Miéville wins Arthur C Clarke

China Miéville's The City and the City has taken the gong. That's the third time he's won it. He also took the BSFA Award for Best Novel this year too.

And it was a strong field for the Clarke: Yellow Blue Tibia, Adam Roberts; Spirit, or the Princess of Bois Dormant, Gwyneth Jones; Far North, Marcel Theroux; Galileo's Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson; and Retribution Falls, Chris Wooding.

Congrats to the winner, commiserations to the losers.

And he's up for a Hugo, which he might well get. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I haven't read Adam's novel yet, but I suspect I will enjoy it as well. I might have a go at Gwyneth's one as well, we'll see. The other ones I will probably give a pass, based on the verdicts from this year's Not the Clarke Award panel...

Anyhow, a whooping round of congratulations to China for a historic win!

Far North was getting a lot of positive mentions in the weeks leading up to the ceremony. And Galileo's Dream is by KSR. Nuff said.

The City And The City is up for a Nebula too. Surely there isn't going to be a clean sweep.
It is still a bit early to see if it gets shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award or World Fantasy Award but I wouldn't be surprised to see it crop up on at least one of those either.

I haven't read the Theroux or the Wooding. All the rest however are well worth reading.

The City and the City may be a good book, but if it manages a clean sweep it'll only prove how incestuous the awards are.

Having said that, it's a different voter pool for the Hugo and Nebula to the BSFA, so opinions may well differ as to the book's merit on the other side of the Atlantic.

I read the Miéville and the Roberts. It's too bad they had to go head to head, they're both superb novels.

China Miéville is an author I haven't read yet. Is The City and the City a good sample of his work, or should I start with one of his earlier works?

His writing has changed direction the last couple of years, so it's not a good representative of his entire body of work. no. On the other hand, his earlier works are not good representatives of his current writing, so I can't say I think it matters where you begin. Perdido Street Station and The City and the City are two very different but excellent books (to name the two obvious places to start). Pick either one.

#8 Thank you, anglemark. I now have the freedom to start anywhere.
:-)

>8 anglemark: a new Miéville—Kraken—comes out in June, I think.

>10 avaland: It comes out May 7th, I received a mail from Amazon stating that my copy was sent yesterday.

>11 clorax: yes, you are correct. We have it now also.

>8 anglemark: I agree but I would say: Perdido Street Station, The City and the City and Un Lun Dun are all very different books, and wonderfully so:-)