Recently in Dumbies Category

And the winners are....

The judges didn’t read too many comics this year, although they did venture into the world of Manga for the first time.

• Y : The Last Man
• Black God Volume 1
• Zombie-Loan Volume 1
• Spiral : Bonds Of Reasoning Volume 1
• xkcd

The judges didn't play many videogames this year (yet again). Here's the shortlist...

• Wii Sports
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii)

Yes, I got a night's play on the revolution that swept the videogame world. And it was good.

New blood into the TV category this year...

• Primeval
• Doctor Who
• Heroes
• Lost
• Hyperdrive
• Bionic Woman
• The Sarah Jane Adventures
• Jericho

Notabley Battlestar Galactica is missing, that's because the judges got bored, decied the Cylons plan was non existent and stopped watching.

Otherwise, TV was okay, not amazing. In fact the general trend was that shows failed to live up to their potential. (Although Primeval actually exceeded expectations.) In fact, from that list there is only one show which I wouldn't have changed.

A special mentions hould go to Flight Of The Conchords, which is the funniest thing that I've seen on TV for ages, and has a song called The Humans Are Dead (they were killed by robots).

As usual the judges didn't get to the cinema as much as they would have liked, and in fact missed the big SF release of the year, Sunshine. (Also the second biggest release of the year, I Am Legend  was only released yesterday.) To compensate with the lack of cinema going there was a concerted attempt to catch up with older missed films on DVD, and also a flight to the other side of the world with on demand videos (thank goodness).

• The Prestige
• The Fountain
• Deja Vu
• Stranger Than Fiction
• Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
  
• 28 Weeks Later
• The Golden Compass
• Primer
• Gattaca
• The Nines

Interestingly, only The Golden Compass could be classified as straight-ahead blockbuster SF, and maybe Deja Vu. Everything else is a bit quirkier (or in the case of The Fountain, completely mental), a bit indie, and very, very cool. In fact 70% of the films are Woah!++, with three of them being genuine SF classics.

It should also be noted that one of the films of the year was not SF, and so is not eligible, the incredible The Bourne Ultimatum. Non-stop awesome action.

The judges are pleasantly surprised at how many books they managed to read this year, so much so that they can even split the award into two categories - Fiction and Non-Fiction (no back and forward BSFA dithering here).

Firstly the nominations for Non-Fiction books are:

• You Can Draw Star Wars
• Star Wars The Ultimate Visual Guide Special Edition
• James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
• Brave New Words, The Oxford Dictionary Of Science Fiction

All of which the judges really enjoyed, although the Tiptree biog was a little depressing. They are also books that will be kept around and dipped into repeatedly, particularily the highly addictive Brave New Words SF dictionary.


And now the Fiction books:

• The System Of The World - Neal Stephenson
• Air - Geoff Ryman
• The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood
• Infoquake - David Louis Edelman
• Brasyl - Ian McDonald
• Glasshouse - Charles Stross
• Nova Swing - M. John Harrison
• Halting State - Charles Stross
• The Attrocity Archives - Charles Stross
• Crystal Rain - Tobias Buckell
• Ragamuffin - Tobias Buckell
• The Electric Church - Jeff Somers
• Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling
  
• Magic For Beginners - Kelly Link
• Stamping Butterflies - Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• The Jennifer Morgue - Charles Stross
• Matter - Iain M Banks

Wow, what a selection of books. There's a couple I really didn't like, a handful I was disappointed with, one I thought was great but didn't like(!), two that haven't even been released yet, four Charles Stross books, one I found in a second hand shop, six books that were awesome and two books that were so far beyond awesome that I completely fell in love with them.

A good year of reading.

And the winners are...

The most prestigious of the Dumbies, the book award.

• The Confusion - Neal Stephenson
• Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
• Counting Heads - David Marusek
• 9Tail Fox - Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

The judges read some wonderful, wonderful books this year, including a selection of classics from the SF Masterworks list. However the nominated books stood out above the rest. They are a wide selection: from a historical adventure romp (The Confusion), a contemporary fantasy (Anansi Boys), an almost police thriller (9Tail Fox), a literary novel with SF elements (Cloud Atlas) and a state of the art SF novel (Counting Heads).

As usual the judges wish they had read more and found it frustrating that most the awards lists use hardback novels, which the judges only obtain at birthdays and Christmas. Consequently the judges reading lags behind the cutting edge due to waiting for paperbacks.

The judges didn't read many short stories this year and assure the public that this will change next year. However the stories that were read were fantastic.

• Magic For Beginners - Kelly Link
• The Faery Handbag - Kelly Link
• What's In A Memory - James Bloomer

One established writer, and one new one. Let's hope that we see more of both next year.