The 2002 Hugo Award
In 2002, for the second time in my life, I managed to read all the nominees for the Best Novel Hugo Award before the vote took place. These were my thoughts...
The Curse Of Chalion
Lois McMaster Bujold
While based in the standard medieval-europe setting of fantasy, Chalion has
no other races, only humans (though they come in flavours). The main
fantastic element is the presence of Gods, and their activities in the world
via proxies - saints. Vivid, well developed characters and a plot which
kept me guessing (not that it's difficult to do THAT).
Link
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
Another fantasy - the setting is modern America, and the Gods are walking
the land - the older Gods of the native americans, the younger Gods brought
by european settlers, and the new Gods created by the beliefs of the living.
A just-released convict gets caught up in their affairs. A typically
Gaiman-esque mixture of mythic backdrop, haunting mood, and sly oddball humour.
Link
Cosmonaut Keep
Ken MacLeod
On a low-tech colony world, a young mathematician works to unravel the
secrets of FTL travel. Unfortunately, the cabal that controls all space
travel doesn't want this to happen. The first in a trilogy.
I've read several of KM's works, and this is the one I've enjoyed least. :(
Link
Perdido Street Station
China Miéville
Yet another fantasy - and the most inventive of the three on this list. An
alchemist/scientist gets caught up in the chaos as Nasty Things go on the
rampage in a sprawling, semi-industrialised city. For me, this struck some
thematic resonances with Mary Gentle's Rats and Gargoyles, mostly in the
feel of the city (there's a real sense of Place to it), and the plot kept me
guessing all the way.
Link
Passage
Connie Willis
First off, Passage is just barely SF. In a modern US hospital, two doctors
research Near-Death Experiences, while attempting to evade the crackpot
"messages from the dead" author who works in the same hospital. I enjoyed
it - again, well drawn characters all round - but not my favourite on this
list, by some stretch.
Link
[rant: In my opinion, if this book had been written by Joe Q. Mainstream-Author (many of whom have written stuff that's WAAAAYYYY more SF than this), it wouldn't have got within a million miles of the Hugos. I'll leave the audience to debate whether or not this is a Good Thing]
The Chronoliths
Robert Charles Wilson
An American slacker is among the first to see a Chronolith - an enormous
monument to a military victory that hasn't happened yet - which (literally)
appears overnight in southeast asia. Over the following months, more
Chronoliths appear, and he gets caught up in the hysteria and investigation.
I quite enjoyed it, but had problems with the plot pacing - the ending
struck me as a complete anti-climax. But then I've seen people
raving about it being the best SF of the year. Hmm.
Link
Other Notes
My Favourites
- The Curse Of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
- Perdido Street Station, China Miéville
This is a bit odd. I count myself as an SF fan who reads the odd fantasy, but my favourites this year are both fantasies...
Nomination Rules
If I remember correctly, 2002 was the first year of a new rule, which grants an extra year of eligibility to works whose first publication was outside North America. Due to the fact that the majority of the Hugo Voters are usually American, the old rules could be a little harsh on works originally published elsewhere, leading to worthy books missing out, since they only gained recognition amongst the voters after their eligibility had expired. The new rule had an immediate effect, rendering both Cosmonaut Keep and Perdido Street Station eligible, which were originally published in the UK in 2000.
PostScript
The actual award went to American Gods. I'm not exactly upset about this, since it is a good book, and Neil Gaiman's a nice chap, who seems to have been about the only person in the world who thought he didn't stand a chance of winning: