Thanks to Cheryl Morgan for providing the live results from the awards banquet in Denver:
Campbell Award:
Mary Robinette Kowal (Lynch, Abercrombie, Durham were finalists here as well)
Fanzine:
Mike Glyer, File 770
Fan Writer:
John Scalzi (Langford is dethroned!)
Fan Artist:
Brad Foster
Professional Artist:
Stefan Martiniere
Best Semiprozine:
Locus
Related Book:
Jeff Prucher, Brave New Words, the Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:
Doctor Who, "Blink" Written by Steven Moffat, directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:
Stardust (based on the novel by Neil Gaiman)
Best Professional Editor, Short Form:
Gordon Van Gelder
Best Professional Editor, Long Form:
David Hartwell
Best Short Story:
Elizabeth Bear, "Tideline" (appeared in the June 2007 issue of Asimov's)
Best Novelette:
Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (appeared in limited-edition chapbook form and in the September 2007 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine)
Best Novella:
Connie Willis, All Seated on the Ground (limited-edition book from Subterranean Press; appeared also in the December 2007 issue of Asimov's)
Best Novel:
Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Edit: Detailed voting breakdown here.
All in all, some pleasant surprises. Despite thinking that Chabon was the best of the finalists that I did read, I was worried that he would be hurt by the book not being "SF enough". Nice to see I was mistaken there. I was also surprised to see that David Langford's streak of winning the Best Fan Writer award ended, but since authors are eligible for their blogs now and since John Scalzi's Whatever blog is very popular, I guess it shouldn't be that shocking now. While I thought there could have been more "adventuresome" books and stories represented on the lists, for the most part, it seems that those who deserved it the most won the awards. It seems to be a solid list, albeit not one that's going to hit my reading "sweet spot" much of the time. Regardless, congratulations to all of the winners!
Thoughts on the winners tonight?
Saturday, August 09, 2008
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7 comments:
I'm surprised that neither Scott Lynch nor Joe Abercrombie won the Campbell, but I'm incredibly happy for Mary Robinette Kowal. I really like her short fiction, and while I've only corresponded with her over e-mail, I like her, too.
"Tideline" isn't Bear's best work (but it was the first one published in Asimov's...which is notable given that it is the story that got her first Hugo nomination...and win), but I have a thing for Bear.
Can't argue with Ted Chiang, and while I expected his story to win, I did rather like the Daniel Abraham.
The Connie Willis story was good. I think it was a bit too familiar for some online readers but it is clearly just write for Hugo voters (for right or wrong). I haven't read enough Willis to be able to say how strong a story it was for her, but it's a good story.
I had a whole lot of "not care" and "unread" and "unfinished" for the novel category, but the Chabon is a nice touch and, again, not surprising. Apparently everyone loves the novel.
Although I haven't read her work, I'm not surprised at all by the Kowal. I always figured that Lynch and Abercrombie would have split the epic fantasy vote with Durham and while I thought Durham's writing was much better than either one of theirs, one problem I saw with Lynch and Abercrombie in particular is that their works are still essentially niche ones (epic fantasists rarely win anything, remember). Durham was bound to be caught in this as well as the fact that he was a historical novelist first. So I hate speculating on her win by using negative terms for the other contenders, it was therefore not surprising to me that she won.
Bear is a good storyteller. I'm going to buy her last two Promethean Age novels later this fall, but I'm curious to know if you've read her "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall" story in Ellen Datlow's The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy? That story was outstanding, I thought.
Do agree on the mehness of many of the entrants, but oh well. There are a plethora of established awards, plus piddling things such as our blogs to keep things straight :P
I haven't read "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall". Want to. Just haven't grabbed the book from the library yet. I think I remember reading that Bear was especially happy with that one.
Do get those Promethean novels. If you like the first two, I've no doubt you'll like I&S and H&E.
It's well worth the effort to get. I did like the first two novels, even if I didn't review them here (lately, I haven't reviewed anything, although that'll change by later this month). After I've read them, if I have the time, I hope to arrange an interview with her. Don't know when I'll have that time, though. Looks like it's going to be a very busy school year.
I always figured that Lynch and Abercrombie would have split the epic fantasy vote with Durham
You can't really split the vote in single transferable vote, and it looks like the votes for Durham and Abercrombie redistributed fairly evenly over the other nominees.
Yeah, I forgot about the 1-2-3-4-5 voting system when I wrote that. Thanks for pointing that out for me, Liz. I stand corrected.
Hey guys!
i just started blogging not that long ago and running across this blog it seemed a bit too interesting to only read the first paragraph. I kinda got confused in the middle of it but the end just made it all go together like a puzzle. Please, who ever wrote this, keep me updated!
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