The book has to be a graphic novel which is the first novel published by the author, a person of color who is an active and well-liked member of SFWA. It must be initially published in Canada, in French, as a paperback original, with simultaneous British and North American English-language editions following about ten minutes after, and a Japanese translation already in the works. It must satisfy the genre expectations of hard SF, mythopoeic fantasy, horror, alternate history, and romance, have positive gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgendered characters, and include examinations of gender, gender identity, racial identity, class, and libertarianism, while not being unsuitable for younger readers. Also, it has to have poetry in it. And a vampire.
It will sweep the SF and Fantasy awards, winning them all, but of course nobody will ever read it.
Could this be the sound of the gauntlet being thrown down…?
Are you kidding me? If it has a vampire in it, it’ll be read. Those vampire-loving freaks will read anything. The vampire must be a concession to market forces.
You may have a point there.
Thud’s got a point. There are people out there reading every book Ann Rice craps out and enjoy every second of it. I’m not saying I like it, but she’s selling these piles to someone.
Less and less. Even her biggest fans have been less enthusiastic about her more recent books. (And with good reason, apparently.) And I could be wrong, but I don’t think Anne Rice has won any major literary awards.
But you’re right that the vampire alone probably does mean someone will read the book. I think it would be a challenge for any book with all these things going for it to be any good, but I was wrong that no one would ever read it.