2018 Nebula Nominees

[Victoria Silverwolf]

This was announced a while back but I guess I missed it.

Where to read 2018’s Nebula Awards nominees online

The fiction nominees:

BEST NOVEL

Amberlough, Lara Elena Donnelly (Tor)
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss (Saga)
Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory (Knopf; riverrun)
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty (Orbit US)
Jade City, Fonda Lee (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK 2018)

BEST NOVELLA

River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com Publishing)
Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing)
And Then There Were (N-One), Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/17)
Barry’s Deal, Lawrence M. Schoen (NobleFusion Press)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
The Black Tides of Heaven, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)

BEST NOVELETTE

Dirty Old Town, Richard Bowes (Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 5-6/17)
Weaponized Math, Jonathan P. Brazee (The Expanding Universe, Vol. 3)
Wind Will Rove, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 9-10/17)
A Series of Steaks, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld 1/17)
A Human Stain, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 1/4/17)
Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time, K.M. Szpara (Uncanny 5-6/17)

BEST SHORT STORY

Fandom for Robots, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny 9-10/17)
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience TM, Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex 8/17)
Utopia, LOL?, Jamie Wahls (Strange Horizons 6/5/17)
Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 9-10/17)
The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard), Matthew Kressel (Tor.com 3/15/17)
Carnival Nine, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17)

I've just read "And Then There Were (N-One)" by Sarah Pinsker and thought it was pretty good. (See my Hugo nominees thread for a slightly longer review.)

I've read "Dirty Old Town" by Richard Bowes and thought it was quite good. My review for Tangent:

Boston in the recent past and in the present day is the setting for "Dirty Old Town" by Richard Bowes. As a young boy, the narrator encounters two bullying brothers, one of whom will eventually disappear, and the other go on to become a friend. Decades later the narrator is a playwright and his friend is a successful actor. A touch of fantasy enters this tale of nostalgia and changes over time from the fact that the narrator learns a spell from his grandmother which allows him to sense what another person is experiencing. The story can be read as an allegory of empathy, and is likely to appeal to those who enjoy mainstream literary fiction with a subtle flavor of the fantastic.

I've read "Utopia, LOL?" by Jamie Wahls and thought it was OK, if not great. Again, my review for Tangent:

The familiar theme of a person with a fatal disease being cryogenically suspended and awakening into a strange world is used for the purpose of comedy and satire in "Utopia, LOL?" by Jamie Wahls. As the title indicates, much of the future depicted in this story is an exaggerated version of today's electronic social media. The story is narrated by the revived man's guide, a rather scatterbrained person who is a typical human being of her time. In her world, people can live in any of trillions of simulated universes, under the direction of the artificial intelligence that watches over humanity. After some madcap adventures in a couple of these realities, the revived man learns the secret plan of the AI, and makes an important choice. Although the story is mostly comic, at the end it becomes more serious, and even inspiring.

I may get to the others I can read on-line once I do the Hugos.

 

[J-Sun]

Most everything on the Neb list is the same as the Hugo (or is print-only). Differences:

Comment on "Wind Will Rove":

“Wind“—in which a fiddle player and history teacher on a generation starship tries to explain to her resistant kids why even broken history (and music and tradition and creation) is necessary—is a story with nice ideas and decent characters and most everything else needed for an excellent story but basically forgot the plot or, more specifically, the drama. It’s a mostly good but dull story and I’m someone who loves starships and history and music so I imagine it’d be worse for those who don’t.​

Honorable mention for "Utopia, LOL":

“Utopia, LOL?” is severely flawed by its choice to project yesterday’s webspeak into the far future but, if you can get past that, this almost Futurama-esque tale of thawing out the cryogenically-preserved primitive is reasonably funny and entertaining and with a serious undertone.​

Honorable mention for "A Human Stain" (which, given I don't like that kind of horror, is almost like a recommendation):

“A Human Stain” by Kelly Robson [is] a horror novelette from Tor.com that at least sticks—like coagulated blood—in the mind...​

Recommendation for "The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)":

...In a future age of neurals, a novelist of pen and paper and self-typeset books who has a terminal condition travels to Ardabaab to work on his last novel while awaiting death. He meets the personification of youth and hope and talent in “Fish,” a young girl who becomes his muse and illustrator and typesetting assistant. All of this goes to answer the question about why and how we persist in doing the things we do.... The characters are likable or explicable and the two main ones have a charming sort of plausibly implausible chemistry. The story is just the right length, with just the right pace (leisurely, but not slow, with an ever-present sense of the ticking clock), and comes together beautifully in the end with some emotional and thematic weight. Basically... this was a delight to read.​

Edit: Made a mistake: "Wind Will Rove" is not unique to the Nebula list. Wonder if I just messed it up or if I accidentally substituted it for one that does belong in the unique group?
Edit 2: Yeah, I guess I left off "Weaponized Math," which is unique and, while print, is now available on the web like "Wind." No comment there, because I haven't read that one.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

A few comments on the Nebula nominees. I'll read the ones I can, if I haven't already read them for the Hugos or for some other reason, one at a time and offer brief reviews.

Looking very briefly at descriptions of the nominated novels, I think the one I would most want to read is Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.

As with the Hugo nominees, the Dramatic Presentation I'd want to see would probably be The Shape of Water.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The first of two nominated novelettes I hadn't read:

"Weaponized Math" by Jonathan P. Brazee

(Document file from the author)

http://www.jonathanbrazee.com/WeaponizedMath.docx

A Marine sniper gets involved in a battle with terrorists. She has to protect her fellow Marines while also looking out for her new spotter.

Did I mention that this takes place on another planet? No? Well, that's because the science fiction content (very detailed descriptions of futuristic weapons) isn't relevant to the plot. This could easily take place nowadays. The author knows how to write a very convincing battle scene (and this story is about ninety percent battle scene) but otherwise I fail to see why this got nominated.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

And the second one:

"A Human Stain" by Kelly Robson

A Human Stain

A woman goes to serve as a governess to a young orphan boy in a remote German castle. The boy's nursemaid has something wrong with her mouth, the furniture is covered with white, dusty stuff, and there are small bones all over the place. Things get much weirder and more frightening from there. I suppose one shouldn't ask for too much logic from a horror story, but I found it a little hard to figure out exactly what was going on.

So, overall, I'd definitely give the Nebula to "Dirty Old Town."

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

And finishing up with the only nominated short story I haven't read:

"The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)" by Matthew Kressel

The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)

A dying man who not only writes his own books, but typesets them and prints them, in a future which has lost these arts, befriends a young girl on a distant planet. Despite my prejudice against stories about writers, this was really excellent. The excerpts from the writer's last novel seemed perfectly in character with the man and the future. The technique used to end the story worked perfectly.

So, I'd give this one the Nebula.

 

[J-Sun]

The first of two nominated novelettes I hadn't read:

"Weaponized Math" by Jonathan P. Brazee

(Document file from the author)

http://www.jonathanbrazee.com/WeaponizedMath.docx

A Marine sniper gets involved in a battle with terrorists. She has to protect her fellow Marines while also looking out for her new spotter.

Did I mention that this takes place on another planet? No? Well, that's because the science fiction content (very detailed descriptions of futuristic weapons) isn't relevant to the plot. This could easily take place nowadays. The author knows how to write a very convincing battle scene (and this story is about ninety percent battle scene) but otherwise I fail to see why this got nominated.

I read this just to see what the "weaponized math" actually was (nothing sfnal but simply the calculations used by the sniper which, ironically, she uses very little if at all, basically ending up winging it) and I agree almost completely with your review. The one quibble regards the convincing battle scenes: she's very sloppy with her helmet and the drones are oddly underutilized. (Linda Nagata does this sort of thing better.) As far as why it got nominated, I'd note that a co-editor of the anthology it appeared in is also the current president of the SFWA except that I was thinking the Nebula voting process was private/anonymous so there wouldn't be much effect in making nice that way.

Edit: Hm, I stand confused. The book's actually listed as being edited by Craig Martelle but the doc file says "Cat Rambo and Lynne Stiegler." And I guess his battle scenes ought to be even more convincing than they are (and the SFWA thing rears its head either way): ISFDB sez: "Jonathan Brazee is a retired US Marine infantry colonel and now a writer living in North Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the chairman of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Education Committee."

Edit2: I'm also confused as to how this author's SFWA-qualified (which I would assume you'd have to be to be chairman of a committee). He's written about 26 novels, almost all in the past four years, and five stories and all of them but this one were self-published (or were at least published on Create Space and/or by Semper Fi Press which has never published anyone but this author). Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Wow. Thanks for all that fascinating information.

I'll admit first of all that I know nothing at all about military stuff, so I'll bow to your greater expertise.

What you've said makes it seem really odd that this story got nominated at all. It almost seems like something the Sad Puppies might recommend, but there isn't any thing else among the nominees that suggests they had any influence. The only other thing I can think of is that Brazee is a great guy, does a fantastic job for the SFWA, and everybody likes him, so they gave him a vote.

 

[J-Sun]

Yeah, as far as I know the Puppies never did or could influence the Nebulas, which is restricted to SFWA members (few Puppy authors want to be members and even if they all did, they'd be a minority - the Hugo influence came from mobilizing the fanbase) and it's not a particularly ideological story. And, honestly, it's not bad, either, so maybe people just liked it on its own merits despite it not really being SF. But IOO (in our opinions ) whatever it is, it's not award-caliber, so you're probably right - just a pat on the back for living right.

(BTW, any expertise I have is handed down and doesn't carry any authority - I was just conveying my impressions.)

 

[J-Sun]

Discovered from SFM that Bowes' "Dirty Old Town" is available online (apparently temporarily). Haven't read it yet, but will shortly.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

And the winners:

Here are the winners of the 2018 Nebula Awards

All the fiction awards (I'm not counting Dramatic Presentation or Young Adult) went to women. Definitely a trend.

Also a trend is the fact that I didn't predict either of the winners in the two categories where I had read all the nominees.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Nebula Winners Announced - The Nebula Awards

2017 Nebula/Bradbury/Norton Award Winners

Novel: The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella: All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

Novelette: “A Human Stain”, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 1/4/17)

Short Story: “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM”, Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex8/17)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: Get Out (Written by Jordan Peele)

The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book: The Art of Starving, Sam J. Miller (HarperTeen)

 

[J-Sun]

Surprising results. (Or maybe not.)

Another odd data point: the editors of six "Year's Bests" (Clarke, Datlow, Dozois, Horton, Shearman/Kelly, and Strahan) have announced their contents. None of them picked any of the winners except for Datlow's pick of Robson for her horror anthology (and there are Bram Stoker awards and others for horror stories). And as she notes on her own picks, Victoria and I also failed to pick any winners. (Even of the nominees, Clarke, Dozois, and Strahan all picked "Series" but "N-one," "Fandom" and "Utopia" were picked only by Horton, "Wind" and "Novelist" only by Clarke and "Carnival" only by Strahan. Ten nominees weren't picked by anyone.)

More generally, a website called Rocket Stack Rank collates the reactions of many reviewers, editors, and awards and tallies points based on these recommendations. Just looking at the nominee list at the time of writing, it "stacks" as given below. (And keep in mind that "2" is the lowest possible, meaning it was a Nebula nominee but received no other accolade and "17" is the highest total any story achieved (which only one other story managed: "The Martian Obelisk," which is a Hugo nominee for short story but was ignored by the Nebulas.)

Whichever stories you prefer, it is an odd and awfully marked shear between the SFWA voters and year's best editors, reviewers, etc.

Ordered by "points." Winners in bold.

Novella

14 "And Then There Were (N-One)", Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/17)
10 All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
7 The Black Tides of Heaven, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)
6 River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com Publishing)
4 Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing)
2 Barry's Deal, Lawrence M. Schoen (NobleFusion)

Novelette

17 "A Series of Steaks", Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld 1/17)
11 "Wind Will Rove", Sarah Pinsker (Asimov's 9-10/17)
4 "Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time", K.M. Szpara (Uncanny 5-6/17)
3 "A Human Stain", Kelly Robson (Tor.com 1/4/17) [oddly, since I gave it an "honorable mention," I'm responsible for its only other point]
2 "Dirty Old Town", Richard Bowes (F&SF 5-6/17)
2 "Weaponized Math", Jonathan P. Brazee (The Expanding Universe, Vol. 3)

Short Story

11 "Fandom for Robots", Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny 9-10/17)
11 "Carnival Nine", Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17)
9 "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM", Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex 8/17)
7 "The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)", Matthew Kressel (Tor.com 3/15/17)
7 "Utopia, LOL?", Jamie Wahls (Strange Horizons 6/5/17)
6 "Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand", Fran Wilde (Uncanny 9-10/17)

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Very interesting analysis. I can't comment on the novellas, but I can say that I wasn't crazy about the Robson (which just reflects my taste, I think, rather than the story's quality) but I liked the Roanhorse.

I'll just add here that the Grand Master award given to Peter S. Beagle is richly deserved.