Nebula Award Nominations Announced
The Nebula is one of the most prestigious awards our genre has to offer. Indeed, since the winners are chosen by science fiction and fantasy writers rather than a popular vote, many people consider it the most prestigious genre award.
The 2012 Nebula Awards Nominees were announced yesterday by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the voting body that grants the awards. The nominees are:
Novel
Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (OrbitUK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
Novella
On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s SF)
“All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus)
“Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF)
“Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)
Novelette
“The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
“Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s SF)
“The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com)
“Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld)
Short Story
“Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld)
“Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld)
“Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s SF)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
The Avengers
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Cabin in the Woods
The Hunger Games
John Carter
Looper
The Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)
Congratulations to all the nominees! We hope you all win.
An extremely impressive showing by online short fiction markets this year — especially Clarkesworld, with an amazing four nominations, but also Tor.com (3), Lightspeed (2) and GigaNotoSaurus.
Traditional print magazines had a leaner year, with Asimov’s SF on top (3), followed by one for F&SF. Perpetual bridesmaid Analog was left in the cold this year.
The winners will be announced at the Nebula Awards Weekend, May 16-19, in San Jose CA. As previously announced Gene Wolfe will be awarded the 2012 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for his lifetime contributions to the field.
Glad to see some of my favorite authors nominated (though I may not have yet read the particular works):
Mary Robinette Kowal–haven’t read either of her novels yet though
Nancy Kress–a longtime favorite
Ken Liu–multiple times, and how can someone be so prolific and still so consistently excellent?
China Miéville
Catherine Asaro–Ha, ha, I and many others have had *that* particular discussion with another of the Black Gate bloggers. 😉
Missing from the nominations: Felicity Shoulders. Although I’m not sure whether she had anything published during the relevant timeframe, “Small Towns” was one of the best things I read last year.
Because we have a toddler in the house, we don’t make it out to more than one or two movies a year, at most, and I see most of them on Blu-Ray or premium cable. So I’ve only seen two of the nominated movies, though I plan on seeing all of them.
I don’t remember whether it was here or at Ain’t It Cool News, but I thank whoever told me that “John Carter” was better than the major critics had said. I watched it just two days ago, and enjoyed it enough to download the first seven novels–which I’ve never read–to my Kindle (only $1.99 for all seven).
Of the two movies I’ve seen though, “The Cabin in the Woods” gets my nod. And I say that regardless of the fact that I’m already a huge Whedon fan (BtVS–favorite television series ever, although if it had lasted longer with sustained quality, “Pushing Daisies” may well have supplanted it).
Theo must be turning in his grave at this list (oh, wait, he’s not actually dead).
Mind you, China’s on the list to keep him happy – I never expected to see China Mieville on the Norton list, I have to admit!
Hi Awsnyde,
> Mary Robinette Kowal–haven’t read either of her novels yet though
You should! I think you’ll like them.
> Catherine Asaro – Ha, ha, I and many others have had *that* particular discussion with another of the Black Gate bloggers.
I’m a fan of Catherine’s, and I’m glad to see her get another Nebula nod.
As for Theo, he has agreed to take future installments in his “SFF Corruption” post to another venue (probably his own blog). They didn’t belong on Black Gate.
> I never expected to see China Mieville on the Norton list, I have to admit!
Neither did I. I wasn’t even aware RAILSEA was a YA book.
Ach… I need to read more.
I think the only one on the list I’ve read is Throne of the Crescent Moon, which I highly recommend. I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them, really, though. I also need to move Railsea closer to the head of my list — since UPS didn’t actually deliver Echoes of the Goddess today, that might be a good alternative.
(It’s actually Mieville’s second YA book — his first was Un Lun Dun, which I also highly recommend.)
> I think the only one on the list I’ve read is Throne of the Crescent Moon, which I highly recommend
Joe,
I think the nominee lists are most useful to people like you and me — who haven’t read a lot of recent novels, and could use a few pointers.
> (It’s actually Mieville’s second YA book — his first was Un Lun Dun, which I also highly recommend.)
I forgot about UN LUN DUN! Thanks for the reminder.
>You should! I think you’ll like them.
Oh, I certainly plan to. I’ve read a lot of her short stories, novellas, and novelettes, and I own at least her first novel. (Maybe both–I’m currently in the midst of cataloging my entire book collection with collectorz’s Book Collector software, which should make determining things like that–and not buying multiple copies of books!–easier.) Her novella “Kiss Me Twice”, which was up for the Hugo last year, was one of my favorite of recent years.
So getting to the novel is more a function of lack of time than lack of desire. 😉
Speaking as a playwright (which I am), the idea that the Ray Bradbury Award for Dramatic Presentation goes only to movies is sickening. Bradbury himself was a playwright (as well as all the other forms he mastered), and the title of this award needs changing. If it’s for film, so be it; but don’t tell me that there weren’t any decent (and dramatic!) new plays this year. Nebula voters and SFFWA members take note!
> ’m currently in the midst of cataloging my entire book collection with collectorz’s Book Collector software,
> which should make determining things like that–and not buying multiple copies of books!–easier.
I know how you feel! If you come up with an easy-to-use system, let me know.
> The idea that the Ray Bradbury Award for Dramatic Presentation goes only to movies is sickening… Nebula voters and SFFWA members take note!
Mark,
I feel your pain. But I think you’re fighting a losing battle.
One of the great complaints in the voting process is that so few voters take the time to read the majority — let alone all! — of the nominees. It’s the rare person indeed who manages to see all the Bradbury nominees AND read most of the major novels and stories before voting.
And all of those are nationally available. Trying to introduce a category that requires voters to see a play, performed only in a few cities? Sorry — not going to happen.
The Book Collector software from collectorz.com is very easy to use. When I first got it, I also purchased a little handheld scanner, and could use it to scan the barcodes on books–and the software would go out to the internet and get the relevant info.
Unfortunately, my books weren’t in the same room as my computer, so I had to install another copy of the software on my wife’s laptop, and bring it to the library to scan books. Then later I’d transfer the database to my desktop. That was a cumbersome process so I never made much progress.
Now collectorz has introduced an app for the iPhone (and possibly for other platforms) that uses the RedLaser system to do the scanning. If you have the software opened on your computer, by the time you’ve finished scanning the info will already have been looked up and transferred to the Book Collector database (otherwise, the iPhone will keep it until you do make the wifi transfer).
It works pretty well, and even grabs cover pics and author photos to store in the database, although if books have many printings it can take some work to ensure you have the right one (or you could just ignore the cover pics altogether).
I have all my paperbacks scanned, and up through “D” (by author last name) for hardcovers. You could also use it for magazines, but I have way too many of them to even consider that, plus I pretty much know what I have.
It’s pretty slick, and is about as easy to use as I think is possible.
They also make collector software for music, videos, games, and maybe some other stuff too.
> It’s pretty slick, and is about as easy to use as I think is possible.
Allen,
Thanks for the recommendation. Over the years I’ve resigned myself to the fact that accidently buying duplicates is just part of the price of being a collector.
The worse problem is being convinced I HAVE a book, and passing up a great deal… only to come home and find out I don’t. Boy, those mistakes stay with you. Sounds like your software would help with that.
[…] and Tor.com — which split 5 Nebula nominations between them this year — were also shut […]
[…] Nebula Award Nominations Announced […]
[…] nominations for the 2012 Nebula Award were announced in February, and we reported on last year’s winners […]
[…] an historical fantasy set in an alternate version of early 1900s England, and was nominated for a Nebula Award last year. The sequel Copperhead has finally arrived, and it looks just as delightful as the first […]
[…] many novels! Last year there were only six nominated; this year there are eight. Yowsah. Does that mean there were 33% […]
[…] Books on April 29, 2014. The first three books in the series are Shades of Milk and Honey (2010), Glamour in Glass (2012), and Without a Summer […]
[…] the fourth book in the successful Glamourist Histories, following Shades of Milk and Honey (2010), Glamour in Glass (2012), and Without a Summer (2013). Mary’s first collection, Scenting the Dark and Other […]