2012 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announces the nominees for the 2012 Nebula Awards (presented 2013), nominees for the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and nominees for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Novel

Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella

On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
“All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
“Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
“Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette

“The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
“Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
“The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
“Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story

“Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
“Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight )
The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray writers), (Lionsgate)
John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

Also posted at Dreamwidth, where there are

comment(s); comment here or there.

( 9 comments — Leave a comment )

james_nicoll

2013-02-20 04:39 pm (UTC)

My fear is having nominated a fairly diverse roster of authors to the novel section, SFWA will then proceed to give the Nebula to the book written by the whitest, malest author on the list, which of course would be 2312. 2312 also has the advantage of playing the American exceptionalism IN SPACE card and for having a comment about Africa that reveals KSR basically stopped incorporating new information about Africa somewhere around the time The Population Bomb and "The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons" saw print.

The comment I have in mind from 2312 is:
***
Wahram would have been better for stuff like this, but he had flown off to America, frustrated like so many before him by irrefragable Africa.
***
and as
***
As for Africa, people say it’s a development sink. Outside aid disappears it and nothing ever changes. Ruined long ago by slavers, they say. Full of diseases, torched by the temperature rise. Nothing to be done.
***
shows, KSR has apparently not noticed

A: Africa now is nothing like Africa in 1700 so why would Africa 2312 look like Time Magazine's vision of Africa circa 1980, and

B: The fact that Africa as a whole is currently enjoying a period of sustained growth.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2012/05/14-africa-progress-watkins

My drinking game for 2312:

Take a sip every time someone races from one world to another. Empty the glass when they could have accomplished at home whatever they do at the end of the trip. Empty the bottle whenever he introduces a plot point with racist implications. You may want to book your liver transplant now.

Nathan Helfinstine

2013-02-20 05:02 pm (UTC)

The joy of having professional reviewers around, is that I don't have to waste any of my limited lifetime reading books like that.

2013-02-20 05:09 pm (UTC)

Yeah, except I am way the heck out at one end of the bell curve here. A lot of reviewers loved 2312, just like they liked Bacigalupi's Rapey McOrientalist Post-Peak Oil novel.

Edited at 2013-02-20 05:09 pm (UTC)

2013-02-20 06:48 pm (UTC)

I haven't always liked the books that you liked, but generally I've disliked the ones that you dislike, if that makes sense. Also, I disliked KSR's Mars trilogy enough that any negative review confirms my biases.

2013-02-21 06:21 pm (UTC)

Did I mention the people doing the new edition of Car Wars reportedly like the Rapey McOrientalist Post-Peak Oil novel as inspirational material?

Sean O'Hara

2013-02-20 05:14 pm (UTC)

Paul Cook would disagree:

http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2013/02/what-science-fiction-lacks/

heron61

2013-02-20 09:55 pm (UTC)

Indeed, and to make matters worse, last year a vastly better novel dealing with Africa a couple of centuries in the future (Alastair Reynolds' excellent Blue Remembered Earth was also published).

2013-02-20 05:15 pm (UTC)

OGM! White males being marginalized!

2013-02-20 09:50 pm (UTC)

Interesting selection for best novel - I loved Ahmed's novel, as is so often the case with his work, Robinson's novel bored me to a halt fairly rapidly, and while I may come back to Jemisin's later, it didn't grab me (her brilliant first novel remains by far my favorite of her work). Kiernan's novel is definitely on my to be read pile, and while I'd never heard of it (or the author) before, now so is Ironskin.

james_nicoll

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