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Locus Online has tallied the votes and posted the nominees for the 2006 Locus Awards. Winners will be announced June 17th 2006 at the Locus Awards Science Fiction Weekend.

A sample of the nominees is shown below with links to free online reads (when available; more sure to follow) and any SF Signal reviews. Be sure to check out the full list of nominees or check out past winners.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• Accelerando by Charles Stross


• Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson


• Learning the World by Ken MacLeod


• Olympos by Dan Simmons


• Spin by Robert Charles Wilson [SF Signal review]

• Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman


• A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin


• The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold


• Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow [SF Signal review]


• Thud! by Terry Pratchett

• Counting Heads by David Marusek [SF Signal review]


• Hammered/Scardown/Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear [SF Signal review of Hammered]


• Old Man's War by John Scalzi [SF Signal review]


• The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt


• Vellum by Hal Duncan

• "Burn" by James Patrick Kelly


• "The Cosmology of the Wider World by Jeffrey Ford


• "Human Readable" by Cory Doctorow (listen)


• "Inside Job" by Connie Willis


• "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link [SF Signal review]

• "The Emperor of Gondwanaland" by Paul Di Filippo


• "I, Robot" by Cory Doctorow


• "The King of Where-I-Go" by Howard Waldrop


• "A Knot of Toads" by Jane Yolen


• "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle

• "Boatman's Holiday" by Jeffrey Ford


• "I Live with You" by Carol Emshwiller


• "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" by Kelly Link


• "Sunbird" by Neil Gaiman


• "Triceratops Summer" by Michael Swanwick

• Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia A. McKillip


• Looking for Jake and Other Stories by China Miéville


• Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link


• Platinum Pohl by Frederik Pohl [SF Signal review]


• Tales by H.P. Lovecraft

Share: | Posted by John on Tuesday April 25, 2006 - 12:01 AM | Category: Awards | © 2006 SF Signal

The novelette "I, Robot" by Cory Doctorow is a very strong entry. The writing is well done, the message is crisp, and they ironies are sweet. It is absolutely worth reading.

It starts off similar to many of Asimov's robot novels and centers around a human detective who has to investigate crimes in a world that includes robots infused with the 3 laws. It goes off from there - instead of idolizing the ideas of the 3 laws, it points out how restrictive they might be in allowing technology to advance.

The parallels between the statements made by scientists in the story about the restrictions they operate under and Cory's personal views on DRM are interesting. I'm sure several of us have realized the silliness of laws like the DMCA that make it illegal to render certain mathematical formulas into software.

Posted by Scott on Wednesday April 26, 2006 at 11:06 AM

Kelly's "Burn" is now available in text formats. Link updated.

Posted by John on Monday May 08, 2006 at 3:15 PM