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The LOCUS Index to SF Awards proudly lists Ian McDonald as the winner of  “1 Hugo, 1 Sturgeon, 1 Philip K. Dick Award, 1 Locus Award, 4 British SF Awards, 2 Kurd Laáwitz”. Not a bad clutch of gongs by anyone’s standards, eh?

We’re delighted to report that we’ve just got word that Ian’s recent short story collection CYBERADBAD DAYS is one of seven works to be shortlisted for this year’s Philip K. Dick Award,  the prize to be awarded at Norwestcon 33 in April and one which he has, of course, won previously back in 1992 for his novel KING OF MORNING, QUEEN OF DAY.

CYBERABAD DAYS is published in the UK by Gollancz and in the US by Pyr.

“All in all, Cyberabad Days is a terrific book and a satisfying return to the world of River of Gods. Ian McDonald is a genius, pure and simple.” — PAT’S FANTASY HOTLIST

“McDonald’s India engulfs you with an overwhelming, perfumed, stinky embrace. A hugely impressive collection. Seven nifty, witty stories.” — Dave Langford in SFX

Congratulations to Ian McDonald, whose superb novel Brasyl has been announced as one of the six titles on the final short-list for this year’s Nebula Award. The full list of nominees in all categories can be found here.

The awards will be presented at the 2009 Nebula Awards® Weekend, April 24-26,2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Boing Boing – one of the finest, most popular and in my opinion, influential Internet sites around today posted a feature by Cory Doctorow on Ian McDonald and his recently published collection Cyberabad Days…

“Ian McDonald is one of science fiction’s finest working writers, and his latest short story collection Cyberabad Days, is the kind of book that showcases exactly what science fiction is for. ”

Read the full article here.

Scifi Wire has an exclusive and in-depth interview with Ian McDonald following the US release of his new story collection Cyberabad Days…

‘The title Cyberabad Days is a deliberate echo of the Arabian Nights. The stories are fairy tales of New Delhi. River was an Indian—novel, fat, many-voiced, wide-screen; Cyberabad Days is tales. Mumbai movies tell stories in ways that challenge our Western aesthetics and values. They’re not afraid of sentiment, they’re not afraid of big acting, or putting in song and dance, because Bollywood cinema’s not supposed to be a mimetic art form. It’s not about realism—that most pernicious of Western values—it’s a show. I wanted these stories to have a similar feel. There are dance routines in the ‘The Djinn’s Wife’ (and it ends in a Bollywood melodrama bloodbath). There are indeed princesses who fall from power and exact revenge on their enemies. There are brothers whose feud plays out over decades.‘

Read the full article here.

Ian McDonald reflects on the digital doppelgangers that our growing use of the net is bringing about…

‘I’m in bits. Pieces of me are all over the place.

And I’m a part-time mage in World of Warcraft. Well, I’m not. But it might be fun. More fun than Second Life, where I could be some tedious avatar and hang with boring people.’

• Click this link for the rest  of this article.

… is to be reprinted in Rich Horton’s Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009 Edition, due to be published by Wildside Press in the new year. The Tear appeared originally in Galatic Empires, an anthology of original stories edited by Gardner Dozois for the Science Fiction Book Club and was roundly applauded by the reviewing community and blogger alike, with one commentator on the Asimov’s discussion forum stating “Ian McDonald’s THE TEAR (in Galactic Empires) is astonishing. Bewildering. The first pure sunsawunda story I’ve read this year. Pure Space Opera. Pure SF. Enough ideas for a whole tetralogy. I feel dizzy. Not because I drank a tear of two of pure malt. Because I drank a tear of McDonald.”

Look out for The Tear on genre awards shortlists over the next few months!