Nebula Awards Showcase 2013

April 15, 2013
Despite being dated 2013, this edition of the Nebula Awards Showcase presents the winning and nominated stories as voted by the members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America for the year 2011. Better late than never. Ken Liu deservedly won the short story award for "The Paper Menagerie," a delicately wrought magic-realist tale of a Chinese girl purchased and brought to America as a bride, which packs enough emotional power to melt a heart of stone. Best novella winner Kij Johnson offers an engagingly populated and artfully rendered story of an engineer bridging a most peculiar and dangerous river. "What We Found," by Geoff Ryman (best novelette), takes a single scientific principle and integrates it, perfectly and tellingly, into real life. Connie Willis was presented with a Grand Master Award, and her story of political correctness run amok, "Ado," illustrates the comic brilliance found in much of her work. For the other winners, there are excerpts from Jo Walton's best novel, Among Others, and Delia Sherman's The Freedom Maze (Andre Norton Award), with poetry (Rhysling Awards) represented by C.S.E. Cooney (long) and Amal El-Mohtar (short), and an essay from Solstice Award winner John Clute. Elsewhere, E. Lily Yu's smart, predatory wasps draw intricate, exact maps and enslave anarchist bees; Carolyn Ives Gilman writes of genocide, education, and mothers and daughters; Ferrett Steinmetz describes life in wartime aboard a space station; Nancy Fulda writes of a "cure" for autism; David Goldman offers a multiple-choice story that both is and isn't; Brad R. Torgersen describes how compelling our memories of sunlight can be; and Katherine Sparrow weighs in with a sort of futuristic They Shoot Horses Don't They? Essential fare for short story aficionados, even though some of the contents have appeared in other collections.

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May 15, 2013

Since 1966, the Nebula Awards Showcase series has brought together the winning and nominated stories selected and voted on by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. This year's volume includes stories by Connie Willis ("Ado"), Ken Liu ("The Paper Menagerie"), George Ryman's novelette "What We Found"), and Kij Johnson's novella "The Man Who Bridged the Mists." For list keepers, the titles and authors of 2011's Nebula winners, nominees and honorees appears in the front of the book, while a complete listing of Nebula winners from 1965 to date appears in the back of the book. VERDICT A tasty cornucopia of tales to please most genre tastes.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2013
Since 1966, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America have published the Nebula Awards' nominated and winning stories. As in years before, the 2013 showcase is a comprehensive look into outstanding science-fiction and fantasy writing of the year. Several stories make this compilation worth reading, particularly the excerpt of this year's novel winner, Among Others, by Joe Walton, in which a young girl must seek shelter with her father, who abandoned her at birth, after she endures deep destruction that robbed her of her ability to walk and her identical twin sister's life. The Paper Menagerie, by Ken Lui, is a bittersweet short story about a Chinese mother whose breath brings origami to life and the American-born son who pushes her away. The Ice Owl, by Carolyn Ives Gilman, follows a young girl as she arrives on a new planet where she meets an old man who, hundreds of years ago, facilitated the genocide of his people. Featuring writing of the highest quality in the genre, this compilation is certain to appeal to those demanding imaginative fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)