Now here is an interesting short list.

It is indeed.

Ah, that's more like it!

Damn, haven't read ANY of them. Need to put some requests in at the library.

As I said in the other thread - yey, Hutchinson got a nomination :)

I am halfway through North's book - and so far that one is also good. Had not got around the other 4 yet but they are on the list.

Haven't read any of the books shortlisted for this year.

Not sure if I've heard of the award before, though it's been around since 1987. Well, looking over the award winners, I see why I might not have heard of it. I've not read any of those books. Though I've heard of some of them and read some of the other books by the award winning authors.

I noted some other awards on a new thread, before seeing this.

On balance, it wasn't such a bad weekend, maybe?

>6 MikeBriggs: You haven't read one single of those books? It's a veritable shower of some of the most respected voices in SF the last decades: Margaret Atwood, Geoff Ryman, Pat Cadigan, Marge Piercy, Jeff Noon, Paul J. McAuley, Bruce Sterling, China Miéville, Christopher Priest, Neal Stephenson ...

Seeing it from the bright side, you have a score of great books to discover! :)

Also! The Ditmars were announced April 5. My apologies for missing them in my other thread. Australia (and New Zealand) always reach tomorrow before the rest of us.

>8 anglemark: Well, it hadn't been a conscious decision. I just never looked over most of the books before. So many of them look depressing. And/or in the "I write literature, not SF" type of camp, see: The Handmaiden's Tale. That's from a quick glance. They might otherwise be books I could easily give five stars to, if I gave them a chance.

Unlikely, in some cases. I don't really want to read about "Genetically engineered alpha males" (Richard Morgan's "Black Man").

I circled Ancillary Justice last year. Just didn't make it onto my reading list.

Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland looks like it might be interesting.

Fools by Pat Cadigan also might be interesting.

Anytime a book description starts off with something like "Europe is divided between the First World bourgeoisie" my brain starts to become fuzzy and I start to fall asleep ("Fairyland"). Might be a brilliant book, but I got trapped by that first sentence. In the description.

Christopher Priest's The Separation looks interesting.

Now see, it's the last line that made my brain start to get all fuzzy, for "The City & The City". So I got far enough to think the book might be interesting.

I'll put those four books on my possibles list. "Take Back Plenty", "Fools", "The Separation", and "The City & The City." Go from there.

I've read both The Separation, and The City & The City and loved both. I hope you will too!

>10 MikeBriggs:, >11 anglemark:

Another vote for The City & The City. Fantastic book.

I think you may be judging some of these novels unfairly.

For example Black Man seems to me to be closer to the action filled SF that is in your library than most of the nominees although Black Man also has plenty of political thought in it as well as plenty of focus on character. BTW the "genetically engineered alpha males" are more properly called "super-soldiers" if that helps you decide.

Fairyland has more of a thriller plot than you would expect.

I would also add Bruce Sterling's Distraction, and Jeff Noon's Vurt.

Personally I would think of these being more to your taste (based on your catalogue) than The Separation or The City & The City although I thought both of them were great.

>13 andyl:

Probably right about the Mieville for MikeBriggs. IIRC Black Man (titled Th1rte3n in the US) was about a genetically engineered lone wolf, sort of a psychopath.