Matrix Magazine on the Clarke Award

With the Arthur C. Clarke Award winner to be announced later this week, Matrix Magazine has a chat with the shortlisted authors, including Gradisil author Adam Roberts, who says, “Gradisil felt to me like a book that was doing more of the things I’m interested in doing, art-wise, that any previous novel I’ve written.”

The article contains some interesting thoughts on the value and purpose of awards, including this bit of wisdom from M. John Harrison: “As an assessment of fiction, they offer an alternative to market forces… They’re often an index of what we feel fiction could be, rather than what it is… Well thought-out, well-given awards are about change.”

The shortlisted novels for the 2007 Arthur C. Clarke Award are:

End of the World Blues: Jon Courtenay Grimwood – Gollancz
Nova Swing: M. John Harrison – Gollancz
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart: Lydia Millet – William Heinemann
Hav: Jan Morris – Faber & Faber
Gradisil: Adam Roberts – Gollancz
Streaking: Brian Stableford – P.S. Publishing

Winners will be announced May 2nd at Sci-Fi London, the 6th annual international festival of science fiction and fantastic film.