2020-06-21 - Clarke Award Shortlist ----------------------------------- 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.