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Trumpet, own, blowing thereof

I should just like to note that Rule 34 has made Kirkus' Reviews' list of the best SF and Fantasy novels of 2011. (Kirkus, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is the premiere book reviews and news magazine for librarians in the USA.)

I am now going to engage in a three minute smugness before resuming work. (Yes, I'm back home from Novacon.)

26 Comments

1:

Another day at the office eh?

2:

Yay! Congratulations :).

3:

The 3 minute smugness is deserved, Charlie. I loved the book.

4:

There is some nice company there (and some books and authors I've never heard of, which might be a good thing). Enjoy the smugness, it seems well-deserved.

5:

Congratulations! Very well deserved.

6:

Large proportion of UK (based) authors in the SF and F list.

It is also interesting to notice how many authors that I've seen discussed in genre circles do end up on the Kirkus list, but not in the SF and F section. Stephenson (probably correctly) Morgenstern King potentially Murakami and Eco Lev Grossman Modessit

7:

I believe you deserve at least a six minute interlude of smugness being how I picked this book up "just for a quick look" and ended up buying it about 6 minutes later. My wife had the audacity to tease me about the quick look thing...

It's a great book Charlie, and the recognition,IMHO, is well deserved. So six minutes and a pint seems about right to me.

8:

Congratulations on your well-deserved smugness. I liked Rule 34 a lot, and I'm going to re-read it sometime in the next two months. In fact, several pints sound called for.

9:

Seconded!

10:

:thumbs:

11:

I'm a librarian in the USA and I'd like to add one more thing. Kirkus is also known for not pulling punches in its reviews. I mean really not pulling punches. So congrats Charlie... really.

12:

Indeed so. 50%. And 20% from the fair city of Edinburgh, which goes to reinforce its reputation as a city of literature.

If there's one book I'm slightly surprised is not in that list, it's Jo Walton's Among Others.

13:

Congrats! I'll raise a metaphorical pint of beer on your honour :-)

14:

Félicitations! Well deserved.

15:

Yes, congratulations- well deserved.

16:

Well done Charlie. I certainly enjoyed the hell out of it.

17:

And 30% from Scotland[*]. Although none of them is actually Scottish.

*Does Richard Morgan still live in Glasgow?

18:

Well done, good sir!

19:

Smashing job!

20:

Congratulations Charlie. The praise is well-deserved. Rule 34 and it's predecessor Halting State were two of the most interesting scifi books I have read in years.

21:

When someone gets around to implementing Beer to Bar Transport Protocol (BBTP), I'll feel better able to aid in the celebrations.

WHAT ARE YOU DEVS WAITING FOR, MICHAELMAS? Get cracking!

22:

Congratulations! You got there not by luck, nor innate talent, but by putting in the "10,000 hours" and then some.

I was intrigued by Joris M @6: Large proportion of UK (based) authors in the SF and F list. It is also interesting to notice how many authors that I've seen discussed in genre circles do end up on the Kirkus list, but not in the SF and F section. Stephenson (probably correctly) -- Neil Stephenson's REAMDE is science fiction to us, but adventure/thriller in exotic locales, to the Mundanes; Erin Morgenstern's debut novel, The Night Circus, is closer to Historical novel; Stephen King can write in ANY genre, and make me want to buy it; potentially Murakami and Eco [I recall mush about my hours with Umberto Eco circa 1974, when I'd have bet 100-to-1 that he was too esoteric to ever have a best-seller, and then lost the bet; Lev Grossman -- made me happy to be there for the Hugo Award ceremony; whet I like best is smart characters who have READ books in the genre they happen to inhabit, without it being twee meta-fiction; Modessit -- from his web site: "Kirkus Reviews has just named Scholar as one of the ten best fantasy and science fiction books of 2011. Earlier Scholar, the fourth book of The Imager Portfolio, but the first in a new story arc, had received a starred review from Kirkus. Previously, two other Modesitt books have been named best books of the year by Kirkus — Flash in 2004 and The Eternity Artifact in 2005.

and @12's "20% from the fair city of Edinburgh" -- I am not surpsied. One of the world's Great Cities by intellectual/artistic intensity, long before my wife's great-great uncle Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, speaking of the Historical Novel, which he pretty much invented in its modern form.

Mr. Stross is firmly in ALL these treaditions, and not, as I say, by mere good luck. Luck has nothing to do with it. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/business/luck-is-just-the-spark-for-business-giants.html?_r=2&pagewanted=3

23:

@ Jonathan (22)

Modessit is actually on the SF F list, but I missed it, I should stop writing post when tired.

In the same vein of 'normal' books that can be genre it will be interesting to see what happens in the teen (and indie) categories.

24: 23 looks suspiciously like spam to me.
26:

On the subject of trumpet blowing, Forbidden Planet's Best of 2011 list.

Yet again, you're sharing a list with Jo Walton.

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This page contains a single entry by Charlie Stross published on November 15, 2011 9:32 PM.

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