Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Zoo City is Lauren Beukes’ second novel for imprint Angry Robot, and has been nominated now for numerous awards, including the Arthur C Clarke, which is the reason for me finally succumbing and picking it up. Until now I have found myself oddly reluctant to read Zoo City, due to what I perceived as “hype”. In fact, I now believe it was hyped for good reason – there is a buzz surrounding this exciting novel that is entirely deserved. (I feel there is a difference between hype and buzz – the former driven by publishers to entice people to read novels; the latter created by a groundswell of popular opinion).

Zoo City explores a present day, but alternate, Johannesburg, following the story of Zinzi December, one of the animalled – people who are linked to animals due to crimes they have committed in the past. The eponymous Zoo City is the place in Johannesburg where the animalled live, ostracised by the rest of the population. Zinzi lives hands to mouth, sending illegal spam mails to pay her debts, and providing a service to people who have lost items. Her one rule is never to find lost persons, but she can’t resist the money offered to find one half of a famous singing duo – this, however, might be a decision she’ll come to regret as she stumbles across a rather horrific series of grisly murders.

Lauren Beukes writes with a real “zing”, an exuberance celebrating the darkness, the vivid life, the uniqueness of Johannesburg. The location of her novel is as much a character as the many bizarre people who share Zinzi’s life, and she is not afraid to show the grim aspects of living in South Africa.

The pace of Zoo City is fast and frenetic – almost too fast towards the end of the novel, where the mystery of the murders is revealed in a series of punchy scenes that arrive furiously and left me wishing I had more time to take on board everything that was happening. Beukes could have quite easily put in an extra few hundred pages, and I think it might have served this particular novel well. Usually I would complain about additional pages for the sake of it, but, with Zoo City, I actively wanted to read more about Zinzi.

Zinzi is a character to love, accompanied by Sloth, her particular animal and the outward appearance of her guilt. She is spiky, determined, and compassionate despite the difficulties of her life. Her dialogue is sharp and funny, and she lights up every page. She is not a character who requires any man to define her – in fact, the men she associates with are almost incidental, in some respects. They help drive the plot forward, but do not drive Zinzi’s actions, which is a refreshing change and something I appreciated. In addition, Zinzi is not some kick ass babe, who wields weapons and takes on enemies with gay abandon. She uses her wits to survive, and the experience she’s gained through her time as a journalist and then in prison. The reason I mention this is because Zoo City reads like an urban fantasy, but Zinzi is not your usual clichéd character.

The prose in Zoo City helps to keep the pace driving forwards – it is scattered with local colloquialisms that add flavour to the style of the writing. This is not a graceful method of writing, but it is incredibly vital and relevant.

In all, Zoo City is both fascinating as a study in modern literature, and exciting to read. It is one of those books that feels incredibly special as you read it, with a timeless quality. I hold my hands up: I should have read this months ago. Zoo City is a wonderful novel, and Lauren Beukes has instantly become a go-to novelist of mine. A stunning achievement.

Arthur C Clarke thoughts: Ah, here's the crux of the matter.... The award is for science fiction, but I think Zoo City is urban fantasy. However, with the Clarke Award having set the precedent last year of allowing a non-sci-fi (as stated by some) novel to win, then why not allow Zoo City to win? Personally, with other "true" science fiction novels on the shortlist, I think Zoo City will struggle to win - especially with the quality of some of the other works. However, the only factor that should mean it doesn't win is the fantasy vs science fiction aspect of the discussion: based purely on excellent writing and brilliant plot, Beukes would walk it...

I Owe An Apology...

Well, I possibly owe many apologies! But the apology today goes to Gwyneth Jones.

You see, around this time last year I was reading the Arthur C Clarke shortlist and one of the novels that featured was Spirit by Gwyneth Jones. I was rather harsh in my review. I don't want to retract every word of it - I still recall the prose as being rather challenging and the characters hard to love - but I do want to revisit the review.

The reason for this is thanks to a film day at Casa de Jager! Liz and Mark are the most wonderful hosts, and welcomed Alex and myself into their house with a wonderful repast:

I especially appreciated the Pimms and chocolate cake!

We talked books, watched Liz demonstrate the correct way to eat cake (see below) and watched The Count of Monte Cristo.

Now, last year I knew that Spirit was based on The Count of Monte Cristo, but up until now I have not read the book or watched the film.

Apart from the fact that the film was truly brilliant - featuring Guy Pearce, James Caviezel and Richard Harris - it lifted my appreciation of Spirit to the point where I am desperate to revisit the novel. I now believe that Gwyneth Jones did a cracking job bringing the 'spirit' (no pun intended) of The Count of Monte Cristo to her novel - from the distinctly unfair imprisonment, to the bewilderment and horror of her main protagonist, to the biting satisfaction of the revenge themes.

It is rare that I return to a review and decide to tell my audience differently from the original review - but here I am. If you have read or watched The Count of Monte Cristo, then Spirit will offer you a unique perspective on this story and it is well worth the read. This is one situation where my lack of prior knowledge meant my review was not all it could be. And, for that, I offer Gwyneth Jones an apology!

Arthur C Clarke shortlist announced + my thoughts

So... the Arthur C Clarke shortlist has been announced today. I actually got a look at this list a couple of days back - which is why I didn't join in with the competition/speculation about who would figure on the shortlist.

This year we have the following six novels:

• Zoo City – Lauren Beukes (Angry Robot)
• The Dervish House – Ian McDonald (Gollancz)
• Monsters of Men – Patrick Ness (Walker Books)
• Generosity – Richard Powers (Atlantic Books)
• Declare – Tim Powers (Corvus)
• Lightborn – Tricia Sullivan (Orbit)

My response to Tom went as follows:

Wow, what a very interesting shortlist!! After last year's Gollancz dominance, I am loving the fact that the six shortlisted books are across six publishers. That is very refreshing to see, and shows the breadth of excellent science fiction being produced.

Hah, I called three of those correctly not too long back ;-) Wouldn't have even got close to the other three - which shows, I think, some real out-of-leftfield curveballs. It's no wonder everyone is failing to guess.

Happy because I only have to buy two of these books (Generosity and Declare) to make sure I can read them all. Nice to see two women this time round.

Finally, intrigued by the fact that Monsters of Men is the THIRD in a series - will this put some people off reading it? Or will Patrick get more interest for the trilogy as a whole.

Good job though, will enjoy reading these :-)

I do think it's a good list. It's very different from the feel of last year's - for some reason to me it feels so much more diverse.

Anyway, expect to see reviews of these six novels over the next month or so appear on my blog, with accompanying dissection as to why I believe they earned their place (or not!) on the shortlist, and then a final decision from me about which one should win in my very humble opinion.

I am very much looking forward to this!

The Rule of Diminishing Returns

In economics, diminishing returns (also called diminishing marginal returns) refers to how the marginal production of a factor of production starts to progressively decrease as the factor is increased.

In World of Warcraft, diminishing returns means that certain spells and abilities are less effective against player characters if they are used frequently within a short period of time.

The tendency for a continuing application of effort or skill toward a particular project or goal to decline in effectiveness after a certain level of result has been achieved.

While at the SFX Weekender, I sat in on a Q&A session with China Miéville. He was asked whether he would ever return to the Bas-Lag universe in future novels. The gist of his answer (I wish I'd written it down, because, as always, Mr Miéville was beyond eloquent) was that there is a fear of returning to a previous creation and doing it to death, producing endless copies which gradually become more and more pointless.

On the Monday evening after the SFX Weekender, I was looking for some no-brainer entertainment and chose to do a Pirates of the Caribbean back-to-back marathon.

These two factors combined caused me to think about the rule of diminishing returns within our beloved genre.

SFF is not alone in the tendency to milk a cash cow past its sell-by date - we've had the same occur in sitcoms, such as Scrubs, arguably Friends (although there were still humorous moments right to the end, it lost much of the sharp comedy from the first few seasons) and Seinfeld.

However, there are numerous examples of diminishing returns within the world of SFF, and I plan to pick out a few.

Film

Okay, I already hit on this particular trilogy:

Watching them back to back really highlighted the bloated deficiencies of the second and third film in comparison to the first. The original movie - although probably over-long - was swashbuckling fun, with an actual linear plotline, and some great characters.

The second film concentrated on set pieces as the expense of plot, but still provided some entertainment, especially regarding the introduction of Davy Jones.

The third film was an utter mess - people double-crossing, triple-crossing, quadruple-crossing each other; a weird section with multiple Jack Sparrows; and a careering "plot" that didn't actually seem to go anywhere.

I almost shudder at the idea of the future films which are currently being worked on...

Here is another trilogy that really should have stuck at just one film:

The original Matrix film was a marvel of gripping storyline, pounding soundtrack and some ground-breaking new techniques. Remember when bullet-time was not ubiquitous to all science fiction films? I recall watching with my mouth open in wonder at a lot of the scenes in this first film.

And then came the second and third films... Why? They descended the trilogy into nonsense philosophy and random set pieces. If the Matrix had remained just one film, it would stand right up there as a part of SFF film canon. Messing with the original concept and producing more films only meant that any affection for the first film was diminished thoroughly.

Television

The fact that there is a phrase 'jumping the shark' demonstrates ably that people believe a lot of TV series go further than they really should have.

For this I am merely going to produce a series of stills from the TV shows I believe jumped - do you agree or disagree?

Those were just off the top of my head - I'm sure if pushed I could come up with a number of others.

Literature

Even book series are not immune from travelling WAAAY beyond what most fans deem appropriate. A lot of urban fantasy series seem to suffer from dragging out what was a slight story in the first place.

I have two examples. The first is this:

Even Laurell K Hamilton's first few books weren't exactly brilliant - although she did a nice line in tense horror, there was far too much discussing relationships and monster politics. When LKH stuck to police investigations and the raising of the dead, the Anita Blake series was pretty damn entertaining though. Around book ten of the series something changed. Anita developed the ardeur and suddenly needed to have sex with pretty much everything walking - we've had furry sex, threesomes, foursomes, hell probably up to sixsomes, deep-throating, rain-making (which is both ick and eeew!) At this point the series became redundant as an urban fantasy creation and became fairly hardcore S&M eroticism. I don't mind erotic writing at all - but overuse of the word 'spill' during sex scenes caused me to put this series down. Spill sounds so accidental, don't you think?

The other series that has outstayed its welcome in a grand way is this one:

The first few books were... alright, I guess. Derivative and far too much S&M-themed fantasy (I'm sensing a theme here...) but just about readable - can you tell I said that really begrudgingly?

After a little while, though, Mr Goodkind decided to inflict upon his readers his views on politics. The message was barely couched in the form of fantasy - rather, we were bludgeoned over the head by what the author thought on various matters. Dire and tiresome, all at the same time.

What kills me is that after a brief and deeply unsuccessful foray into other genres, Terry Goodkind is back to inflict further fantasy horrors on us from this series.

Doing It Well

There are some book series that have extended to double-digits but still retain fantastic quality - one of these is the Jim Butcher series about Harry Dresden.



Leaving the Party Early - and Gracefully

Some TV series have managed to step off the ride while still welcome to return. Here are a few examples:

Spaced

Angel

And the non-genre brilliance of Fawlty Towers!

Okay, dear readers, over to you - which TV series, books, movies have overstayed their welcome in your opinion? Do you agree or disagree vehemently with any of the choices I've made above?

My Love Affair With the Arthur C Clarke Award

On Torque Control today there is an open letter from Tom Hunter, the administrator of the Arthur C Clarke award. The link is here, but the gist is that the ACCA is facing a pressing need to change, thanks to various circumstances.

Tom has asked for people to show their support in various ways:

Three things people can do to get involved right now are help us show the size of our audience by Liking us on Facebook or following @ClarkeAward on Twitter, re-posting the link to this page and, of course, by letting us know your thoughts in the comments here.

So I decided to write a little love letter to the Arthur C Clarke award:

I've always been aware of the ACCA - and I always pay more attention to those novels which are listed as having won the Arthur C Clarke award (so here you have at least one person who responds to the name of the award as an indication of quality).

This year - the first year of my blog - I decided to read the full shortlist for the ACCA, and enjoyed it so much. I liked the fact that these six novels showcased brilliant science fiction, taking completely different approaches to the subject matter. I was blown away by the imagination and the sheer originality of the writing. Science fiction, in my opinion, has never been more healthy, when you consider the standard of the books that are currently being published.

For me, the Arthur C Clarke award is valuable for bringing these novels to the attention of the wider community - not just to the sci-fi population. Anyone who reads speculative fiction pays attention to the winner of the ACCA. The features in newspapers and magazines will push science fiction out to the literary community. I have read blog posts from those readers who generally only tackle literary fiction (such as Savidge Reads and Farm Lane Books Blog) who read The City and The City by China Mieville this year, thanks to its exposure. Both loved it. Both, in fact, were blown away by it - and have subsequently asked for more speculative fiction recommendations. As far as I am concerned, this is a win for the Arthur C Clarke Award.

In addition to this, I love the camaraderie created by "Award Season". The announcement of the shortlist leads to discussion on the merits (or not) of the novels chosen. Many book blogs will aim to read all six books so that they can choose their own winner. Indirectly, the ACCA has led to Torque Control's recent discussion on women in SF, which has produced recommendations for excellent novels by women. This sharing of books - this love of the genre - is invaluable and drives a feeling of community.

I believe that the Arthur C Clarke Award has massive value in the future in terms of raising the profile of speculative fiction authors - as it has in the past. The fact it takes SF so seriously, and selects the judging panel from people who genuinely love the genre, gives it a degree of integrity and dignity that some of the other SF/F awards appear to lack.

One question asked by Tom is whether the cash prize adds to the credibility of the award: I would say not, although I'm not an author and can't say for sure how useful or necessary that amount of cash would be to the author who won the prize. For an external observer, it might actually make the prize MORE credible if there is no cash prize.

I don't have specific answers to the majority of the questions that Tom poses - all I can offer is my passion and desire to continue to see the Arthur C Clarke Award handed out each year. One of my bookish ambitions is to be asked to judge the award, so I need it to continue til that point at least *grin*. I humbly offer my blog each year for the month of April - dedicated to all things Arthur C Clarke. If any of that helps, I would be a very happy person.

In the meantime, I encourage you all to spread the word about the ACCA - why do you like it? What questions would you ask Tom about the future of the award? If you feel it has become unnecessary, what suggestions would you make to increase the validity of it in the future? How would you improve it?

1 star Amazon Reviews

There has been some discussion recently on 1 star Amazon reviews and what they should be for - both Speculative Horizons and Fantasy Book Reviewer posted about it.

Sometimes 1 star reviews are necessary.

Check this:

And the link to the page.

Amazon needs to get this (excuse me) shit off their site.

Arthur C Clarke - Final Thoughts

On 31st March the Arthur C Clarke shortlist was announced, and, in a moment of madness, I decided to buy and read the six nominated books before the winner was picked on 28th April (which is, you'll no doubt have noticed, today!)

That very same day I went to my local Waterstone's and paid out a rather large chunk of money for five of the nominees (Far North was difficult to get hold of!) and embarked on my epic challenge.

Here, in summary, are my thoughts about each of the six books.

The City and The City by China Mieville: When I picked up this book, I didn't know that it was about to pick up the BSFA award, or be nominated for a Hugo, although that has now happened. What I do know is that, even without those two events occurring, I would still be holding this book up as probably the one that should and will win. I am prepared to be swayed as I read the other five books in the shortlist, but I am unsure if any can top the sheer breathtaking imagination of The City and The City. I just hope that I don't find the rest a disappointment!

Spirit by Gwyneth Jones: This is my second book of the six Arthur Clarke finalists, and it was a very different read from The City and The City. Leaving aside my enjoyment (or not) of the respective books, I can see why this book received its nomination: the worldbuilding and the sci fi elements of the novel are both weird and wonderful, and explore a future where Earth is just one of many cultures struggling to find harmony together. Where The City and The City studied nationalism and retaining the boundaries of a city state, Spirit looks to the stars and how our exploration of such can lead to petty squabbles and how warfare and politics will be massively scaled up. Hand on heart, though, I believe this one is an outsider for the win.

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding: So is this an Arthur Clarke award winner? Although my heart would like to say yes, my head is more sober and suggests no. In fact, I'm not completely sure why Retribution Falls found its way onto the short-list. The award is given for the 'best' science fiction novel published in the previous year. While Retribution Falls is a great read and a fun concept, there is little in the way of what I would deem true science in the novel. Sure, they fly in craft that are straight out of science fiction, but the aerial dog fights that take place could easily be about planes that exist right now. The presence of a daemonist in the tale puts it more into the realm of fantasy. Having now read three of the contenders for the award, I am slightly at a loss as to the reasons for this novel's inclusion. I would say this is the rank outsider.

Far North by Marcel Theroux: Well, my fourth read of the short-list contenders and yet another very different novel! In terms of writing, message, science fiction elements and concepts, I would definitely say that this is the book that can come closest to defeating The City and The City for the award. It is clever, grim and written by a superlative storyteller with an exceptionally strong voice. Moving from Retribution Falls straight into Far North has revealed just how stellar the line-up of books on the short-list is - so far each of them has offered a different perspective on the nature of science fiction literature. This is a very strong contender for the Arthur C. Clarke award.

Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts: There is no doubt that Yellow Blue Tibia deserves its place on the short list - it is, again, a very different type of science fiction novel. I think what I have truly admired so far about the Arthur Clarke reads is that they are so very different, but united in some fantastic writing and stunning science fiction concepts. I certainly don't envy the judges, having now read five of the six! In my opinion, Yellow Blue Tibia is a very strong novel, but I think it is possibly too light-hearted for the award - especially when considering the impact of novels such as The City & The City and Far North.

Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson: Hmm, Galileo's Dream is yet another solid entry into the short list of six books - and, once again (I feel I am constantly repeating myself in these short analyses) it is a completely different novel from the other five. It brings the science to science fiction, in this case - exploring actual science as well as taking us on a space opera journey to future worlds. It is massively deserving of its place as a finalist, not least of which because this novel shows the continual fascination with science that gave us science fiction in the first place (I think I have expressed that in a rather clumsy manner - but it is the truth that without men such as Galileo and Newton, we wouldn't have such a desire to look at what might be achieved through the use of science). Kim Stanley Robinson's enormous affection for his subject matter shines through, and gives us a novel which is possibly the most honest of the six. I don't think it will win - but I secretly want it to.


What strikes me from reading back over those summaries that spanned the month of April is how incredibly strong this short list is - sure, there are a couple of books that I personally feel probably won't win for various reasons, but I know that other people would hand the award straight over (Yellow Blue Tibia, I'm looking at you!)

What also strikes me is that I definitely have three contenders for tonight - these being The City and The City, Far North and Galileo's Dream. I loved them all. I found them challenging, infuriating, with silky prose and awesome concepts. I liked the pared down joy of Far North, with its gentle message of hope amidst a grim future. The City and The City was sheer dizzying concept, but had an exceptional detective story to drive the narrative. Galileo's Dream was bloated at times alongside the other two lean competitors, but I lapped up the wonderful characterisation and appreciated the historical slant.

So, to pick a winner!

I don't envy the judges. AT ALL. I simply cannot comprehend how they will be picking the winner this evening.

My personal choice - and please feel free to stop by and tell me how wrong or right I am - is this:



I enjoyed reading other books more. I felt that NOTHING could compete with The City and The City. I half-wish that Retribution Falls takes the prize. But my honest analysis is that Far North will win the Arthur C Clarke award tonight.

Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson

Publisher's Blurb (courtesy of Harper Voyager): Late Renaissance Italy abounds in alchemy and Aristotle, yet it trembles on the brink of the modern world. Galileo's new telescope encapsulates all the contradictions of this emerging reality. Then one night a stranger presents a different type of telescope for Galileo to peer through, enabling him to see the world of humans three thousand years hence. Galileo will soon find himself straddling two worlds, the medieval and the modern. By day his life unfurls in early seventeenth century Italy; by night he is transported through dimensions of time and space no other man of his time could possibly comprehend. Inexorably, Galileo faces trial for religious crimes in his own time, while in the new world he discovers, where science assures men that they can perform wonders, but does not tell them what wonders to perform, he is revered.

Galileo's Dream is, first and foremost, a masterclass in how to write historical fiction. Much of the novel is based in Renaissance Italy, following Galileo at what most consider to be the height of his fame before he is embroiled in disputes with the Church. Life in Italy, the importance of religion, the baby steps being taken towards scientific understanding - all of these are brought to glorious life, with wonderful descriptive passages and the use of Galileo's letters to enforce the events he was living through. I confess that I would have been hugely satisfied with an historical novel that purely explored the life and times of Galileo.

Kim Stanley Robinson, however, intersperses the historical passages with brief visits to the far-flung moons of Jupiter - Galileo travelling through both time and space to discover the colonised moons in 3020. To begin with, these passages felt as though they were shoehorned into the novel in a clumsy fashion, with the reader suffering the same confusion as the Galileo of this novel must have suffered. The passages set in the future were roughly sketched, the worldbuilding not living up to the meticulously researched historical sections. Eventually, you become used to the rough transitions, but I never enjoyed them, and I grew frustrated at the fact that each time Galileo returned from his future visits, his memory was partially cleared of events experienced in the future.

As well as the excellent historical sections, for me the greatest strength of this novel - the factor that gave it both humour and heart - was the stunning characterisation of Galileo Galilei. This is a man who infuriated many of his contemporaries - arrogant, stubborn, opinionated. A man who was liable to forget the day to day running of his household, who was able to commit his daughters to difficult lives. And yet also a visionary - a towering historical figure who gave so much to the world of science. All of this, and more, Kim Stanley Robinson manages to commit to paper - Galileo lives on through this novel.

Ultimately, then, Galileo's Dream is a richly rewarding read that I thoroughly enjoyed. My main issue with it is the pacing created by the dual storylines - this caused me no end of frustration because, at heart, I felt this should have been a straight historical novel. I would recommend this book to those who have even a passing interest in the progression of science. It is excellently written and the "frustrated genius" of Galileo takes centre stage.

Arthur Clarke thoughts: Hmm, Galileo's Dream is yet another solid entry into the short list of six books - and, once again (I feel I am constantly repeating myself in these short analyses) it is a completely different novel from the other five. It brings the science to science fiction, in this case - exploring actual science as well as taking us on a space opera journey to future worlds. It is massively deserving of its place as a finalist, not least of which because this novel shows the continual fascination with science that gave us science fiction in the first place (I think I have expressed that in a rather clumsy manner - but it is the truth that without men such as Galileo and Newton, we wouldn't have such a desire to look at what might be achieved through the use of science). Kim Stanley Robinson's enormous affection for his subject matter shines through, and gives us a novel which is possibly the most honest of the six. I don't think it will win - but I secretly want it to.

Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts

Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts is about Konstantin Andreiovich Skvorecky, a Russian SF writer who is called by Stalin to be part of a group who are to create a new threat for Communism to unite against, after the end of World War II. Soon after coming up with the concept of radiation aliens, and writing about their destruction of the Ukraine, the SF writers are disbanded and told, on pain of death, to forget everything that they have done. 40 years later the story picks up and follows Skvorecky as a number of strange occurrences cause him to believe that the alien invasion is actually coming true as it was written so many years ago.

Just writing that synopsis makes me marvel at the imagination required to arrive at a plot which is, at once, breathtaking in its scope and farcical in its telling. Adam Roberts has written a novel which makes you laugh in delighted shock on a number of occasions, but, above all, makes you wonder.

The writing is well-crafted at an extremely high intellectual level - I say this with a certain amount of pride, but it is a rare book these days that has me reaching for the dictionary to find out the meaning behind a word I have never encountered before, and Yellow Blue Tibia did this on a couple of occasions. The philosophical musings, the authentic settings that brought to life Communist Russia, the rampant humour - all of these factors made me delight in reading the book.

However, the humour is probably the one element of the book that had me scratching my head. I adored the cynical irony, the slapstick chases, the quirky characters - but it meant that the novel was more of a comedy and therefore the impact of some of the high concept sci-fi components was lost.

I also didn't manage to connect with the characters on any level at all - I laughed at their antics, but I ended up caring very little as to the resolution of their story. This particular quote, I believe, sums up the novel perfectly:

" '...One thing I hate in this world and you are fucking it. You are an ironist.'

'An ironist?'

'Fundamentally, you take nothing seriously. You believe it is all a game. It was the same in your novels; they were never serious. They had no heart...' "

Having said that, the love story at the heart of Yellow Blue Tibia - and the reason for the title - were sweetly unexpected. I liked Dora, especially the fact that Skvorecky saw beyond her physical appearance to realise the beauty in her soul.

I liked Yellow Blue Tibia well enough, but felt it was not the unbelievable novel it had the potential to be, because the humour confused the issues being presented. I have not read any other Adam Roberts novels, and so I am left wondering whether every novel he has written has the same ironic bent (which, actually, sounds very like the author's rather snarky blog as well!) What, I guess, is promising is the fact that I would like to seek out other novels by Adam Roberts! Yellow Blue Tibia is a highly imaginative novel with a lot of soul but little heart - humorous but a little shallow.

Arthur Clarke thoughts: There is no doubt that Yellow Blue Tibia deserves its place on the short list - it is, again, a very different type of science fiction novel. I think what I have truly admired so far about the Arthur Clarke reads is that they are so very different, but united in some fantastic writing and stunning science fiction concepts. I certainly don't envy the judges, having now read five of the six! In my opinion, Yellow Blue Tibia is a very strong novel, but I think it is possibly too light-hearted for the award - especially when considering the impact of novels such as The City & The City and Far North.

Far North by Marcel Theroux

Makepeace is one of the last survivors in the bleak Far North - a Siberia peopled by those who have fled from the cities and the greed. She lives a quiet and desolate life that is thrown upside down by the arrival of another survivor into the dead city that she patrols each day on horseback. So begins a series of events that sees Makepeace discover what has happened to the world outside the confines of her city.

Far North is a stark, quiet, tired novel. The world as we know it is dead; horizons are closer and the land feels smaller; primitive people are making more of a success of life than those who once ruled the cities. It is an intriguing read, but never an easy one. Light-hearted moments are not to be found, and hope is in short supply.

The prose is pared-down and brusque, narrated by Makepeace from a first person perspective, with her hard-earned wisdom:

"Human beings are rat-cunning and will happily kill you twice over for a hot meal. That's what long observation has taught me. On the other hand, with a full belly, and a good harvest in the barn, and a fire in the hearth, there's nothing so charming, so generous, no one more decent than a well-fed man. But take away his food, make his future uncertain, let him know that no one's watching him and he won't just kill you, he'll come up with a hundred and one reasons why you deserve it."

Rather than plot, which is slight, the novel deals with exploring the idea of what a world would be like where global warming has reached its inevitable conclusion, where mankind is gradually dying out. It is definitely a social commentary - a warning or prediction of what might happen in our future.

This is not a novel that I can say, hand on heart, that I enjoyed reading (it is too grim for that) - but I admired it. It is beautifully written, with some exceptional descriptive work, and surprises right to the last page. Makepeace is a very effective narrator - practical to a fault:

"It struck me early on that if they prayed less, they'd eat better, but as a guest, I felt bound to keep my thoughts to myself."

Overall, I think that Far North has important messages to impart, and that it is written beautifully. I would recommend to this to those who read and enjoyed The Road by Cormac McCarthy.


Arthur Clarke thoughts: Well, my fourth read of the short-list contenders and yet another very different novel! In terms of writing, message, science fiction elements and concepts, I would definitely say that this is the book that can come closest to defeating The City and The City for the award. It is clever, grim and written by a superlative storyteller with an exceptionally strong voice. Moving from Retribution Falls straight into Far North has revealed just how stellar the line-up of books on the short-list is - so far each of them has offered a different perspective on the nature of science fiction literature. This is a very strong contender for the Arthur C. Clarke award.

Arthur C Clarke - The 'best' science fiction novel

Having now read the first three books of six shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke award, what springs out immediately is how very diverse they are - from meta concepts, to fun pirate yarns, to hard sci fi and alien species. It made me wonder how on earth the judges decide on which novel from the Arthur Clarke shortlist should be named the overall winner - what criteria is used.

So I headed over to the Arthur C Clarke award website to check out what the submission guidelines are for novels.

I found this: The Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction is awarded to the author who, in the opinion of the judges, has written the best, eligible full-length science fiction novel in English.

And that is it. The only criteria. The book that the judges feel is the "best".

In the case of this award, what constitutes best?

Best use of science fiction concepts? Best novel in terms of readability? Best novel because the judges had the most fun reading it?

If you take a dictionary definition of 'best' it states:

–adjective, superl. of good with better as compar.
1.
of the highest quality, excellence, or standing: the best work; the best students.
2.
most advantageous, suitable, or desirable: the best way.
3.
largest; most: the best part of a day.

Does this help to define which of the books shortlisted should take the award? Not really. Are the judges analysing the writing, the story, the science fiction elements?

I have enjoyed the first three books for very different reasons. The City and The City, I felt, showed superlative writing and a fabulous concept that left me thinking hard about the book long after I closed the last page. Spirit embodied the sense of a science fiction novel for me, opening our horizons to show how the universe might evolve with the introduction of inter-stellar travel - and, although I didn't enjoy the prose, I know other people who would have lapped it up. Retribution Falls was the best novel in terms of fun and readability. So I have three winners - depending on how 'best' defines which novel should actually win!

My post (on a read back) sounds a little confused - but I shall let it stand, since this is the state of my thinking on this award right now! I would be very interested to hear from anyone associated with the award - now or in the past - who can shed a little light onto how 'best' is defined when picking the winner of the Arthur C Clarke award...

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding is a tale about Darian Frey, captain of the Ketty Jay and leader of a motley band of misfits and rogues. They survive - barely - on the proceeds from petty piracy and small-time crook jobs. But now Frey has been offered a plush job, an easy killing, and he can't resist taking the bait - even though it all seems too good to be true. Almost inevitably - given Frey's usual run of luck - the heist goes horribly wrong and Frey realises that he has been framed. On the run from contractors, pirates and the Coalition Navy, Frey has to try and discover who tried to put the crime on him and clear his name before he is taken down...

Retribution Falls is not without its issues, but the main emotion you have while reading it is pure, fist punching the air fun. Frey is a rogue in the classic sense of the word - a character you just can't help but root for, even though he is attempting to cheat and steal his way to a fortune. It is almost old-fashioned in the style of which it is written - motley band of adventurers trading insults and banter while trying to clear their names of murder. Barring the slightly sci-fi setting, this novel could fit neatly into the quest/adventure fantasy section alongside the likes of David Eddings.

Wooding writes at a breathless pace - in the most part. I have two issues with this. The first is that it leaves the world being barely fleshed out. We experience a whistle stop tour of various ports and areas within the land, but not a single one of them really stands out. I don't know if this was deliberate on Wooding's part, since I'm guessing to travellers constantly on the move most ports would blend together into one. The writing of these different locations definitely reflects the wandering life of the crew, but it does make for a breathless ride. A map might have helped, but I guess sci fi novels don't often call for maps!

The second issue with the breathless pace is that it is all the more noticeable when Wooding slows events down. In the latter part of the novel there are two occasions where I felt the pace was snail-like and it jarred me considering how events had transpired previously: these two situations were the conversation between Trinica and Frey, and the delving into the back story of Jez. In both cases, Wooding is writing about something that happened in the past, and it is done in a fairly clumsy manner.

Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. I know it has attracted comparisons to Joss Whedon's Firefly, and I can completely see why. The ensemble characters and the episodic adventures could be transferred with ease to a television show format.

I liked all of the characters, and enjoyed the ease with which they could be differentiated thanks to dialogue and mannerisms. I particularly appreciated the strong development of relationships across the course of the novel - by the end of the novel, the disparate group are very much a crew, and Wooding carefully and cleverly puts all the pieces into place to allow this to happen.

The writing is very effective, and could stand comparisons to such writers as Wilbur Smith in terms of the fact that this is very much an adventure story rather than a straight-up science fiction novel.

There are great flashes of humour, such as:

" 'You get the impression that this has all got a little out of control?' Jez screamed in Frey's ear.

Frey didn't hear what she said, so he nodded as if he agreed, and then replied, 'I think whoever's running this show, they've let things get a bit out of control!'

Jez, who also hadn't heard him, said, 'Definitely!' "

I also appreciated the warm heart to this novel and the honest writing of some very emotional scenes. In fact, I would be curious to see just how much of Frey's reaction to Trinica and how their story unfolded was semi-autobiographical - the feelings evoked were strong, and the words seemed almost personal, written with a true sense of knowing how it might feel to be so trapped by someone you loved so much.

All in all, I would definitely recommend Retribution Falls to anyone who wants a light-hearted read (with a couple of darker moments!) in the company of some truly memorable and vibrantly-written characters.


Arthur Clarke thoughts: So is this an Arthur Clarke award winner? Although my heart would like to say yes, my head is more sober and suggests no. In fact, I'm not completely sure why Retribution Falls found its way onto the short-list. The award is given for the 'best' science fiction novel published in the previous year. While Retribution Falls is a great read and a fun concept, there is little in the way of what I would deem true science in the novel. Sure, they fly in craft that are straight out of science fiction, but the aerial dog fights that take place could easily be about planes that exist right now. The presence of a daemonist in the tale puts it more into the realm of fantasy. Having now read three of the contenders for the award, I am slightly at a loss as to the reasons for this novel's inclusion. I would say this is the rank outsider.

Spirit by Gwyneth Jones

Taking The Count of Monte Cristo as her inspiration, in Spirit Gwyneth Jones writes a novel of betrayal and revenge. The novel follows the story of Gwibiwr, known as Bibi - daughter of one of the rebel chieftains of White Rocks - as she is offered the choice to either become a concubine or a servant within the household of Lady Nef. The first half of the novel deals with the political machinations and plotting of General Yu and Lady Nef, as they head on a delicate mission to Sigurt's World, and the 20-year imprisonment of Bibi; while the second half of the novel shows her path as she takes her revenge on those who caused her incarceration.

I confess that I have not read The Count of Monte Cristo, so I cannot comment on the faithfulness of Spirit to the source material - from comments I have read, it allegedly closely follows that tale of Edmond Dantes. The Count of Monte Cristo is known to be a story of blockbusting adventure and derring-do, but unfortunately I did not find Spirit to be the same.

There was elements of Spirit that I enjoyed. The worldbuilding was rich and imaginative, with aliens that were suitably bizarre and beyond human comprehension. I liked the ambiguity of sexuality and gender - especially given that in this version of The Count of Monte Cristo our protagonist is female, which enables the opportunity to highlight gender differences.

Gwyneth Jones manages to show a culture which has gone through many changes, thanks to the existence of alien species and the invention of the Buonarotti travel system. There is a dark underbelly, and a rich upper echelon of society, and both of these are given a strong identity.

With all that said, I found Spirit a challenge to read. The largest part of this came from the fact that I thought the prose was extremely dry. Some authors use a chatty style in their writing, in other cases prose is smooth as silk and very readable. Gwyneth Jones' writing reads rather more like a textbook, with complicated words to understand thanks to the alien cultures.

In addition to this, Jones does not stop to explain much of the complex situation or the many sci fi concepts she introduces. I was left very bewildered by what was actually occurring - especially because a major part of the plot (the fact that General Yu has backed the wrong horse and is trying to regain his political standing) takes place "off-screen", as it were.

A lot of the writing just confused me, in fact. I ended up feeling as though I was missing a great deal, and this never endears a book to me. This included passages such as:

" 'Oh yes, we knew what had happened, it was unmistakable...A group decided to become settlers. They said the Ground Station offered no protection: which is true, it's all ritual, and self-control. For a while they succeeded, in a strange way. Expeditions would suit-up and come out (I don't bother any more, I rely on magic), and find people they'd known, transformed into the descendants of the survivors of a crashed starship...' "

That passage should have been easy to understand; it should have been shorter with less redundant words - as it is, this is just one example of many where I had to read a paragraph two or even three times to make sure I was absorbing the detail I needed to.

On top of this, the characters were hard to love - perhaps because the prose was so dry. I felt as though I was receiving a report on their lives, as opposed to being able to really immerse myself in the danger and excitement of a failed mission and a revenge story. Bibi was a clever and strong heroine, but I didn't love her - and this means that the revenge portion of the novel would always fall a little flat, because I wasn't rooting for her to succeed.

In fact, the pacing of Spirit was also an issue. The build-up to the mission on Sigurt's World, the scene-setting, the section of the novel where Bibi finds herself imprisoned - all of this unfolded with a dreamlike, slow pace. In comparison, we whip through the section where Bibi exacts her revenge - and I'm never completely clear whether the comeuppance of those who caused her downfall is mere happenstance or through Bibi's actual actions.

There were a few characters that seemed entirely superfluous to the main meat of the plot - these were introduced quite late on and their adventures were very much a dead-end path when what I really wanted was to see how Bibi went about bringing down General Yu.

I had many issues with this book, and overall my enjoyment was limited. I was glad that I read through to the end and completed Bibi's story - I also liked Francois the Aleutian very much, but I struggled with Jones' style of writing and would probably hesitate in picking up a book of hers in the future.


Arthur Clarke thoughts: This is my second book of the six Arthur Clarke finalists, and it was a very different read from The City and The City. Leaving aside my enjoyment (or not) of the respective books, I can see why this book received its nomination: the worldbuilding and the sci fi elements of the novel are both weird and wonderful, and explore a future where Earth is just one of many cultures struggling to find harmony together. Where The City and The City studied nationalism and retaining the boundaries of a city state, Spirit looks to the stars and how our exploration of such can lead to petty squabbles and how warfare and politics will be massively scaled up. Hand on heart, though, I believe this one is an outsider for the win.

The City And The City by China Mieville

Summary: The City And The City is a hard-boiled detective novel with a difference. Set in a location that feels very Eastern European in tone, and not far removed from a real place, we follow Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad as he begins investigations into the body of a murdered woman. The very effective spin that Mieville uses, which moves this novel from the crime shelves in the bookstores to the SFF shelves, is that the setting is actually two cities existing in the same location, governed in a sinister fashion by Breach. Borlu lives in Beszel, a grim city with featureless concrete and rattling trams, where the citizens wear few colours. The other city is Ul Qoma, and both cities exist in the same time and space. The citizens of each have learned from a young age to unsee and unsense the people and buildings of the other city. In the event that, say, a citizen of Ul Qoma acknowledges a citizen of Beszel, they are then subject to the jurisdiction of Breach.

"But pass through Copula Hall and she or he might leave Beszel, and at the end of the hall come back to exactly (corporeally) where they had just been, but in another country, a tourist, a marvelling visitor, to a street that shared the latitude-longitude of their own address, a street they had never visited before, whose architecture they had always unseen, to the Ul Qoman house sitting next to and a whole city away from their own building, unvisible there now they had come through, all the way across the Breach, back home."


My review: I have a couple of China Mieville books on my shelf already, and confess to never having picked them up so far. Somehow I thought they would be pretentious and wordy, and I could never quite tell which genre something like 'Perdido Street Station' fell under. When I decided to do the Arthur Clark shortlist read, I was both interested in reading my first Mieville book, but also feeling a little dread at the idea of picking up something that seemed so meta and impossibly clever. In fact, I will confess something more: I picked The City And The City up first out of the six to get it over with.

Having set the scene, I can now state categorically that this is one of the most powerful SFF books I have ever read, and is without doubt my top read of 2010 so far. I found it unbelievably accessible (especially considering my unfounded view of Mieville's work); stunningly imaginative and constantly entertaining. I am willing to abuse adjectives at length to convey my extremely high opinion of this book.

So why did I enjoy it so much? This is where the review becomes harder to write. Sometimes you just 'click' with a book and enjoy it thoroughly. This definitely happened. But it was more than that. While I read each page, I felt as though I was reading something important, clever and classic. In fact, I imagine the way I felt reading The City And The City would be the way the first person felt when picking up Dracula or Frankenstein: enjoying the book for what it is (a darn good story) but also conscious that this novel is something special and has the potential to resonate through generations of readers.

The story was tight, well-written, with excellent pacing. Thanks to the rather slight nature of the novel (a mere 312 pages, in my hardback edition), I found that there were no erroneous scenes or indulgently bloated descriptions - everything felt very lean, and helped lend the plot a driving urgency.

I enjoyed the characters. In particular, the first person perspective of Borlu enables us to experience the frustration, the fear and the eventual fall-out of the investigation. His familiarity with the city of Beszel immediately gives Ul Qoma an exotic flavour, giving strength to the concept that these are two very separate places co-existing in the same location. He is ably assisted by a short cast of secondary characters, with their own motivations and foibles. None of these characters felt at all as though they were purely there to drive the story along - all of them felt fully-realised.

The way that Mieville declines to really delve into the back story of his main character is also well-done. It is not necessary for the plot, and therefore we catch only a glimpse, a mere snapshot, into the life of Borlu. This for me was far more effective writing and had more of an impact than if Mieville had lovingly dwelt on events that were in the past and had no relevance at all to the present time.

Beyond all of that, and the exceptionally clear descriptions of the two cities, concept is everything. If this had been a straight-up detective novel, I would have enjoyed it thoroughly, what with the twists and red herrings thrown into the mix as well. Add into that the notion of these two cities co-existing - allowing Mieville to explore issues such as nationalism, patriotism and a 'big brother' entity - and you have a killer novel that delivers on every level.

This will be one of the very rare reviews when I do not strive to find something that I disliked to balance the review. It would be nitpicking for the sake of it, and I'm not sure I could honestly find something that I didn't like enough to discuss it impartially.

Arthur Clark thoughts: When I picked up this book, I didn't know that it was about to pick up the BSFA award, or be nominated for a Hugo, although that has now happened. What I do know is that, even without those two events occurring, I would still be holding this book up as probably the one that should and will win. I am prepared to be swayed as I read the other five books in the shortlist, but I am unsure if any can top the sheer breathtaking imagination of The City and The City. I just hope that I don't find the rest a disappointment!

Arthur Clarke Shortlist Announced

Today the Interwebs have been all aflutter with the news of the Arthur Clarke award shortlist.

Here are the six shortlisted books:

1) Spirit by Gwyneth Jones

Bibi (it means princess) is the sole survivor of a massacre. Lady Nef, the General's wife, stops the General taking her as a concubine, winning Bibi's eternal and passionate devotion. Years later, a diplomatic mission to a supposedly friendly planet ends in disaster. Bibi, now a junior officer in Lady Nef's household, is incarcerated with her mistress in the notorious high-security prison on Fenmu. Lady Nef, 150 years old when arrested, dies in prison; she bequeaths to Bibi her rank, her level of access to the AI systems that permeate the Diaspora of inhabited planets, and a highly secret set of 4-space co-ordinates. Bibi uses Lady Nef's death to escape from Fenmu, finds Spirit, an instantaneous-transit space pod, and follows Lady Nef's co-ordinates to a treasure beyond price: a virgin, perfect, uninhabited planet. Soon after this, the mysterious, fantastically wealthy Princess of Bois Dormant makes her debut in the high society of Speranza, the Diaspora's capital city. Thus disguised, Bibi sets out to discover why she and her mistress were condemned to a living hell; and to punish the guilty. Twenty years have passed: Lady Nef's enemies now rule Speranza. As she uncovers a forgotten, ruthless and far-reaching conspiracy, Bibi's vengeance is transformed into a project of world-changing reparation.


2) The City and The City by China Mieville

When the body of a murdered woman is found in the extraordinary, decaying city of Bes el, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he probes, the evidence begins to point to conspiracies far stranger, and more deadly, than anything he could have imagined. Soon his work puts him and those he cares for in danger. Borlu must travel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own, across a border like no other.


3) Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts

Russia, 1946, the Nazis recently defeated. Stalin gathers half a dozen of the top Soviet science fiction authors in a dacha in the countryside somewhere. Convinced that the defeat of America is only a few years away, and equally convinced that the Soviet Union needs a massive external threat to hold it together, to give it purpose and direction, he tells the writers: 'I want you to concoct a story about aliens poised to invade earth ...I want it to be massively detailed, and completely believable. If you need props and evidence to back it up, then we can create them. But when America is defeated, your story must be so convincing that the whole population of Soviet Russia believes in it--the population of the whole world!' The little group of writers gets down to the task and spends months working on it. But then new orders come from Moscow: they are told to drop the project; Stalin has changed his mind; forget everything about it. So they do. They get on with their lives in their various ways; some of them survive the remainder of Stalin's rule, the changes of the 50s and 60s. And then, in the aftermath of Chernobyl, the survivors gather again, because something strange has started to happen. The story they invented in 1946 is starting to come true...


4) Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson

Late Renaissance Italy abounds in alchemy and Aristotle, yet it trembles on the brink of the modern world. Galileo's new telescope encapsulates all the contradictions of this emerging reality. Then one night a stranger presents a different type of telescope for Galileo to peer through, enabling him to see the world of humans three thousand years hence. Galileo will soon find himself straddling two worlds, the medieval and the modern. By day his life unfurls in early seventeenth century Italy; by night he is transported through dimensions of time and space no other man of his time could possibly comprehend. Inexorably, Galileo faces trial for religious crimes in his own time, while in the new world he discovers, where science assures men that they can perform wonders, but does not tell them what wonders to perform, he is revered.


5) Far North by Marcel Theroux

Every day I buckle on my guns and go out to patrol this dingy city. Out on the far northern border of a failed state, Makepeace patrols the ruins of a dying city and tries to keep its unruly inhabitants in check. Into this cold, isolated world comes evidence that life is flourishing elsewhere - a refugee from the vast emptiness of forest, whose existence inspires Makepeace to take to the road to reconnect with human society. What Makepeace finds is a world unravelling, stockaded villages enforcing a rough and uncertain justice, mysterious slave camps labouring to harness the little understood technologies of a vanished civilization. But Makepeace's journey also leads to unexpected human contact, tenderness, and the dark secrets behind this frozen world. "Far North" leads the reader on a quest through an unforgettable arctic landscape, from humanity's origins to its likely end. Bleak, haunting, spare - and yet ultimately hopeful, the novel is suffused with an ecstatic awareness of the world's fragility and beauty, and its unexpected ability to recover from our worst trespasses.


6) Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, leader of a small and highly dysfunctional band of layabouts. An inveterate womaniser and rogue, he and his gang make a living on the wrong side of the law, avoiding the heavily armed flying frigates of the Coalition Navy. With their trio of ragged fighter craft, they run contraband, rob airships and generally make a nuisance of themselves. So a hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the heist goes wrong, and the freighter explodes. Suddenly Frey isn't just a nuisance anymore - he's public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy on his tail and contractors hired to take him down. But Frey knows something they don't. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he's going to have to catch the real culprit. He must face liars and lovers, dogfights and gunfights, Dukes and daemons. It's going to take all his criminal talents to prove he's not the criminal they think he is...


I have a rather crazy idea. The winner of this award is being announced on Wednesday 28th April - before then I want to have read as many of these six as feasibly possible (hopefully all of them!) so that I can judge for myself whether the panel make the right decision. This also links rather nicely into Mark Chitty's Sci Fi Appreciation Month for April being held over at Walker of Worlds!

I accept this is a rather mad challenge with only 29 days to get through six rather hefty tomes, so you might see failure rather than success, but I am keen to read more sci fi and this seems an excellent way to jump on board.

Look out for reviews and updates on this throughout April.