Metronome

"I think it’s fair to say that, ever since Margaret Atwood won our inaugural prize for The Handmaid’s Tale , that dystopian fiction has loomed darkly over the Clarke Award—although I for one always welcome a good dystopia to our shortlists! As well as the books you’ve mentioned above, I would also point to recent Clarke titles such as Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed. That’s also set on an island. There is something distinctly dystopic about island settings I feel. I’m sure there’s a PhD thesis in there somewhere for someone, if indeed this topic hasn’t already been explored by brighter minds than mine already. I’m also hearing lots of people use Emily St. John Mandel ’s name in comparison to this book as well. Tom Watson is one of our other shortlisted debut novelists, and to find yourself in the kind of comparative company of Atwood or Mandel must be hugely inspiring for him and hopefully recommendation enough to have people adding this book to their shopping carts now. But for those craving more, here’s a little extra, spoiler-free, flavour: This is a tight, intimate, book, focusing primarily on just two characters exiled to the aforementioned island and surviving well enough, at least until we move past page one. It’s not a lockdown book, but the recent experience of that that so many of us shared will doubtless inform many a reading. We follow lead character Alina’s increasing conviction that she is trapped, not all is as it seems and that escape is the only solution—but how, and to where? You might think you know where this is heading, but it’s surprisingly difficult to second-guess. Our judges this year found themselves compelled by this novel, and inflict it on you all in turn, dear readers. Enjoy! One of the joys of being an organiser for the Clarke Award is getting to sit like a fly on the wall and listen in as our judges deliberate. What makes me optimistic more than anything is that, after reading 100 or more books, our judges are still finding new ideas and themes and authors to enthuse about. It’s always my pleasure to receive a new shortlist and have the opportunity to recommend new books to people. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . I would love for everyone to go out and read all six of our shortlisted titles immediately so you can get your own sense of just how vibrant and diverse contemporary science fiction can be. I’d also like to thank all of your judges for this year, and our supporting organisations, The British Science Fiction Association , the Science Fiction Foundation , and the Sci-Fi-London Film Festival , who nominate them to us each year. These organisations are three more reasons to be optimistic about science fiction today, and I recommend them all to you as well. Whoever our winner is this year, I wanted to offer my personal congratulations once again to all of our shortlisted authors. It’s been a pleasure to welcome six new authors to the Clarke Award, and I look forward to all of their future works with monolith-sized anticipation. Part of our best books of 2023 series."