The PKD is one of my favorite awards. Not only does its juries generally produce very good results, it also, thanks to its focus on paperback-only publication, manages to highlight very deserving works that never get a sniff of the major awards.

So yes, I’m delighted that Nova Swing won. As you probably know, M John Harrison is one of my favorite writers. I loved Light, and if I’m slightly less enthusiastic about Nova Swing that is probably only because I still have a strong geek streak that is always yearning for the next sensawunda experience. I’m also delighted that the courage my pal Juliet Ulman had in bringing Mike’s work to a US audience when older, supposedly wiser editors said he’d never sell here is apparently paying off.

However, what really pleases me about last night’s results is the Special Citation (i.e. second place) for Minister Faust. From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain didn’t make my Hugo short list, but it would absolutely be in my top ten of 2007 SF, and possibly even the top 5 if I had time to sit down and think about the selection. Karen Burnham and I have been plugging the book enthusiastically for some time and have generally got a pretty negative reaction from the rest of the critic community, in no small part because some of them can’t get past the cover. But it is a very fine book. Here’s Karen’s review.