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On
Saturday April 28, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
(SFWA) presented their annual awards, the Nebula Awards. Since 1965,
the Nebulas have been voted on, and presented by, active members
of the organization -- mostly writers and professionals associated
with the field. Awards are given for best novel, novella, novelette,
and short story.
An
anthology of the short fiction winners and several runners-up is
published every year. The awards are presented at a banquet, which
this year was held in Los Angeles to coincide with the Los Angeles
Festival of Books. Anxious to know who left with the prize? Read
on!
Congratulations
to all the winners!
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| 2000
Nebula Awards |
| This
Year's Winners Are... |
| Novel |
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Darwin's
Radio
by Greg
Bear
Greg
Bear is one of the top "hard science" writers in the field. His
novels -- such as Eon
and Slant,
as well as a couple of Star Wars tie-in novels -- have garnered
him a huge and devoted readership. Darwin's Radio will appeal
to readers impatiently awaiting something new from Michael
Crichton. There are strange babies being born, sometimes they
survive, sometimes they are killed -- sometimes their families are
killed, too. Researchers trying to discover more about these babies,
although hindered by the government, find that babies like these
have been born throughout history…but before, they have always been
killed, and now, more and more of them are now being born. Is humanity
changing? Will all of us change? Bear confidently leads us down
a complicated path that leaves readers looking over their shoulders,
wondering about themselves, their neighbors, our future.
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"Goddesses"
by Linda
Nagata
Nagata's
fifth novel, Limit
of Vision, has just come out and should get a lot of well-deserved
attention as a result of this win in the novella category. "Goddesses"
was published on Scifiction, the fiction part of the Scifi cable
TV channel's website, which publishes one original story and one
"classic" reprint per week. Edited by Ellen
Datlow (The
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror), Scifiction has quickly
gained a reputation as a premier site for good fiction, a reputation
this award will only solidify. Nagata's stories are well developed,
character-based stories that are usually based on a solid extrapolation
of present-day science. Fans of writers from Gregory
Benford to William
Gibson to Sean
Stewart would be do well to check out Nagata's work.
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Novelette |
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"Daddy's
World"
by Walter
Jon Williams
This
story was originally published in the original anthology Not
of Woman Born wherein editor Constance
Ash set 13 writers the task of speculating on (mostly) human
reproduction in the future. Walter John Williams (The
Rift) is an energetic writer and "Daddy's World," in which
he takes a look at future family values, is a good introduction
to those who haven't read him.
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Short
Story |
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"macs"
by Terry
Bisson
From
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and now collected
in In
the Upper Room and Other Likely Stories, "macs" is an incredibly
timely story of possible revenge and retribution offered to victims'
families after the Oklahoma bombing. Like many of Bisson's (The
Pickup Artist) satirical stories, the humor is unobtrusive
yet simultaneously cutting. A harsh story, worth looking up.
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Script |
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Galaxy
Quest
"Galaxy
Quest" is a warm-hearted look at the world of professional
science fiction actors and their fans. Terry
Bisson (Nebula winner in the short story category) novelized
the story from a script by Robert Gordon and David Howard. Tim Allen,
Sigourney Weaver, and the rest of the cast from a 1980s sci-fi TV
show get caught up in a real interstellar conflict with hilarious
results. Read the book, watch the film!
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Awards
Anthology |
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Nebula
Awards Showcase 2001
Edited by Robert
Silverberg
Perhaps
the best story in this collection of winners from 1999 is Ted Chiang's
"Story of Your Life," the winner in the novella category. Chiang
is a wonderful writer who, despite only publishing occasionally,
has won a fair amount of awards. This story originally appeared
in the Starlight
2 original anthology. Also included are the winners in the
novelette ("Mars is No Place for Children" by Mary Turzillo) and
short story ("The Cost of Doing Business" by Leslie
What) categories, as well as a couple of runner-up stories by
Michael
Swanwick and David Maruseck. There are also a number of essays
and an excerpt from Octavia
Butler's novel winner Parable
of the Talents.
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