2022 Nebula Awards
May. 22nd, 2022 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraI didn't watch these live, but I skimmed through the recording to listen to some of the speeches. The list is here, or behind the cut with my comments.
NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVEL
A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark
The Unbroken, C.L. Clark
Machinehood, S.B. Divya
A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine
Plague Birds, Jason Sanford
I still haven't read either the Clark or the Sanford, but I think it's interesting that Clark beat Martine here! I guess I still haven't made a Hugos prediction in this category, but maybe this is predictive? Clark for the Hugo also? His speech starts around 1:35:00 and was nice - definitely someone who I enjoy seeing win things.
NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELLA
And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, Aimee Ogden (Tordotcom)
Flowers for the Sea, Zin E. Rocklyn (Tordotcom)
The Necessity of Stars, E. Catherine Tobler (Neon Hemlock)
“The Giants of the Violet Sea”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9–10/21)
Interesting that it was one that isn't on the Hugo ballot - maybe given my lack of enthusiasm for most of the Hugo ballot, we should have had this one on there... anyways, I totally thought Chambers was going to take it. I liked Mohamed's speech (1:30:40) and I want to read this when I get a chance! I liked that they had Martha Wells present it, after turning down her nom, like, she wanted it to recognize other people and then she got to do that! That's nice.
NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELETTE
“O2 Arena”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge 11/21)
“Just Enough Rain”, PH Lee (Giganotosaurus 5/21)
“(emet)”, Lauren Ring (F&SF 7–8/21)
“That Story Isn’t the Story”, John Wiswell (Uncanny 11–12/21)
“Colors of the Immortal Palette”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny 3–4/21)
I was not into this story but I was glad that Ekpeki eventually defeated his connection trouble and got to give an acceptance speech! About 1:40:15. His comment about lack of visibility wins for clever line of the night.
NEBULA AWARD FOR SHORT STORY
“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3–4/21)
“Mr. Death”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/21)
“Proof by Induction”, José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny 5–6/21)
“Let All the Children Boogie”, Sam J. Miller (Tor.com 1/6/21)
“Laughter Among the Trees”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 2/21)
“For Lack of a Bed”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 4/21)
I liked this story, but I didn't think it was outstanding. I'm kind of pleased to see it beat that Harrow story though, which I was predicting to win the Hugo. Maybe it won't? (Come-from-behind victory for "Unknown Number"??)
THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION
A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger
Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders
Thornwood, Leah Cypess
Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko
Root Magic, Eden Royce
Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao
I was not so into this book but I really like Little Badger, and her acceptance speech (around 48:45) made me very happy to watch.
THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
WandaVision: Season 1
Encanto
The Green Knight
Loki: Season 1
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Space Sweepers
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 3
This feels like another point in the ongoing argument over whether I'm going to eventually going to give up and do the work of watching this show. :/ I did really like that a team of the writers showed up on zoom (or were given the chance to prerecord a video?) and seemed genuinely honored to have won; I think it's nice when these awards end up going to someone who will actually notice and care.
NEBULA AWARD FOR GAME WRITING
Thirsty Sword Lesbians, April Kit Walsh, Whitney Delagio, Dominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, and Rae Nedjadi (Evil Hat Games)
I don't know anything about games, or this game in particular, but thirsty sword lesbians is a pretty solid concept, so yay this!
THE SFWA DAMON KNIGHT MEMORIAL GRAND MASTER AWARD
Mercedes Lackey
This was apparently announced six months ago but I missed hearing about it? Or I had already heard about it but had forgotten? Anyways, presumably everyone else has already gotten all their thoughts about this out of their system, but I am only just now having mine. I think this is a really interesting choice! I was a huge Lackey fan when I was younger, but I have to admit that I don't really think of her as an eminence of the field in the way that past winners like Connie Willis or Bujold are. But I also feel like there was a point in slash fandom - maybe slash fandom a couple of decades ago - when it was like, yeah, so we've all read Last Herald-Mage a couple of times, right? And I suspect that's true in the SFWA population also, that, at least for people around my age (women and queer people at least, I know straight boys often only got to read the straight-boy books), she really was widely-read and influential and formative on a level with McCaffrey (who also won) or Diana Wynne Jones (who ought to have won). (Okay, this is going to be *extremely speculative* but DWJ apparently announced in summer of 2010 that chemo for her lung cancer wasn't being effective, and died in March 2011. The award has to be given to a living author and no award was presented in 2011. I wonder if they were in fact going to and she just didn't live quite long enough.) And, I mean, it does not seem unreasonable to me for SFWA to use this award to honor elders who inspired them and made them sff readers in the first place, and I like that they seem to slowly be trying to recognize more women, and some writers of color, people who are important to today's more-diverse SFWA. (I think basically everyone is still upset that Butler died suddenly before they could give it to her, like, that's embarrassing for the award.) Lackey's writing is often silly and soap-opera and she churns out books like she's Stephen King and does a lot of collaborating (I suspect that when she was younger and the other author had top billing she was doing more of the work, and now she's older and the other author is doing more of the work, but who knows), and you know what, SFWA gave it to Larry Niven in 2015 and Harry Harrison in 2009 and I think Valdemar fits in quite nicely with the Stainless Steel Rat books or Man-Kzin Wars, on the popular/mass market end of sff rather than the literary.
(She did apparently get kicked out of the SFWA convention this weekend for referring to Delany as "colored". I totally applaud SFWA for being serious about their moderation policies, and am disappointed in Lackey. [ETA: to expand on that, I think that whatever the policy is, "we'll let the big names get away with breaking it" is not the right way to go.] Also makes me wonder how many other Grand Masters might have also had this happen if their cons had had more serious policies. Asimov, one assumes, if there was any kind of anti-harassment policy. Harlan Ellison. Sigh.)
Josh and I had a long conversation about who hasn't gotten it who we think is likely to get it, and who *should* get it next. I have probably already forgotten some people, but we have come up with Vernor Vinge (77) and Kim Stanley Robinson (70) who seem plausible to get it relatively soon, Neil Gaiman (61) somewhat later, and Ted Chiang (55) and N.K. Jemisin (49) even later. I don't really care if it ever goes to any of the three Bs (Brin is 71, Benford is 81, Bear is 70) but I would guess their names are in conversation, most likely Brin. Orson Scott Card (70) maybe deserves it on the basis of his bibliography (thinking of "Unaccompanied Sonata" and Pastwatch here especially, two works I still think about a lot) but should not imo ever be honored in any way on the basis of his homophobia, and I would guess enough of SFWA agrees that he'll never get it. I've seen Nancy Kress (74) on some lists - I don't really have a sense of how popular she is despite having personally reread the Beggars trilogy I don't even know how many times. Ursula Vernon and Seanan McGuire are both 44 but seem likely to still have followings once they get to grandmaster age (let's say "60 and up"). Hm, John Varley is 74. Greg Egan is 60 but I don't think he's popular enough (but deserves it imo). Who else am I not thinking of? I would love to hear people's thoughts on this.
NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVEL
A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark
The Unbroken, C.L. Clark
Machinehood, S.B. Divya
A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine
Plague Birds, Jason Sanford
I still haven't read either the Clark or the Sanford, but I think it's interesting that Clark beat Martine here! I guess I still haven't made a Hugos prediction in this category, but maybe this is predictive? Clark for the Hugo also? His speech starts around 1:35:00 and was nice - definitely someone who I enjoy seeing win things.
NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELLA
And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, Aimee Ogden (Tordotcom)
Flowers for the Sea, Zin E. Rocklyn (Tordotcom)
The Necessity of Stars, E. Catherine Tobler (Neon Hemlock)
“The Giants of the Violet Sea”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9–10/21)
Interesting that it was one that isn't on the Hugo ballot - maybe given my lack of enthusiasm for most of the Hugo ballot, we should have had this one on there... anyways, I totally thought Chambers was going to take it. I liked Mohamed's speech (1:30:40) and I want to read this when I get a chance! I liked that they had Martha Wells present it, after turning down her nom, like, she wanted it to recognize other people and then she got to do that! That's nice.
NEBULA AWARD FOR NOVELETTE
“O2 Arena”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge 11/21)
“Just Enough Rain”, PH Lee (Giganotosaurus 5/21)
“(emet)”, Lauren Ring (F&SF 7–8/21)
“That Story Isn’t the Story”, John Wiswell (Uncanny 11–12/21)
“Colors of the Immortal Palette”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny 3–4/21)
I was not into this story but I was glad that Ekpeki eventually defeated his connection trouble and got to give an acceptance speech! About 1:40:15. His comment about lack of visibility wins for clever line of the night.
NEBULA AWARD FOR SHORT STORY
“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3–4/21)
“Mr. Death”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/21)
“Proof by Induction”, José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny 5–6/21)
“Let All the Children Boogie”, Sam J. Miller (Tor.com 1/6/21)
“Laughter Among the Trees”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 2/21)
“For Lack of a Bed”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 4/21)
I liked this story, but I didn't think it was outstanding. I'm kind of pleased to see it beat that Harrow story though, which I was predicting to win the Hugo. Maybe it won't? (Come-from-behind victory for "Unknown Number"??)
THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION
A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger
Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders
Thornwood, Leah Cypess
Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko
Root Magic, Eden Royce
Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao
I was not so into this book but I really like Little Badger, and her acceptance speech (around 48:45) made me very happy to watch.
THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
WandaVision: Season 1
Encanto
The Green Knight
Loki: Season 1
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Space Sweepers
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 3
This feels like another point in the ongoing argument over whether I'm going to eventually going to give up and do the work of watching this show. :/ I did really like that a team of the writers showed up on zoom (or were given the chance to prerecord a video?) and seemed genuinely honored to have won; I think it's nice when these awards end up going to someone who will actually notice and care.
NEBULA AWARD FOR GAME WRITING
Thirsty Sword Lesbians, April Kit Walsh, Whitney Delagio, Dominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, and Rae Nedjadi (Evil Hat Games)
I don't know anything about games, or this game in particular, but thirsty sword lesbians is a pretty solid concept, so yay this!
THE SFWA DAMON KNIGHT MEMORIAL GRAND MASTER AWARD
Mercedes Lackey
This was apparently announced six months ago but I missed hearing about it? Or I had already heard about it but had forgotten? Anyways, presumably everyone else has already gotten all their thoughts about this out of their system, but I am only just now having mine. I think this is a really interesting choice! I was a huge Lackey fan when I was younger, but I have to admit that I don't really think of her as an eminence of the field in the way that past winners like Connie Willis or Bujold are. But I also feel like there was a point in slash fandom - maybe slash fandom a couple of decades ago - when it was like, yeah, so we've all read Last Herald-Mage a couple of times, right? And I suspect that's true in the SFWA population also, that, at least for people around my age (women and queer people at least, I know straight boys often only got to read the straight-boy books), she really was widely-read and influential and formative on a level with McCaffrey (who also won) or Diana Wynne Jones (who ought to have won). (Okay, this is going to be *extremely speculative* but DWJ apparently announced in summer of 2010 that chemo for her lung cancer wasn't being effective, and died in March 2011. The award has to be given to a living author and no award was presented in 2011. I wonder if they were in fact going to and she just didn't live quite long enough.) And, I mean, it does not seem unreasonable to me for SFWA to use this award to honor elders who inspired them and made them sff readers in the first place, and I like that they seem to slowly be trying to recognize more women, and some writers of color, people who are important to today's more-diverse SFWA. (I think basically everyone is still upset that Butler died suddenly before they could give it to her, like, that's embarrassing for the award.) Lackey's writing is often silly and soap-opera and she churns out books like she's Stephen King and does a lot of collaborating (I suspect that when she was younger and the other author had top billing she was doing more of the work, and now she's older and the other author is doing more of the work, but who knows), and you know what, SFWA gave it to Larry Niven in 2015 and Harry Harrison in 2009 and I think Valdemar fits in quite nicely with the Stainless Steel Rat books or Man-Kzin Wars, on the popular/mass market end of sff rather than the literary.
(She did apparently get kicked out of the SFWA convention this weekend for referring to Delany as "colored". I totally applaud SFWA for being serious about their moderation policies, and am disappointed in Lackey. [ETA: to expand on that, I think that whatever the policy is, "we'll let the big names get away with breaking it" is not the right way to go.] Also makes me wonder how many other Grand Masters might have also had this happen if their cons had had more serious policies. Asimov, one assumes, if there was any kind of anti-harassment policy. Harlan Ellison. Sigh.)
Josh and I had a long conversation about who hasn't gotten it who we think is likely to get it, and who *should* get it next. I have probably already forgotten some people, but we have come up with Vernor Vinge (77) and Kim Stanley Robinson (70) who seem plausible to get it relatively soon, Neil Gaiman (61) somewhat later, and Ted Chiang (55) and N.K. Jemisin (49) even later. I don't really care if it ever goes to any of the three Bs (Brin is 71, Benford is 81, Bear is 70) but I would guess their names are in conversation, most likely Brin. Orson Scott Card (70) maybe deserves it on the basis of his bibliography (thinking of "Unaccompanied Sonata" and Pastwatch here especially, two works I still think about a lot) but should not imo ever be honored in any way on the basis of his homophobia, and I would guess enough of SFWA agrees that he'll never get it. I've seen Nancy Kress (74) on some lists - I don't really have a sense of how popular she is despite having personally reread the Beggars trilogy I don't even know how many times. Ursula Vernon and Seanan McGuire are both 44 but seem likely to still have followings once they get to grandmaster age (let's say "60 and up"). Hm, John Varley is 74. Greg Egan is 60 but I don't think he's popular enough (but deserves it imo). Who else am I not thinking of? I would love to hear people's thoughts on this.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-23 02:56 am (UTC)I missed that part of the Romancing panel (I was in and out of the room to deal with stuff), but I wasn't entirely surprised when Jen Brown tweeted about it. She and de Bodard seemed firmly in the fixed-smile zone for a chunk of the panel (though time zones might've explained the latter) and Lackey was...very much in No Longer Radical Grandma mode. Heart seemed in the right place, but the awareness software had missed a few updates. I'm also glad SFWA followed through on event policies, and I'm sorry that this (and the earlier kerfuffle, which was frankly on Dixon) cast a bit of a shadow on Lackey as a choice for Grand Master. (I also think she's an interesting choice, and sort of highlights the fact that potential Grand Masters have operated, for at least a chunk of their career, in an increasingly fragmented marketplace.)
I'll add Rusch and Scalzi to the list of potentials. Rusch has written a lot, had a hand on major editorial tillers, and I suspect that her turn to indie publishing may also play well with the emphasis on a bigger business tent. Scalzi's an entirely mediocre white dude, but he's a mediocre white dude who sells a lot of books and gets some credit for being part of SFWA's face turn.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-23 03:55 am (UTC)Grand Masters
Date: 2022-05-23 12:09 pm (UTC)I don't think I knew that Jo Walton didn't start publishing novels until she was 45, which puts her in an awkward positioning, I suspect, where she will (I hope) still be putting together a Grand Master case at a quite advanced age. I think Naomi Novik is solidly in the "probably in twenty years" category along with Vernon, quite possibly ahead of Vernon. But that's assuming that the SFWA doesn't drastically change their standards over the next twenty years, and that it still exists and people care about novels, which is likely but not certain.
Thanks,
-V.