The Clarke shortlist announced: now this judge is re-reading

The six shortlisted Clarke Award novels on my desk - stacked by size I should stress. The cat may not be real.

This year is my second (and final) year as a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature and I'm pleased to report we now have a shortlist of six excellent, but also widely different, books:

Sea of Rust - C. Robert Cargill (Gollancz)

Dreams Before the Start of Time - Anne Charnock (47North)

American War - Omar El Akkad (Picador)

Spaceman of Bohemia - Jaroslav Kalfar (Sceptre)

Gather the Daughters - Jennie Melamed (Tinder Press)

Borne - Jeff VanderMeer (Fourth Estate)
 
Here's the official announcement:

“If you are new to reading the genre, each of these tremendous novels can demonstrate what sf is capable of. It’s unusual that none of the writers have been on the Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist before, although a number of them have been contenders in previous years. We also have authors who have written in other fields or genres and it’s especially exciting to be able to draw attention to debut novelists. At the moment, any of the six could emerge as the winner."
...Chair of Judges, Dr Andrew M. Butler

“In this year’s shortlist we see themes of climate change, human hubris and gender politics writ large, alongside alien encounters, apocalyptic robot armies and genetically engineered flying bears (often in the same book). With over 100 novels in contention again this year, and strong submissions from across the full range of UK publishing, our judging panel accepted an epic challenge in selecting these six works from the many excellent and often hotly tipped titles they received.

“The result is a shortlist forged from passionate debate and compelling contrasts but with little by way of compromise and shaped always by the purposeful intent and vision of our judges. I strongly suspect in future years that this will be a shortlist long remembered as a vintage year for the ArthuC. Clarke Award and for science fiction literature.”
...Award Director, Tom Hunter

A huge thank you to our judging panel and their supporting organisations!        
* Dave Hutchinson, British Science Fiction Association
* Gaie Sebold, British Science Fiction Association
* Paul March-Russell, Science Fiction Foundation
* Dr Kari Maund, Science Fiction Foundation
* Charles Christian, SCI-FI-LONDON film festival    

The winner will be announced at a public award ceremony held in partnership with Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London on Wednesday 18th July 2018. In the meantime I'm re-reading all six.