Neanderthals nominated for Seiun Award

Courtesy of Toshiko Shichiri, Chair of The 45th Japan Science Fiction Convention, known as "Michinoku SF Festival ZUNCON," and Hirohide (Jack R.) Hirai, Staff/Overseas Relations for that convention, here are this year's nominees for the Seiun Awards in the translated categories. Often called "the Japanese Hugos," the Seiuns are Japan's top honor in science-fiction writing. The finalists are:

TRANSLATED NOVELS

• Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan
  
• Diaspora, by Greg Egan
  
• Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy (Hominids, Humans, and Hybrids) by Robert J.Sawyer
  
• Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds
  
• Space Chantey, by R.A. Lafferty
  
• The Swords of Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber
  
• Tuf Voyaging, by George R.R. Martin
  
• Venus Plus X, by Theodore Sturgeon
  

TRANSLATED SHORT STORIES

• Bernardo's House, by James Patrick Kelly
  
• The Empire of Ice Cream, by Jeffrey Ford
  
• Glacial, by Alastair Reynolds
  
• The Human Front, by Ken MacLeod
  
• Singleton, by Greg Egan
  
• The Sources of the Nile, by Avram James Davidson
  
• A Study in Emerald, by Neil Gaiman
  
• The Voluntary State, by Christopher Rowe
  

The winners will be announced at the 45th Japan Science Fiction Convention, July 8-9, 2006, and the awards will be re-presented at L.A.Con IV, the World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles, August 23-28, 2006.