Terry Pratchett in Nebula Awards Tonight
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Written by terrypratchettbooks.org
Saturday, 06 May 2006 |
If the definition of a beach read is escaping to another world, then nothing could be beachier than sci-fi.
OK, OK, science fiction and fantasy still have a whiff of geekiness to them, they really shouldn't. Consider that the 20 top-grossing films of all time include five Star Wars and three Lords of the Rings, not to mention E.T., Independence Day and one of the Harry Potters.
Tonight, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America hand out the Nebula Awards at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, the first time the awards have been held in Arizona (details: www.sfwa.org/awards/2006).
If you're looking for out-of-this-world adventures, you could do a whole lot worse than this year's nominees for best novel:
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury USA, $15.95 paperback) - A richly detailed alternative history about two friends (and later rivals) who bring magic back to 18th-century England, a time when magicians exist, but only as theoretical scholars. Be sure not to skip the footnotes; they're half the fun.
• Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman (Ace, $7.99 paperback) - The tale of a mysterious artifact and two shape-shifting aliens who have been living on Earth throughout human history. From the Nebula-winning author of The Forever War.
• Polaris, by Jack McDevitt (Ace, $7.99 paperback) - Futuristic archaeologists discover that someone is willing to kill to track down pieces of the Polaris, a starship found empty and adrift decades ago.
• Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett (HarperTorch, $7.99 paperback) - The 29th (!) Discworld novel from Britain's favorite fantasy humorist.
• Air, by Geoff Ryman (St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95 paperback) - An experiment to beam the Internet directly into the brain goes awry as an illiterate Chinese peasant absorbs 90 years' worth of another woman's memories.
• Orphans of Chaos, by John C. Wright (Tor, $24.95 hardcover) - Myth meets adolescence in this fantasy about five supernatural students in a high school run by pagan gods.
Kerry Lengel
The Arizona Republic
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