2010 Hugo Nominations Announced

The list of nominations for the 2010 Hugo Awards has been announced and the nominees for best science fiction novel are:

• Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor)
• The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
• Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
• Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
• Wake, Robert J. Sawyer (Ace; Penguin; Gollancz; Analog)
• The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)

Interestingly, three of these books are also on the 2010 Nebula Awards list: The City & The City, Boneshaker and The Windup Girl. The only one of the nominees that I have read is The City & The City and I am a huge fan of Miéville, if not this particular book. I adored Robert Charles Wilson's Spin but have not been able to finish a single book of his since, even though at this point he must be considered a perennial nominee (I didn't get past page 50 of Julian Comstock before gratefully returning it to the library). The description of Robert J. Sawyer's Wake sounds like it will be the only other Hugo nominee that I will be attempting to read in the near future. I've read his Hominids series and he seems to be better at ideas than implementation.

The City & The City is turning out to be the most highly acclaimed speculative fiction book of the past year, having been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award and according to Mark at Walker of Worlds has just won the BSFA. Since he's a Brit he can't be nominated for the Pulitzer but perhaps he'll get shortlisted for The Man Booker? Has any speculative fiction scaled such critical heights before?