Saturday, April 9, 2011

The Locus Poll 2011 - April 15 Deadline Close + My Votes (by Liviu Suciu)

Since the April 15 deadline is fast closing, I urge you to spend 15 minutes and vote in the Locus Poll HERE since it offers a great chance of being heard. As usual, it does not matter how much you have read in any category, just vote wherever you feel you have applicable choices.
I will present below my votes in the original form submitted by me with some comments; for best novel I essentially followed my Top 25 List HERE with some minor tweaks. To avoid confusion due to the format mixing from the Locus recommended list vs write-ins, I will first list the order of my votes in most places.

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SF: Banks/Valtat/Asher/Weber/Hamilton


sfnvl:Iain M. Banks, Surface Detail, Orbit: 1 FBC Rv HERE
sfnvl:WriteIn1Rank: 2
sfnvl:WriteIn1: Aurorarama, Jean Christophe Valtat, Melville House FBC Rv HERE
sfnvl:WriteIn2Rank: 3
sfnvl:WriteIn2: The Technician, Neal Asher, Pan-Macmillan FBC Rv HERE
sfnvl:WriteIn3Rank: 4
sfnvl:WriteIn3: A Mighty Fortress, David Weber, Tor FBC Rv HERE
sfnvl:WriteIn4Rank: 5
sfnvl:WriteIn4: The Evolutionary Void, Peter Hamilton, Pan-Macmillan Goodreads Rv HERE

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Fantasy: Parker/Tchaikovsky/Weeks/Sullivan/Elliott


fnvl:K.J. Parker, The Folding Knife, Orbit: 1 FBC Rv HERE
fnvl:WriteIn1Rank: 2
fnvl:WriteIn1: The Scarab Path, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Pan Macmillan FBC Rv HERE
fnvl:WriteIn2Rank: 3
fnvl:WriteIn2: The Black Prism, Brent Weeks, Orbit FBC Rv HERE
fnvl:WriteIn3Rank: 4
fnvl:WriteIn3: Wintertide, Michael Sullivan, Ridan Publishing FBC Rv HERE
fnvl:WriteIn4Rank: 5
fnvl:WriteIn4: Cold Magic, Kate Eliott, Orbit FBC Rv HERE

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YA: Bell/Deas/Matthias


yabk:WriteIn1Rank: 1
yabk:WriteIn1: Lex Trent Versus The Gods, Alex Bell, Headline FBC Rv HERE
yabk:WriteIn2Rank: 2
yabk:WriteIn2: The Thief Taker's Apprentice, Stephen Deas, Gollancz FBC Rv HERE
yabk:WriteIn3Rank: 3
yabk:WriteIn3: The Royal Dragoneers, MR Mathias, Amazon Digital FBC Rv HERE

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Debut: Valtat/Huso/Tregilis/Bernobich/Jemisin


1stnvl:Anthony Huso, The Last Page, Tor: 2 FBC Rv HERE
1stnvl:N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Orbit: 5 FBC Rv HERE
1stnvl:WriteIn1Rank: 1
1stnvl:WriteIn1: Aurorarama, Jean Christophe Valtat, Melville House FBC Rv HERE
1stnvl:WriteIn2Rank: 3
1stnvl:WriteIn2: Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregilis, Tor FBC Rv HERE
1stnvl:WriteIn3Rank: 4
1stnvl:WriteIn3: Passion Play, Beth Bernobich, Tor FBC Rv HERE

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Collections: Bernobich/Smith/Davidson


cln:WriteIn1Rank: 1
cln:WriteIn1: A Handful of Pearls, Beth Bernobich, Lethe FBC Rv HERE
cln:WriteIn2Rank: 2
cln:WriteIn2: Chimerascope, Douglas Smith, ChiZine FBC Rv HERE
cln:WriteIn3Rank: 3
cln:WriteIn3: The Library of Forgotten Books, Rjurik Davidson PS FBC Rv HERE

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Anthologies: Strahan & Anders/ St. Denis/de Vries


anth:Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds., Swords & Dark Magic: 1
anth:WriteIn1Rank: 2
anth:WriteIn1: Speculative Horizons, Patrick St. Denis ed, Subterranean FBC Rv HERE
anth:WriteIn2Rank: 3
anth:WriteIn2: Shine, Jetse de Vries ed, Solaris, FBC Rv HERE
This last one was uneven, but the idea was great so it's worth a mention.

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nf-art:Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds., Spectrum 17: 1

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Novellas: Reynolds/Chiang
nva:Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects: 2
nva:Alastair Reynolds, Troika: 1

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Novellettes: Parker/Parker/Lynch
nvt:Scott Lynch, In the Stacks: 3
nvt:K.J. Parker, Amor Vincit Omnia: 2 FBC Rv HERE
nvt:K.J. Parker, A Rich Full Week: 1 FBC Rv HERE

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The only magazine I follow consistently today is Subterranean Online which is just awesome.
mag:Subterranean: 1

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Publishers: Orbit/Pan-Macmillan/Baen/Pyr/Tor
Here there are some major differences from last year - if you look at the lists of novels above, you will see them headed by Orbit books in both fantasy and sf with several more Orbit books listed, while Pan Macmillan (aka Tor.uk) is having a huge presence too, so the choices for #1/#2 are obvious.

Baen has been a perennial favorite for almost 20 years now and Pyr has become the same in the not so many years it's been around, so these two will always be on my lists for overall output, while in 2010 Tor put out some excellent books too, so it got the last spot.

To my surprise Gollancz had a string of disappointing (high expectations) books for me in 2010, so it dropped from #1 to out of the list for 2010.

pub:Baen: 3
pub:Orbit: 1
pub:Pyr: 4
pub:Tor: 5
pub:WriteIn1Rank: 2
pub:WriteIn1: Pan Macmillan - aka Tor.uk

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Editor: Anders/Weisskopf/Pillai/Schafer/Crowther

Here the list is generally the same as always when limiting myself to imprint/novel editors - sadly this past year I read much less short fiction than usual so while I have the deepest respect for the top short fiction editors like Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, I will limit myself as noted.

For his all around work in promoting sff and building a quality imprint Lou Anders is the best editor of today imho. For keeping Baen at the same high level as under the late Jim Baen, Tony Weisskopf is number two, while from Orbit the only editor I heard of is Devi Pillai so she gets the next spot from me. For the last two spots, the quality of work that Subterranean and PS put out speaks for my choices.

ed:Lou Anders: 1
ed:Peter Crowther: 5
ed:William Schafer: 4
ed:Toni Weisskopf: 2
ed:WriteIn1Rank: 3
ed:WriteIn1: Devi Pillai

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Artist: Martiniere/Picacio/Royo/Vallejo

Here I would have had a #1 tie for all if possible since the quality of the sff art I've seen from these artists is superb.
artist:Stephan Martiniere: 1
artist:John Picacio: 2
artist:Luis Royo: 4
artist:Boris Vallejo: 3

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