Bearing the name of a true SF great, the annual Arthur C Clarke Award recognises the finest science fiction novels of the year. This year’s shortlist of six books has just been announced, and it offers up a typically eclectic selection – genetically engineered soldiers and near-future dystopias sit alongside the first young adult title ever to be nominated for the prize. “For me the Clarke Award has always been about pushing at the edges of its genre,” award administrator Tom Hunter tells SFX. “Its shortlist is both the perfect introduction to the state of modern SF as well as a first tantalising glimpse of what the future might hold.”
Whatever the judging panel decide, they have a lot of thinking to do before the award winner is announced at this year’s SCI-FI-LONDON festival on 30 April.
And now onto the important bit. In no particular order, the nominees are...(drumroll please)
Black Man
by Richard Morgan (Gollancz)
The H-bomb Girl
by Stephen Baxter (Faber)
The Execution Channel
by Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
The Carhullan Army
by Sarah Hall (Faber)
The Raw Shark Texts
by Steven Hall (Canongate)
The Red Men
by Matthew de Abaitua (Snow Books)
You can read more about the nominated books in the new issue of SFX, on sale from Wednesday 12 March.
