Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist

[maeda]

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was a delightful read and i'm looking forward to explore some of the titles on the list.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton)
Europe at Midnight – Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
The Book of Phoenix – Nnedi Okorafor (Hodder & Stoughton)
Arcadia – Iain Pears (Faber & Faber)
Way Down Dark – J.P. Smythe (Hodder & Stoughton)
Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)

2016 Shortlist

 

[Jo Zebedee]

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was a delightful read and i'm looking forward to explore some of the titles on the list.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton)
Europe at Midnight – Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
The Book of Phoenix – Nnedi Okorafor (Hodder & Stoughton)
Arcadia – Iain Pears (Faber & Faber)
Way Down Dark – J.P. Smythe (Hodder & Stoughton)
Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)

2016 Shortlist

To give a contrary opinion, Long way really disappointed me. I was so looking forward to it and it left me pretty unwowed. Delighted to see Dave Hutchinson on there and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

But what really saddens me is that, again, we're celebrating authors with big publishers and the same old publishers. I'd love to see some of these awards really representing the full gamut of the genre - so much of which is with the smaller publishers.

 

[maeda]

Well, tastes aside, Becky Chambers book was released through Kickstarter campaign first if i remember correctly.
What science fiction books of the 'small/independent' UK publishers would you recommend?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Well, tastes aside, Becky Chambers book was released through Kickstarter campaign first if i remember correctly.
What science fiction books of the 'small/independent' UK publishers would you recommend?

Yes, Becky's came from Kickstarter. And we're seeing more and more of that - people being picked up through the smaller channels. Jennifer Foehner-Wells is being looked at by Penguin, I believe (she mentioned it on twitter a few weeks ago.)

I think there are some publishers producing great stuff. Ian Whates' (who was on the judging panel, as it happens) NewCon press consistently put out good quality stuff. Alchemy press also come to mind.

It's not the Clarke Award per se, by the way (I normally like their noms very much and find it more in tune with wider readership of sf than many of the other awards) but a general musing. So much of what goes on in sff is through small presses - yet it's the big presses, by and large, that come up time and again. Perhaps that is right, perhaps their stuff is consistently the highest quality around. But I'd like to see more of the breadth of the field recognised.

Maybe a category of its own? A special-mention award? I'm not sure.

 

[Vince W]

Perhaps the Chrons here need to start a small award just for small press authors? The Chronnies? Voting open to any member with more than 100 posts to avoid spam voting.

 

[maeda]

@Jo Zebedee tnx for the suggestions
I'm also of the opinion that Clarke Award shows consistency in choosing interesting books.

Perhaps the Chrons here need to start a small award just for small press authors? The Chronnies? Voting open to any member with more than 100 posts to avoid spam voting.

..and they would have to know where Section 33A2D17 is without consulting the internet :]