Nominations for 2011 Nebula Awards

According to Scalzi, the nominations for the Nebula Awards are out. I'm always interested in the nominees for Best Novel. Last year, Connie Willis won the Hugo and the Nebula for her diptych Blackout/All-Clear (which I loved).

This year the group of nominees does not look very promising:

• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
• Embassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey; Subterranean Press)
• Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace Books)
• God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
• Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
• The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

The Nebula Awards are awards in speculative fiction by writers of that genre. (As opposed to the Hugo Awards which are awards in speculative fiction voted on by fans of that genre.) Repeat nominees from last year's list include N.K. Jemisin and Jack McDevitt. I found Jemisin's debut novel (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms) annoying enough that I did not finish it or review it for the blog. I have never read any McDevitt, but he does seem to be up my alley (hard science fiction) This year's nominee Firebird and last year's Echo are entries in his popular Alex Benedict series which I gather is a mystery series about an antiques dealer set 10,000 years in the future. An earlier work by McDevitt, Seeker won the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Novel. I have a vague recollection of trying to read Seeker (but it may have been Polaris)and giving up for some reason. I think I will try and give McDevitt a try in the near future.

Anyway, of the nominees this year, the only one I have read is China Miéville's Embassytown (which I did NOT love). It is built around an astonishing idea, and written in the British writer's signature "weird" style, so I would not be surprised if he won.

I'm more interested to see what the Hugo Award nominations are, they should be out in about a month.

BOOK REVIEW: Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS

During my 2008 birthday trip to Puerto Vallarta I read Neil Gaiman's American Gods. It is on the relatively short but prestigious list of acclaimed books which have won both the Nebula and Hugo awards, the most prestigious awards in speculative fiction.

Neil Gaiman is an incredibly accomplished writer, and unfortunately, he knows this very well. I previously reviewed his The Graveyard Book which won not only the Hugo Award (the most prestigious award in science fiction/fantasy) in 2009 but also the Newberry Medal, the most prestigious award in juvenile fiction. I was baffled by the critical acclaim for this book which I found trite and boring.

American Gods is a very interesting book and I am glad that I read it but one can't really say that I enjoyed it like other Hugo-Nebula winners which are instant favorites like Connie Willis' Doomsday Book and Blackout/All-Clear or Frank Herbert's Dune, just to name a few.

The basic premise of American Gods is the idea that gods and other mythical creatures are real because they are believed in. In particular, there are specific American gods which have been created by various segments of the American populace, who brought the spirits and fables of their homelands when they immigrated to America. Gaiman also introduces the idea of new American gods based on different aspects of modern life such as the Internet.

The story follows the main character named Shadow who meets a man called Mr. Wednesday and they travel across America until Mr. Wednesday becomes another casualty in the war between the New Gods and the Old Gods. There are many, many scenes between characters who are representatives or symbols of various Gods. The references are so multifarious and obscure it is doubtful that anyone can recognize them all but one has to admire the creativity of the central conceit although I do think it takes a toll on the readability of the book as well as the integrity of the plot.

Interestingly, HBO has decided that the rich diversity of the world Gaiman has created here is worthy material for a blockbuster new television series in the vein of Game of Thrones. It was announced in Summer 2011 that the network intends to produce six(!) seasons of American Gods starting in 2013 with each season budgeted in the $40 million range. I predict that a well-done television series is probably a more enjoyable way to consume and appreciate Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

Author: Neil Gaiman

Title: American Gods.

Paperback: 624 pages.
Publisher: Harper Perennial.
Date: September 2, 2003.

OVERALL GRADE: B+.

PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: Blackout & All-Clear by Connie Willis

Connie Willis is one of my favorite science fiction authors, having written the incredible Doomsday Book (see my A+ review). Last year she returned to the time-travelling universe of Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing Of The Dog with the duology Blackout/All-Clear.

The diptych Blackout/All-Clear was immediately critically acclaimed and became Willis' second book to win both of the top awards in science fiction, the 2011 Nebula award and the 2011 Hugo award.

The books use the assumption that by 2060 time-travel is possible, although due to the chance of changing the future by changing the past, it is mainly only used by academics. The books are set in Oxford University and generally involved graduate students who need to go back in time as part of their "field research" for their studies on particular historical events.

The first thing to realize about Blackout/All-Clear is that it is really not two books, it is one book split into two parts, so you should not expect a conclusion at the end of Blackout. In fact, I would strongly recommend that however you procure Blackout to read it, you should save yourself the anxiety and just get the second half of the book as well, All-Clear.

The main characters are Michael Davies, Polly Churchill and Merope Ward who are sent back into World War II Britain as Mike Davis, Polly Sebastian and Eileen O'Reilly, respectively.

One of the most interesting things Connie Willis does is depict what life really was like to live through the Blitz, one of the most important and harrowing time periods in history, for any civilization. She does this through the seemingly insignificant details of how The War affected everyday, unknown people every day. Of course, what is also amusing and entertaining for the reader is that she also includes people who are famous now but who were not necessarily so famous then (Agatha Christie comes to mind).

Another important feature of the book to me was its depiction of gender. The fact that two of the main characters are women (really barely more than teenagers) in the mid-1940s decades before the equal rights movement allows Willis to really reveal the contours of sexism behind the veneer of polite British society.

One thing all time-travel stories have in common is that they have rules, generally the rule is that the time travelers can not produce a paradox (like going back in time and killing your own father or grandfather before you were born because then how could you be alive to go back in time in the first place?). Willis plays on this fact, and the idea tat no author would ever kill of one of her three central major characters to raise the level of suspense to heart-pounding levels.

In the end, the books end on something of an emotionally manipulative note, but that decision really ensures that readers of Blackout/All-Clear will not forget the experience any time soon.

Title: Blackout
Author: Connie Willis
Length: 512 pages.
Publisher: Spectra.
Published: February 2, 2010.

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.



OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.83/4.0).

Title: All Clear

Author: Connie Willis

Length: 656 pages.

Publisher: Spectra.

Published: October 19, 2010

OVERALL GRADE: A- (4.0/4.0).


PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A.

2011 Hugo Winners Announced!

The 2011 Hugo Awards were announced last weekend at the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, Nevada. Two of my favorites, Christopher Nolan's Inception and Commie Willis' Blackout/All-Clear won the major prizes of Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form and Best Novel, respectively. Willis becomes the second female author to win the prestigious Nebula/Hugo double for the same book twice. She won the Nebula award for Blackout/All-Clear earlier this year and had previously won the double for an earlier book in the series, Doomsday Book, one of my favorite books of all time. The only other authors to win the Hugo/Nebula double for the same book twice are Joe Haldeman (The Forever War, Forever Peace), Ursula K. LeGuin (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed), and the now-odious Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead).

Here's the full list and here's the list of the winners in the most important categories::

BEST NOVEL

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)

BEST NOVELLA

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)

BEST NOVELETTE

“The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov’s, June 2010)

BEST SHORT STORY

“For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010)

BEST RELATED WORK

Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (Mad Norwegian)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse,
written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by
Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Doctor Who: “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang,” written by Steven
Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)

What's nice about the Hugos is that they also release the detailed breakdown of the preference voting results every year as well. It would be incredibly awesome if other awards (Oscars, Emmys, are you listening?) did that as well.

Also, notice that the titles of the winners of Best Novella, Novelette and Best Short Story are hyperlinks. By clicking on the links you can see these award-winning pieces of speculative fiction for free. Enjoy!