BSFA novels

[nwhyte]

So, my votes for the BSFA award for Best Novel this year:

5) Lightborn, by Tricia Sullivan, a story of cyber-warfare and devastation in a near-future California. Really failed to grab me. I note also that it has much the fewest owners on Librarything (10, to 35 for MacLeod, 65 for Beukes, 189 for McDonald and 1205 for Bacigalupi

Comments

[ninebelow]

I note also that it has much the fewest owners on Librarything

Probably because it was only published a couple of months ago (November?).

[nwhyte]

Interesting thought.

My point was to say that the fact that Lightborn is owned by fewer than a third as many LT users as the next book up probably means that it doesn't have enough of a critical mass of fans to actually win the award.

I was spurred by your comment, however, to try and do some original research on how many LT owners a book published in November might have (slightly hampered by the fact Locus doesn't actually list Lightborn's publication month, so I can't be sure if November is correct). Of the 42 books I found, only three have fewer than 10 owners (Seed Seeker by Pamela Sargent and Skinners: Vampire Uprising by Marcus Pelegrimas, both on 9, and Sleeping Helena by Erzebet YellowBoy on 6). The median is 27.5 (between Yvonne Navarro's Highborn, on 29, and Glen Cook's Surrender to the Will of the Night, on 26) and allowing for the difference in size of the US and UK markets I guess that Lightborn's 10 is indeed about respectable

[ninebelow]

No, I'd be amazed if Dervish House doesn't win.

[inulro]

I love Ken Macleod, so The Restoration Game is high on my priority list at preset.