2020-06-21 - Clarke Award Shortlist
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Every year, round about this time, the shortlist for the Arthur C.
Clarke best novel is announced. This is an award for the best
science fiction novel published in the U.K. during the previous
year, it is usually notably more "literary" than the Hugo or Nebula
award, and the final decision is in the hands of a panel of judges.
Suffice to say, I really like the Clarke shortlist, it normally
informs my summer reading. I still think that the 2018 shortlist
was one of the best years in recent memory, even if the judges
picked the wrong winner. That was one of the few years I found
myself disagreeing with the judges, the prior five being Colson
Whitehead's 'Underground Railroad', Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Children
of Time', Emily S.John Mandel's 'Station Eleven', Ann Leckie's
'Ancillary Justice' and Chris Beckett's under-rated 'Dark Eden'.
This year's list features a few I've already read, so I'll offer a
view on them...
- "The Light Brigade" by Kameron Hurley
The books I haven't read will need to be actually stellar-levels
incredible to dethrone this brilliant book from my affections.
Kameron Hurley has been at the top of my fave authors list for a
good few years now, but she went above and beyond her own skill
levels with this book. A twisty thrilling time travel gone-mad
chest burster of a book, this is simply the most enjoyable and
thought-provoking sf novel I read last year. Hugely recommended.
- "A Memory Called Empire" by Arkady Martine
My second favourite book of last year! Okay, maybe third, but
still, a book which is both byzantine and futurist, political and
personal, grand sweep of vision and understandable on a human
level. This book is simply brilliant, and it should be required
reading for all modern sf fans.
- "Cage of Souls" by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I'm a tad disappointed to see this on the list, instead of
"Children of Ruin", which was astonishingly good. Maybe because
that book is a sequel, whereas this is apparently a standalone
environmentalist thingy. Or it could just be that this isn't as
mind-bendingly twisty. Either way, I shall have to read it.
- "The Last Astronoaut" by David Wellington
- "The Old Drift" by Namwali Serpell
Neither of these came up on my radar this year, and I'll be happy
to read them. So many books which I'd otherwise never have read,
like Jaroslav Kalfar's "Spaceman of Bohemia", or Ian McDonald's
"River of Gods" have come from this shortlist over the years.
- "The City in the Middle of the Night" by Charlie Jane Anders
I don't like Anders' writing. This is nothing to do with her gender
or her background, I just don't like her writing. I saw her on two
panels at WorldCon last year, and she was fabulous; engaging,
literate, enthusiastic. None of that comes across in her books.
I'll try this, and I'll try to be objective, but this is one I
expect to end up on the DNF pile.
So, some things to look forward to, some things less so, some
things I've already read. As always, please keep on keeping on, and
be excellent to one another.
