The judges had another good year for reading books, spurred on at the start of the year by an Apocalyptic reading resolution, and then reading most of the Clarke Award nominees. Twenty Five books in all, which is almost one every two weeks, slightly astonishing given the size of a few of them.
Interestingly not only the Apocalyptic reading list books were dark and gloomy, but so were much of the Clarke award books. Perhaps the new wave of optimistic SF, borne out of real-world hard times, has yet to break? There were of course exceptions, with a few books full of emotion and joy, and these were the books that stood out.
There were a lot of big SF names with new books this year: Ken MacLeod, Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross and Neal Stephenson being the notable authors whose new novels were read this year. Happily most of the old books needed for the reading resolution were still in print, with only a handful being hard to get hold of.
All in all a good years worth of Science Fiction literature.
It's difficult to choose the best book of the year when those read include bona-fide classics, but some of the new stuff lived up to the challenge. Results due in a few days.
2008 Book Reviews
Black Man (TBD)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Earth Ascendant by Sean Williams
Saturn's Children by Charles Stross
Seeds Of Change Edited by John Joseph Adams
Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell
Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
The Death Of Grass by John Christopher
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Visual Guide by Jason Fry
The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams
The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
The Broken World by Tim Etchells
Indiana Jones The Ultimate Guide by James Luceno
On The Beach by Nevil Shute
Saturn's Return by Sean Williams
Lost Boys by James Miller
The Postman by David Brin
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Interestingly not only the Apocalyptic reading list books were dark and gloomy, but so were much of the Clarke award books. Perhaps the new wave of optimistic SF, borne out of real-world hard times, has yet to break? There were of course exceptions, with a few books full of emotion and joy, and these were the books that stood out.
There were a lot of big SF names with new books this year: Ken MacLeod, Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross and Neal Stephenson being the notable authors whose new novels were read this year. Happily most of the old books needed for the reading resolution were still in print, with only a handful being hard to get hold of.
All in all a good years worth of Science Fiction literature.
It's difficult to choose the best book of the year when those read include bona-fide classics, but some of the new stuff lived up to the challenge. Results due in a few days.
2008 Book Reviews
Black Man (TBD)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Earth Ascendant by Sean Williams
Saturn's Children by Charles Stross
Seeds Of Change Edited by John Joseph Adams
Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell
Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
The Death Of Grass by John Christopher
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Visual Guide by Jason Fry
The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams
The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
The Broken World by Tim Etchells
Indiana Jones The Ultimate Guide by James Luceno
On The Beach by Nevil Shute
Saturn's Return by Sean Williams
Lost Boys by James Miller
The Postman by David Brin
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
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