2013 Clarke Award Shortlist

[james_davis_nicoll]

The six shortlisted books for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction novel of the year 2013 are:

Nod by Adrian Barnes (Bluemoose)
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett (Corvus)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway (William Heinemann)
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (Headline)
Intrusion by Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Total  Female  Male  f/t
   6      0    6     0

Congratulations to the Clarkes for resisting the deadly temptation to produce a more diverse nominee list, especially given the outrageous - by what appear to the current standards of British SF - presence of women, persons of colour and Muslims on the submissions list. In particular I'd like to praise you for snubbing Alif the Unseen, which could have only embolden those people into further creativity in the field of SF and for picking KSR's proud tribute to colonialism and American Exceptionalism IN SPACE! over, say, Blue Remembered Earth, whose author fell into the dark error of actually paying attention to recent trends in Africa.

Total  Female   Male   f/t
 83     17.5    65.5   .21

The Submissions List for 2013:

The Children’s Hospital by Chris Adrian (Grant)
Crewel by Gennifer Albin (Faber & Faber)
vN by Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot)
Zero Point by Neal Asher (Tor UK)
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi (Atom)
Pure by Juliana Baggott (Headline)
Juggernaut by Adam Baker (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks (Orbit)
Nod by Adrian Barnes (Bluemoose)
Turbulence by Samit Basu (Titan Books)
Iron Winter by Stephen Baxter (Gollancz)
The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (Sceptre)
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett (Corvus)
Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell (Tor UK)
The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)
The Dream Killer of Paris by Fabrice Bourland (Gallic Fiction)
Existence by David Brin (Orbit)
alt.human by Keith Brooke (Solaris)
Helix Wars by Eric Brown (Solaris)
The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington (Orbit)
Empire State by Adam Christopher (Angry Robot)
Celebrant by Michael Cisco (Chomu Press)
The Lost Men by David A. Colón (Elsewhen Press)
Caliban’s War by James SA Corey (Orbit)
London Falling by Paul Cornell (Tor UK)
The Twelve by Justin Cronin (Orion)
Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan (Canongate)
Earth Girl by Janet Edwards (HarperVoyager)
The Eternal Flame by Greg Egan (Gollancz)
The Woman Who Died a Lot by Jasper Fforde (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Stranger’s Magic by Max Frei (Gollancz)
Blue Friday by Mike French (Elsewhen Press)
The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson (Tor UK)
EVE: Templar One by Tony Gonzales (Gollancz)
Blackout by Mira Grant (Orbit)
The Ward by S.L. Grey (Corvus)
Champion of Mars by Guy Haley (Solaris)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway (William Heinemann)
Empty Space by M. John Harrison (Gollancz)
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (Headline)
Wool by Hugh Howey (Century)
Worth Their Weight in Blood by Carole Jahme (Mira Books)
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid (Hot Key Books)
The Games by Ted Kosmatka (Titan Books)
The Company of the Dead by David J. Kowaski (Titan Books)
Age of Aztec by James Lovegrove (Solaris)
Intrusion by Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
The Killables by Gemma Malley (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus (Granta)
In the Mouth of the Whale by Paul McAuley (Gollancz)
Chimera by T.C. McCarthy (Orbit)
Transmission by John Meaney (Gollancz)
The Glimpse by Claire Merle (Faber & Faber)
Railsea by China Miéville (Macmillan)
Kimberly’s Capital Punishment by Richard Milward (Faber & Faber)
Thy Kingdom Come by Simon Morden (Jurassic London)
LiGa by Sanem Ozdural (Elsewhen Press)
The Chosen Seed by Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz)
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (Doubleday)
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Tor UK)
The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz)
Pulse by Tricia Rayburn (Faber & Faber)
The Demi-Monde: Spring by Rod Rees (Jo Fletcher Books)
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)
Jack Glass by Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
Triggers by Robert Sawyer (Gollancz)
Redshirts by John Scalzi (Gollancz)
The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith (Faber & Faber)
The Explorer by James Smythe (HarperVoyager)
The Testimony by James Smythe (Blue Door)
Crandolin by Anna Tambour (Chomu Press)
Deadfall Hotel by Steve Rasnic Tem (Solaris)
Entanglement by Douglas Thompson (Elsewhen Press)
Communion Town by Sam Thompson (4th Estate)
Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (Orbit)
Ecko Rising by Danie Ware (Titan Books)
The Outcast and the Little One by Andy West (NewCon Press)
Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson (Corvus)
Place of Dead Kings by Geoffrey Wilson (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Method by Juli Zeh (Harvill Secker)
The Return Man by VM Zito (Hodder & Stoughton)

Comments

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

10 female winners. That is 37% of the total, well above the submission rate for women for the period that data is available (from 2005 or so).

[mcbadger.livejournal.com]

And possibly above the shortlist rate, too, which while it has sometimes been 1/6, occasionally reached the dizzying heights of 3/6.

OK, still a bit of a shame to see this shortlist this year, but it doesn't seem fair to regard the Clarke award as chronically part of the problem. (My arithmetic skills might be another matter).

Edited to add: that doesn't mean I think this year's shortlist is irreproachable, just that I don't think the Clarke award is as chronically bad as some posts here are suggesting. Librarything & Goodreads ratings would place Alif the Unseen above 2312 and Intrusion, for whatever that may be worth; I have no personal view as I've yet to read any of them. I have Alif, will pick up Intrusion, and don't really enjoy KSR enough to pick up 2312 even if I hadn't been put off by the comments of James and others.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

And possibly above the shortlist rate, too

Yes.