Hugo Award Winners Announced

On September 2nd the 2012 Hugo Awards were handed out in Chicago. There are myriad categories, from traditional print science fiction publications to fan writers and artists. The category I was eyeing was best novel. There were some heavyweights in this category: George R.R. Martin for A Dance With Dragons, China Meiville for Embassytown, Jo Walton for Among Others (which won the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Novel), Mira Grant for Deadline (she won the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer), and James S.A. Corey for Leviathan Wakes. The last nominee is a newcomer, as this is the first book by the collaborative pseudonym for authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. As well, Abraham and Franck have been writing individually for a short period of time as well. If there was a dark horse, this would be it.

The Award went to... Jo Walton for Among Others. She has been writing for several years, and won the 2002 John W. Campbell Award for best new writer. Among Others is. according to the Macmillan website, “at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and SF, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment.” Interestingly, it is categorized as Adult Science Fiction in one place, and Young Adult in another. It is being dubbed as her “breakout book” and so perhaps this award selection is due. However, I am surprised that the award did not go to Martin or Meiville, as they have been two prominent names in SF in the last few years (Martin did have some consolation, however: He did win an award as part of the writing team for Game of Thrones: Season 1).

You can find the complete list of winners and nominees here.

Still Reading!

I've finished A Storm of Swords, and have started A Feast for Crows. Storm is utterly heartbreaking at times, and I am yanked back to reality when Martin exhibits his superior storytelling skills by making it all so real, even though we're talking about dragons, wights, direwolves and giants. Brilliant. I can only hope A Feast for Crows lives up to its predecessors.

A fellow fan of the series recommended that I wait until shortly before the fifth book is released before I read the fourth book, as the timelines occur simultaneously, so I am putting AFfC on hiatus and jumping to The Eyre Affair, which I am loving. It is a marriage between Douglas Adams and Harold Bloom, so far. More to report once Fforde is ffinished.

Review: A Song of Ice and Fire

I’m 50% through the (soon to be) five part series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, having finished A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. I have started A Storm of Swords, and I am not expecting any diminish in quality - the first 150 pages are proving me right so far.

A Game of Thrones is a compelling read, focusing on several characters at once in an overall cast of hundreds, really. Martin is an accomplished storyteller, revealing just enough about the character and plot to build continuously on the already intense storyline. The saga starts with tense relations between the King of Westeros, Robert Barathon, and his Queen’s family, the Lannisters. The King has selected Eddard Stark to be the Hand of the King, his right-hand man, to have someone at court that he can trust. But Stark soon finds that he is in over his head, and duty and honour have no place at the seat of the Seven Kingdoms.

Martin focuses the story on House Stark for the most part: Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, his wife Catelyn, sons Robb, Bran, and, to a lesser extent, Rickard, daughters Sansa and Arya and bastard son Jon Snow, for whom life does not get easier from an already tumultuous upbringing. The trend continues in A Clash of Kings, and although one reviewer called the storylines “somewhat predictable,” it seems that she has not yet read A Clash of Kings, as Martin adds greatly to the one or two massive plot twists in A Game of Thrones in A Clash of Kings: by the middle of the book, I had no idea what to expect, as anything, Martin threatened, could happen. A Storm of Swords promises to be equally unsettling.

The series is getting much ballyhoo as it is the next hot new show on cable, having completed 7 episodes on HBO. The series, simply called Game of Thrones, has a star-studded cast and is reportedly both well-done and true to the book. They have already started casting for the second season, and with the fifth book due out July 12th, they seem to have a lucrative series run on their hands.

Read another review at Magnificent Octopus, and another at The Millions.