Hugo boss

The nail-biting is over for another year as the (all British novelists, thank you very much) Hugo nominees finally find out who has won one of the most prestigious awards in the genre. Last night by the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow the awards were announced at Interaction the 63^rd World Science Fiction Convention. Maestro, a drum roll, if you please…

And the winner of the coveted best novel award is Susanna Clarke for her utterly wonderful debut novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It’s one of the books we had on our very fist Book Picks in our catalogue a few months back and has been nominated in numerous awards, so it is terrific to see Susanna winning the Hugo.

It’s hard to believe it was a debut novel – I loved it; I was drawn into such an amazingly well-crafted world I really didn’t want the book to end. If you haven’t read it yet (and why not?) I can’t recommend it enough; think magical fantasy meets Charles Dickens and you start to get the idea, although that barely scratches the surface of this tome.

Yes, it is a very large book, but please don’t be put off by that – unlike some over-large fantasies this never feels bloated or over-long – in fact, as I said I found myself not wanting it to finish as I approached the end of the book and I'll be first in line to beg the publisher for a proof of any new book by Susanna. And if my opinion isn’t good enough for you then take the word of Neil Gaiman for it as he generously endorsed the novel on its release.

In other Hugo awards one of our favourite writers, nominated in multiple categories, walked away with the Best Novella Award: Charlie Stross picked up his gong for The Concrete Jungle. Elsewhere Kelly Link won the Best Novelette category for The Faery Handbag, Mike Resnick took the Best Short Story category for Travels with My Cats and Best Related Book was The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn (and an extremely fine read for anyone interesting in delving deeper into the genre).

In other areas the awards included –

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: The Incredibles, written & Directed by Brad Bird

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: "33" - Battlestar Galactica, Written by Ronald D. Moore and Directed by Michael Rymer

Best Professional Editor: Ellen Datlow (an indispensable member of the international SF community if ever there was one)

Best Professional Artist: Jim Burns

Best Fanzine: Plokta, edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies and Mike Scott

Best Fan Artist: Sue Mason

Best Web Site: SciFiction, edited by Ellen Datlow. Craig Engler, general manager

John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo Award): Elizabeth Bear

And no Hugo ceremony would be complete without the carbon-based lifeform known as Dave Langford, who took home two gongs to add to his towering awards cabinet (which now features blinking warning lights on the summit to alert low-flying aircraft): Best Semiprozine: Ansible, edited by David Langford and Best Fan Writer: David Langford. Great to see as Dave is, without a doubt, a Foundation (sorry, bad pun) of our SF community.

Rumours that the next issue of the Ansible will feature a plea for donations to build an extension to the Dave Langford Awards and Trophies Room in his home are so far unconfirmed, as are rumours that he has had to consider using an Incredible Shrinking Ray on his multitudinous gongs in order for them to fit in his house.