The Girl With All The Gifts – M.R. Carey (Orbit)
The Book Of Strange New Things – Michel Faber (Canongate)
Europe In Autumn – Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
Memory Of Water – Emmi Itäranta (HarperVoyager)
The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August – Claire North (Orbit)
Station Eleven – Emily St John Mandel (Picador)
So finally we have our shortlist! With its emphasis on well-styled, immersive, strongly narrative soft science fiction novels with a mainstream crossover appeal, this would appear to be the most cohesive Clarke line-up we’ve had in some time. Although more than half the shortlist has already featured on other awards lists – Europe in Autumn on the BSFA, Memory of Water on the Kitschies, The Girl with all the Gifts on the Herbert, Station Eleven on the National Book Awards – none of the writers selected has ever competed for the Clarke before, which makes this list notable all by itself.
It’s also interesting to note that none of the six shortlisted titles would appear to place much emphasis on the ‘science’ part of science fiction. With two alternate realities, two post-apocalypse novels, one zombie novel and… the Michel Faber, it could be argued that this shortlist is something of an indicator for current trends in science fiction.
But that’s all I’m going to say for now. I’ve already read four out of the six shortlisted works. I intend to read the remaining two before putting some thoughts together at greater length. Until then, congratulations to all the nominees. I know who my money’s on!
You can read more about the nominees, including Tom Hunter’s full statement on the publication of the Clarke shortlist here.