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Award Winners

Ardis Ardis's Favorite Books Award Winners Reviews Science Fiction

Velocity Weapon is Fun and Brilliant

written by Ardis

Don’t forget to check out my Book Club Discussion Questions for Velocity Weapon, but beware – all Discussion Question posts are full of spoilers.

Biran flicked his gaze to a small collection of family items the decorating crew had nailed to his foyer wall, and zeroed in on one picture: Sanda, on the day they promoted her to captain of her gunship. Her grin wide, prideful. One arm slung, protectively, around Brian’s shoulders. She’d always looked out for him. Made a career of it.
His turn.

I knew when I picked it up that Velocity Weapon would be firmly in my wheelhouse. A space opera promising mystery, tragedy, epic intergalactic politics, and rogue AI? I’m 100% in. My buy-in was cemented when I saw that Noumenon’s author Marina J. Lostetter had provided a glowing quote for the back cover.

Even with hopes this high, I was blown away by all Velocity Weapon had to offer.

April 2, 2020 1 comment

Ardis Ardis's Lists Award Winners Literary Fiction Science Fiction Short Story Collection

The Philip K. Dick Award, 2020

written by Ardis

Each year the Philip K. Dick award is given to “the best science fiction paperback novel published in the United States in the previous calendar year” at Norwescon. This year, the award ceremony will take place in Seattle, WA, on April 10th.

Between now and then, I will be working to read and review all of the nominees. Hopefully, I’ll have time to circle back before the ceremony and update this list with my bet (and my vote), but if the past is any indication I’ll be reading down to the wire.

For now, read on for a little about each book as a nominee. One by one I’ll add review links to this page, so if you’re following along (or reading along), be sure to bookmark this page and check back for the latest updates.

February 18, 2020 0 comment

Ardis Ardis's Lists Award Winners Reflection

Ardis’s Top 15 Books of the Decade

written by Ardis

This past decade brought change and opportunity, perhaps none more for me than a renewed commitment to reading. It didn’t really start until 2016, when I finally started to see my Goodreads challenge as more than just a perfunctory exercise. I started keeping up with books as they were published, following authors and publishers on their various media, and engaging with book reviewers and reading communities.

The world opened before my eyes.

2016 and 2017 were near miraculous years in genre publishing as far as I’m concerned, but the whole decade was full of beautiful, inspiring stories that continue to push the bounds of what we can, as storytellers, accomplish.That said, here are my top 15 books of the decade (presented in chronological order by publish date).

January 9, 2020 0 comment

2019 Ardis Award Winners Fantasy Reviews

Spinning Silver tells a beautiful, cold tale

written by Ardis

This story is nominated for both a Nebula and a Hugo award, to be announced on May 16th and August 18th, respectively. Click the links above to view the other nominees, and to keep track of the awards themselves.

“You’re all right, dushenka? He didn’t hurt you?” She was safe for another moment, one more moment, and all of life was only moments, after all.

Spinning Silver is the latest standalone fantasy story from acclaimed author Naomi Novik. As a fast fan of her 2015 award-winning Uprooted, I had very high hopes and clear expectations for this book – and Novik shattered each and every one of them.

May 2, 2019 0 comment

2019 Ardis Ardis's Lists Award Winners Fantasy Science Fiction

2019’s Nebula Award for Best Novel: Nominees

written by Ardis

The 2019 Nebula Awards will be announced at the SFWA Nebula Conference in Los Angeles, CA, on (or around) May 18th. Over the past few months, I’ve been working to read and review all of the nominees in the Best Novel category. As theVerge.com describes:

The Nebula Awards are issued annually by SFWA to the best works in genre novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories published in the last year, alongside the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy and the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Nebulas are a sort of industry award, determined by professional authors.

Over the coming months, I will be reviewing each finalist in the Best Novel category and linking those reviews here. As I have in years past, I will circle back to this post once the Nebula Award winners are announced in May to record the winner.

Be sure to follow this page for the latest updates to this review series, and as always don’t hesitate to read along with me and let me know what you think of these nominees (or the Nebula Awards) in the comments!

May 2, 2019 0 comment

2019 Ardis Ardis's Lists Award Winners Fantasy Science Fiction

2019’s Hugo Award for Best Novel: Nominees

written by Ardis

The 2019 Hugo Awards will be announced at this year’s WorldCon 77 in Dublin, Ireland, on August 18th, 2019. Often considered “among the highest honors bestowed in science fiction and fantasy writing“, the Hugo Award for Best Novel is the central event of each year’s Worldcon. Any work of fiction 40,000 words or more and published or translated into English during the previous year is eligible.

Over the coming months, I will be reviewing each finalist in the Best Novel category and linking those reviews here. As I have in years past, I will circle back to this post once the Hugo Award winners are announced in August to record the winner.

Be sure to follow this page for the latest updates to this review series, and as always don’t hesitate to read along with me and let me know what you think of these nominees (or the Hugo Awards) in the comments!

April 9, 2019 0 comment

2019 Ardis Ardis's Favorite Books Award Winners Reviews Science Fiction

Scalzi’s “The Collapsing Empire” Made Me an Instant Fan

written by Ardis

It can take five years for a piece of news to go from one end of space to the other, and the story’s going to change in the telling. So you don’t listen to the story. You listen to the pattern. And right now, the pattern is weird …

Almost from page one, it’s easy to see why Scalzi has such huge devoted fanbase, and why he’s met with such success since his entry onto the scene with a self-published novel in 1997. He’s known for his humor, and I was prepared for silliness. What I found was so much more.

I’m not always a fan of a lot of intentional humor in my fiction, and usually shy away from authors “known for their humor”. My feelings on Scalzi were no different. I knew friends who loved Old Man’s War, and Redshirts, but I didn’t see anything that appealed to me – until The Collapsing Empire hit the shelves. I don’t know why, but I had to read it!

And I’m so glad I did.

April 2, 2019 0 comment

Ardis Award Winners Science Fiction

Dreams Before the Start of Time

written by Ardis

The Arthur C. Clarke award will be announced July 18, 2018, at this year’s Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. This post is part of a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Nebula award for best novel. The other nominees are Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, American War by Omar El Akkad, Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar, Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed, and Borne by Jeff VanderMeer.

And just as Anna created a new start to Dominic’s day, she made a change to Dominic’s routine of working in his garden studio after dinner. Connie had regarded his studio as a private lair and rarely ventured in. She took him tea occasionally, didn’t linger. So Anna takes wine and stays to chat. She loves the smell of his studio. She loves Dominic, and she loves the idea of him too. The artist in his studio. He calls it his shed, but she refuses to follow this lead – it’s his right to be self-deprecating, not hers.

Normally, I’m not a very enthusiastic champion of multi-generation stories (unless they’re on generation ships!) and I would not have picked up this book had it not been on the short list for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke award.

June 19, 2018 0 comment

Ardis Award Winners Reviews Science Fiction Westerns

Sea of Rust is Great Action Fluff (now with robots)

written by Ardis

The Arthur C. Clarke award will be announced July 18, 2018, at this year’s Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. This post is part of a series of reviews of the nominees for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke award for best novel. The other nominees are Dreams Before the Start of Time by Anne Charnock, American War by Omar El Akkad, Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar, Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed, and Borne by Jeff VanderMeer.

“I miss it, you know. Being a bartender. But the people. I mostly miss all the people.”

Most dying robots do. People gave us purpose.

C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust is a very fun read that, ultimately, appears to offer little more than “fun”. Set in a far (presumably Earth) future, his book follows a robot named Brittle as she forges her path in the post-human world. Between shootouts, repairs, and upgrades, Brittle spends her time wading through the Sea of Rust looking for spare parts – whether or not they’re still walking and talking.

June 5, 2018 1 comment

Ardis Ardis's Lists Award Winners Fantasy Science Fiction

Nebula Award for Best Novel, 2018

written by Ardis

The Nebula awards 2018 will be announced tonight, at the SFWA Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the past few months, I’ve been working to read and review all of the nominees in the Best Novel category. As theVerge.com describes:

The Nebula Awards are issued annually by SFWA to the best works in genre novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories published in the last year, alongside the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy and the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Nebulas are a sort of industry award, determined by professional authors.

Below, I’ll talk a little bit about each book as a nominee, as well as give you both my vote (which book I think should win) and my prediction (which book I think will win). Also, for each book I will include a link to my full review so you can get all caught up and (if I’ve done my job right) form your own opinions just in time for the award announcement.

May 19, 2018 0 comment

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