Here are the nominees for Best Novel:The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Halting State by Charles Stross
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Halting State by Charles Stross
Like many other readers, I was a bit taken aback by the fact that Richard Morgan's Black Man/Thirteen isn't part of that list. I will be rooting for Ian McDonald, even though I feel that either Chabon or Stross will win the honor.
For the full list of nominees, check out this link.
As expected, Yours Truly didn't make it on the final ballot. Still, many thanks to GRRM and anyone else who nominated the Hotlist!:-)
8 commentaires:
I'm surprised that Rothfuss didn't make the cut, not even in the Campbell award.
It wasn't just the absence of Rothfuss, I was puzzled that there weren't any fantasies nominated at all. The only explanation I could think of was that there have been so many good fantasy novels in the last year that the fantasy vote was so badly split and SF was able to steal everything.
As for Black Man/Thirteen, I wasn't overly surprised that it didn't make the cut for three reasons. One, I didn't get the sense that the US publisher was overly surportive, the name change alone implied that they were somewhat embarassed by the book. Two, the book painted a very bleak portrait of a future America, not the kind of thing to appeal to voting fans from a country where patriotism is very strong at the moment. Three, blogster reviewers have rated the book very, very highly, but the average reader was less impressed as the customer comments on the Amazon sites show.
Rothfuss was ineligible for the Campbell, due to having an excerpt from his upcoming second book (irony, I know) published a few years ago.
Wow, Ive maybe heard of two of those.. Hopefully Rothfuss will take it next year with Wise Man's Fear.
I wasn't so surprised Thirteen didn't make the list--living in the U.S. I noticed the bookstores only carry new hardbacks at most a month (unless they make the US top ten), so not only was it not widely available it wasn't available for any length of time, and it was not promoted very well. Plus the fact, as you said, it paints a bleak picture of a U.S. near-future and most Americans I've encountered just love their heroes and happy endings.
However, I noticed on Amazon, both the UK and US sites, that Thirteen/Black Man has about 50 reviews, while Brasyl has about 5 or so. And for some reason I seem to be from a multiverse that finds Brasyl totally unreadable. The writing style drove me nuts (though I'm sure it was on purpose), and his alliterations were terrible.
I'm also put out that Rothfuss didn't make it.
Brasyl was horrible.
I consider it a male version of Chick Lit.
Rothfuss can't win next year for Wise Man's Fear because WMF won't be released until summer 2009, so it will only be eligible for the 2010 Hugo Awards.
I must admit after some reflection that Name of the Wind should have made it onto the Best Novel list even if he was ineligible for the Camobell. Interesting that it didn't.
Next year will most likely see GRRM up again for ADWD, since the last two volumes got up there (assuming it makes it before the end of the year). I have no idea what else will get up there at the moment. Nothing on the release schedules is really jumping out and screaming "Major Award Winner" to me.
Brasyl is the natural winner on that list, although they may give it to Stross or Scalzi just to stop them being nominated year after year after year.
Thirteen/Black Man not making it wasn't a surprise either. I think it hit rather uncomfortably close to the mark for a lot of American readers. If there is any justice we will see Brasyl taking the Hugo and Black Man taking the Clarke.
No nomination for Alan Lee for his artwork for Children of Hurin is just pathetic. The TV and movie awards were really messed up this year. No Sunshine, but Heroes is eligible for the long-form category? But BSG: Razor is short-form? Those rules need some serious attention.
BSFA = Epic Fail
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