Aaron's 2011 Hugo Recommendations :: Campbell Award for Best New Author

Technically the Campbell Award is not a Hugo Award, although I couldn't tell you why that is. It's voted on alongside all the other Hugos, and I've actually read enough excellent new authors recently to make Campbell recommendations this year.

Here in alphabetical order are the new authors I am planning to nominate. I'm also listing in parentheses a story I particularly enjoyed by each one, to give you a place to start if you care to check out their work:

Gwendolyn Clare ("Iron Oxide Red," Daily SF)
Keffy R.M. Kehrli ("Advertising at the End of the World," Apex)
Malinda Lo (Ash)
Ferrett Steinmetz ("As Below, So Above," Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Brad R. Torgersen ("Exanastasis," Writers of the Future, Vol. 26)

Except for Malinda Lo, all of these authors have to date focused on short fiction -- I confess I haven't read some of the new novelists who have been getting a lot of buzz, such as Lauren Beukes and Dexter Palmer -- and they all do it so well I would love to see some of them on the ballot.


UPDATE: I was poking around other folks' recommendations on the web, one of which suggested Malinda Lo for the Campbell. She is not on the Writertopia list of Campbell-eligible authors, but I can't figure why not -- I believe her first genre publication was Ash in 2009. Ash was an outstanding novel, so I'm adding her to my Campbell list. Unfortunately, that means someone else has to be bumped, so apologies to Monica Byrne, who still has a great future ahead of her.

Book Review Teaser :: Ash by Malinda Lo

New on Fantastic Reviews is Aaron's review of Ash by Malinda Lo.

From Aaron's book review of Ash :
"Ash by Malinda Lo is a beautifully written novel, combining modern sensibilities with the elegant, wistful voice of a fairy tale. Published as a young adult novel, but equally enjoyable to adult readers, Ash is a loose retelling of the story of Cinderella. The set-up is roughly the same: the untimely deaths of her parents leave Aisling, Ash for short, in the care of a cruel stepmother and nasty stepsisters (although it turns out one of the sisters isn't so bad when you get to know her), who treat Ash as a servant. Her hopes for escape rest on assistance from the fairy world."

"From there, however, the details of the story bend in a decidedly un-Disney direction. For one thing, while there is a grand ball hosted by a charming prince who must choose a bride, it gradually becomes apparent that Ash is drawn instead to Kaisa, the King's huntress."

"Some have described Ash as a lesbian version of Cinderella, but I think that does the book a disservice. It is first and foremost a vividly imagined expansion of the Cinderella story, with a mysterious and ominous analogue to the fairy godmother, and a wonderfully realized protagonist who takes a far more active role in her own story than the traditional character. The fact that Ash is attracted to the King's huntress rather than the prince is only one of many ways in which she defies her fate and others' expectations...."

To read the entire review -> Ash

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations :: Best Novel

If I had to submit my Hugo nominations today, these are the novels I would nominate (in alphabetical order by author):

Daniel Abraham, The Price of Spring
Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
China Miéville, The City and the City
Ken Scholes, Lamentation
Catherynne M. Valente, Palimpsest

I fully expect the Bacigalupi and Miéville novels to make the final ballot, and I would love to see any of the others recognized as well.

Obviously, there are many great novels from 2009 I have not yet read. Given what I know of the authors and what I've heard about the books, these are the five I suspect have the best chance of moving into my list, in the unlikely event I am able to read them in the next ten days:

Daryl Gregory, The Devil's Alphabet
Malinda Lo, Ash
Adam Roberts, Yellow Blue Tibia
Jeff VanderMeer, Finch
Walter Jon Williams, This Is Not a Game

I will update if my list changes before the 13th.