THE judges for this year鈥檚 Arthur C. Clarke award have defined science fiction in surprisingly inclusive terms. Their shortlist is high quality but eccentric, highlighting the problems of defining genre boundaries. For example, Neal Stephenson鈥檚 impressive Quicksilver is a sprawling historical epic that tells, among other things, of the rise of the Royal Society and the arguments between Newton and his rivals Hooke and Leibniz. It is a book about science, yes, but surely not science fiction.
William Gibson鈥檚 Pattern Recognition has the feel of SF, with its emphasis on internet communication and culture shock, but is a contemporary thriller. It鈥檚 a good novel about style, corporate branding, capitalism and the human need to reach out and communicate, but it is a stretch to call it science fiction.
Tricia Sullivan鈥檚 Maul is mainstream SF. It鈥檚 sparky and exciting; weird, playful and energetic, and cements her place as a major talent. It is set in a near-future shopping mall, where teenage girls are literally dressed to kill. After two rival gangs get into a gunfight, reality begins to play strange tricks on Sun, the bemused protagonist. In a parallel narrative, one of the few males to be born after the 鈥淵-plagues鈥� is struggling to survive as scientists inject him with viruses that begin to rewire his consciousness. Maul is a stand-alone novel. The other three contenders within the genre belong to series.
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Gwyneth Jones鈥檚 鈥淩ock-and-Roll-Reich鈥� sequence opened with her Clarke-winning Bold as Love, set in the aftermath of a strangely familiar eco-catastrophe. In Midnight Lamp, the third book, ex-rock stars Ax and Sage ally with the US president to rescue Fiorinda before her magic powers can be used. It鈥檚 as well written as all her other novels, but lacks the shocking originality of Bold as Love.
Stephen Baxter makes the shortlist again, this time with Coalescent, which ranges from 5th-century Roman Britain to now. A close-knit family of women has evolved beneath the streets for 16 centuries to support a few breeding mothers and thousands of neuter 鈥渄rones鈥�. The first of a series, Coalescent leaves too many loose ends.
Greg Bear鈥檚 Darwin鈥檚 Children is a sequel to Darwin鈥檚 Radio, following the fortunes of the 鈥渧irus children鈥�, changed in the womb by an ancient retrovirus. Most ordinary humans fear these children, and the government has rounded them up into camps. This is polished, the science well-researched, with topical things to say about fear of difference. It鈥檚 a contender, but my money is on Tricia Sullivan for Maul.
鈥� Coalescent
by Stephen Baxter, Gollancz, 拢12.99, ISBN 0575074248
鈥� Darwin鈥檚 Children
by Greg Bear, HarperCollins, 拢6.99, ISBN 0007132387
鈥� Pattern Recognition
by William Gibson, Penguin, 拢7.99, ISBN 0140266143
鈥� Midnight Lamp
by Gwyneth Jones, Gollancz, 拢10.99, ISBN 057507471X
鈥� Quicksilver
by Neal Stephenson, Heinemann, 拢16.99, ISBN 0434008176
鈥� Maul
by Tricia Sullivan, Orbit, 拢10.99, ISBN 1841493120