2012 Galileo Awards

The winners of 2012 Galileo Awards have been announced. The award ceremony will take place on 18th of March at the Final Frontier F&SF Book Fair and Millennium Books wishes to release the “2012 Galileo Awards” anthology with the same occasion.

The Best Volume: “DemNet” (DemNet) by Dan Doboș (Media-Tech)

I received a copy of this novel through the courtesy of Dan Doboș, but unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to read it yet. However, I enjoyed Dan Doboș’s “The Abbey”, a fresh Science Fiction novel that it is also available in English. It is the first novel in “The Abbey” trilogy and since Millennium Books recently released an omnibus edition I am hoping that by the end of this year I would manage to catch up with Dan Doboș’s works.

The Best Short Prose: “The Story of Calistrat Hadîmbu from Vizireni, foully murdered by Raul Colentina in a Bucharest’s outskirts inn” (Povestea lui Calistrat Hadîmbu din Vizireni, ucis mişeleşte de nenicul Raul Colentina într-un han de la marginea Bucureştilor) by Michael Haulică (Steampunk: A second revolution edited by Adrian Crăciun, Millennium Books)

It gives me great pleasure to see Michael Haulică’s story win this category, because I liked it a lot. Also, I believe it is the best story from the “Steampunk: A second revolution” and fully deserves the award. Michael Haulică’s story reminded me in a small part of China Miéville’s “The City & The City”, but without losing its originality. Michael Haulică has an imaginative steampunk vision of Europe, with a few very interesting characters, humor and a captivating local touch, worthy of appearances on any worldwide “Best of SF” collection.

The Best Anthology: “Steampunk: A Second Revolution” (Steampunk: A doua revoluție) edited by Adrian Crăciun (Millennium, 2011)

It is one of my last year readings that unfortunately I was not able to review and feature properly on my blog by the end of 2011. It is an excellent step taken by the Romanian speculative fiction scene and despite the fact that Adrian Crăciun’s anthology suffers in some places it is a good project. I cannot say that “Steampunk: A Second Revolution” is a remarkable anthology, but it does feature some very strong voices and very good short stories.

The Award for the Entire Career: Liviu Radu, for the extraordinary stories he gifted us with and still does

Liviu Radu is a writer of speculative fiction who made his debut in 1993 with the story “Fața Nevăzută a Planetei Marte” (The Unseen Face of Planet Mars). He published until now 7 novels, 5 short stories collections and 1 non-fiction volume and was rewarded with the Vladimir Colin Award and the Eurocon Encouragement Award, both in 2000. In the present, Liviu Radu works as translator and is a reviewer for the Romanian speculative fiction ezine, Nautilus.

Congratulations to all the winners!