{"id":1796,"date":"2012-01-23T17:12:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T16:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/?p=1796"},"modified":"2020-04-22T02:48:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T01:48:37","slug":"bsfa-shortlists-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/?p=1796","title":{"rendered":"BSFA SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, I nominated four of the five<\/a> shortlisted novels for this year\u2019s BSFA Award<\/strong> (and Kim Lakin-Smith\u2019s Cyber Circus<\/em> came close to getting a nod too) so I can\u2019t complain about the shortlist.<\/p>\n

Cyber Circus<\/em> by Kim Lakin-Smith (Newcon Press)
\nEmbassytown<\/em> by China Mieville (Macmillan)
\nThe Islanders<\/em> by Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
\nBy Light Alone<\/em> by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
\nOsama<\/em> by Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)<\/p>\n

I was pleased to see Lavie Tidhar\u2019s Osama<\/em> on the list, I thought it was an outsider to make it on to the shortlist because I wasn\u2019t sure how many BSFA members would have picked it up but it absolutely deserves the recognition. I\u2019ve already reviewed Adam Roberts By Light Alone<\/em><\/a> \u2013 a book that I thought was excellent but it was a review that took ages. I thought about reviewing Embassytown, The Islanders <\/em>and Osama<\/em> but they\u2019re even more complex books than By Light Alone<\/em>, there are lots of perceptive reviews of them out there and I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve got anything to add except to say that I think all five books on the shortlist are worth your time. I’d back the Chris Priest for a win, but I wouldn’t begrudge any of the books an award.<\/p>\n

If I had to pick one novel that I was disappointed did not get recognition, I would point to Kevin Barry\u2019s City of Bohane<\/em>, which I thought was an extraordinary book.<\/p>\n

As for the short fiction shortlist<\/strong>:
\nThe Silver Wind by Nina Allan (Interzone<\/em> 233, TTA Press)
\nThe Copenhagen Interpretation by Paul Cornell (Asimov\u2019s<\/em>, July)
\nAfterbirth by Kameron Hurley (http:\/\/www.kameronhurley.com)
\nCovehithe by China Mieville (The Guardian<\/em>)
\nOf Dawn by Al Robertson (Interzone<\/em> 235, TTA Press)<\/p>\n

Well, I only got two of those, the Nina Allan and the Paul Cornell, I like them both very much. I haven\u2019t read the Kameron Hurley \u2013 though it is online and (of course) should be in the BSFA Shortlist booklet. I wasn\u2019t at all taken with Kameron Hurley\u2019s first novel, God\u2019s War<\/em>, I thought it was a bit of a plodding action book complete with a well-worn, down-at-heel protagonist, but there\u2019s no denying it\u2019s been a good year for her (two novels and strong critical support) so perhaps I\u2019m an idiot. I\u2019m surprised at the China Mieville and Al Robertson stories making it to the shortlist, I have to confess that neither made a strong impression on me at all when I read them. I\u2019ll have to go back and have another look. I’d back Nina Allan for the win (but I think this will be a very close category) and encourage you to read the story in the context of her book (also called The Silver Wind<\/em> from Eibonvale Press<\/a>) as, while it is superb on its own, it gains several layers of context and meaning when surrounded by the stories that flesh out the full cycle of Allan’s bigger tale.<\/p>\n

The best artwork list <\/strong>is a mystery to me:
\nCover of Ian Whates\u2019s The Noise Revealed<\/em> by Dominic Harman (Solaris)<\/a>
\nCover and illustrations of Patrick Ness\u2019s A Monster Calls<\/em> by Jim Kay (Walker)<\/a>
\nCover of Lavie Tidhar\u2019s Osama<\/em> by Pedro Marques (PS Publishing)<\/a>
\nCover of Liz Williams\u2019s A Glass of Shadow<\/em> by Anne Sudworth (Newcon Press)<\/a><\/p>\n

I like Dominic Harman\u2019s artwork but The Noise Revealed <\/em>cover felt a bit, well, generic. I actively dislike the cover of A Monster Calls, <\/em>which I think is bland and utterly without atmosphere or menace, and Anne Sudworth\u2019s cat in a field (the cover of Liz William\u2019s A Glass of Shadow<\/em>) has obvious technical prowess but it is just a cat in a field<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t do anything at all for me. I nominated the Pedro Marques cover of Osama<\/em> and it seems to me that it is the outstanding piece of art on the shortlist.<\/p>\n

And (almost) last, but by no means least, the non-fiction award<\/strong>:
\nOut of This World: Science Fiction but not as we Know it<\/em>\u00a0by M Ashley (British Library)
\nThe SF Encyclopedia, 3rd<\/sup> Edition ed. J Clute, P Nicholls and D Langford (http:\/\/sf-encyclopedia.com<\/a>)
\nReview of Arslan<\/em> by M J Engh, A Nussbaum (Asking the Wrong Questions<\/em> blog http:\/\/bit.ly\/wChe50<\/a>)
\nSF Mistressworks, ed. I Sales (http:\/\/sfmistressworks.wordpress.com<\/a>)
\nPornokitsch, ed. J Shurin and A Perry (http:\/\/www.pornokitsch.com<\/a>)
\nThe Unsilent Library: Essays on the Russell T. Davies Era of the New Doctor Who<\/em> (Foundation Studies in Science Fiction), ed. G Sleight, T Keen and S Bradshaw (Science Fiction Foundation)<\/p>\n

I got two more on this list. I\u2019m delighted for Ian Sales, whose SF Mistressworks was a fantastically positive response to the debate about gender and genre. I also think the Out of this World<\/em> book is a fine achievement by Mike Ashley that stands independently from the British Library exhibition as an excellent history of the genre. Of the others, the only reason I didn\u2019t nominate The SF Encyclopedia<\/em> is because it is, technically, still in \u201cbeta\u201d format and won\u2019t be officially launched until next year. I think it is a marvellous achievement already but I hope this doesn\u2019t confuse the voters. I have, but have not yet read, The Unsilent Library<\/em> but the SFF produce good books and I expect to enjoy it. I\u2019ve only recently discovered Pornokitsch, a fine blog that provides excellent reviews. I haven\u2019t yet got around to reading the Abigail Nussbaum review, but it isn\u2019t long so I will soon.<\/p>\n

I think the SF Encyclopedia probably deserves to win, not least because it is a work of vast scale.<\/p>\n

Finally there\u2019s the special commendation<\/strong> for the British Library\u2019s Out of this World exhibition. The exhibition wasn\u2019t eligible for a non-fiction award nomination, despite significant support, but it was such a significant event, such a well curated exhibition, and such a fascinating experience that it surely deserved recognition. I\u2019m pleased the BSFA committee made the decision to give the exhibition an extraordinary commendation.<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s the lot.<\/p>\n

I think all the lists (except maybe the best artwork) are very strong and the reaction online seems to be extremely positive. So well done to Donna Scott, the Award Administrator, and to all the BSFA members who displayed such sound critical faculties in their nominations.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking forward to finding out who wins at Eastercon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, I nominated four of the five shortlisted novels for this year\u2019s BSFA Award (and Kim Lakin-Smith\u2019s Cyber Circus came close to getting a nod too) so I can\u2019t complain about the shortlist. Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith (Newcon Press) Embassytown by China Mieville (Macmillan) The Islanders by Christopher Priest (Gollancz) By Light Alone by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[20],"tags":[69,73,46],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27AP7-sY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1796"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2629,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1796\/revisions\/2629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mmcgrath.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}