Science Fiction Awards Watch

Seiuns – The Japanese Fiction

April 13th, 2009 by

If we had been thinking clearly and not distracted by other things over the weekend we might have remember to go and check cataly’s LiveJournal (and thanks to F.Dreier for reminding us). Here are the Japanese fiction nominees in this year’s Seiun Awards. The notes are all cataly’s.

Novels

  • From The New World, Yusuke Kishi (Kodansha)
  • The Deity Beast Wars, Masaki Yamada (Tokuma Shoten Publishing)
  • Harmony, Keikaku Itou (Hayakawa Publishing)
  • The Red Star, Fumio Takano (Hayakawa Publishing)
  • God’s Paradox, Shinji Kimoto (Kadokawa Haruki Corporation)
  • The Record of The Dead Dragons 2: The Song Curses Everything, Makoto Henri (Tokuma Shoten Publishing)
  • Reiko-chan and The Kamaboko Factory, Yusaku Kitano (Kobunsha Publishing)

Note: Kamaboko is Japanese food. It’s steamed fish paste.

Short Fiction

  • “From the Nothing, with Love” by Keikaku Itou (SF Magazine Apr 2008)
  • “The South Pole’s Pia Pia Douga” by Housuke Nojiri (SF Magazine Apri & May 2008)
  • “Punishment No.0” by Naka Saijou (SF Japan 2008 Spring)
  • “Palimpsest, or The Eight Stories Which Overwritten Again and Again” by Toh Enjou (from Imaginary Engines: Best Japanese SF 2007)
  • “Cardiospermum Halicacabum Temporis” by Fujita Masaya (SF Magazine May 2008)
  • “The Knox Machine” by Rintaro Norizuki (Yasei Jidai vol.54 May 2008)
  • “A Drum and Fife Band’s Attack” by Aki Misaki (from the collection A Drum and Fife Band’s Attack)

Notes

Nico Nico Douga is a Japanese video sharing website. The author set it as the story’s core idea.

SF Japan is a seasonal Japanese SF magazine. All the contributions are written in Japanese. There is no translation.

Imaginary Engines is a new SF Year’s Best-ish Anthology series, Best Japanese SF started last year.

Yasei Jidai is Kadokawa Group Publishing’s magazine. They publish everything: Mystery, Adventure, Historical and Romance stories.

Can anyone help with the Movie, Comic, Artist and Nonfiction categories?

10 Comments »

10 Responses to “Seiuns – The Japanese Fiction”

  1. on 13 Apr 2009 at 7:50 am1 cataly

    Hello. I’m glad if my blog helps you.

    By the way, I noticed my mistake.
    Wrong: Yasei Jidai is Kadokawa Publishing Kadokawa Group Publishing’…
    Correct: Yasei Jidai is Kadokawa Group Publishing’s magazine.

    And I think I should explain about Best Japanese SF a little more.
    Best Japanese SF was launched last year. And “Imaginary Engines” is the subtitle for last year’s. The subtitle will be changed every year.
    The editors are Nozomi Omori (Translator) and Sanzou Kusaka (Editor, Anthologist).

    I promise I will post the rest of the nominations later to complete your list.

  2. on 13 Apr 2009 at 8:32 am2 Editors

    Thanks for dropping by, cataly, and our apologies for not noticing that glitch. We are very grateful for all of the help that you provide.

  3. on 13 Apr 2009 at 1:21 pm3 Petréa Mitchell

    Here’s the official page with nominees. The categories are:

    Japanese novel
    Japanese short fiction
    Foreign novel
    Foreign short fiction
    Media
    Comics
    Artist
    Nonfiction
    Open category of some sort

    The foreign novels are:

    Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
    The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
    Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
    Light by M. John Harrison
    The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
    Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
    Seeker by Jack McDevitt

    I’ll see if I can translate more later…

  4. on 13 Apr 2009 at 1:23 pm4 Petréa Mitchell

    D’oh! I hadn’t seen the post further down yet. Oh well, it was a fun little exercise.

  5. on 13 Apr 2009 at 4:19 pm5 Petréa Mitchell

    Okay, back with the media nominees:

    Real Drive (studio: Production I.G.)
    Macross Frontier (Satelight)
    Kamen Rider Denn? (part of this franchise) (Toei)
    Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
    (season 2, basically) (Sunrise)
    The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.)
    Fireball (Disney Channel Japan)
    Library War (Production I.G.)

  6. on 13 Apr 2009 at 4:21 pm6 Petréa Mitchell

    That letter that was replaced with ? should be a long o.

  7. on 13 Apr 2009 at 7:30 pm7 Petréa Mitchell

    Here are the comic titles. My translation-fu is not up to transliterating Japanese names, sorry…

    Omoide Emanon (English: Heavy Emanon or possibly Serious Emanon)
    Eden – It’s an Endless World!
    Trigun Maximum
    Kazoku Hakkei (Eight Views of a Family)
    Suiwakusei Nendaiki (Chronicle of the Planet Mercury) – entire series
    Jo-o Ari (Queen Ant)
    Robo Douraku no Gyakushuu (not sure about this one… something like “Counterattack of the Robot’s Hobby”)

  8. on 14 Apr 2009 at 7:25 am8 Cheryl

    Many thanks, Petréa!

  9. on 14 Apr 2009 at 9:17 am9 jmuk

    Hello Petréa,
    Here are some minor corrections:
    Kamen Rider Denn? (part of this franchise) (Toei) -> Kamen Rider Den-o (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Den-O)

    Kazoku Hakkei doesn’t describe a family with eight views, rather describes eight families actually :)

    ?????? should be read as Mizu Wakusei Nendaiki, and it doesn’t specify Mercury. “Chronicle of the Water Planet” might be better translation.

  10. on 14 Apr 2009 at 10:01 am10 jmuk

    Oops, this blog doesn’t accept Japanese characters…
    BTW Omoide in “Omoide Emanon” means memory.