David Louis Edelman's Infoquake
and Joel Shepherd's Crossover
tie for fifth place. And, in a list that includes Tobias S. Buckell, Kim Stanley Robinson, and John Scalzi, the number one spot is given to Ian McDonald's River of Gods
.Of Infoquake and Crossover, Ryun Patterson writes:
"This pair of books is a great example of what Pyr is doing right. Infoquake is a tech-heavy exercise in scientific speculation that combines economics, high technology and business mechanics into an all-too-human story of greed, loss and redemption. Crossover isn’t satisfied with being just another hot-chick-android-assassin book and goes for some heavy-duty characterization (not unlike what’s been going on in TV’s Battlestar Galactica) that makes the kicking ass that much more tremendous.""It’s at once cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk, awash in the verbiage of globalization and emerging-markets uncertainty. As the story’s huge cast of characters tumbles toward their individual destinies in tomorrow’s India, it’s hard to believe that McDonald doesn’t have a time machine stored somewhere in his backyard..."
And they open the list with this comment about the Pyr imprint:
"The biggest story of the year, in my opinion, is Pyr’s rise to prominence as a high-quality sci-fi imprint. Pyr has managed to round up a stable of authors and titles that represents the cutting edge of sci-fi and backs it up with promotion and marketing that pretty much outdoes the other imprints out there. Bravo, Pyr. Here’s hoping for an even greater 2007."
Congratulations to all six authors. On this end, we'll certainly do our best to make 2007 even better than 2006.
Hi Lou,
ReplyDeleteJust finished Ian's River of Gods and it was extremely enjoyable. His preview of the social and technological change in a future India (but an India that still has the taste of how it is now and how it was) I found exciting and profound.
It's hard to imagine it was written by a Westerner as some of the prose I couldn't help but read with an almost Eastern accent.
I'm really looking forward to reading his Brasyl :)
Bob
Hey Bob,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate you letting me know! I felt completely immersed when I was reading it, and it was interesting to see in the mainstream news media bits and pieces of Indian culture being referenced that I'd learned about (or, if I'd heard and forgotten elsewhere, at least had brought to the forefront of my attention span) via River of Gods.
I think that Brasyl will blow you away too, but do NOT expect RoG2. It's a very different book because, well, Brazil is a very different country.