Yeah, man, Perdido got my vote too. Awesome novel, way too long, but fascinating stuff. I loved the characters and the setting. I hope he wins, even over Gaiman, whose book was great but I've forgotten already, even if Mieville is like barely even 30! Young whippersnapper...

Sad to see no one on the Tangent newsgroup wants to talk about STORIES but instead wants to bitch some more about mainstream vs. "real SF." Boy did that discussion get out of hand...