6 Hot Science Fiction Titles: The Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is the most prestigious award for science fiction in Britain. The annual award is presented for the best science fiction novel of the year, and selected from a shortlist of novels whose UK first edition was published in the previous calendar year.

Here are the 2012 shortlisted titles:

Hull Zero Three (M)
by Greg Bear

"A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space, its destination-unknown and its purpose-a mystery. One man wakes up wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger. All he has are questions -- Who is he? Where are they going? What happened to the dream of a new life? What happened to the woman he loved? What happened to Hull 03?" - Publisher

Embassytown (M)
by China Miéville

"In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language. When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties: to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak-but which speaks through her, whether she likes it or not." -Publisher

The Testament of Jessie Lamb (M)
by Jane Rogers

"Women are dying in their millions. Some blame scientists, some see the hand of God, some see human arrogance reaping the punishment it deserves. Jessie Lamb is an ordinary girl living in extraordinary times: as her world collapses, her idealism and courage drive her towards the ultimate act of heroism. If the human race is to survive, it s up to her. But is Jessie heroic? Or is she, as her father fears, impressionable, innocent, incapable of understanding where her actions will lead? Set just a month or two in the future, in a world irreparably altered by an act of biological terrorism, The Testament of Jessie Lamb explores a young woman s determination to make her life count for something, as the certainties of her childhood are ripped apart. " - Publisher

Rule 34 (M)
by Charles Stross

"Internet Meme. Class One. Virulent. Meet Edinburgh Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, head of the Innovative Crime Investigation Unit, otherwise known as the Rule 34 Squad. It's responsible for monitoring the Internet, following trends to determine whether people are engaging in harmless fantasies--or illegal activities. Usually their job uncovers those operating on the extreme fringes of the run-of-the-mill porn that still, in 2023, abounds in cyberspace. But occasionally, more disturbing patterns arise... Three ex-cons have been murdered, in Germany, Italy, and Scotland. The only things they had in common were arrests for spamming--and a taste for unorthodox erotica. As the first officer on the scene of the most recent death, Liz finds herself rapidly sucked into an international investigation that isn't asking so much who the killer is as what it is--and if she can't figure that out, a lot more people are going to die as the homicides go viral... ." - Publisher

The Waters Rising (M)
by Sheri S.Tepper

“The Earth of this futuristic fable is still scarred by the "Big Kill," the disastrous crescendo of our civilization that all but obliterated terrestrial life. Now a new threat has appeared in the form of rising sea levels, a process that appears unbounded by such petty concerns as a plausible source for all that water. Xulai, initially an unimportant and expendable young girl, encounters a specter from the days of Big Kill, an entity bent on preventing Xulai from realizing her potential role in the salvation of humanity. "Ecofeminist" Tepper (The Margarets) balances pointed criticisms of our era with a calamity that appears to owe far more to Genesis than to science, but the writing is slick and carefully crafted, Xulai has plenty of pluck, and her companions possess a nearly ideal mixture of virtues, flaws, and enthusiasm for redemptive sacrifice. “ - Publisher’s Weekly

The End Specialist (not yet available in Canada)
by Drew Magary (M)

"2019. Humanity has witnessed its greatest scientific breakthrough yet: the cure for ageing. Three injections and you're immortal - not bulletproof or disease-proof but you'll never have to fear death by old age.

For John Farrell, documenting the cataclysmic shifts to life after the cure becomes an obsession. Cure parties, cycle marriages, immortal livestock: the world is revelling in the miracles of eternal youth. But immortality has a sinister side, and when a pro-death terrorist explosion kills his newly-cured best friend, John soon realizes that even in a world without natural death, there is always something to fear.” - Publisher