116, Nos. 6 & 7 (June/July 2009)

11. Sea-Hearts by Margo Lanagan
12. Crimes and Glory by Paul J. McAuley
13. Sugar by Leah Bobet

14. Where the Winds Are All Asleep by Michael F. Flynn (reviewed in Analog Science Fiction and Fact: Volume CXXIX, No. 10 (October 2009))

15. Horn by Peter M. Ball
16. Wives by Paul Haines
17. The Wide, Carnivorous Sky by John Langan

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   By Moonlight by Peter S. Beagle

Other Nominees:
2.   It Takes Two by Nicola Griffith
3.   The Island by Peter Watts
4.   First Flight by Mary Robinette Kowal
5.   Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky
6.   Sylgarmo's Proclamation by Lucius Shepard
7.   The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles by Kij Johnson
8.   Zeppelin City by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn
9.   Utriusque Cosmi by Robert Charles Wilson
10. Secret Identity by Kelly Link
11. Mongoose by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
12. Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance by John Kessel
13. Truth and Bone by Pat Cadigan
14. Galapagos by Caitlín R. Kiernan
15. The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale by Robert Silverberg

16. 'A Wild and a Wicked Youth' by Ellen Kushner (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 116, Nos. 4 & 5 (April/May 2009))

17. Formidable Caress by Stephen Baxter (reviewed in Analog Science Fiction and Fact: Volume CXXIX, No. 12 (December 2009))

18. This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe by Robert Charles Wilson

19. (tie) The Dragaman's Bride by Andy Duncan
      (tie) Lion Walk by Mary Rosenblum
21. A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon by Ken Scholes

22. Dragon's Teeth by Alex Irvine (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 117, No. 5 (December 2009))

23. The Best Monkey by Daniel Abraham
24. Dragon's Deep by Cecelia Holland
25. Yes We Have No Bananas by Paul Di Filippo
26. Twilight of the Gods by John C. Wright
27. Lowland Sea by Suzy McKee Charnas

28. Economancer by Carolyn Ives Gilman (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 116, Nos. 6 & 7 (June/July 2009)

29. Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor's Vengeance by Daniel Abraham

30. Black Swan by Bruce Sterling

31. SinBad the Sand Sailor by R. Garcia y Robertson (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 33, No. 7 (July 2009))

32. Vanishing by Peter S. Beagle
33. Cracklegrackle by Justina Robson
34. Technicolor by John Langan
35. White Charles by Sarah Monette
36. Clockatrice by Tanith Lee

37. Each Thing I Show You Is a Piece of My Death by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   An Invocation of Incuriosity by Neil Gaiman

Other Nominees:

2.   Spar by Kij Johnson

3.   Useless Things by Maureen F. McHugh
4.   The Pelican Bar by Karen Joy Fowler

5.   Going Deep by James Patrick Kelly (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 33, No. 6 (June 2009))

6.   Before My Last Breath by Robert Reed
7.   Donovan Sent Us by Gene Wolfe
8.   Narrative of a Beast's Life by Cat Rambo
9.   The Cinderella Game by Kelly Link
10. Blocked by Geoff Ryman
11. The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew by Catherynne M. Valente
12. A Delicate Architecture by Catherynne M. Valente
13. Three Twilight Tales by Jo Walton
14. Colliding Branes by Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling
15. Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction by Jo Walton

16. The Motorman's Coat by John Kessel (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 116, Nos. 6 & 7 (June/July 2009)

17. Child-Empress of Mars by Theodora Goss
18. (tie) As Women Fight by Sara Genge
      (tie) The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Holly Black
20. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
21. Ferryman by Margo Lanagan
22. Strappado by Laird Barron
23. A Story, With Beans by Steven Gould
24. Wizard's Apprentice by Delia Sherman
25. Dulce Domum by Ellen Kushner
26. Edison's Frankenstein by Chris Roberson
27. Singing on a Star by Ellen Klages

Best Collection
Winner:

1.   The Best of Gene Wolfe (aka The Very Best of Gene Wolfe) by Gene Wolfe

Other Nominees:

2.   The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny: Volumes 1-6 by Roger Zelazny

3.   Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
4.   Wireless by Charles Stross
5.   We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle
6.   The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson: Volumes 1 & 2 by Poul Anderson

7.   Slow Sculpture: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon: Volume XII by Theodore Sturgeon

8.   Oceanic by Greg Egan
9.   A Is for Alien by Caitlín R. Kiernan
10. Trips: The Collected Stories, Volume Four by Robert Silverberg
11. The Best of Michael Moorcock by Michael Moorcock
12. Wild Thyme, Green Magic by Jack Vance
13. Cryptic: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt by Jack McDevitt
14. Tides from the New Worlds by Tobias S. Buckell
15. The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories by Vandana Singh
16. Viator Plus by Lucius Shepard
17. A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti
18. Northwest Passages by Barbara Roden
19. Grazing the Long Acre by Gwyneth Jones
20. Are You There and Other Stories by Jack Skillingstead
21. Everland and Other Stories by Paul Witcover
22. Fugue State by Brian Evenson

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan

Other Nominees:

2.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

3.   Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

4.   Eclipse Three edited by Jonathan Strahan
5.   Lovecraft Unbound edited by Ellen Datlow
6.   Poe edited by Ellen Datlow
7.   The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by John Joseph Adams

8.   The Secret History of Science Fiction edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel

9.   The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology edited by Gordon van Gelder

10. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Three edited by Jonathan Strahan

11. Firebirds Soaring edited by Sharyn November
12. Best American Fantasy edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
13. Troll's Eye View edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
14. (tie) The Dragon Book edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

      (tie) The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Three edited by George Mann

16. Year's Best SF 14 edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer

17. American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now edited by Peter Straub

18. Other Earths edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake
19. Year's Best Fantasy 9 edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
20. Federations edited by John Joseph Adams
21. Postscripts #20/21: Edison's Frankenstein edited by Peter Crowther
22. The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One edited by Ellen Datlow
23. X6 edited by Keith Stevenson
24. The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2009 Edition edited by Rich Horton

25. Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between: Impossible Realism edited by Bradford Morrow and Brian Evenson

26. Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy: 2008 Download edited by Rich Horton

Best Nonfiction, Art, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   Cheek by Jowl: Essays by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:

2.   Spectrum 16: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner

3.   Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess by Charles Vess
4.   Powers: Secret Histories by John Berlyne
5.   This Is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This Is "I") by Jack Vance
6.   Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons by Mike Beahr

7.   Hope-In-the-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees by Michael Swanwick

8.   Canary Fever: Reviews by John Clute

9.   From the Pen of Paul: The Fantastic Images of Frank R. Paul edited by Stephen D. Korshak

10. Starcombing by David Langford
11. The Little Sisters of Eluria by Stephen King, illustrated by Michael Whelan
12. Knowing Darkess: Artists Inspired by Stephen King by George Beahm

13. The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction by Farah Mendlesohn

14. The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction edited by Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts, and Sherryl Vint

15. Imagination/Space: Essays and Talks on Fiction, Feminism, Technology and Politics by Gwyneth Jones

16. Sci-Fi Art, A Graphic History by Steve Holland
17. Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett
18. Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist by James Gurney
19. Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists of the Twentieth Century by Jane Frank
20. Imaginaire II: Magic Realism 2010 edited by Claus Brusen
21. Alice in Wonderland by Rodney Matthews

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Ellen Datlow

Other Nominees:
2.   Gardner Dozois
3.   Jonathan Strahan
4.   Gordon van Gelder
5.   David G. Hartwell
6.   Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
7.   Lou Anders
8.   John Joseph Adams
9.   Peter Crowther
10. Patrick Nielsen Hayden
11. Sheila Williams
12. Gavin Grant and Kelly Link
13. Terri Windling
14. Sharyn November
15. Beth Meacham
16. William Schafer
17. Stanley Schmidt
18. Shawna McCarthy
19. Juliet Ulman
20. Ginjer Buchanan
21. Teresa Nielsen Hayden
22. Martin H. Greenberg
23. Betsy Wollheim
24. Betsy Mitchell
25. Andy Cox
26. Stephen Jones

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Fantasy & Science Fiction

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

Best Book Publisher or Imprint
Winner:
1.   Tor

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

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

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

Go to previous year's nominees: 2009
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2011

Book Award Reviews     Home

2010 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Comments: In 2010 the Nebula Award for Best Script was replaced by the Ray Bradbury Award, which, like the Andre Norton Award, the SFWA is careful to explain, is not a Nebula Award. I'm not sure why the SFWA is so very adamant that these award are not Nebula Awards, but the fact remains that despite being selected using the exact same criteria as the Nebula Award, determined using the exact same jury system, and presented at the same award ceremony, the SFWA seems to think it is very important that winners of these awards don't have the cachet of calling themselves Nebula Winners. To be blunt, I find the SFWA's stance on this issue to be more than a little inane. An assessment of these awards makes it pretty clear that they are de facto Nebula Awards, so drawing a hard line de jure to deny that reality seems to serve no real purpose other than to make the SFWA look petty.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Other Nominees:
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
The City & the City by China Miéville
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak

Best Novella

Winner:

The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker

Other Nominees:
Act One by Nancy Kress
Arkfall by Carolyn Ives Gilman
The God Engines by John Scalzi
Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow
Sublimation Angels by Jason Sanford

Best Novelette

Winner:

Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster

Other Nominees:
Divining Light by Ted Kosmatka
The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi

I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said by Richard Bowes (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 117, No. 5 (December 2009))

A Memory of Wind by Rachel Swirsky
Vinegar Peace, or, the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage by Michael Bishop

Best Short Story

Winner:
Spar by Kij Johnson

Other Nominees:
Bridesicle by Will McIntosh

Going Deep by James Patrick Kelly (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 33, No. 6 (June 2009))

Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela by Saladin Ahmed
I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein
Non-Zero Probabilities by N.K. Jemisin

Ray Bradbury Award

Winner:

District 9 by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

Other Nominees:
Avatar by James Cameron
Coraline by Henry Selick
Moon by Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker
Star Trek by J.J. Abrams
Up by Bob Peterson

Andre Norton Award

Winner:

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Other Nominees:
Ash by Malinda Lo
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
The Hotel Under the Sand by Kage Baker
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

Go to previous year's nominees: 2009
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2011

Book Award Reviews     Home

2010 Clarke Award Nominees

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

Comments: With his victory arriving right on schedule, China Miéville won his third overall Clarke Award in 2010, giving him more wins for this award than any other author. Given his established track record of winning the Clarke Award once every five years, I fully expect Miéville to win this award in 2015. In addition to Miéville's accomplishment in this year, Gwyneth Jones was also nominated, making her one of the most frequently nominated authors for the Clarke Award.

Winner
The City & the City by China Miéville

Shortlist
Far North by Marcel Theroux
Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding
Spirit: The Princess of Bois Dormant by Gwyneth Jones
Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 2009
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2011

Book Award Reviews     Home

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