SF/Fantasy Update: Awards and the Passing of Philip José Farmer
Over the past month, the science fiction and fantasy community has lost a patriarch and celebrated the work of writers new and established through the announcement of several different awards ballots. Here's a look at what's been happening in the field in 2009.
Nebula Awards Finalists
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced the final ballot for the Nebula Awards, as voted on by its members, along with some material added by an oversight committee. The finalists in the novel category are:
Little Brother - Doctorow, Cory (Tor, Apr08)
Powers - Le Guin, Ursula K. (Harcourt, Sep07)
Cauldron - McDevitt, Jack (Ace, Nov07)
Brasyl - McDonald, Ian (Pyr, May07)
Making Money - Pratchett, Terry (Harper, Sep07)
Superpowers - Schwartz, David J. (Three Rivers Press, Jun08)
Due to a rules change, this is the last time that works from two years previous will be eligible for the award. What this in effect means is that most books from 2008 didn't have as much time to build up votes, which might be one reason for the inexplicable absence of titles like Neal Stephenson's Anathem. It's a somewhat curious grab bag of choices all the way down the ballot, and although I liked Superpowers it's not nearly as strong as several other novels the oversight committee could have put on the ballot. (The strongest two novels on the ballot are Powers and Brasyl.)
It's also worth noting that online sources for SF and fantasy failed miserably to penetrate into SFFWA members' awareness in the short fiction categories. Is this a case of the Old Guard's last stand against the barbarians? I don't know the answer to that question. But I do know this: if these awards don't begin to acknowledge the burgeoning talent that is bypassing F&SF and Asimov's SF Magazine in favor of electronic publication, they will soon become irrelevant to the next generation. It's perhaps telling that the SFFWA website looks not like the official home of a science fiction organization but instead like something put together by an early-90s "webmaster" with some html coding experience. Perhaps former SF Book Club editor Andy Wheeler was correct when he wrote on his blog recently, "the list is more a catalog of the various interest groups and log-rolling communities within SFFWA than it is a list of the best works of the year." That said, there's plenty of good stuff on the ballot--it just doesn't feel definitive or focused. The winners will be announced April 24-26,2009 in Los Angeles, California.
Philip K. Dick Awards Finalists
The Philip K. Dick Award honors distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The finalists are:
Emissaries for the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro (Eos Books)
Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders (Pyr)
Judge by Karen Traviss (Eos Books)
Plague War by Jeff Carlson (Ace Books)
Terminal Mind by David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
Time Machines Repaired While U-Wait by K. A. Bedford (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)
As usual, there are some interesting books on the list. I haven't read the Castro, but I'm glad to see him getting some recognition; he's one of the hardest working writers in the field. The book I'm really happy to see on the list, though, is Fast Forward 2, edited by Lou Anders (another one of those dynamic, hard-working people it's a pleasure to know). This was a fantastic anthology--and if you want to learn more about it, just check out the interview I did with Lou a little while back. Now I have an excuse to check out Karen Traviss, too--another writer I keep hearing good things about.
Arthur C. Clarke Award Long List
For the first time the Clarke Award has posted the list of all of the novels submitted for the award. The list could be longer, frankly, but that's still 46 novels. Once the short list is announced, I'll have more comments. But for now, just go check out the lovely kaleidoscope of book covers. And, yes, Anathem is on the list.
Philip José Farmer
Although known for his Riverworld novels, Philip José Farmer, who died recently at the age of 91, was at heart a 60s radical who infused many of his stand-alone novels with sexual encounters that pushed the edge of what was acceptable. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first Riverworld novel, won the Hugo Award in the 1970s. Through Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions anthology, Farmer became associated with the New Wave that included Michael Moorcock, J.G. Ballard, and Tom Disch. Farmer was also responsible for the pseudonymous Kilgore Trout novel Venus on the Half-Shell. This was one of my dad's favorite books back in the day (although I think he thought it was by Kurt Vonnegut), and one of my first encounters with science fiction as a result. The confusion surrounding who it was by led me to first Vonnegut and then Farmer. Farmer was an honest and dynamic writer who dealt with themes both large and personal. He will be missed.
Obituaries:
CNN
Official Web Site
New York Times
SciFi Wire
J M McDermott on March 04, 2009 at 05:04 PM
About the Nebula Novels Jury Selection:
I was on the Nebula Novels jury, Jeff.
The selection had to be unanimous. I think whenever four very different people get together and try to agree on one book out of the hundreds that showed up in our mail, it's not going to be the most groundbreaking title of the year.
However, it will be a very solid title, because there is something to be said for four people all agreeing on one thing out of a giant landfill.
I only wish the Novels Jury could have put more than one book on the list.
Moot now, of course, with the dissolution of juries.
But, again, David Schwarz got four completely, wildly different people to agree on one thing. So, congrats to David Schwarz.
Jeff VanderMeer on March 04, 2009 at 05:12 PM
That's a very interesting theory.
JeffV