Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

In Russia there are several SFF awards, with none as significant as Hugo/Nebula. Moreover, for me it is hard to write about them bearing in mind the annexation of Crimea and proxy war on Donbas. I stopped reading Russian language (not only from Russia) SFF long ago (roughly at the start of the rise of imperialism in their works even if there are a great deal of anti-totalitarian SFF as well). However, without further ado...

Interpresscon is one of the oldest SFF awards in Russia, the first was awarded in 1990. Like Hugo/Nebula, they are given for best novel, novella, novelette and short story.

During the same conference another award is given - Bronze Snail (from The Snail on the Slope) with is closer to Nebula, while Interpresscon is closer to Hugo (i.e. critics vs fans awards)

site: http://interpresscon.org/

The winner for the best novel in 2019 was Я всегда буду с тобой, a magic realism story, set in 1943 in Siberia, where a sculptor is able to create life like statues from anything

A general note. During my query about role of women in Slavic SFF I decided to count the share of women authors among novels nominated for Interpresscon. While in Hugo/Nebula there is a surge in the number of great works by female authors, in Russia the situation is opposite. Here is a table of share women authors among novels nominated for Interpresscon (per year there are from 10 to 17 nominees and sometimes there are two authors per novel, which I counted as two entries):
year share
2011 43%
2012 29%
2013 36%
2014 43%
2015 31%
2016 33%
2017 0%
2018 13%
2019 14%

As can be seen, for the last few years the share is definitely declining.

I've read this year's winner and here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've finished the last female winner (2014) and here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The 2020 list of nominees is announced, and it is way more diverse than say this year's Hugo. Just like the previous years, the number of women writers is small (21% if we count married couples as 2 in total and 1 woman). Politically it is diverse, from Собаки Европы a Russian translation of Belorussian book from 2017 that is radically anti-imperial (a side note: translations from Belorussian/Ukrainian aren't considered as foreign translated works, unlike say from Polish) to another work by the ultimate Russian imperialist Sergei Lukyanenko.

Way beyond anything I'm familiar with, but still interesting to hear about!

Kat wrote: "Way beyond anything I'm familiar with, but still interesting to hear about!"

I started Сабакі Эўропы in original Belorussian (after it won another (not SF) award in 2018 part of it was made in free audiobook) and I'll share my thoughts when I finish it

There was a voting for 2019 Interpresscon (in 2020 it hasn't been held due to the pandemic. Here there are the results (votes cast after the title):
1. Олди Генри Лайон. Блудный сын, или Ойкумена: двадцать лет спустя. — СПб.: Азбука, 2018-2019 (роман-эпопея в трёх книгах, завершен в 2019). 46
2. Гурский Лев. Корвус Коракс. — М.: Время, 2019. 25 - my review
3. Столяров Андрей. Тёмные небеса. — М.: Снежный Ком М, 2019. 20
4. Лукьяненко Сергей. Маги без времени. — М.: АСТ, 2019. 19
5. Дяченко Марина и Сергей. Луч. — М.: Эксмо, 2019. 17
6. Захаров Дмитрий. Средняя Эдда. — М.: АСТ, 2019. 13 my review
7. Врочек Шимун, Некрасов Юрий. Золотая пуля. — М.: Эксмо, 2019. 12 my review
8. Фикс Ольга. Тёмное дитя. — М.: Время, 2019. 11
9. Рубанов Андрей. Финист — ясный сокол. — М.: АСТ, 2019. 10
10-12. Сальников Алексей. Опосредованно. — М.: АСТ, 2019. 6
10-12. Лях Андрей. Челтенхэм. — М.: Эксмо, 2019. 6
10-12. Бахаревич Ольгерд. — Собаки Европы. — М.: Время, 2019. 6 my review
13. Букша Ксения. Чуров и Чурбанов. — М.: АСТ, 2019. 3 my review
14. Колюжняк В. Эль Пунто. — М.: Эксмо, 2019. 2
15. Мироненко Владимир. Алёшины сны. — М.: Пятый Рим, 2019. 1
16-17. Мартинович Виктор. Ночь. — М.: АСТ, 2019. 0
16-17. Пономарёвы Светлана и Николай. Город без войны. — М.: КомпасГид, 2019. 0