Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist Announced

This year's Arthur C. Clarke Award judges have recently announced the shortlist for this year's prize. The Arthur C. Clarke Award is given annually for an outstanding British science fiction novel. The contestants are:

• Hull zero three, by Greg Bear
• The end specialist, by Drew Magary (published under the title The postmortal in the US)
  
• Embassytown, by China Mieville
• The testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers (a paperback edition will be released in the U.S. in May)
  
• Rule 34, by Charles Stross
• The waters rising, by Sheri S. Tepper

Perhaps as interesting as perusing the list itself is the commentary that it has generated in the SF community. Christopher Priest (author of The prestige) published a viscerally cranky, but entertaining, critique of the judges' decision on his blog last week, and Catherynne M. Valente (an American and a fantasy writer, no less) published an equally engrossing response to Priest's critique on her blog. I find this stuff fascinating -- there is hand-wringing over the Current State of Literature, but we're in the SF blogosphere, so there are f-bombs and space jokes included in the rants.