Worlds Without End Blog

I will admit that I was secretly rooting for "Shades of Milk & Honey" so I could derisively, contemptibly dismiss the awards as a joke. That this year was the final straw. However, I am very happy to see that Blackout/All Clear won. Phew! That was a close one.

Oh well, it was … predictable.

Dervish House wasn’t on the shortlist, so my disappointment remains regardless of who won. Haven’t been impressed with Willis’ work over the last decade, and I’m not a fan of Blackout/All Clear. Not that I don’t think she’s a great writer, just think her best is behind her. The novella category was a surprise, figured Chiang and Bacigalupi were the frontrunners, and it’s nice to see Ellison get one last big one, albeit in a tie. Kij Johnson’s always good for a fun read.

Wow, interesting to note that they didn’t name a Grandmaster this year…I’m beginning to think they really, REALLY don’t want to give one to Gene Wolfe for whatever reason. Morbid as it sounds, there’s not a lot of time left to give him one and it’s surprising to me that he hasn’t gotten it yet.

OH, so both won, like a tie, or one work split into two? I was wondering since this site only has blackout winning. Either way, two more to read.

Yeah, they counted both volumes as a single book which makes no sense to me. Seems like that makes it a series rather than a single volume. They did that because both books came out at the same time. We only list Blackout as the winner because to list them both as winners would skew our stats by giving Ms. Willis 2 wins. It’s an odd situation.

Hmm, weird. Well, I’ve got a copy of To Say Nothing of the Dog on my shelf (and I’ve recently realized my paperback SF collection has grown to the point that it warrants its own separate bookcase, thanks for helping me clutter up my shelves WWEnd!!), so I guess I need to toss that on my "to read soon" list with The Dervish House. I typically don’t like time-travel stories (or, rather, stories about traveling to the past: I’m perfectly fine with a books like Haldeman’s The Forever War or The Accidental Time Machine). I used to love the idea of paradoxes and changing the future and all that, but after a while they just seem too derivative or too given to camp or just nonsense. Now, when shows like Dr. Who own the campiness and don’t take an overly-strict cause-effect relationship between past and present, then it’s palatable. Willis’ time-travel books have garnered such praise and readership, however, I’m open to giving them a chance.

mattastrophic -I found that to say nothing of the dog has that real British kind of humor going for it. One of the major plot points is trying to track down this god awful ugly piece of brick-0-brac that needs to be in a particular church at a certain time; and did I mention the nazis were bombing that area at that time?Hope you realize Willis’ Doomsday Book, nothing of the dog, and these two are all in the same time travel universe. It’s almost like a series.

Glenn: yeah, Doomsday Book is also on my shelf, unread. I don’t think they have the exact same characters, but have the same conceit or using time travel to study the past? Anyhoo, thanks for the heads up on the Britishness of To Say Nothing of the Dog

It is one novel. Blackout abruptly stops at the end. It can’t be deemed a series. Doing some research on the internets it quickly becomes apparent that this situation came about as a result of the publishers not able to publish the lengthy novel in one. Judging from the various reviews also, it seems this is another typical Willis’ time travel novel, set in the same "Cambridge universe" as Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing Of The Dog. And it does also suffer from Willis’ endless diatribes and lectures. Some even called it "boring" and a trudge. I will read it anyhow – time travel is fascinating, and I did find both Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing Of The Dog enjoyable, all in the literary sub-genre called comedy of manners. Here is a very interesting take on this issue: http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-hugo-awards-appeal-to-hugo.html

@Mattastrophic I relate! Apart from having to purchase another bookshelf to host my ever expanding sf/f collection (because of WWEnd!!), I also suffer from an ever deflating bank balance. And to add to this happy misfortune, Blackout/All Clear is such a thick proposition that I fear I won’t enjoy reading the paperback (I do hate bending the backs … yes, I’m obsessive like that), so I have ordered the hardcovers, which in itself require additional space, not to mention the extra few gold coins they cost 🙂

Great research, well-written plea by that blogger. I am pretty disappointed to find out there are so many problems with the winner (i.e. double-book, same-old same-old, not interesting). Even when the Nebulas pick a sci-fi book it’s disappointing. Hm.