Arthur C. Clarke Award. Science Fiction. Winners. Shortlists. News service

About the Literary Award- Arthur C. Clark

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is awarded every year to the best science fiction novel which received its first British publication during the previous calendar year. The Book Award is chosen by jury.

The Award was established with a generous grant from Arthur C. Clarke with the intention of encouraging science fiction in Britain. It is considered the UK's premier prize for science fiction literature.

The Award was set up in 1986 and the first winner, The Handmaid's Tale (New Windmill) by Margaret Atwood, was announced in 1987. The Award consists of an inscribed plaque in the form of a bookend, and a cheque. The Award is administered jointly by the British Science Fiction and the Science Fiction Foundation, each of whom provides two judges each year. Recently, the Science Museum has joined the Award and provides one judge each year.

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Richard Morgan's Blackman wins the 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award

3oth April The suave looking Glasgow based, Richard Morgan's (right),Black Man (published as Thirteen in the USA) has won the 2008 Arthur C. Clarke for Science Fiction. The book has already gained many fans amongst Sci-fi heads and is now set to gain a whole lot more.

In Deathray's words, 'Richard Morgan writes pumped-up steroid fuelled cyber punk. This is an unashamedly male, rip-roaring boy's own thriller for the 21st century. If Andy McNab ate a year's worth of issues of New Scientist, this is the kind of stuff he might write afterwards. Black Man is kick-ass SF from the hard end of the spectrum.'

Liz Holliday, SCI-FI NOW said,,,,,
"This is writing with the brakes off and the adrenaline pumped to high.

Book Description

One hundred years from now, and against all the odds, Earth has found a new stability; the political order has reached some sort of balance, and the new colony on Mars is growing. But the fraught years of the21st century have left an uneasy legacy ...Genetically engineered alpha males, designed to fight the century's wars have no wars to fight and are surplus to requirements. And a man bred and designed to fight is a dangerous man to have around in peacetime. Many of them have left for Mars but now one has come back and killed everyone else on the shuttle he returned in. Only one man, a genengineered ex-soldier himself, can hunt him down and so begins a frenetic man-hunt and a battle survival. And a search for the truth about what was really done with the world's last soldiers. Black Man is an unstoppable SF thriller but it is also a novel about prejudice, about the ramifications of playing with our genetic blue-print. It is about our capacity for violence but more worrying, our capacity for deceit and corruption. This is another landmark of modern SF from one of its most exciting and commercial authors.

UK Authors Clean-Sweep for Arthur C. Clarke 2008 Finalists

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For only the second time in the award's existence the shortlist is composed solely of UK authors. The annual award is presented for the best science fiction novel of the year, and selected from a list of novels whose UK first edition was published in the previous calendar year.

"Featuring visions as diverse as a dystopian Cumbria and a future Hackney, time-travel adventures in 1960's Liverpool and an alternate world British Isles in the throes of terrorist attack, through to tech-noir thrillers and a trawl through subconscious worlds where memories fall prey to metaphysical sharks, the Clarke Award has never been so close to home and relevant to the British literary scene." So said the judges regarding their selection for this years award. The finalists are:

Matthew de Abaitua – The Red Men – Snow Books

Stephen Baxter - The H-bomb Girl – Faber & Faber

Sarah Hall – The Carhullan Army – Faber & Faber

Steven Hall (left)– The Raw Shark Texts – Canongate

Ken MacLeod – The Execution Channel – Orbit

Richard Morgan – Black Man (Gollancz S.F.) (published as Thirteen in the US) – Gollancz

Former winners of the United Kingdom's most prestigious Science Fiction award have included China Mieville, Geoff Ryman, and Pat Cadigan.

Sarah Hall's Carhullan Army Set for More Glory?

Sarah Hall (right), which already been awarded the John Llwellyn Rhys Prize 2006/7 for her novel The Carhullan Army, is now part of an exciting final selection for this years Arthur C. Clarke.

The novel, published by Faber and Faber, gives a compelling picture of Britain in the near future. Ravaged by a mysterious war, economically ruined and controlled by the faceless‘Authority,’ Britain has become a forbidding and desolate place. The narrator of the story, known simply as Sister, decides to join the self-sufficient and formidable female-only community on the remote farm of Carhullan as they struggle for survival.

But Ms. Hall faces some strong competition.

Matthew de Abaitua's, The Red Men is at heart a novel about a character wrestling with his conscience, set against a pervasive and Orwellian vision of contemporary society: surveillance, automation, biotechnology, and their implications for our humanity. No parallels with the age we live in currently quoth he ducking the surveillance camera.

baxter_stephen Stephen Baxter's (left), The H-bomb Girl, is set in Liverpool circa 1962. A place and time of danger and passion. A thrilling new music is bursting on to the grey streets of the post-war city. A music that electrifies. A music that promises to change everything. But in Cuba, on the other side of the earth, nuclear tensions are at breaking point. The end of the whole world could be just days away. At the heart of it all is 14-year-old Laura Mann. She's on the run, hunted by strange forces fighting over the future of humanity. And Laura's about to discover that her own life is at stake - in ways she could never have imagined

Newcomer Steven Hall's, The Raw Shark Texts, has it's supporters too. Mark Haddon described it as:
"The bastard love child of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code. Very entertaining." Whilst Toby Litt urged us onwards thought with stirring words; "Fast, sexy, intriguing, intelligent - a cult waiting to happen, a blockbuster begging to be made. Investigate, now!".... Very committed me thinks.

The award winning Scottish SF writer Ken Mcleod is back to his best with The Execution Channel whose hero James Travis keeps our attention in this spy/sci fi novel of intrigue. Mr. McLeod should certainly be there in the shake-out.

The finalists are rounded-out by Richard Morgan's , Black Man which is a major contender, in our humble view, for this years award. Read it and you'll find out why.

Good luck to all. KJP

2007 Winner
Nova Swing (Gollancz S.F.)- M. John Harrison (right)

"Nova Swing (Gollancz S.F.)begins to look like not only state-of-the-art noir SF, but a cunning cryptogram of a novel, as well.”
cover of Nova Swing Sam Thompson - TLS

It is some time after Ed Chianese's trip into the Kefahuchi Tract. A major industry of the Halo is now tourism. The Tract has begun to expand and change, but, more problematically, parts of it have also begun to fall to earth, piecemeal, on the Beach planets.

We are in a city, perhaps on New Venusport or Motel Splendido: next to the city is the event site, the zone, from out of which pour new, inexplicable artifacts, organisms and escapes of living algorithm - the wrong physics loose in the universe. They can cause plague and change. An entire department of the local police, Site Crime, exists to stop them being imported into the city by adventurers, entradistas, and the men known as 'travel agents', profiteers who can manage - or think they can manage -the bad physics, skewed geographies and psychic onslaughts of the event site.

But now a new class of semi-biological artifact is finding its way out of the site, and this may be more than anyone can handle.

2007 Shortlist:

End Of The World Blues (Gollancz S.F.) Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart Lydia Millet
Hav Jan Morris
Gradisil (Gollancz)Adam Roberts
Streaking Brian Stableford.

Winners & Shortlists 1987-2006
- 2006
- 2005
- 2004
- 2003
- 2002
- 2001
- 2000
- 1999
- 1998
- 1997
- 1996
- 1995
- 1994
- 1993
- 1992
- 1991
- 1990
- 1989
- 1988
- 1987

Historic Winners 1987-2006

2006 Winner
Air (Gollancz) – Geoff Ryman

Shortlist:

Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
Learning The World Ken MacLeod
Pushing Ice Alastair Reynolds
Accelerando Charles Stross
Banner Of Souls Liz Williams

2005 Winner
Iron Council – China Miéville (left)

Shortlist

River of Gods Ian McDonald
Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
Market Forces Richard Morgan
The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger
The System of the World Neal Stephenson
Judges:

2004 Winner
Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle (Baroque Cycle 1) – Neal Stephenson

Coalescent Stephen Baxter
Darwin's Children Greg Bear
Pattern Recognition William Gibson
Midnight Lamp Gwyneth Jones
Maul Tricia Sullivan

2003 Winner
The Separation (Gollancz S.F.) - Christopher Priest

Kil'n People David Brin
Light M. John Harrison
The Scar China Miéville
Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon
The Years of Rice and Salt Kim Stanley Robinson

2002 Winner
Bold as Love (Gollancz) - Gwyneth Jones

Shortlist:

Pashazade Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Fallen Dragon Peter F. Hamilton
The Secret of Life Paul McAuley
Mappa Mundi Justina Robson
Passage Connie Willis

2001 Winner
Perdido Street Station - China Miéville

Shortlist:

Parable Of The Talents Octavia E. Butler
Ash: A Secret History Mary Gentle
Cosmonaut Keep Ken MacLeod
Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds
Salt Adam Roberts

2000 Winner
Distraction - Bruce Sterling

Shortlist:

Time Stephen Baxter
The Bones of Time Kathleen Ann Goonan
Silver Screen Justina Robson
Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson
A Deepness In The Sky Vernor Ving

1999 Winner
Dreaming In Smoke - Tricia Sullivan (left)

Shortlist:

Earth Made Of Glass John Barnes
Time On My Hands Peter Delacorte
The Cassini Division Ken MacLeod
The Extremes Christopher Priest
Cavalcade AlisonSinclair

1998 Winner
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell

Shortlist:

Titan Stephen Baxter
Glimmering Elizabeth Hand
Days James Lovegrove
Nymphomation Jeff Noon
The Family Tree Sheri S. Tepper

1997 Winner
The Calcutta Chromosome - Amitav Ghosh

Shortlist:

Voyage Stephen Baxter
Engines of God Jack McDevitt
Blue Mars Kim Stanley Robinson
Gibbon's Decline and Fall Sheri S. Tepper
Looking for the Mahdi N. Lee Wood

1996 Winner l
Fairyland (Gollancz S.F.) - Paul J. McAuley (left)

Shortlist:

The Star Fraction Ken MacLeod (Runner-up)
Happy Policeman Patricia Anthony
The Time Ships Stephen Baxter
The Prestige Christopher Priest
The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson

1995 Winner
Fools - Pat Cadigan

Shortlist:

Mother of Storms John Barnes
North Wind Gwyneth Jones
Pasquale's Angel Paul J. McAuley
Towing Jehovah James Morrow
Alien Influences Kristine Kathryn Rusch

1994 Winner
Vurt - Jeff Noon

Shortlist:

A Million Open Doors John Barnes
Ammonite Nicola Griffith
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson
The Iron Dragon's Daughter Michael Swanwick
The Broken God David Zindell

1993 Winner
Body of Glass - Marge Piercy

Shortlist:

Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson (Runner-Up)
Hearts, Hands and Voices Ian McDonald
Destroying Angel Richard Paul Russo
Stations of the Tide Michael Swanwick
Correspondence Sue Thomas
Lost Futures Lisa Tuttle
Doomsday Book Connie Willis

1992 Winner
Synners - Pat Cadigan

Shortlist:

Eternal Light Paul J. McAuley (Runner-up)
Raft Stephen Baxter
White Queen Gwyneth Jones
Subterranean Gallery Richard Paul Russo
The Hyperion Cantos Dan Simmons

1991 Winner
Take Back Plenty - Colin Greenland

Shortlist:

Rats & Gargoyles Mary Gentle (Runner-up)
Use of Weapons Iain M. Banks
Red Spider, White Web Mischa
Farewell Horizontal K.W. Jeter
The City, Not Long After Pat Murphy

1990 Winner
The Child Garden (S.F.Masterworks S.) - Geoff Ryman

Shortlist:

A Child Across the Sky Jonathan Carroll (Runner-up)
A Mask for the General Lisa Goldstein
Desolation Road Ian McDonald
Soldiers of Paradise Paul Park
Ivory Mike Resnick
Neverness David Zindell

1989 Winner
The Unquenchable Fire - Rachel Pollack

Shortlist:

Empire of Fear Brian Stableford (Runner-up)
Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas Michael Bishop
Rumours of Spring Richard Grant
Kairos Gwyneth Jones
Life During Wartime Lucius Shepard
Whores of Babylon Ian Watson

1988 Winner
The Sea and Summer George Turner

Shortlist

Fiasco Stanislaw Lem
Ancient of Days Michael Bishop
Aegypt John Crowley margaret_atwood
Replay Ken Grimwood
Grainne Keith Roberts
Memoirs of an Invisible Man H.F. Saint

1987 Winner

The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary Classics)Margaret Atwood (right)

Short List:

The Ragged Astronauts Bob Shaw (Runner-up)
Eon Greg Bear
Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand Samuel R. Delany
Escape Plans Gwyneth Jones
The Memory of Whiteness Kim Stanley Robinson
Queen of the States Josephine Saxton
Green Eyes Lucius Shepard

About the Literary Award- Arthur C. Clark

Richard Morgan's Blackman wins the 2008 Arthur C. Clarke Award

UK Authors Clean-Sweep for Arthur C. Clarke 2008 Finalists

Sarah Hall's Carhullan Army Set for More Glory?

2007 Winner Nova Swing (Gollancz S.F.)- M. John Harrison (right)

Historic Winners 1987-2006

2007 Winner
Nova Swing (Gollancz S.F.)- M. John Harrison (right)