2023: King Charles III is the most unpopular British King in the last
60-odd years, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Secretary Simon
Case's comic routine is poorly received, and Sunak's government ushers
in a golden age of soaring STD rates.


Which 2023 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
Metronome by Tom Watson
Plutoshine by Lucy Kissick
The Anomaly (translation of L'anomalie) by Herv‚ Le Tellier
The Coral Bones by E. J. Swift
The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Just two: the Kissick and the de Bodard.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2025-11-24, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

Which 2023 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

(None.)

The Anomaly (translation of L'anomalie) by Herv‚ Le Tellier

^^^^^^^^^^
L'Anomalie.
The French rules for title case are not for the faint of heart.
If you read French, Wikipedia has a helpful summary for contributors: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Conventions_typographiques#Principes_de_capitalisation_des_titres

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 11/24/2025 8:30 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

2023: King Charles III is the most unpopular British King in the last
60-odd years, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case's comic routine is poorly received, and Sunak's government ushers
in a golden age of soaring STD rates.

Which 2023 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
Metronome by Tom Watson
Plutoshine by Lucy Kissick
The Anomaly (translation of L'anomalie) by Herv‚ Le Tellier
The Coral Bones by E. J. Swift
The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Just two: the Kissick and the de Bodard.

Zip, zip, zero.

No Murderbot, etc ?

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 11/24/25 9:30 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

2023: King Charles III is the most unpopular British King in the last
60-odd years, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case's comic routine is poorly received, and Sunak's government ushers
in a golden age of soaring STD rates.

Which 2023 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
Metronome by Tom Watson
Plutoshine by Lucy Kissick
The Anomaly (translation of L'anomalie) by Herv‚ Le Tellier
The Coral Bones by E. J. Swift
The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Just two: the Kissick and the de Bodard.

Alas, the only non-negative result I have here is:
I have actually heard of Aliette de Bodard.

Tony

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

2023 Clarke Award Finalist winner: Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman.

The environment is failing and a lucrative new industry to protect
species extinction has devolved into preserving remnants of extinct
species (dna and much more) in Biobanks or perhaps a pretence to
minimise guilt or profit. The Venomous Lumpsucker is an intelligent fish
being sought by the protagonists, a 'green' species intelligence
evaluator (who was studying the fish before it and its habitat was
destroyed) and a company man from the extinction industry company that destroyed the reefs prematurely. Finding another source of the Venomous Lumpsucker becomes even more important when the Biobank contents are
destroyed for reasons not yet known.
Humurous in a very wry way. An example of his humour is the title which appeared ridiculous at first but is explained in an extremely serious
and intelligent manner. Much of the scientific argument is too detailed
for my interest, but I can understand it whilst reading. For
those with a scientific background and interest, it would be more
rewarding with less access to the dictionary needed. The other aspect,
the satire of the right-wing (unfettered) capitalism, was also
excessively detailed though fascinating in its thoroughness. However
there were occasions when this thoroughness resulted in large dumps of reasoning and information.
An enjoyable three star read. I would not expect it to win an award.
I really enjoyed his vast vocabulary, his writing, his knowledge and imagination. Plot and characters not so much.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.1
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)