The shortlist for the 29th annual Arthur C Clarke Award, celebrating the best science fiction novels of the year, has just been revealed. Clarke Award shortlists traditionally raise plenty of debate, and this year's sextet of titles are unlikely to be any different.
These six titles are in contention to be named best science fiction novel of 2014 are...
The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey (Orbit)
The Book Of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (Canongate)
Europe In Autumn by Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
Memory Of Water by Emmi Itäranta (HarperVoyager)
The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August by Claire North (Orbit)
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (Picador)
This shortlist of six titles was selected from 107 individual eligible submissions from 36 publishing houses and imprints.
“This is a quintessentially Clarke Award kind of a shortlist of exactly the sort that we've become known for over the years and always love to celebrate," says Clarke Award Director Tom Hunter.
“We've got six authors who have never been nominated for the Clarke Award before and while the subject matter may often be dark, when we think about what this list says about the strength of science fiction literature itself, I see a future that's full of confidence, creativity and diversity of imagination.”
The winner will be announced on Wednesday 6 May at an exclusive award ceremony at Foyles Bookshop in London, part of the activities leading up to the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival. The author will be presented with a cheque for £2015 and the award itself in the form of a commemorative engraved bookend.
