Nebula Awards Showcase 2010 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Introduction

  NEBULA AWARD BEST NOVELLA - THE SPACETIME POOL

  THE GOLDEN AGE - DAVID DRAKE

  AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEBULA AWARD-WINNING BEST NOVEL - POWERS

  SCIENCE FICTION IN THE FIFTIES: THE REAL GOLDEN AGE - ROBERT SILVERBERG

  THE SOLSTICE AWARD

  SELECTED COMMENTARIES - ALGIS BUDRYS

  RULES OF THE GAME - KATE WILHELM

  A CHANCE REMARK - MARTIN H. GREENBERG

  WRITING SF IN THE SIXTIES - FREDERIK POHL AND ELIZABETH ANNE HULL

  NEBULA AWARD BEST NOVELETTE - PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS

  SCIENCE FICTION IN THE 1970S: THE TALE OF THE NERDY DUCKLING - KEVIN J. ANDERSON

  NEBULA AWARD BEST SHORT STORY - TROPHY WIVES

  INTO THE EIGHTIES - LYNN ABBEY

  AUTHOR EMERITA - TALKING ABOUT FANGS

  SCIENCE FICTION IN THE 1990S: WAITING FOR GODOT . . . OR MAYBE NOSFERATU - ...

  THE RHYSLING AND DWARF STAR AWARD-WINNING POETRY

  PLACE MAT BY MOEBIUS

  EATING LIGHT

  THE SEVEN DEVILS OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

  THE ANDRE NORTON AWARD

  AN EXCERPT FROM THE ANDRE NORTON AWARD-WINNING YOUNG ADULT NOVEL - FLORA’S DARE

  MEDIUM WITH A MESSAGE - JODY LYNN NYE

  AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEBULA AWARD-WINNING BEST SCRIPT - WALL-E

  THE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH OF BRADBURY AWARD WINNER, JOSS WHEDON

  AN APPRECIATION OF THE GRAND MASTER: HARRY HARRISON - TOM DOHERTY

  THE STREETS OF ASHKELON - HARRY HARRISON

  THE SFWA AUTHOR EMERITUS

  PAST NEBULA AWARD WINNERS

  Praise for the Previous Volumes of Nebula Awards Showcase

  “Would serve well as a one-volume text for a course in contemporary science fiction.”

  —The New York Review of Science Fiction

  “Reading all of Nebula Awards Showcase 2002 is a way of reading a bunch of good stories. It is also a very good way to explore the writing of tomorrow.”

  —John Clute, SciFi.com

  “Conveys a sense of the vitality and excitement that have characterized the field’s internal dialogues and debate over the last few years. One of the most entertaining Nebula volumes in years.”

  —Locus

  “The vast majority of the stories included are simply wonderful, and absolutely deserve recognition. . . . Bottom line: This year’s Nebula Showcase actually succeeds in showcasing a great variety of truly good work. Read it now.”

  —InterGalactic Medicine Show

  “The annual Nebula Awards Showcase anthologies always have something interesting to offer up. . . . There are plenty of solid, entertaining pieces in this anthology.”

  —Subterranean

  “As always, a fine anthology.”

  —Alternative Worlds

  “Stellar . . . this is not only a must read for anyone with an interest in the field, but a pleasure to read. . . . That’s more reassuring than surprising, of course, given that this collection has little if any agenda besides quality writing, but it is reassuring to see that so many fresh voices are so much fun . . . worth picking up.”

  —SFRevu

  “While the essays offer one answer to the question of where does SF go now, the stories show that science fiction writers continue to reexamine their vision of the future. It’s a continuing dialogue, and by including critical essays along with the stories, the Nebula Awards Showcase 2002 does more to present the SF field as an ongoing conversation and discussion of ideas than any of the other best of the year anthologies. It’s a worthy contribution and a good volume to have on your shelf.”

  —SF Site

  “Every fan will have their favorites; there’s pretty much something for everyone. . . . Overall Nebula Awards Showcase 2006 gets it right. I judge it a keeper.”

  —SciFiDimensions

  “Invaluable, not just for the splendid fiction and lively non-fiction, but as another annual snapshot, complete with grins and scowls.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

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  Copyright © Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 2010

  Additional author copyrights and permissions can be found on pages 419-20.

  All rights reserved

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  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  In the works of fiction published in this volume, names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

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  eISBN : 978-1-101-18627-5

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  INTRODUCTION

  BILL FAWCETT

  Welcome.

  Putting together the Nebula Award anthology is an activity that has been rather thought-provoking. Looking at the amazing list of past, and reading the current, winners has made me think back to a life spent reading and working with Science Fiction and Fantasy. A personal history that begins as a very young boy under a shade tree struggling to learn to read with Tom Swift books and growing up following and then creating in what has become a media-conquering genre. You can’t turn on the television without finding a ghost, alien, or advanced technology on the screen, and those are the reality shows. Science Fiction has sure come a long way.

  In this Nebula Awards anthology we take a look at the long and starlit road. Included among the stories of this anthology are a number of articles in which
we take a look back at the evolution of Science Fiction writing, mostly as seen on a very personal level, over the last century. Each of these articles covers a decade or era in the history of SF.

  Fortunately many of them are written by the very authors who wrote and shaped the genre during that time. So, among them you will find the esteemed and prolific Robert Silverberg telling you about the fifties and Lynn Abbey explaining the explosion of shared-world anthologies in the eighties.

  This collection also has the privilege of including along with all four Nebula Award-winning works an excerpt from the Andre Norton Award winner’s novel, the amazingly creative Joss Whedon’s acceptance speech for the Bradbury Award, and more SF insights from the three esteemed winners of the Solstice Award that is now given for Service to the Science Fiction community. Finally, we feature at the end a short story by Grand Master Harry Harrison that is introduced by TOR publisher Tom Doherty.

  A few themes stand out when you look at the field of Science Fiction as a whole. Subject always to exceptions that are numerous because that is the nature of SF itself, to be the exception and outside the box, the unexpected and the new. But over time one thing has begun to stand out to me when reading, sitting on a panel at a SF convention, or even just chatting with a few other writers and fans by e-mail.

  After half a century in the field I have come to a startling conclusion that explains not only the still growing and continuing popularity of what we read and write, but why so many of the people who do one or both are someone you want to meet at a convention. We Science Fiction writers and readers are optimists. Yep, positively Pollyanna-like, even the darkest of us, even Harlan Ellison. This is the case whether you write fantasy or more traditional Science Fiction. Why, simply put, Science Fiction assumes there will be a future.

  From the books of Jules Verne to WALL-E mankind survives, reaches the stars, and prevails, or at least survives and will prevail in the sequel. We all assume that man will travel someday to the stars. Some of us even work towards that with NASA or other organizations, but we all start with the idea that the human race will prevail, will not blunder and fall into darkness (at least not permanently), and will eventually reach some higher destiny. That is optimism, that is the positive attitude that underlies Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars, and the other mass media successes. It is part of their appeal. Even in the darkest tale of Science Fiction futures always end with hope. One of the first and darkest SF disaster novels, Wells’ The Time Machine, ends with the new mankind beginning to progress again with the Morlocks defeated.

  There was, in the sixties, a group of post-holocaust novels, mostly set after a massive atomic war. That is a scenario that is about as dark as you can conjure up. One that was very real, and still is, for those of us who were taught to “duck and cover” in grade school. Among them you find novels set after the holocaust such as A Canticle for Leibowitz and A Boy and His Dog and again everything has gone wrong and nuclear war just about destroyed civilization, but mankind survives and begins once more to triumph. On the Beach is the exception here, and it really is about the human spirit prevailing even in the face of total doom. In the backstory for Star Trek you have the Vulcans landing not long after Earth has suffered a nuclear disaster so traumatic that it changed the world views of the survivors in very positive ways. Even those very dark Mad Max movies always end with us being told the race survived and has begun again to move forward. Optimism. We SF types are by genre and nature optimists. Individually we can be occasionally cantankerous, feel the same day-to-day pressures as mundane, and many of us are fairly sure the publishing industry is doomed. But still we write about the future from the assumption that there will be a future. And an interesting future at that. Shared optimism is part of why SF readers and writers are fun to be with, interesting, and our gatherings are so famously open and welcoming.

  So welcome to the Nebula Awards Showcase, my fellow optimists. Join us where mankind has a long and interesting future, where human nature can overcome demons and dark spells, and we even have a few laughs along the way.

  ABOUT THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA

  SFWA is a nonprofit organization of professional writers science fiction, fantasy, and related genres. Founded in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization now includes over 1500 speculative authors, artists, editors, and allied professionals. SFWA presents the prestigious Nebula Awards, assists members in legal disputes with publishers, and hosts the well-known Writer Beware Web site. SFWA administers a number of benevolent funds, including the Emergency Medical Fund, the Legal Fund, and a Literacy Fund intended to encourage genre reading and literacy in general. Online discussion forums, member directories, and private convention suites help its members keep in touch with each other and stay abreast of new developments in the field.

  ABOUT THE NEBULA AWARDS

  Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been presented yearly for the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The winners are chosen by a vote of the active members of SFWA; awards are made in the categories of novel, novella, novelette, short story, and script. The award itself was originally designed by Judy Blish. Over the years additional awards are now presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony honoring those who have contributed to science fiction and fantasy in other ways. These include such awards as Grand Master, Solstice, and Author Emeritus. The winning shorter fiction is published annually in volumes like this, the Nebula Awards Showcase.

  2009 NEBULA AWARD NOMINEES

  NOVELS Little Brother | Cory Doctorow Tor Books, April 2008 Powers | Ursula K. Le Guin Harcourt, Inc., September 2008 Cauldron | Jack McDevitt Ace Books, November 2007 Brasyl | Ian McDonald Pyr, May 2007 Superpowers | David J. Schwartz Three Rivers Press, June 2008

  NOVELLAS The Spacetime Pool | Catherine Asaro Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2008

  Dark Heaven | Gregory Benford Alien Crimes, ed. Mike Resnick, Science Fiction Book Club, January 2007

  Dangerous Space | Kelley Eskridge Dangerous Space, Aqueduct Press, June 2007

  The Political Prisoner | Charles Coleman Finlay Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2008

  The Duke in His Castle | Vera Nazarian Norilana Books, June 2008

  NOVELETTES “If Angels Fight” | Richard Bowes Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 2008

  “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” | James Alan Gardner Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2008

  “Dark Rooms” | Lisa Goldstein Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2007

  “Pride and Prometheus” | John Kessel Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 2008

  “Night Wind” | Mary Rosenblum Lace and Blade, ed. Deborah J. Ross, Norilana Books, February 2008

  “Baby Doll” | Johanna Sinisalo Translated from the Finnish by David Hackston The SFWA European Hall of Fame, ed. James Morrow & Kathryn Morrow, Tor Books, June 2007

  “Kaleidoscope” | K. D. Wentworth Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 2007

  SHORT STORIES “The Button Bin” | Mike Allen Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, October 2007

  “The Dreaming Wind” | Jeffrey Ford The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales, ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Viking Press, July 2007

  “Trophy Wives” | Nina Kiriki Hoffman Fellowship Fantastic , ed. Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes, DAW Books, January 2008

  “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” | Kij Johnson Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2008

  “The Tomb Wife” | Gwyneth Jones Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 2007

  “Don’t Stop” | James Patrick Kelly Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2007

  “Mars: A Traveler’s Guide” | Ruth Nestvold Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 2008

  SCRIPTS The Dark Knight | Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer Warner Bros., July 2008

  WALL-E | Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter Walt Disney, June 2008

&
nbsp; The Shrine | Brad Wright Stargate Atlantis, August 2008

  THE ANDRE NORTON AWARD Graceling | Kristin Cashore Harcourt, October 2008

  Lamplighter | D.M. Cornish Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 2 Putnam Juvenile, May 2008

  Savvy | Ingrid Law Dial, May 2008

  The Adoration of Jenna Fox | Mary E. Pearson Henry Holt and Company, April 2008

  Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) | Ysabeau S. Wilce Harcourt, September 2008

  2009 NEBULA AWARD WINNERS

  BEST NOVEL

  Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin

  BEST NOVELLA

  The Spacetime Pool by Catherine Asaro

  BEST NOVELETTE

  “Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel

  BEST SHORT STORY

  “Trophy Wives” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

  BEST SCRIPT

  WALL-E Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon,

  Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

  ANDRE NORTON AWARD

  Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to