Nebula Awards 33: The Year's Best Sf and Fantasy Chosen by the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (Nebula Awards Showcase) - Hardcover

Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Of America

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151003726 ISBN 13: 9780151003723

Publisher: Harcourt, 1999

Synopsis

Presents the winning stories for best science fiction and fantasy of 1997, featuring works by Jane Yolen, James Alan Gardner, Poul Anderson, Jerry Oltion, and Nancy Kress

About this title

About the Author

Connie Willis has won six Nebula Awards, more than any other writer, and was the first author to win the Nebula in all four categories. Her acclaimed works include Lincoln's Dreams, Doomsday Book, Remake, Impossible Things, and Bellwether, a finalist for this year's Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Reviews

paper 0-15-600601-4 Nebulas 1997 award-winners and ballot finalists are presented by Willis, who takes over from last year's editor, Jack Dann. Representing Best Novel, there's an excerpt from Vonda N. McIntyre's splendid historical fantasy, The Moon and the Stars, while Jerry Oltion's ghostly Apollo capsule, ``Abandon in Place,'' wins Best Novella, and ``The Flowers of Aulit Prison,'' Nancy Kress's investigation of crime, society, and reality, has captured Best Novelette. The Best Short Story Award goes to ``Sister Emily's Lightship'' from Jane Yolen. Also on show are impressive finalist yarns from James Patrick Kelly, Michael Swanwick, Gregory Feely, James Alan Gardner, and Karen Joy Fowler. The Rhysling Award Winners (for poetry) are W. Gregory Stewart and Terry A. Garey. Nelson Bond, represented by his story ``The Bookshop,'' has accepted Author Emeritus status (you're forgiven if you've never heard of him). And Poul Anderson, virtuoso of short- and mid-length fictionhis typically brilliant ``The Martyr'' appears herethoroughly deserves his Grand Master Award. Nonfiction enthusiasts, however, are in for a thumping disappointment. Maybe somebody decided that last year's opinionated and thoroughly refreshing growls and hisses Simply Wouldn't Do. But for whatever reason, 1997's nonfiction is just anodyne scraps (the redoubtable Kim Stanley Robinson honorably excepted). No obituaries appear, despite the passing of Jerome Bixby (author of several all-time great short stories, plus a couple of the finest Star Trek scripts), of innovative editor/writer Judith Merrill, and of Australia's greatest (and vastly underrated) SF novelist, George Turner. Even Bill Warren's eagerly anticipated dissection of the year's movies has been ditched. Terrific fiction, a Bronx cheer for the nonfiction. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

YA-This solid anthology of stories and essays represents the breadth and diversity of the genre. Most of the selections fall more toward the science fiction end of the spectrum. No unicorns or wizards here. Instead, Emily Dickinson meets an alien in "Sister Emily's Lightship." "Abandon in Place" is a thrilling ghost story about what happens to the space program in the wake of tragedy and budget cuts. A few stories, like "The Elizabeth Complex," require careful reading. Interspersed with the well-written and thought-provoking stories are essays that are less compelling. Few YAs will like every offering in this volume, but there's sure to be something here to please just about everyone.
Susan Salpini, Purcellville Library, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The latest collection of trophy-winners and runners-up for the Nebulas, which are awarded by the SFWA, is a rainbow of styles and content. Editor Willis (Bellwether), herself a six-time Nebula winner, introduces each selection with an enthusiastic appreciation. Each story is followed by the author's notes on its creation. There are also insightful short essays on the year's science as well as its fiction by expert authors and editors, plus older stories by 1997's Author Emeritus Nelson Bond and Grand Master Poul Anderson, the latter contributing a fine space yarn with a Platonic drama of ideas and a knockout surprise ending. The prose ranges from the futuristic lighting of Michael Swanwick ("The chauffeur wore combat-grade photomultipliers") to the gracefully mythopoeic style of Vonda McIntyre ("The wild eerie melody quickened Marie-Jos?phe's heart"). All the fiction entries are richly imagined; some are polished literary constructions as well. Karen Joy Fowler is represented by a deft experimental conflation of historical Elizabeths, including Borden, Cady-Stanton and one of the queens, and there is a little of the expected "hard" SF, too. Gregory Feeley's "The Crab Lice" is one of several pieces that wonderfully illuminate present events by imagined ones in the past instead of the more typical SF sallies into the future. Feeley shows us Aristophanes at loggerheads with the god Dionyos; Jane Yolen gives us Emily Dickinson chatting with an extraterrestrial. Overall, this is an excellent skimming of the current SF crop, conveying a good sense of the field's variety, sophistication and breadth.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This eclectic sampling of 1997's best short stories, novellas, and novels was chosen by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Editor Willis, a multiple Nebula winner, provides amusing and insightful commentary on the selections, which include works by Jane Yolen, Vonda N. McIntyre, James Alan Gardner, and Nancy Kress. Subject matter runs the gamut from Aristophanes to Emily Dickinson, medieval inquisitions to moon shots. The slim volume also contains a list of previous winners, tributes to Grand Master Poul Anderson and Author Emeritus Nelson Bond, and reflections on 1997 by several well-known sf authors. While a bit of a hodgepodge, this anthology includes excellent stories and should appeal to sf fans. Recommended for large public and academic libraries.ALaurel Bliss, New Haven, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The latest gathering of sf and fantasy granted the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Award is exceptionally fine. Much of the credit goes to the writers, of course--1997 was "a very good year." Most of the rest goes to editor Willis, the literate author of six Nebula winners herself, who also has a knack for writing commentary that avoids condescension to either her colleagues or readers. The singularly high-quality stories herein range from Jane Yolen's revelation of the real source of Emily Dickinson's inspiration to an alternate history offering that, as its title, "The Crab Lice," implies, is definitely not escapist fare. The complement of essays and comments, some by Willis and some by others, rounds out the book in the series' usual fashion, and in this department, too, the quality this time is well above--and the amount of character assassination well below--average. More than most of its predecessors, this Nebula collection is an essential index of one year in sf and fantasy. Roland Green

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0151003726
• ISBN 13: 9780151003723
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Willis Connie