Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hugo Awards 2010 - novels: Nominees

Official announcement at AussieCon4. Covers fiction originally published anywhere in English during 2009.

I haven't read any entry on the list yet, but at least 3 appear to be longer versions of original short stories; see notes with individual entries below.

Going by Sam Jordison's notes on the list at Guardian Books, I think I'll pick up only Miéville's novel. And may be look up the original short story version of Bacigalupi's book.

Nominees (6 stories, best first, unread last)

If I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating (ABC: A = worth the time, C = don't bother) is in brackets. Links on author fetch more fiction from source. Download links are included where I'm aware of an online copy.
  1. Cherie Priest's "Boneshaker; Tor; steampunk: Not read.
  2. China Miéville's "The City & The City"; Del Rey, & Macmillan UK: Not read.

    This one sounds interesting, going by others descriptions, but I have an impression Miéville is into "punks", mostly steampunk - subgenre that has rarely worked for me. So not sure.
  3. Robert Charles Wilson's "Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America"; Tor; steampunk: Not read.

    It appears to be an expanded version of author's short story "Julian: A Christmas Story" (download).
  4. Catherynne M Valente's "Palimpsest"; Bantam Spectra: Not read.
  5. Robert J Sawyer's "WWW:Wake"; Ace, Penguin, Gollancz, & Analog (serialized?): Not read.

    It's part of a trilogy of novels that appear to expand on Arthur Clarke's oft-cited short story "Dial F for Frankenstein".
  6. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl"; download; Night Shade: Not read.

    I have an impression it's an expansion of author's earlier short story of the same name, but am not sure.

    There are good reviews around of novel version, but with a warning that it includes graphic violence.

Related.

  1. Other fiction categories in this year's Hugo awards: [short stories], [novelettes], [novellas].
  2. Last year's Hugo awards: short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels.
  3. Competing awards that recognize "best" fiction originally published in 2009: Nebula (US) - short stories, novelettes, novellas; Aurialis (Australian authors); BSFA (fiction published in UK); Prix/Aurora (Canada); Million Writers (global, online short fiction).

    Note the scope of Nebulas is 1.5 years - later half of 2008 & all of 2009. All other awards only care about 2009.
  4. Anthologies that collect "best fiction originally published during 2009": Dozois', Hartwell/Cramer's, Horton's, Strahan's.
  5. My "best fiction originally published during 2009, 2010" lists (also list others' best of relevant year lists at bottom).
  6. "Best of" lists.
  7. Fiction originally published in 2009, during 2000-2009.
Note: I normally update list posts like this when I read a story, find new links, etc. This post was last updated 10 April 2010.

2 comments:

LarryS said...

There's not much of interest there for me to be honest. There's far too much steampunk about-what about all the big space opera books by Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Paul McAuley or Michael Cobley? But again we look inwards instead of out into space!

Tinkoo said...

Personally, I don't mind "inwards" part, but steampunk doesn't normally work for me - too retro - & often deals with historical places & issues I'm unfamiliar with & uninterested in.