• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The 34th shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature was announced on June 18.

• The City in the Middle of the Night – Charlie Jane Anders (Titan)
• The Light Brigade – Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot)
• A Memory Called Empire – Arkady Martine (Tor)
• The Old Drift– Namwali Serpell (Hogarth)
• Cage of Souls – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Head of Zeus)
• The Last Astronaut – David Wellington (Orbit)

Clarke Award director Tom Hunter said:

Listening to the deliberations of our judges this year, I was reminded again of the depth of passion that can power and unite our science fiction community, and what shines through for me in the choices of this year’s panel is this sense of shared love for the sf genre.

There are familiar themes here, from first contact and colonisation to the ravages of war and the end of the world, but all retooled with eyes firmly fixed on science fiction’s future as well as its long history.

 Andrew M. Butler, Chair of Judges, added:

It felt as if we were actually inside an sf novel when we chose these half dozen books – it was our first virtual shortlist meeting. I think the judges have selected a wonderful set of novels. At this point any of the six could win.

The award judges are Stewart Hotston, British Science Fiction Association; Alasdair Stuart, British Science Fiction Association; Farah Mendlesohn, Science Fiction Foundation; Chris Pak, Science Fiction Foundation; and Rhian Drinkwater, SCI-FI-LONDON film festival.

The list of 122 eligible titles submitted for this year’s prize can be found on the award committee’s Medium blog here.

The winner will be revealed in September, date to be determined.