My 2010 Favorites
Being a slow reader and too poor to see a lot of movies and not being a big television watcher, I don’t have long lists of favorites. Consequently this is a limited selection of favorites. I’m picking my top three in three different categories all connected to speculative fiction.
Favorite Speculative Awards. Unusual, I know. (Do I care? 😉 )
Number three – ACFW Carol Award, Speculative Category. Formerly known as the Book of the Year Award, the first winner under the new name is Kirk Outerbridge’s Eternity Falls (Marcher Lord Press). This award, based on ACFW member judges scoring, carries some recognition. Hopefully it will gain more status and perhaps some perks for the authors.
Number two – The Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction, Readers’ Choice. The 2010 winner, Bryan Davis’s Bones of Makaidos (Living Ink/AMG Publishers). I’m a fan of the award, certainly, and I especially like the fact that readers are picking the winner, but there are ways it can improve. I’d like to see readers AND judges select a winner. I’d like to see a sponsor step up and offer a cash prize. But I think the recognition is still excellent for the genre and the nominees.
Number one – The Christy Award, Visionary Category, Jill Williamson’s By Darkness Hid (Marcher Lord Press) taking the 2010 honors. This is the “granddaddy” of the awards for Christian fiction and is consequently the most prestigious honor.
Favorite Speculative Movies.
Number three – How To Train Your Dragon. Family friendly but artistic, too. A little like seeing an animated version of Avatar. Unfortunately the worldview was akin to Avatar, as well.
Number two – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I’m actually seeing this one this afternoon, so reserve the right to change my mind. I’ll edit this post later to give a bit more reaction. [Promised edit: the movie was properly touching, and I cried. I plan to do a full review, so will not say much more, but I definitely feel this one belongs on my list of top three speculative movies.]
Number one – Harry Potter. By far, this is the best in the HP movie series, with only the finale remaining. Well-written. And though it is only half of the last book, it ended at a good place so there was some sense of closure without destroying the anticipation of what’s to come.
Favorite Speculative Books. This was the hardest because I have more possibilities to choose from than I did in the other two categories. Nevertheless, I still haven’t read all the ones I would have liked. After some thought, the winners are
Number three – Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos (Tyndale). If you’d like to know more about this hilarious and spiritually thought-provoking book, you can read my review at A Christian Worldview of Fiction.
Number two – R. J. Anderson’s Wayfarer (HarperCollins). This YA fantasy published by by a general market publisher could easily move into the Number One slot, it’s that good. For details, see my review.
Number one – Jonathan Rogers’ The Charlatan’s Boy (WaterBrook). This is simply one of the best books, regardless of genre, you’re likely to read. To learn more, check out any of the CSFF Blog Tour reviews. A list is available here.
Now it’s your turn. What were your favorites in the speculative category?
A good list. I agree that Harry Potter – movie 7 was very enjoyable. The movie covered the first 2/3rds of the novel, so the final movie will be much faster-paced and highly emotional. I haven’t seen How to Train Your Dragon, but I’ve heard great things. As for VDT, I was severly disappointed. It wasn’t terrible but it was rather mediocre. In my books, Inception fits the bill much better as being one of the top speculative movies of 2010.
Thanks for playing along, Christian. I never saw Inception so I don’t know how I’d rate it.
Interesting fact about Dawn Treader—the friend I saw the movie with hasn’t read the book, at least not for a long, long time. She didn’t remember the story at all. Her reaction? This one was the best of the three. She loved it.
As we were discussing the movie afterwards, I mentioned some of the concerns bloggers had voiced. She could see the points, but I don’t think it dampened her enthusiasm.
It didn’t dampen mine either. I saw the “issues” and because I knew the story, wondered why the movie folks downplayed some parts or squeezed others together. But in the end, I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable, satisfying movie-going experience. I can see many people buying the books because of the movie. That in itself is a huge plus, I think.
Becky
[…] in my list of 2010 favorites, I have to bump Dawn Treader from the number two spot in movies to number three. In its place […]