2011 Nebula Winners: The Announcement and a Poll

[boundbooks]

From the SFWA website's announcement:

"The 2011 Nebula Award Winners are:

Winning Novel: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Spectra)

Also Nominated:
The Native Star by M.K. Hobson (Spectra)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Echo by Jack McDevitt (Ace)
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)

Winning Novella: “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window” by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’10)

Also Nominated:
The Alchemist by Paolo Bacigalupi (Audible; Subterranean)
“Iron Shoes” by J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
“The Sultan of the Clouds” by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s 9/10)
“Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance” by Paul Park (F&SF 1-2/10)

Winning Novelette: “That Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made” by Eric James Stone (Analog 9/10)

Also Nominated:
“Map of Seventeen” by Christopher Barzak (The Beastly Bride)
“The Jaguar House by in Shadow” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s 7/10)
“The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara” by Christopher Kastensmidt (Realms of Fantasy 4/10)
“Plus or Minus” by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s 12/10)
“Pishaach” by Shweta Narayan (The Beastly Bride)
“Stone Wall Truth” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Asimov’s 2/10)

Winning Short Story (tie): “Ponies” by Kij Johnson (Tor.com 1/17/10) and “How Interesting: A Tiny Man” by Harlan Ellison (Realms of Fantasy 2/10)

Also Nominated:
“Arvies” by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed 8/10)
“I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno” by Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed 6/10)
“The Green Book” by Amal El-Mohtar (Apex 11/1/10)
“Ghosts of New York” by Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith)
“Conditional Love” by Felicity Shoulders (Asimov’s 1/10)

Ray Bradbury Award: Inception

Also Nominated:
Despicable Me
Doctor Who: “Vincent and the Doctor”
How to Train Your Dragon
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Toy Story 3

Andre Norton Award: I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)

Also Nominated:
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
White Cat by Holly Black (McElderry)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
The Boy from Ilysies by Pearl North (Tor Teen)
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

The Nebula Awards® are voted on, and presented by, active members of SFWA. The awards were announced at the Nebula Awards® Banquet held at the Washington Hilton Hotel the evening of May 21st."

Poll #7043 My Thoughts on the Nebulas

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 9

Your Feelings on This Year's Nebulas: Pick As Many As Apply

Awesome, I loved all of the winners!
1 (11.1%)

Horrible, who was voting and can we dispose of them?
1 (11.1%)

Hm. I liked some!
4 (44.4%)

Hm. Some were okay.
0 (0.0%)

Hm. I didn't hate any.
0 (0.0%)

Nebulas. What are those?
1 (11.1%)

Meh, I spent the weekend checking for True Blood's starting date.
0 (0.0%)

I like ticky boxes.
6 (66.7%)

Bring on the 2012 Nebulas already
2 (22.2%)

I'm holding out for the Hugos.
2 (22.2%)

Further thoughts and options? Did someone get robbed? Did someone finally get recognized? Did your favorite book win (or lose)?

Comments

[stripped]

I love Connie's duology. I admit I haven't read the other novels, but I think that one is strong enough that it ought to be able to hold up against just about anything else.

[boundbooks]

Oooh, if you haven't yet read the others, I highly recommend Who Fears Death and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. They're good reads too. :)

[stripped]

Are they gooey thick fantasies with wordplay (like Jonathan Strange) or more accessible gooeyness (like Stratford Man) or more character oriented (like Connie's)? I've found that my taste tends to be very... pedestrian... sometimes. I loved the characters and the history and the twisty plotness in the duology. But sometimes award winning books tend to get too thick in the words for me to get into.

[trialia]

The only one I know and don't necessarily agree with is the first, but I adored I Shall Wear Midnight and enjoyed Inception, so happy with those :)

[boundbooks]

I totally feel like Inception is the only one on that movie list where the director will appreciate the win! I feel like Christopher Nolan is probably the kind of geek where a Nebula will mean something, so I'm happy that he won. :)

[trialia]

He certainly is :)

[lilacsigil]

I've read the winners by Connie Willis, Rachel Swirsky and Kij Johnson, and they are absolutely deserving winners. "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window" is one of my favourite things ever, and possibly the only good and complex indictment of a female-dominated society I have ever read.

[boundbooks]

I haven't yet read "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window", but I've heard all kinds of excellent things about it. I should probably read it this week! :D

[boundbooks]

Your comment is odd and looks spammy, so I am erring on the side of deleting it. If I am wrong, please feel free to repost it.

[foxfirefey]

Sordid confession: I don't really think "That Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone is really Nebula level writing, but I get this kick out of it as an exMormon because it is the Mormony-est sci-fi story I have EVER read IN MY LIFE, and that is saying something since I've read Orson Scott Card's post-apocalyptic in Mormon land short story collection and the Homecoming series that is a thinly veiled Book of Mormon analogy. The conventions in it totally tickle me pink.

[boundbooks]

I haven't read that one yet, but I am intrigued by the idea that there is something out there which is more Mormony than Orson Scott Card's work! Now I shall have to read it and look for those conventions. :)

Have you read Card's Alvin Maker series? I thought that one - which was a pretty interesting series, all things considered - crossed the proverbial Rubricon from Mormon analogy to direct retelling.

[foxfirefey]

You can read it here if you like:

http://www.ericjamesstone.com/blog/stories/that-leviathan-whom-thou-hast-made/

Ah yes, I read that too. (I have actually read almost EVERYTHING, including shorts, of OSC's before a certain year or so where the output started mostly being sequels.) Thinly veiled analogy of Joseph Smith! Man comes out a whole lot better in Alvin Maker, though.

[boundbooks]

Cool, thank you for the link!