Fishlifter Enterprises ([info]fishlifter) wrote in [info]bsfa_news,
2008-01-22 21:25:00
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BSFA awards shortlists announced

The shortlists for the 2007 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) awards were announced today (22 January 2008):

Best Novel
* Alice in Sunderland – Bryan Talbot (Jonathan Cape)
* Black Man – Richard Morgan (Gollancz)
* Brasyl – Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
* The Execution Channel – Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
* The Prefect – Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
* The Yiddish Policemen's Union – Michael Chabon (Fourth Estate)

Best Short Fiction
* 'Lighting Out' – Ken MacLeod (disLocations; NewCon Press)
* 'Terminal' – Chaz Brenchley (disLocations; NewCon Press)
* 'The Alchemist and the Merchant's Gate' – Ted Chiang (F&SF, September)
* 'The Gift of Joy' – Ian Whates (TQR)
* 'The Sledge-Maker's Daughter' – Alastair Reynolds (Interzone #209)

Best Artwork
* 'Cracked World' – Andy Bigwood (cover of disLocations anthology, published by NewCon Press)
* 'H P Lovecraft in Britain' – Les Edwards (cover of chapbook by Stephen Jones, published by the British Fantasy Society)
* 'Lunar Flare' – Richard Marchand (cover of Interzone #211)
* 'Metal Dragon Year' – Kenn Brown (cover of Interzone #212)

BSFA Fiftieth Anniversary Award: Best Novel of 1958
* A Case of Conscience – James Blish (first published by Ballantine)
* Have Spacesuit, Will Travel – Robert A Heinlein (first published in F&SF, August – October 1958)
* Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss (first published by Faber & Faber)
* The Big Time – Fritz Leiber (first published in Galaxy, March/April 1958)
* The Triumph of Time – James Blish (first published by Avon; subsequent UK title A Clash of Cymbals)
* Who? – Algis Budrys (first published by Pyramid)

The BSFA would like to extend its congratulations to all those shortlisted.

Nominations were also invited for the best non-fiction of 2007, but although a number of works were nominated there was no consensus and so no shortlist could be formed. A non-fiction award will therefore not be presented this year.

The awards will be presented on Saturday 22 March 2008, in a ceremony at the British national science fiction convention, Orbital, which will be held at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel (near Heathrow, London). BSFA members and Eastercon members will, as usual, be entitled to vote for the awards.

More information about the BSFA can be found at www.bsfa.co.uk; the shortlists and a full list of nominations submitted for the awards in all categories will be available on the website shortly.

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  • 17 comments

[info]perlmonger

January 22 2008, 21:49:46 UTC 4 years ago

Coo. God bless the Patriarchy, eh? ;)

[info]major_clanger

January 23 2008, 12:48:18 UTC 4 years ago

Which female authors did you vote for? Pending any release of the full voting figures, I'm interested to hear who was getting nominated but nonetheless didn't reach the top five.

[info]perlmonger

January 23 2008, 15:30:09 UTC 4 years ago

As pointed out lower down, the UK published requirement left the gender balance of eligible works somewhat skewed; what this says about the state of UK sf publishing is another question entirely…

As for voting, I've not read enough potential candidates to judge relative worth and, more to the point, I'm not actually a BSFA member [ omnes: so what are you doing in this community then, Jordan? Eh? ]

[info]coalescent

January 23 2008, 18:42:44 UTC 4 years ago

Quick note: the gender balance of eligible works that BSFA members are most likely to read was heavily skewed. Fantasy and YA, for instance, are eligible, and included plenty more books by women; but in practice, the tastes of BSFA members tend heavily towards science fiction. I've clarified this downthread.

[info]jamesb

January 22 2008, 22:13:39 UTC 4 years ago

That's quite an interesting selection for 2007.

J

[info]sdn

January 23 2008, 10:36:50 UTC 4 years ago

all men, all the time!

[info]sfdiplomat

January 23 2008, 11:10:14 UTC 4 years ago

I think it's a good list actually (the novels at least). I can think of a couple of books that deserved places on the list but none of them were written by women.

[info]pwilkinson

January 23 2008, 13:44:01 UTC 4 years ago

I can think of a couple of books by women that deserved places on the list but none of them were published in Britain.

[info]despotliz

January 23 2008, 14:07:12 UTC 4 years ago

I thought there was a good chance Liz Williams' Bloodmind would have made it, given that Darkland was last year, and an outside chance of Justina Robson's Selling Out, but I think the best novel ballot is very strong.

[info]sfdiplomat

January 23 2008, 14:22:46 UTC 4 years ago

Ugh... I can't stand Justina Robson.

I hate her because when I read her books I feel like a man reading a book written by a woman, which isn't something I feel with any other female author. I just wind up rolling my eyes and going "oh fuck the bloody relationship crap and get on with the plot!". If the relationships were at least interesting then maybe I'd be more tolerant but I've tried to read two of her novels and have given up on both of them. I actually left Keeping it Real on a plane as it annoyed me so much that I couldn't face carrying it home with me.

On a side note, Niall pointed out that there were only 6 novels in the eligibility period that were SF and written by women. As opposed to 66 by men.

I think on those grounds and on the grounds that lots of good US books don't get published over here (as it's so easy to buy them as imports), the relevant people could do worse than having another think about the "must be published in the UK" requirement.

[info]coalescent

January 23 2008, 18:40:59 UTC 4 years ago

Just a little clarification on those numbers: there were, in the end, seven science fiction novels by women submitted for consideration for the Clarke, and I'm aware of another two. Men was in the high-fifties, and I'm aware of another half-dozen or so. (I don't think any of the books that weren't submitted would be serious award contenders.) These numbers don't include fantasy novels, YA novels, or media tie-ins, all of which are eligible for the BSFA Award; but in practice, I think the reading tastes of BSFA members tend heavily towards original, adult, science fiction.

[info]coalescent

January 23 2008, 18:44:07 UTC 4 years ago

Oh, and Justina Robson: give Natural History a go at some point, because I really can't see how that can fall foul of the problem you describe, and it's possibly her best book. If you don't get on with that, then yeah, give up.

[info]pwilkinson

January 24 2008, 14:27:17 UTC 4 years ago

A horrible personal admission (and apology to [info]mevennen). I'd quite forgotten that Bloodmind was a 2007 publication rather than a 2006 one - otherwise, I would almost certainly have nominated it (even though I didn't think that it was as good as Darkland, which I nominated last year).

Though the next rejoinder, I'm afraid, would be "So why didn't you nominate it?" It's not even on the final nominations list - and I checked the earlier nominations list for books I might have forgotten before sending in my nominations.

[info]despotliz

January 24 2008, 17:18:58 UTC 4 years ago

Are you asking why I didn't nominate it? I thought there was a good chance that Bloodmind would make it because Darkland did last year and Williams's books are popular with a lot of people. I haven't read Bloodmind because while they are popular with a lot of people they don't work for me, and having struggled through Darkland I wasn't going to read the next one.

[info]pwilkinson

January 24 2008, 20:05:54 UTC 4 years ago

OK, you were observing rather than criticising - it can be difficult to tell (certainly not you in particular, it's a general problem with online communication). And part of the answer is presumably that I can't have been the only person for whom Darkland rather stood out while Bloodmind, for some reason, didn't (possibly because it did read as a continuation of Darkland).

[info]xuxidial

April 13 2011, 01:54:14 UTC 1 year ago

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[info]baggettkitel

November 2 2011, 09:36:53 UTC 7 months ago

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