The Clarke Award 2026
And so the Clarke Award winner of 2026 is about to be announced! This is an award I really enjoy reading the shortlist because for me being restricted to science fiction and jury selected it tends to provide a varied shortlist. It challenges what science fiction is supposed to be and I quite like watching other reviewers and readers join in that debate. I am not always in chime with the judge’s eventual picks, but I do enjoy the journey/ This year though I do find several choices quite puzzling.
If I was looking for two science fiction books to add to the mix I am slightly surprised Slow Gods by Claire North and Project Hanuman by Stewart Hotston did not make the cut. For me both novels are refreshing space opera for the 2020s with something to say about the times we live in and I would have been torn choosing a winner if these were in the mix, but I read the books I am dealt.
In order let us go with the book I do not even feel deserves to be on the shortlist. Why yes, I am Gentle Reader about to talk about Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman hopefully one last time. I have read books I have not enjoyed before but can usually see why a jury may have picked it. Here I find a book lacking in basic craft, character and plot and for me very troublingly clumsily manages to be sexist, racist and ableist under the alleged banner of satire. For me the real concern is that this book (and I stress I’m just reading the book, not the high production audio or the rest of the series) is incredibly weak. It is doing things the genre stopped doing over 15 years ago when people called these tropes out. Contrary to some arguments I’ve had from the book’s fans just because it’s a new sub-genre does not give the book a pass on being problematic (the number of alleged fans who do not understand this is worrying). I am sure there may be good LitRPG books out there, but this is not a good science fiction book nor for me a good book at all. I note a lot of its fans told me it’s just light fun. For me a lot of people seem oblivious to its faults that are clearly on the page (this is not a subtle book) that’s for me troubling and I really do not want new authors to make these mistakes when inevitably people try to copycat a bestseller like this one. I do wonder if the audio allows casual readers to skip the problems? For me, I loathe this book with a fiery passion, and I didn’t even get to note for an alleged anti-capitalist story it doesn’t half enjoy glossy hardbacks, tv series and merchandise….
Ahem
In fifth place is The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami its fine but it’s a very standard near future dystopian novel. It has things to say about surveillance, racism and he US prison system but its fairly boiler plate and for a novel about memory I feel quite unusually forgettable. I note the author first began writing this in 2014 and for me this feels a dated version of America compared to the nightmare I regularly see on the news of today. I really don’t feel this book is particularly stand-out in any way. Its not bad but I really don’t feel it makes any real impact long-term.
Good news I really like the rest of the shortlist
In fourth place it is There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm I find this a really interesting choice. It is for me science fiction cosmic horror which is unusual for the shortlist and what impressed me the most is how it plays with structure, time and reality of the book shifting which means the reader must do a lot of the heavy lifting working put what is changing as reality gets re-written. Technically I think the way this story comes together is impressive but for me its in fourth because in the 2020s there is a rich level of exploration in how ideas can be dangerous that ultimately, I think bar one scene this story really ducks away from. If this had really delved into that idea a bit more, I think we’d had had a much more impactful novel. As it is I heartily recommend it but it is not doing quite enough to earn the prize.
In third place its The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson I’ve been a fan of Wilson’s work for many years now and very glad to see this author getting more attention. It is an interesting Clarke pick and flows around in the borderlands of science fiction, fantasy and horror with a post-apocalyptic word of climate change and digital ghosts let loose on the world. Some will say this is an Omelas tale, but I think Wilson chooses an interesting target for the 2020s – scientists. In a troubling decade of corporate techno greed asking people to consider what their work may be doing to innocent people is I feel a suitable topic and a story with a moral quandary to ask of readers if something we tend to avoid. In addition Wilson’s writing is for me quite beautiful, and this was a pleasure to read. I hope Wilson’s audience continues to grow.
I’d not got to reading my second choice until recently and I thank the Clarke Award for getting it out of TBR because Luminous by Silvia Park really wowed me. Ita reminder that science fiction can get deliciously messy and a novel can be a big sprawling effort not just a very small cast operating in one place. The scope and the way the theme of being human gets explored here was for me hugely refreshing. This is a story that stays in the memory and makes you think long after reading it. I love those experiences. It jumped into second after I finished the final page. It’s big it’s epic and ambitious and that needs applause and more writers to take note of it.
Now it was always going to be hard to beat but for me the clear winner is When There Are Wolves Again by EJ Swift Science fiction that for me is dealing very visibly with one of the biggest issues of our time in climate change and what we can actually do about it. Now some may say this is UK-centric but I’d point out the more global (and historical) view is precisely what Swift’s excellent The Coral Bones by E J Swift tackles and I think these two novels are in dialogue with each other. Having a UK focused tale in a time when many seem to say it’s not our fault and we are too small a country to make a difference is precisely the time to remind people that climate change is not caring over flags (as our fifth heatwave of the year begins). Others may argue well the book still requires governments and democracies like ours to do things and for that I’d say have you ever seen a revolution quickly resolved and actually then gets on doing what needs doing? For me this is a story that continues over most of the 21st century to be delving into the true sacrifices, innovations and levels of protests needed to make a real hard-won change stay the course. There isn’t a single despot to beat, no easy wins, big speeches or handwavium just the hard yards of effort and for me too many science fiction novels skip the hard work and think revolution now will just sort things because. Add this to Swift’s superb writing of nature, emotion and most importantly a sense of hope this was my favourite read of last year by quite a large margin.
The judges of course may do something different, but we shall see later this week.
