2015 Nebula Awards and Bram Stoker Awards Announced

[Dazrin]

Unlike the Hugos, the Nebula awards are nominated and voted on by "active members" of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, so these have not had the boondoggle in recent years regarding "puppies" and may be a better selection than the Hugos have had recently.

I am also surprised to see very few names on these lists that I recognize. Are SF/F readers here at MR not "in" on which authors are up and coming?

Nebula list: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/05/10777/

I don't read much horror but the Bram Stoker awards were announced on Saturday too.

Bram Stoker list: http://horror.org/2015-bram-stoker-award-winners/

[pwalker8]

I think that I recognized 3 of authors listed, but it's been that way for years. Writers who are popular with writers and writers who are popular with readers aren't necessarily in the same.

I do question how much relevance novellas and short stories have these days.

[DiapDealer]

I recognize quite a few of the Nebula-nominated authors.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Unlike the Hugos, the Nebula awards are nominated and voted on by "active members" of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, so these have not had the boondoggle in recent years regarding "puppies" and may be a better selection than the Hugos have had recently.

I am also surprised to see very few names on these lists that I recognize. Are SF/F readers here at MR not "in" on which authors are up and coming?

Nebula list: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/05/10777/

I don't read much horror but the Bram Stoker awards were announced on Saturday too.

Bram Stoker list: http://horror.org/2015-bram-stoker-award-winners/

Thank you for the list.

I just now purchased the Stoker Award winning novel by Paul Tremblay.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I think that I recognized 3 of authors listed, but it's been that way for years. Writers who are popular with writers and writers who are popular with readers aren't necessarily in the same.

I do question how much relevance novellas and short stories have these days.

While I don't agree with your statement at all (and wonder why you don't include novels), could you elaborate your thoughts on this. (Also, did you mean strictly within the SF genre, or in general?)

Thanks.

[DiapDealer]

Ebooks have brought about a resurgence of the novella, in the SFF genres, in my opinion. They're being used to great effect by authors of longer-running series (often to keep interest high between novels), and the enovella market in general seems to be growing by leaps and bounds from where I'm standing. Readers are buying novellas. I think short-form SFF is more commercially viable than it's ever been right now.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

.....

I am also surprised to see very few names on these lists that I recognize. Are SF/F readers here at MR not "in" on which authors are up and coming?

Nebula list: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2016/05/10777/
....

I had the same reaction upon seeing the list a few days ago.

I like to think I'm at least somewhat in touch with the SFF world, but this list totally surprised me.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Ebooks have brought about a resurgence of the novella, in the SFF genres, in my opinion. They're being used to great effect by authors of longer-running series (often to keep interest high between novels), and the enovella market in general seems to be growing by leaps and bounds from where I'm standing. Readers are buying novellas. I think short-form SFF is more commercially viable than it's ever been right now.

We can hope. Not sure the evidence supports it though.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

While I don't agree with your statement at all (and wonder why you don't include novels), could you elaborate your thoughts on this. (Also, did you mean strictly within the SF genre, or in general?)

Thanks.

SF.

Prior to the 80's and the big paperback boom, many authors wrote for magazines, so you had a lot of short stories and novellas. Even the novels tended to be much, much shorter (I first read Zelazny's Hand of Oberon in serial form in Galaxy magazine back in the mid 70's. The book is less than 200 pages). While SF magazines still exists, and people still do write short stories and novellas, it's has become a much less important and common media. The readership in magazines in general has dropped dramatically over the years.

It's possible that the indie market will allow more writers to publish short stories on Amazon for a buck, but so far I just don't think that it's nearly as important as it once was. That, of course, is subject to change.

Just my opinion.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Ebooks have brought about a resurgence of the novella, in the SFF genres, in my opinion. They're being used to great effect by authors of longer-running series (often to keep interest high between novels), and the enovella market in general seems to be growing by leaps and bounds from where I'm standing. Readers are buying novellas. I think short-form SFF is more commercially viable than it's ever been right now.

That's a good point. I can think of several authors that I regularly read who self publish novellas on Amazon.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It's possible that the indie market will allow more writers to publish short stories on Amazon for a buck, but so far I just don't think that it's nearly as important as it once was. That, of course, is subject to change.

For myself; I'm not talking indies, or $0.99 ebooks. I'm talking about established authors selling more and more short-form stuff. I may not have numbers to back my observations, but I've been observing genre short-form stuff for decades.

Okorafor's Binti was well-received by her fans. Fans of Corey's Expanse series gobble up the novellas and short-stories that are released between novels. Daniel Polansky's The Builders was embraced by fantasy fans everywhere. K.J. Parker's shorts are very well-received as well. Rothfuss, Martin, Scalzi, Valentine: all have taken advantage of readers' apparent willingness to buy novellas and short-stories (for more than a buck). Stephen King has availed himself of their growing popularity, too.

I'm sure other genre's have experienced the same thing lately. Commercial short-form fiction is far from irrelevant these days.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I had the same reaction upon seeing the list a few days ago.

I like to think I'm at least somewhat in touch with the SFF world, but this list totally surprised me.

I recognized many of the names, especially for novels, but I follow several book reviewers, authors, etc.

I was particularly excited to see Naomi Kritzer up for a Nebula, she's written (excellent) long form and short fiction for decades but it never took off for her until her recent story (also nominated for a Hugo and Locus award). While I enjoy SF/F short fiction, I generally tend to sample it in anthologies (where I can read a lot for the price of a novel) or online rather than magazines.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Joykins

I recognized many of the names, especially for novels, but I follow several book reviewers, authors, etc.

I was particularly excited to see Naomi Kritzer up for a Nebula, she's written (excellent) long form and short fiction for decades but it never took off for her until her recent story (also nominated for a Hugo and Locus award). While I enjoy SF/F short fiction, I generally tend to sample it in anthologies (where I can read a lot for the price of a novel) or online rather than magazines.

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Fans of Corey's Expanse series gobble up the novellas and short-stories that are released between novels.

These have been uniformly great. They add a lot to the backstory and universe, and at the same time are not at all required reading to enjoy the novels.

It also seems like there are a lot of anthology books/ebooks that include works from well-known genre talent. They're often backstories or secondary characters set in the same universe as the various authors' popular novel series. Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Jacqueline Carey, Robin Hobb, Naomi Novik, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Diana Gabaldon, Kim Harrison -- I've seen all of these authors and many I'm forgetting contribute stories to various anthologies in the past few years.

I'm not really a fan of original short fiction -- for me, there's not enough time to really invest in brand new characters. But for backstories, minor characters, world-building in ongoing or even finished series, I'm totally there.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

.....
I'm not really a fan of original short fiction -- for me, there's not enough time to really invest in brand new characters....

Everyone is a Fan of short fiction. Some just don't realize it yet or are in denial.