Sweet news because I’m reading Mieville’s Kraken right now! One of my favorite writers took home another Arthur C. Clarke Award, getting the nod over a field that included Gwyneth Jones, Kim Stanley Robinson, Adam Roberts, Chris Wooding and Marcel Theroux on the shortlist. I’ve been raving about China for years, almost as long as he’s been collecting Clarke Awards, as the win for City and the City makes him a 3-time winner, with his Perdido Street Station and Iron Council being previous Best Novel winners.
What I find interesting is that I when was reading the Guardian article about the award:
…who has previously won the Arthur C Clarke with more traditional fantasy novels Perdido Street Station and Iron Council.
Damn I’m getting old because it wasn’t too long ago that China Mieville and Perdido Street Station were the posterboy and poster for the genre-bending New Weird! Iron Council is a lot of things, but I’m not sure that it’s traditional anything, except (for Mieville) traditionally awesome. If anything, I thought City and the City was the most traditional adult novel that China’s ever written. The again, who really cares, a great read is a great read regardless of what you want to (or not) file it under. I’m interested in seeing if Mieville gets nods from the Mystery/Crime community, but I’m not holding my breath as I think I saw some odd individual knock Thomas Pynchon earlier this year.
Anyways, congrats to China who was very kind with his time at BEA last year, and best of luck as he continues his award tour after taking home the BSFA Award (British Science Fiction Association) earlier this year. Next up? Hugo Awards.
