tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post5082878118073836018..comments2023-12-12T16:30:15.159+00:00Comments on Floor to Ceiling Books: We Are the Mainstream!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-49713955414243962802011-03-13T09:33:42.301+00:002011-03-13T09:33:42.301+00:00Don't forget to add the Fourth-day Universe Aw...Don't forget to add the Fourth-day Universe Awards, Literature Edition, to your list. There's not an official date set for the awards show (as this is our first year holding them), but you can check the Movie Edition of the Unis at our YouTube channel. *smiles*Stephen Monteithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15143772995125473635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-28456879391722054262011-03-12T19:14:25.840+00:002011-03-12T19:14:25.840+00:00In some ways, we've already claimed the Booker...In some ways, we've already claimed the Booker prize as our own. Midnight's Children, which is referred to as "The Booker of all Bookers" falls into the "magic realism" category, which is basically fantasy.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14261179296556524707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-48231358170700567052011-03-12T11:34:43.384+00:002011-03-12T11:34:43.384+00:00I suppose I reject the assumption that literary fi...I suppose I reject the assumption that literary fiction and SF&F are opposed. It always confuses me and marks a very artificial divide (it also means that I sometimes can't find my favourite authors because some marketeer thought they shouldn't be shelved with the plebs in SF&F!). We're not trying to 'muscle in' on the Man Booker - that assumes the Man Booker isn't for us in the first place. In saying the Man Booker is for excellent literary fiction, I see it as a prize for the very best of all fiction, and feel people are missing out if they are assuming genre can't be literary and excellent. 'Our' awards are genre specific - the books rewarded only compete against other genre works. Why shouldn't they compete with with non-SF&F works to show that they are excellent even outside the genre specific field? The problem is that too often all those awards are dismissed because it is assumed that the book that won those awards was 'only' good in comparison to other SF&F works, and the non-SF&F fan assumes that there isn't really a lot of stiff competition in that field. They're wrong, but they'll never know it if spec fic works never directly compete with 'lit fic' works.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-39209059465909207982011-03-12T10:17:08.870+00:002011-03-12T10:17:08.870+00:00Worth chiming in on the sales front: a Man Booker ...Worth chiming in on the sales front: a Man Booker or Costa Award brings a huge amount of sales to an author compared to before, depending on the book and the associated impacts (TV coverage, interviews across all medias, newspaper coverage). This can make a difference because literary fiction has a fairly transient readership on the whole; scoring big changes a career (and, as Jared says, this can mean R&J book club etc too). <br /><br />On the other hand, a few years ago I remember asking the SFF buyer at a major book chain how many copies he'd expect to shift across the chain of a major SF award winner - the answer was maybe 50 or so, if that. They make shockingly little difference to sales, which is a shame, but that's how it goes.Markhttp://markcnewton.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-22600970302837237172011-03-12T09:43:47.231+00:002011-03-12T09:43:47.231+00:00I agree with Martin - awards aren't the be al...I agree with Martin - awards aren't the be all and end all, and we shouldn't worry about the relative status, but there are a LOT of literary awards out there, just in the UK: <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_literary_awards<br /><br />And that's not counting things like R&J's Book Club and other forms of recognition. Think of what genre sales would be if all that started happening!Jaredhttp://www.pornokitsch.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-39923619199974271972011-03-11T22:47:22.656+00:002011-03-11T22:47:22.656+00:00I agree that we shouldn't be worried about the...I agree that we shouldn't be worried about the relative status of various types of fiction. But the comparison you are making is pretty false. The Booker is the big literary prize in the UK and the Clarke is the big SF prize in the UK. The US has the PEN/Faulkner and the Pulitzer which are huge literary awards whereas many of those SF awards are very, very minor. But awards aren't the be all and end all.Martinhttp://everythingisnice.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-17490051874628505262011-03-11T22:29:50.199+00:002011-03-11T22:29:50.199+00:00One could also say, however, that the prizes for l...One could also say, however, that the prizes for literary fiction are more exclusive and therefore more prestigious. I wouldn't say that, but there are some who would and their arguments would be sound.<br /><br />Also there are several other major awards handed out primarily to literary fiction. The National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize for literature, the BBA's, the Faulkner Award, etc...<br /><br />I don't feel bad for literary fiction, it's a different genre and one that has born some of the most compelling stories ever told. There's definitely room for both.T.N. Tobiashttp://tnt-tek.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8463395374040679379.post-58099451477371479802011-03-11T22:22:23.041+00:002011-03-11T22:22:23.041+00:00There's the BFAs as well, which I don't th...There's the BFAs as well, which I don't think you've got on there - not just the BFSAs. So there's even *more* love for genre writers out there ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com