Last week, I reviewed Theory of Bastards, a remarkable novel about bonobos, scientific research, and disastrous climate change written by Audrey Schulman. I said that Bastards was the best novel I'd read in months, an actual page-turner of a book that blended literary fiction with sci-fi and anthropological reaearch.

Over the weekend at Norwescon, SeaTac's annual huge sci-fi convention, Theory of Bastards was given the Philip K. Dick Award, which recognizes " a distinguished work of science fiction originally published in paperback form in the United States."

The PKD Award is, in my opinion, one of the most consistent awards of literary merit, which is to say that even if you don't love every award-winner, you will at least find them worthy of your time and attention. So please — don't just take my word for it: Theory of Bastards is something special. Don't sleep on it.