Nebula Awards Winners
Posted on May 20, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 11 Comments
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, of which I am the president, gave out its Nebula and other awards last night. Here’s what won, by whom, and who published it.
Novel
Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor)
Novella
“The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s, October/November 2011)
Novelette
“What We Found,” by Geoff Ryman (F&SF, September/October 2011)
Short Story
“The Paper Menagerie,” by Ken Liu (F&SF, March/April 2011)
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” by Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult SF and Fantasy Book
The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
Damon Knight Grand Master Award
Connie Willis
Solstice Award
Octavia Butler (posthumous) and John Clute
Service to SFWA Award
Bud Webster
Congratulations to everyone above!
_Among Others_ is a beautiful, difficult, traumatizing and uplifting book. It totally deserves this award.
I completely agree with the above.
Maybe I’ll have to give it a try, then. The summaries and critiques I read didn’t make it seem appealing to me. But traumatizing AND uplifting has me intrigued.
I found Among Others to be perhaps the 10th best sci-fi/fantasy book of last year, and that’s only including the ones I’ve read. Oh well, tastes vary.
Excuse my ignorance, but what’s the difference between a novella and a novelette? One even more diminutive than the other?
I loved “Among Others” as well. It doesn’t shy away from darkness, both internal and external. I loved how it manages to be a both a supernatural story and one about nothing more or less traumatic/dramatic than beeing a teenager and trying to figure out where you fit.
Oh, and that Gaiman guy’s thing was pretty ok too ;)
Awesome. I’ve wanted to read Among Others since they reviewed it so favorably on Making Light last year and was excited to have Jo Walton sign it at the signing, although I think I mistakenly insulted her by mentioning Neil Gaiman. Also, I’m glad The Doctor’s Wife won best dramatic presentation because it was excellent, although I’m not positive it was actually the best Doctor Who episode all season.
Sorry to say it: I’m really disappointed with this decision by the voters of the SFWA. I like Jo Walton’s writing, I loved her early stuff and I *loved* the _Small Change_ series. _Among Others_ was a crushing disappointment compared to those works. It was like a bad posting on r.a.s.f.w. — full of snide injokes and ludicrous posturings, featuring a completely underwritten main character.
Miévilles _Embassytown_, while it has its faults, was a far more accomplished book, while Kameron Hurley’s _God’s War_ was revelatory. I’m hugely anticipating the followup novel _Infidel_,
See, I found _God’s War_ to be a rather stiff action-adventure with some cool bugtech–though I thought the idea of making a conservative Muslim man a the sympathetic lead was interesting. _Embassytown_ was OK. It had some really good explorations about the nature of the alien, but Mieville’s linguistic virtuosity, while impressive, is starting to feel like a gimmick to me. _The City and the City_ was a much stronger work, IMO.
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