by Ian Whates

Rejoice! For the Awards season is upon us once more. Following a period which has seen too many of the SF world’s most respected and venerable authors pass away – Arthur C. Clarke (March 19th), Algis Budrys (June 9th) and Thomas M. Disch (July 4th) to name but three, it’s a relief to report on some happier news.

The John W. Campbell Memorial Award, presented at a dinner on July 11th, has been won by Kathleen Ann Goonan, for her novel In War Times, whilst the Theodore Sturgeon Award for best short fiction has produced a tie for the first time in its history. David R. Moles and Elizabeth Bear share the award for their stories “Finisterra” and “Tidelines” respectively.

These announcements come just two weeks after the Locus Award winners were unveiled. Okay, I can’t rule out the possibility of an element of bias here, but it seems to me that in recent years Britain has been producing some of the very best speculative fiction around, at the very least rivalling that from our trans-Atlantic cousins, so I was delighted to see Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and China Miéville among the winners (not to mention a recent immigrant to these shores, Cory Doctorow). Full results can be viewed here: www.locusmag.com/2008/Locus_Awards_Winners.html

This year’s Nebulas, announced on April 26th, included wins for Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (novel), Nancy Kress with “Fountains of Age” (novella), Ted Chiang “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” (novelette) and Karen Joy Fowler “Always” (short story). Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth picked up the award for best script. Also honoured during the ceremony was Michael Moorcock, who received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

Roll on August and this year’s Hugos!