In the news… Neil Gaiman continues to collect well-deserved awards. A couple of weeks ago, he accepted the Nebula Award (Best Novel) for his American Gods. He’s on the list of Hugo nominees (Best Novella) for Coraline. The audio version of Coraline (read by the author) has just been given a Parent’s Choice Silver Award – see details here. His fiction is fabulous, folks. Drop what you’re doing and go read or listen to some.
The Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA) gave their Nebula Awards this weekend, and the Best Novel winner was American Gods by Neil Gaiman. HarperCollins produced an excellent unabridged audio version of the novel, read by one of the best – George Guidall. It’s also available for rental at Recorded Books.
Ursula K. LeGuin won a Grand Master Award at the same ceremony. Fantastic Audio has published several unabridged Le Guin titles, including The Birthday of the World and Other Stories and most of the incomparable Earthsea series.
Locus Magazine Online has a list of all the Nebula winners along with some pictures.
Posted by Scott D. Danielson
Here are the 2003 Audie Award nominees, for excellence in audiobooks. Find the whole list at the Audio Publisher’s Association.
Science Fiction
Catch the Lightning by Catherine Asaro, read by Anna Fields Blackstone AudioBooks
Dune: Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, read by Scott Brick Books on Tape, Inc.
The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb, read by John Lee Books on Tape, Inc.
The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind, read by Jim Bond Brilliance Audio
Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs Ulverscroft Large Print
I’m a little surprised with this list, largely because there is nothing there from Audio Literature whose Fantastic Audio imprint is consistently excellent. I’m certain that their unabridged Ender’s Game audio was released in March 2002, which would qualify it for this award. Also, Ursula K. LeGuin’s Tales from Earthsea was excellent and from around the same time. How is something nominated? Who does the judging?
Some other interesting nominees:
Children’s Titles For Ages 8+ includes Coraline by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins Publishers).
In the Audio Drama category, The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, read by a full cast (Focus on the Family).
Fiction or Non-Fiction, Licensed or Distributed: Two Plays for Voices by Neil Gaiman, read by Brian Dennehy, Bebe Neuwirth and a full cast (HarperCollins Publishers)
Package Design: The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, fully dramatized (HighBridge)
And this last category…
Achievement in Production
The Joy of Pi by David Blatner, read by Oliver Wyman, Hank Jacobs & Laura Dean (Random House Audible)
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, read by a full cast (Focus on the Family)
Seek by Paul Fleischman, read by a full cast (Listening Library, an imprint of Random House Audio)
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, read by a full cast (Focus on the Family)
Two Plays for Voices by Neil Gaiman, read by Brian Dennehy, BeBe Neuwirth and a full cast (HarperCollins Publishers)
Posted by Scott D. Danielson