Good winnings:

As the entire intarwubz have already reported, Richard Morgan’s Black Man scooped the Clarke Award last night. I hadn’t read the whole shortlist, so I can’t pass comment on its comparative worthiness, but I have read Black Man (reviewed it for Vector, too) and thought it was an excellent book, so no complaints from me.

The fact that Morgan is not just a very decent and interesting fellow but one of my new clients is also rather pleasing. Congratulations, Richard!

The ceremony was a lot of fun, and the Apollo Cinema was done up all sf-nal complete with gratuitous Star Wars extras; it was great to see lots of people I usually only interact with online, and an unusual experience to be plied with free booze and nibbles.

Although, judging by Niall’s picture of me stood next to the gorgeous Claire Weaver, I should probably be avoiding nibbles for a few months, or possibly even forever.

Bad endings:

The SF Signal gang roped me into another of their Mind Meld posts to talk about the best and worst endings in genre novels.

Unsurprisingly, I was far from being the only person to declare Peter F Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy to have the worst ending ever … there’s lots of other interesting opinions from names and faces old and new, so go take a read. You’ll get some good recommendations from it, I reckon.

Bad reviews:

Andrew Wheeler calls it how he sees it, which is why he’s one of the genre bloggers I most respect. His justification for writing negative reviews is chuntering out of my printer as we speak, so as to be pinned to my wall:

“On the one side, a reviewer always wants to be honest. If I liked a book, I want to say that — more, I want to explain what I liked about it, and, as best I can, how, I liked it. And I want to avoid soft pedaling a book I didn’t like.

But I’ve also gotten to a point in my life when I like to think of myself as an adult. And adults don’t cause offense inadvertently (as someone once said about gentlemen).

I’ll still probably say some critical things about the book in question [...] but, if I can manage it, none of it will be gratuitous (unlike SF Eye), and all of it will be for a purpose.

So that’s the point: I complain because I love. Really.”

Selah, brother.

Bad business:

Right, it’s off to the day-job for me … *sigh*

Having been out of town on the relevant evening, I’m late to the field in trumpeting the launch of Scalpel Magazine (although I actually mentioned it ages ago, and let the cat somewhat out of the bag in the process). Most of the genre blogosphere appears to have taken the news of a new reviews and criticism outlet fairly positively, notwithstanding Nick Mamatas and friends. There’s some fine content on there, too. I for one hope it will last the course – and not merely because I want another venue to send my own work to, either.

Pat Cadigan’s guest editorial for Scalpel mentions the decline of book reviews in mainstream print media, which is a hot topic at the moment, especially in the US. I’ve found that the Print Is Dead blog has had some wise things to say on the matter. Meanwhile, the UK’s very own Grumpy Old Bookman has added his dime to the jukebox:

“Finally, however, let us remember one simple fact. However erudite the print reviewer may be, and however exquisite his taste and critical judgement, he is handicapped by comparison with the most humble blogger. Our print man cannot link directly to other sources.

This is, I would suggest, a major problem. Twenty years ago, of course, no one could even imagine it. But now it has to be faced.”

That’s about right, I think. I’m not gloating about the declining relevance of print media (in reference to book reviews or anything else), but nor am I willing to shut my eyes on what, to me, is an obvious and irresistable trend. Selah.

My love and admiration for the ability of the internet to allow anyone and everyone to publish their thoughts and opinions should be well known to regular visitors. Sometimes though, I realise that I may be making assumptions about the way other people consume that information. Continue reading “Climbing free of the online book review sinkhole”