1st round - main event:

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Dick should make it, if only on the grounds of more coherent paranoia. Le Guin and Delany have relatively straightforward draws. Moorcock and Ballard should make it, though Megan Lindholm (aka Robin Hobb) could have some chance of causing an upset. Wolfe and Lem should go through, though arguably against better writers, as should Lee and Cook, though arguably over more interesting thinkers. Ryman vs. Stephenson could be close, but I'll take Ryman’s originality over Stephenson’s technique. Blaylock & Gentle are favoured over two worthy opponents. Powers and McKillip, the latter especially, may be vulnerable to the sentimental vote. The tie of the round is Martin vs. Banks - this is far too close to call. The Strugatskys against Tiptree Jr is just odd, with the latter holding a slight edge. Lafferty must be a favourite to progress. KJ Parker vs. CJ Cherryh is another difficult one. The latter's years of solid, major achievement against the former's Scavenger series, possibly the best fantasy trilogy since Mary Gentle's White Crow: Parker by a nose. In defiance of truth, justice and some good taste, Douglas Adams might upset Angela Carter. Ford vs. Aldiss might be extremely close. Leiber, Vonnegut and Robinson should just make it through. Butler might lose out to Noon, in that she generally inspires respect rather than affection. Yes, this is written by a male (...and typed by a trained monkey!) Jonathan Carroll probably has sufficient intellectual weight to go through, and Russ and Hamilton look reasonably solid, Russ because she’ll get the feminist vote, Hamilton because he’s an unscrupulous crowd-pleaser and weighs in as a Super-Heavyweight with the 3000+ page Night’s Dawn Trilogy. Most of the group have read Geston’s "Mirror to the sky", so I'll expect a clear win against Greg Bear. Egan / Harrison and McAuley / Watson are difficult, partly because of epoch. No clear favourites. Julian May could make it, though partly on sentiment, against G K Kay, whose worthiness may prove a handicap. Coney is a generally underrated author, but I can't see him progressing against Lucius Shephard, whose “psycho-spiritual” depths have already been dredged in the test round.

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