2011 Nebula Award Winners

[stonetools]

The 2011 Nebula Award winners were annnounced last week. The list:

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

Has anyone read these works of fiction? What do you think of them?

[DiapDealer]

Among Others was pretty darn OK.
I'm obviously not a Kij Johnson fan, since yet again... a Kij Johnson story did absolutely nothing for me.
I thought "The Paper Menagerie" was well written (even if it was a bit overly maudlin for me personally).

The short-fiction that's getting nominated (and winning) for the Nebula/Hugo awards is getting a little too touchy-feely for my tastes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, generally speaking... it's just that my heart doesn't really have a lot of strings to tug on. And the ones I do have, usually require the weight of a few more words to get them to budge. I'm more prone to enjoy a short-story that targets the intellect and/or the funny-bone.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Among Others was pretty darn OK.
I'm obviously not a Kij Johnson fan, since yet again... a Kij Johnson story did absolutely nothing for me.
I thought "The Paper Menagerie" was well written (even if it was a bit overly maudlin for me personally).

The short-fiction that's getting nominated (and winning) for the Nebula/Hugo awards is getting a little too touchy-feely for my tastes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, generally speaking... it's just that my heart doesn't really have a lot of strings to tug on. And the ones I do have, usually require the weight of a few more words to get them to budge. I'm more prone to enjoy a short-story that targets the intellect and/or the funny-bone.

I read an SFSite review of Among Othersand it didn't seem like my cup of tea at all. I'll take another look, based on your recommendation.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by stonetools

I read an SFSite review of Among Othersand it didn't seem like my cup of tea at all. I'll take another look, based on your recommendation.

Just so you know... my "pretty darn OK" was a bit tongue in cheek. I felt it was quite solidly an OK book; but not anything truly exceptional or award-worthy. Sorry for any confusion.

[jgaiser]

I've read the Kij Johnson novella as part of the Hugo package. Of the 6 stories in the category it's in 5th or 6th place, with Carolyn Gilman's The Ice Owl alternating.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Among Others was pretty darn OK.
I'm obviously not a Kij Johnson fan, since yet again... a Kij Johnson story did absolutely nothing for me.
I thought "The Paper Menagerie" was well written (even if it was a bit overly maudlin for me personally).

The short-fiction that's getting nominated (and winning) for the Nebula/Hugo awards is getting a little too touchy-feely for my tastes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, generally speaking... it's just that my heart doesn't really have a lot of strings to tug on. And the ones I do have, usually require the weight of a few more words to get them to budge. I'm more prone to enjoy a short-story that targets the intellect and/or the funny-bone.

Yep, I read all the short stories on the day of the awards and the only two worthy of being nominated were Nancy's "Movement" and "The Paper Menagerie"

I have "Among Others" in my TBR list.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yep, I read all the short stories on the day of the awards and the only two worthy of being nominated were Nancy's "Movement" and "The Paper Menagerie"

I'm working my way (slowly) through the Hugo short fiction list. I've only gotten through the novellas so far, but i really enjoyed Catherynne Valente's Silently and Very Fast. None of the rest grabbed me.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

I've only gotten through the novellas so far, but i really enjoyed Catherynne Valente's Silently and Very Fast.

This is on Amazon (in the US at least) for $2.99.

This is first Tuesday for a long time when I did not have any new releases on my wishlist, but I picked up two ebooks based on recommendations here. The other one is Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

This is on Amazon (in the US at least) for $2.99

It's also available for a free read online in three parts on Clarksworld starting here. Links to next part at bottom of story.

Edit: And doing some more digging in Clarksworld, I find that the story is also available as a three part audio book starting here. I'm going to have to download this one myself

[DiapDealer]

I found quite a few of the Hugo short-fiction nominees free online. Which means they were a couple of clicks away from my Kindle.

Novellas
Kiss Me Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson
Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu

Novelettes
The Copenhagen Interpretation by Paul Cornell
Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky
Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders

Short Stories
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
The Homecoming, Mike Resnick
Movement, Nancy Fulda
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu.
The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City (Prologue), John Scalzi

Those are links to the authors'/publishers' websites where the stories themselves can be legally read, or links to the (legally) downloadable ebooks can be found.

[Marrella]

Links to all the Nebula nominated stories which are legally available online can be found here:
Free Speculative Fiction Online
Just scroll down the front page to the Nebula ballot. I love this site, it has tons of links to online stories, all of them legal.

Among Others was one of my favorite books last year, so I am quite pleased that it won. It also made me want to read some of the classic science fiction titles that were mentioned in the book. I also liked the Paper Menagerie a lot, though I thought two of the other nominated short stories were more interesting: Her Husband's Hands by Adam-Troy Castro and Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son by Tom Crosshill.

I am still reading The Man Who Bridged the Mist. It's okay, though not really my cup of tea. Maybe I am not a Kij Johnson type, either. I haven't read the other novellas yet.

I am also still reading The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman. This is a young adult book, but quite well written about a 13 year old girl who is transported 100 years into the past and has to work as a slave in her own family's household.

[kennyc]

Her Husband's Hands was just too weird for me.

But I'm glad to see Adam-Troy getting some recognition as I've been familiar with him since dirt was new.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Her Husband's Hands was just too weird for me.

But I'm glad to see Adam-Troy getting some recognition as I've been familiar with him since dirt was new.

I tend to agree. His previous nomination ("Arvies") was quite good, I thought, but "Her Husband's Hands" just seemed a bit too silly—not that he hasn't successfully pulled off "silly" in the past

(I'm still waiting for his third Andrea Cort Novel to be released in English, BTW )

[dwig]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I found quite a few of the Hugo short-fiction nominees free online. Which means they were a couple of clicks away from my Kindle.
...

Several are also available as audio readings:

Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente in Clarksworld issues 61-63
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu at Clarksworld and at EscapePod, #343
The Homecoming, Mike Resnick at EscapePod, #344
Movement, Nancy Fulda at EscapePod, #314
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. at EscapePod, #345

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Her Husband's Hands was just too weird for me.

But I'm glad to see Adam-Troy getting some recognition as I've been familiar with him since dirt was new.

I agree that it is a bit weird, and gruesome. But the idea of a pair of hands suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder is so original that I just have to like it.

If you are familiar with the author: I'd like to read one of his novels, can you recommend one?