Locus SF Awards

The 2009 Locus Award

Winners for best science fiction books and related books were named at a ceremony June 27 in Seattle. Read more about the award winners at Locus Online. Boing Boing observed that the list is a "good place to start your reading if you want to read some of the best stuff out there."
Locus Award winners:
* Science fiction novel: Anathem by Neal Stephenson Find this book in our catalog

* Fantasy novel: Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin Find this book in our catalog

* First novel: Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko Find this book in our catalog

* Young adult book: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Find this book in our catalog

* Novella: Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link Find this book in our catalog

* Anthology: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual collection, edited by Gardner Dozois Find this book in our catalog

* Non-Fiction/Art Book: P. Craig Russell--Coraline: The Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell Find this graphic novel in our catalog

Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished Science Fiction

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the U. S.

Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro and Terminal Mind by David Walton were co-winners this year. Results were announced at Norwescon 32, in SeaTac, Wash.

Emissaries from the Dead Find this book in our catalog
Notes from our catalog: "Two murders have occurred on One One One, an artificial ecosystem created by the universe's dominant AIs to house several engineered species, including a violent, sentient race of sloth-like creatures. Under order from the Diplomatic Corps, Counselor Andrea Cort has come to this cylinder world where an indentured human community hangs suspended high above a poisoned, acid atmosphere. Her assignment is to choose a suitable homicide suspect from among those who have sold their futures to escape existences even worse than this one. And no matter where the trail leads her she must do nothing to implicate the hosts, who hold the power to obliterate humankind in an instant. But Andrea Cort is not about to hold back in her hunt for a killer. For she has nothing to lose and harbors no love for her masters or fellow indentures. And she herself has felt the terrible exhilaration of taking life . . . . "

Editor's Winter Reading Suggestions - 1st one:Family Trade

The Harford County Public Library Winter Reading Program will be starting in January (check with your local branch for their kick-off celebration date). I thought for the next two and a half weeks I would post here reviews of all sorts of different books I have recently finished to give you some ideas outside of the usual bestsellers for your own winter reading.

I am going away to Wales to visit my Mum and Dad for the Holidays and will not be back until the New Year. To cover my absence, I have scheduled a lot of reviews, one to be published automatically every three days or so. They will be a mixed bag of genres. Most will have been published two or three years ago. Perhaps these reviews might stimulate you to try something different from your usual fare?

This is the first book:

The Family Trade by Charles Stross, 2004 (Find this book in our catalog)

This is book one of The Merchant Princes series by Stross and probably should be read first in the series. It definitely should not be read by anyone who expects a neatly sewn-up and satisfying ending; it will, however, appeal to all readers who like their intellect challenged and their preconceived notions turned upside down. In this fast-paced story filled with constant danger, action, and shifting realities, Miriam Beckstein is given a locket and is transported by it to a parallel world, where knights on horseback chase their prey with automatic weapons. This world diverged from our own world in the Dark Ages, when, after a catastrophic war, the Vikings left Europe and colonized the whole of North America. Fans of alternate history will be interested to see how this world developed on an alternate path from ours and is still feudal, with colonies on each coast and a wasteland in between in control of antagonistic Native American tribes. Miriam discovers she is a lost countess in this world, a powerful heiress in the kingdom of Gruinmarkt, whose balance she has upset by her reappearance. This upset places Miriam in acute danger as she travels back and forth between the kingdom and our well-known Boston and New York. Science fiction fans will enjoy the exploration of the concept of parallel worlds, the detail with which the kingdom of Gruinmarkt is described and the technology of “world walking.”