Comments on: The Arthur C Clarke Award Shortlist 2008 – a Round-up Review http://futurismic.com/2008/04/28/arthur-c-clarke-science-fiction-award-shortlist-review/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:55:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Adam Roberts http://futurismic.com/2008/04/28/arthur-c-clarke-science-fiction-award-shortlist-review/comment-page-1/#comment-14275 Adam Roberts Sat, 03 May 2008 11:34:29 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=3242#comment-14275 Tomas: you'll be pleased with the judges' eventual decision, then. ora: thank you! <i>I</i> liked it too, though of course I'm very far from being a disinterested judge of its merits and demerits. Clearly, though, it simply wasn't a novel that approached the godlike perfections of <i>The Red Men</i> or <i>Raw Shark Texts</i>. Tomas: you’ll be pleased with the judges’ eventual decision, then.

ora: thank you! I liked it too, though of course I’m very far from being a disinterested judge of its merits and demerits. Clearly, though, it simply wasn’t a novel that approached the godlike perfections of The Red Men or Raw Shark Texts.

]]> By: ora http://futurismic.com/2008/04/28/arthur-c-clarke-science-fiction-award-shortlist-review/comment-page-1/#comment-14254 ora Thu, 01 May 2008 00:20:49 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=3242#comment-14254 I would have been happy for Land of the Headless to be in there. A fine novel. I would have been happy for Land of the Headless to be in there. A fine novel.

]]> By: Tomas Martin http://futurismic.com/2008/04/28/arthur-c-clarke-science-fiction-award-shortlist-review/comment-page-1/#comment-14221 Tomas Martin Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:00:19 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=3242#comment-14221 Good post. I totally agree with you, McDonald and Chabon should be on this list. Carhullan was excellent although I did feel Hall pulled her punches by not including the rebellion sequence at the end that the whole thing had been leading up to. I can see it was done for artistic reasons but i think an extra 50 pages showing the real conflict would have made for a stronger end than a rushed flashback of it. Thirteen/Black Man is my favourite of the year, Yiddish Policeman's Union is a very close second. Both awesome books with the writer at the top of their game. Brasyl is just stupendously innovative and really deserved a nod. The Execution Channel and Reynolds' The Prefect, as well as Gibson's Spook Country, were the others I had on or near my best of 2007 list. It's an odd list, to be sure. I don't think anyone would have commented if the list had been as you suggested, Baxter, Sarah hall, McDonald, Morgan, Chabon and McLeod. That too me was the most worthy selection of the year. I'd probably have picked Chabon or McDonald as the winner for literary or inventive brilliance respectively, although Thirteen was my favourite read. Good post. I totally agree with you, McDonald and Chabon should be on this list. Carhullan was excellent although I did feel Hall pulled her punches by not including the rebellion sequence at the end that the whole thing had been leading up to. I can see it was done for artistic reasons but i think an extra 50 pages showing the real conflict would have made for a stronger end than a rushed flashback of it.

Thirteen/Black Man is my favourite of the year, Yiddish Policeman’s Union is a very close second. Both awesome books with the writer at the top of their game. Brasyl is just stupendously innovative and really deserved a nod. The Execution Channel and Reynolds’ The Prefect, as well as Gibson’s Spook Country, were the others I had on or near my best of 2007 list.

It’s an odd list, to be sure. I don’t think anyone would have commented if the list had been as you suggested, Baxter, Sarah hall, McDonald, Morgan, Chabon and McLeod. That too me was the most worthy selection of the year. I’d probably have picked Chabon or McDonald as the winner for literary or inventive brilliance respectively, although Thirteen was my favourite read.

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