Nebula Awards Showcase 2013

Nebula Awards Showcases #47

by Catherine Asaro (Editor)

The Nebula Awards Showcase volumes have been published annually since 1966, reprinting the winning and nominated stories in the Nebula Awards, voted on by the members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America(R). The editor selected by SFWA's anthology committee (chaired by Mike Resnick) is two-time Nebula winner, Catherine Asaro. This year's volume includes stories and excerpts by Connie Willis, Jo Walton, Kij Johnson, Geoff Ryman, John Clute, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Ferrett Steinmetz, Ken Liu, Nancy Fulda, Delia Sherman, Amal El-Mohtar, C. S. E. Cooney, David Goldman, Katherine Sparrow, E. Lily Yu, and Brad R. Torgersen.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction

430 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

The author of more than twenty-five books, Catherine Asaro is acclaimed for her Ruby Dynasty series, which combines adventure, science, romance and fast-paced action. Her novel The Quantum Rose won the Nebula® Award, as did her novella “The Spacetime Pool.” Among her many other distinctions, she is a multiple winner of the AnLab from Analog magazine and a three time recipient of the RT BOOKClub Award for “Best Science Fiction Novel.” Her most recent novel, Carnelians, came out in October, 2011. An anthology of her short fiction titled Aurora in Four Voices is available from ISFiC Press in hardcover, and her multiple award-winning novella “The City of Cries” is also available as an eBook for Kindle and Nook.

Catherine has two music CD’s out and she is currently working on her third. The first, Diamond Star, is the soundtrack for her novel of the same name, performed with the rock band, Point Valid. She appears as a vocalist at cons, clubs, and other venues in the US and abroad, including recently as the Guest of Honor at the Denmark and New Zealand National Science Fiction Conventions. She performs selections from her work in a multimedia project that mixes literature, dance, and music with Greg Adams as her accompanist. She is also a theoretical physicist with a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard, and a jazz and ballet dancer. Visit her at www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro

Reviews

[Althea Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tale of a near-future teacher struggling to add Shakespeare to the syllabus deftly skewers political correctness and censorship. Sadly, it's just as timely today as when it was first written.

Merged review:

3.5 average rounds up to 4 stars. (And if you go by pages, it'd be a bit higher, since the longest story is one of the best...) ;-)

***** Ken Liu - The Paper Menagerie. "'The Paper Menagerie' is the first work of fiction, of any length, to have swept the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards." I cried. OK, usually when I say "I cried" I mean one tear escaped my eye... This story made me cry a whole bunch of tears. A story of the disconnect between parents and children, the gap between cultures, and magical origami.

*** Carolyn Ives Gilman - The Ice Owl. Sets up a very nicely done world and situation: a rebellious teenage girl and her flaky, irresponsible mother, flitting around known planets at lightspeed after a political disturbance/genocide analogous to the Holocaust. (It's called the Holocide, and there's even looted art.) However, the ending is completely unsatisfying, feels rushed, and falls flat. It's one of those where you get the feeling that the author feels like you ought to think her characters made the right decisions - but they clearly didn't, nor does it work from a dramatic perspective.

*****Connie Willis - Ado. Re-read - this was published in 1988, but since Willis was awarded the Nebula's 'Grand Master' award this year, it makes sense for a story to be included here. This tale of a near-future teacher struggling to add Shakespeare to the syllabus deftly skewers political correctness and censorship. Sadly, it's just as timely today as when it was first written.

**** Katherine Sparrow - The Migratory Patterns of Dancers. First piece I've read from this fairly-new (I believe) author. In style and theme, it reminds me a lot of Connie Willis - I don't think it's just the proximity in this volume. In an ecologically ravaged near-future, genetically modified men are hired to perform dances that recall the behaviors of the extinct birds whose genes they now carry. But the dancers are trapped by both economics and the procedures they have allowed to be executed on their bodies.

*** Amal El-Mohtar - Peach-Creamed Honey. Poem. It's kind of a nice, sexy, sensual poem, but there's nothing SF/fantasy-oriented about it.

*** David Goldman - The Axiom of Choice. Hmm. There's no SF/fantasy element to this story, unless you consider that referring to the format of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book to make a point about whether or not humans have free will is science-fictional. I don't. The story, about a musician whose life goes down the tubes after he's badly injured in a tragic accident, is OK, but the philosophical aspects feel a little forced.

**** John Clute - Club Story. Not a story, but a piece of literary analysis, gathering together collections of stories set within a framing device as a genre, and tracing that from history to modern science-fiction. Well-written and interesting.

**** Geoff Ryman – What We Found. This story does contain a science-fiction concept: What if the act of observing scientific facts causes those ‘facts’ to ‘wear out’ and change? But mostly, it’s a story about a man (an African scientist from a modest background) dealing with a family history of mental illness that has torn generations apart. Vividly, sensitively and believably written.

**** Jo Walton – Excerpt from Among Others. (Skipped it, since I read the book just recently. But I did really like the book.)

** Nancy Fulda – Movement. A sad and rather wishful story from the point of view of an autistic girl faced with the possibility of an experimental treatment that may cure her – but make her less ‘special.’ Well-written, but I’m deducting a star for my personal dislike of romanticizing brain dysfunction.

**** Ferrett Steinmetz – Sauerkraut Station. Traditional sci-fi novella from the point of view of a young girl who’s grown up on a remote way station in space – servicing travelling spaceships and serving up homemade sauerkraut and sausages. A brief friendship with a diplomat’s son will end up as a pivotal moment, as her family’s station is caught between two sides of a vicious war. Though he’s better known, lately, for his blogging, I’d read more sci-fi by this author – I feel like his style would be well-suited toward longer novels.

*** E. Lily Yu – The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees. I feel like maybe I missed something here. Or maybe the 'something' just wasn't there. I liked the set-up, the conflict between the two insect species and the revolutionary faction amongst the bees. But I didn’t feel that it all pulled together.

** Brad R. Torgersen – Ray of Light. Aliens mysteriously dimmed the sun’s light, causing the last human survivors to hide deep under the frozen oceans, depending on geothermal energy. Nice idea, but the execution, concentrating on a dad’s looking for his rebellious and wayward daughter, a mother who committed suicide, and a dramatic revelation, felt a little bit trite to me. The initial infodump, with the excuse of ‘explaining the situation to a young child’ also felt forced.

*** Delia Sherman – Excerpt from The Freedom Maze. Excerpts are kind of annoying. This seems like it’s a YA book, with the premise that a spoiled young girl is whisked back in time to the ‘Good Old Days’ when her family owned a big plantation house. Unfortunately for her, she immediately assumed to be a mixed-blood bastard – and therefore a slave. Could be good, but I’d need to read the whole thing to have an opinion.

** CSE Cooney – The Sea King’s Second Bride. Aesthetically, this poem about a modern woman opting to marry a Sea King and live with him under the waves, did not appeal to me. I just didn’t like the word choices or the rhyming style.

*****Kij Johnson - The Man Who Bridged the Mist. A beautiful and romantic fantasy novella of an engineer who arrives to build a bridge over a river of poisonous mist, and the ferrywoman whose life has been devoted to crossing that treacherous expanse. Evocative, thoughtful, and bittersweet.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is supposed to contain some of the best science fiction short stories from 2012, so it ought to be pretty good. Unfortunately, by that standard I think it fails to measure up. Here's why:

First, many of the stories aren't science fiction, or are the "spaceship in the background" variety where the science fiction part is minimal and totally irrelevant to the actual story. "What We Found" is an example of this, where the finding that the more a phenomenon is observed, the less it occurs is a great idea that has no impact on the story and is not at all what the story's about. A lot of these stories are really contemporary fiction about normal human relationships that are dressed up in science fiction or fantasy suits.

I think the reason so many of these "contemporary fiction about normal relationships" pieces got picked as the best is because they are good writing. And while some people really enjoy good writing, I would think the Nebula Award showcase would focus much more on good writing that is also strongly science fiction. That's what the reader is expecting, right? Some of the stories in here, like Sauerkraut Station, Ray of Light, and somewhat The Ice Owl, do strongly incorporate science fiction and are well chosen. However, it's a disappointment that most don't.

I have to add that including excerpts from novels is also a bad idea. Either readers will be tortured until they can go read the whole thing if the excerpt is that gripping, or they'll be irritated that you foisted part of a book on them they were never going to read. Also, the Introduction by the editor is really boring and pedantic. The editor tries to justify why each story was included, but too often she has to really play up the science fiction aspect of a story to justify it, which also helps disappoint when the real story turns out not to care about your predilection for science fiction.

[Wendy Bousfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good news about the latest Nebula Awards Showcase is that the fiction selections are superb and that a high percentage of the 2011 Nebula nominees are new writers. Because they have published only a handful of short stories, honorees/nominees Kathleen Sparrow, Ken Liu, Nancy Fulda, Brad R. Torgersen, E. Lily Yu, Ferrett Steinmetz, and David W. Goldman may be unknown to readers of speculative fiction. The bad news, however, is that Catherine Asaro does not live up to the very high standard set by previous Showcase editors. Until the current edition, Nebula editors have included not only fiction, but also introductions, and often essays, discussing trends in speculative fiction. The editors of the Nebula Awards Showcase 2012 quote Andy Duncan: “The primary purpose of an award is not to celebrate individuals, but to celebrate the field the individuals work in.”

In contrast, Asaro’s self-serving introduction to Showcase 2012 focuses on her own career as dancer and physicist and provides only superficial, impressionistic remarks on the volume’s selections. Asaro’s failure to consider science fiction and fantasy during the second decade of the 21st century, or to provide any context for individual fictions, is especially disappointing because many of the featured writers have left only a brief paper/online trail. While earlier Showcases provided headnotes and afterwords , establishing a context for nominees and their stories, Asaro includes neither biographies nor comparative discussions. Without Googling , for example, the reader would have no way of knowing that Ken Liu’s “Paper Menagerie” won not only the 2011 Nebula, but the Hugo (2012) and World Fantasy Award (2012)—the only work of fiction ever to sweep all three awards. Asaro does not explain that Connie Willis’s story, “Ado,” is not a current nominsation, but a 1988 work from the recipient of the 2011 Damon Knight Grand Master Award. Furthermore, Asaro fails to note that the extraordinarily versatile Kij Johnson (whose “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” was the 2011 Novella winner) has been a Nebula winner for three years running. The Showcase ends with a shocking misprint. The list of 2012 NEBULA AWARDS WINNERS, NOMINEES, AND HONOREES—from which the showcased selections are drawn-- is really the 2011 list. Asaro apparently fails to realize that Showcase volumes have a two year time lag!

Though speculative fiction is often characterized as having exciting ideas but cardboard characters, Showcase 2013 features heartbreakingly sympathetic characters in richly imagined worlds. In Kathleen Sparrow’s “The Migratory Patterns of Dancers,” for example, an aging man, genetically enhanced with the DNA of extinct birds, struggles to support his family in an ecologically collapsed world by enacting bird migrations and dances. Carolyn Ives Gilman’s “Ice Owl” is also set in a world impoverished by extinctions, not only of birds and butterflies, but of peoples that the Nazi-like Gmintas had systematically targeted for “Holocide.” David W. Goldman’s “Axiom of Choice,” a moving metafiction, consists of numbered blocks of plot: the reader is offered the false choice of going to numbered sections that either do not exist or that send the reader back to the starting point. The protagonist, a musician who descends into drugs and vagrancy, repeatedly rejects opportunities for redemption. Set in a Nigerian village, Geoff Ryman’s “What We Found” is told from the point of view of a man who helplessly observes first his father and then his beloved brother fall prey to mental illness. Patrick’s fear that his own children will inherit the same degenerative illness spurs him to become a biochemical researcher.

Two of the finest selections are coming of age stories: Jo Walton’s Among Others and Ken Liu’s “Paper Menagerie.” Showcase 2012 includes the opening chapters of Among Others, winner of the Nebula for Best Novel (2011), as well as Hugo Best Novel (2012). A provocative, riveting combination of fantasy and autobiography, Among Others consists of diary entries by Morwenna, a Welsh child. Mor’s inner life is shaped by reading science fiction and by a home in which magic is an everyday reality. Fleeing a witch mother, who caused the death of her twin, Mor can talk with fairies. Among Others has a powerful ecological subtext: fairies seek to protect places blighted by human technology.

“Paper Menagerie” is told from the point of view of Jack, son of an American man and his Chinese mail order wife. When Jack was a small child, his mother comforted him by folding magically living origami animals as playmates. Seeking acceptance from schoolmates,” Jack relegates the animals to the attic. He becomes so embarrassed by his mother’s poor English that he stops speaking with her. Years later, after his mother’s death, Jack rediscovers the animals. The little tiger Laohu, comes back to life, unfolds, and reveals a letter from his dead mother. Jack’s belated understanding of his mother’s priceless, magical gift reduced me to tears.

Despite the fact that bookstores no longer stock such print magazines as Asimov’s and Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Showcase 2013 demonstrates that short fiction is vibrantly alive. For readers like myself, who favor separately published books, Showcase 2013 celebrates fine writers that may otherwise be overlooked. The fiction in this collection is uniformly moving, elegantly written, and insightfully prophetic. The reader, however, should skip the introduction and consult the Internet for the writers’ biographies and other publications.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a collection of Nebula nominated stories, I expect more. The forward itself was unreadable drek. What else - two poems neither all that good but at least one was short. A bit of nonfiction that was almost as bad as the forward. Two novellas, one good and one very good. But really it was a mixture of somewhat interesting and awful with a couple intriguing and maybe one or two memorable.

[Ginny Marie]

Read most of it! Some were very well written! Others left me bored or confused? Was not interested in finishing...

[Bookaholic]

Un soi de articol enciclopedic de teorie literară în care ni se explică tot felul despre lucruri despre așa-numita “poveste de club” (o culegere de povestiri relatate în cadrul unei alte povestiri și adresate unui grup de oameni dintr-un local, ceva oarecum asemănător cu ceea ce la noi e cunoscut sub termenul “povestire în ramă”).
O altă poezie.
O povestioară de copii (sau nu?) despre niște albine super înțelepte și niste viespi rele (cred?), intitulată, cum altfel, Viespile cartografe și albinele anarhiste.
O povestioară moralistă despre cenzură vs. political corectness, scrisă de Connie Willis (la care mă așteptam, sincer, la mai mult).
Dacă restul antologiei era beton, însă, probabil nu mă enervam atât de tare dând peste genul ăsta de conținut aleatoriu. Nici faptul că sunt, în cel mai bun caz, doar tangențial science fiction nu mă deranja. Dar n-am mai citit o colecție de povestiri atât de slabe mult. Unele dintre ele mi s-au părut mult prea emoționale, de-a dreptul diabetice (cum a fost cazul povestirii “Menajeria de hârtie” a lui Ken Liu, a cărui personaj principal își redescoperă și acceptă moștenirea culturală chineză amintindu-și cu tristețe maximă de origami pe care îi făcea mama lui).

Altele, incomplete: spre exemplu, Omul care a unit malurile ceții, de Kij Johnson, e un text decent, bine scris, cu ceva suspans și niște personaje interesante. Este povestea construcției unui pod peste un râu de ceață ucigașă, și a arhitectului ei, un străin pe un tărâm străin, care trebuie să se adapteze la o viață complet diferită de cea cu care era obișnuit. Dar, atunci când se termină, nu pot să te abții să te întrebi: și ce-i cu asta? E genul ăla de poveste fără miză, care nu te lasă cu nimic. Ca un experiment reușit de creative writing, care exemplifică cu succes niște tehnici narative, dar n-are altfel niciun alt scop.

Altele chiar n-au nicio treabă cu science fiction-ul sau fantasy-ul. Sunt atât de departe, că e insultător faptul că au fost nominalizate pentru premiu (serios, nu găseau niște texte SF reale, la fel de bune? e ca și cum la un concurs ai premia niște indivizi care de fapt n-au participat). Textul lui Geoff Ryman (omul, de altfel, un autor de SF decent), Ce am descoperit, povestea unui om de știință nigerian crescut într-o familie cu multe abuzuri – aș fi văzut-o în orice alt colecție de povestiri, dar nu în Antologia Nebula. Este valabil și pentru Printre ceilalți, un fragment dintr-un roman de Jo Walton (povestea a două surori, despărțite la o vârstă fragedă). (continuarea cronicii: http://www.bookaholic.ro/antologia-ne...)

[Tomislav · Rating 5 out of 5]

The contents of this annual anthology include the Nebula winners in various categories, and many of the nominees.

"The Paper Menagerie", by Ken Liu (Nebula winner - short story)
"The Ice Owl", by Carolyn Ives Gilman
"Ado", by Connie Willis
"The Migratory Pattern of Dancers", by Katherine Sparrow
"Peach-Creamed Honey", by Amal El-Mohtar
The Axiom of Choice", by David W. Goldman
"Club Story", by John Clute
"What We Found", by Geoff Ryman (Nebula winner - novelette)
excerpt from Among Other, by Jo Walton (Nebula winner - novel)
"Movement", by Nancy Fulda
"Sauerkraut Station", by Ferrett Steinmetz
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", by E. Lily Yu
"Ray of Light", by Brad Torgersen
excerpt from The Freedom Maze, by Delia Sherman (Norton winner - YA novel)
"The Sea King's Second Bride", by C.S.E. Cooney
"The Man Who Bridged the Mist", by Kij Johnson (Nebula winner - novella)

The quality of writing is spectacular, and this anthology always reassures me that the future of my favorite genre is bright. I want to hand this to the snobs who think of science fiction as nothing more than what they see in sci-fi tv and movies, and make them read it.

That said, I have a few constructive criticisms.
-Catherine Asaro's "essay" isn't about much more than herself. I was expecting something about the state of the genre.
-excerpts are taken out of the context of the novels that contain them. I've read Among Others, and it is better than this excerpt makes it seem. On the other hand, the excerpt from The Freedom Maze has sparked my interest in reading the novel. I guess the problem is they just seem like marketing teasers.
-poetry usually falls flat for me, especially science fiction and fantasy poetry.

[Barry Huddleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very happy to recieve a free review copy of this year’s Nebula Awards showcase. It will be available at your favorite local bookstore around May 14th.

Like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. In this case, you get a nice selection of scifi. Of course, some titles will appeal more to some than others. The beauty of a showcase like this one is that you will experience writers that you may not have read otherwise. The book is packed with short stories, excerpts, and poetry.

In my case, I jumped to the poetry of Amal El-Mohtar’s Peach-Creamed Honey.

"sweets her elbow with the slip of it,
wears it like perfume."

I got a pretty good chuckle out of Connie Willis’ "Ado" when various pressure groups chopped away at Shakespeare.

“ASS, the Association of Summer Sunbathers object to the line, ‘I am too much i’ the sun,”‘ Ms. Harrows said, and took a swig from the bottle of cough syrup.

"Ado" wouldn’t be so brilliant if it were not so true.

I really enjoyed the Nebula Awards Showcase 2013 and highly recommend it. I give it a solid 5 stars out of 5.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I've read an anthology (really!). Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I admit I expected a bit better out of something that's full of Nebula contenders, and I wonder how some of the stories even qualify (exactly how loose a definition is sci fi/fantasy, anyway?).

That said, I enjoyed a large portion of this collection, most notably (in order of appearance): The Migratory Pattern of Dancers and The Man Who Bridged the Mist. Others were good but didn't necessarily grab me. A few irritated me: Ado (Ugh, like a Saturday Night Live skit... how long can we drag out a concept?), The Axiom of Choice (blech), Club Story (boring...).

I may very well read Among Others. The excerpt intrigued me.

I wish the introduction had been more interesting. Or maybe just accurate. I'm not sure she actually really read all the stories before she wrote about them.

That said, I feel like this anthology introduced me to some authors I haven't read before. A couple stories have given me much to think about, which means I'll consider it a worthwhile read. I'll likely pick up the 2014 anthology soon....

[Răzvan Ursuleanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sunt 24 de pagini la începutul acestei antologii pe care le consider un balast absolut inutil. Catherine Asaro, editorul volumului, a găsit de cuviință să ne ofere un prim capitol intitulat “Introducere : O armonie de gânduri” în care a deversat rezumate ale fiecărui text în parte.

Ei bine, se poate spune un singur lucru despre toate aceste “spoilers”. Dear Catherine, get lost… Cititorii doresc să descopere singuri ideile și stilurile autorilor, și nu au nevoie de un îndrumător care să îi ajute să înțeleagă ce vor lectura. Așa că nu doar recomand, ci chiar vă rog să săriți peste această introducere stupidă, care o să vă strice cu siguranță bucuria de a citi.

Trecând însă peste această bilă neagră pe care o putem considera totuși lipsită de o prea mare importanță, Catherine Asaro a realizat o selecție a textelor ce merită întreaga apreciere.

Premiul Nebula 2013 pentru povestire

“Menajeria de hârtie” de Ken Liu
Superbă. Ken Liu este un magician al luminii, care poate aduce razele calde ale soarelui chiar și în toiul unei ierni cumplite. Copleșitoare povestire, o operă de artă.
Nota 10

Premiul Nebula 2013 pentru nuveletă
“Ce am descoperit” de Geoff Ryman
Simplul act al observării evenimentelor modifică faptele analizate (efectul observatorului, pisica lui Schrödinger etc.) - un subiect pe care, în mod surprinzător, autorii de ficțiune speculativă îl abordează destul de rar.
Nota 9,4

Premiul Nebula 2013 pentru roman
“Printre ceilalți” de Jo Walton (fragment)
Nu recomand lectura acestei mostre de text, romanul integral a apărut în limba română la editura Paladin.
Fără notă

Alte texte finaliste :

“Bufnița-de-gheață” de Carolyn Ives Gilman
Toate pasajele dedicate bufniței-de-gheață le pot judeca drept o realizare remarcabilă, de înaltă valoare literară. Restul textului, deși foarte bine scris, se învârte în jurul unor idei SF mult prea bătătorite pentru a face din “Bufnița-de-gheață” o câștigătoare de premiu Nebula…
Nota 8,3

“Mult zgomot…” de Connie Willis
Text vizionar, despre corectitudinea politică, a.k.a neo-marxism cultural, a.k.a cretinism ideologic și COVID-ul creierului (Radu Paraschivescu), a.k.a. manipularea distructivă a idealismului pentru a servi unor obiective totalitariste (Washington Times).
Nota 9,5

“Modul de trai migrator al dansatorilor” de Katherine Sparrow
Sub semnul “aproape-perfect”. Idee și stil deopotrivă. Am căutat în zadar alte traduceri în limba română ale lucrărilor lui Katherine Sparrow.
Nota 9,9

“Piersici topite-n miere” de Amal El-Mohtar
O poezie (la propriu, nu la figurat) și doar atât. Se pare că în antologiile Nebula prezența poeziilor este obligatorie. Se mai pare de asemenea că selecția acestor poezii ar trebui să fie puțin mai riguroasă.
Nota 7

“Axioma alegerii” de David W. Goldman
Determinism sau liber-arbitru? Goldman încearcă, folosindu-se de foarte îngăduitoarea ficțiune științifică, să-l înlocuiască pe “sau” cu “și”.
Nota 8,1

“Povestea de club” de John Clute
Pe cât de interesant articolul, pe atât de lipsit de legătură cu o antologie dedicată premiilor Nebula.
Fără notă

“Mișcare” de Nancy Fulda
Prin comparație cu “Ce am descoperit” de Geoff Ryman, Nancy Fulda pare a nu-și fi făcut prea bine tema. Nu cred că a cercetat în profunzime subiectul ales înainte de a se pune pe scris, nu este suficient să arunci un “terapie bazată pe analiză comportamentală aplicată” pe parcursul textului pentru a încerca să-l convingi pe cititor că te pricepi. Dar finalul povestirii compensează pe deplin această lucrare scrisă din poignet.
Nota 9,4

“Stația verzei-murate” de Ferrett Steinmetz
O nuveletă foarte bine scrisă. Aventuri în spațiu. În bagajul pe care și-l fac înainte de plecare, indiferent care le-ar fi destinația, oamenii își iau întotdeauna și războaiele cu ei.
Nota 8,9

“Viespile cartografe și albinele anarhiste” de E. Lily Yu
Indiferent cât de înțelepte se dovedesc a fi viespile din această povestire, sunt curios dacă există chiar și un singur cititor care ar putea să le îmbrățișeze cauza…
Nota 8,2

“Rază de soare” de Brad R. Torgersen
Din același univers literar în care se află și “Stația verzei-murate” de Ferrett Steinmetz, o lectură ce te face să-ți reamintești de textele din anii ’50 și ’60, epoca SF a pionierilor spațiali și a celor din adâncurile oceanelor, povești în care, indiferent de greutățile prin care treceau personajele, finalul era aproape întotdeauna optimist…
Nota 7,8

“Labirintul libertății” de Delia Sherman (fragment)
Nu am avut răbdare să citesc acest fragment. Cred că “Labirintul libertății” este genul de roman ce trebuie parcurs pe îndelete, pagină cu pagină, de la început și până la sfârșit. O simplă mostră mi se pare a fi desprinsă cu barda, pur și simplu nu m-am putut conecta la narațiune.
Fără notă

“A doua mireasă a regelui mării” de C. S. E. Cooney
Apreciabil act de caritate săvârșit de Catherine Asaro, cea care a inclus în acest volum un poem adolescentin, care nu are absolut nicio legătură cu nimic din ce și-ar putea imagina un cititor despre ce ar trebui să conțină o antologie Nebula.
Fără notă

Premiul Nebula 2013 pentru nuvelă
“Omul care a unit malurile ceții” de Kij Johnson
Nu cred că ar fi putut exista o alegere mai potrivită pentru finalul acestei antologii. Aprecierea mea pentru excepționalul talent al scriitoarei era oricum câștigată încă de când am citit povestirea “Ponei”, iar această nuvelă nu a făcut altceva decât să-i consfințească locul în “my personal SF/Fantasy Ladies Hall of Fame”, alături de Robin Hobb, Connie Willis, Lois McMaster Bujold și Ursula K. Le Guin.
Nota 9,9

http://www.bucurestifm.ro/2024/06/26/...

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these are spectacular, well worth the award and the time it takes to read them. The turkeys are easily shrugged off. Ken Liu dazzles as he so often does. Sauerkraut Station and The Man who Bridged the Mist are new favorites. Movement is a gorgeous look at different ways of thinking. I will also have to read the rest of Jo Walton's Among Others. The included exerpt is far more compelling than anything else of hers I've read so far.

[DJNana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always a little tough to rate a collection like this - overall, I had a good time.

I recommend searching out Sauerkraut Station - it's available free online - and giving it a read.

The Paper Menagerie - 2/5. I've heard a lot of good things about Ken Liu, this was a surprisingly short and abrupt story, that didn't have much impact. Should probably have been expanded to a novella.

The Ice Owl - 2/5. Some good worldbuilding, but the story doesn't go anywhere and doesn't have anything to say.

Ado - 4/5. A fun read about the ridiculous endgame of censorship.

The Migratory Pattern of Dancers - 4/5. A strange and affecting tale, a world that feels lived in.

Peach-Creamed Honey - 3/5. Short poem. Not really SFF, but I don't mind.

The Axiom of Choice - 3/5. Again, hardly SFF, but it has an interesting framework of a Choose-Your-Own adventure, using that framework to explore the choices we make in our lives.

Club Story - 1/5. An essay, which is about a boring topic, overblown, and a little preachy.

What We Found - 4/5. This was great, although it wasn't really SFF - it's set in Nigeria, and it feels very authentic. Not sure if the author is African himself, but it was a great slice of family life.

Movement - 2/5. Autistic child tropes, poorly written.

Sauerkraut Station - 5/5. My favourite story in the whole collection, this was a beauty. Coming of age aboard a space station.

The Cartographer Wasps - 4/5. Beautifully written, a story about oppressive wasps and the slow uprising of the oppressed bees.

Ray of Light - 3/5. The world is under frozen ice, and people are living underwater, clustered around hydrothermal vents. I always like these types of stories, but this one was more concerned with the effects on the people, which is okay as well I guess.

The Sea King's Second Bride - 3/5. Another strange poem.

The Man Who Bridged the Mist - 2/5. Didn't like this. It won both the Hugo and the Nebula, and I'm not sure what I'm missing.

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly just reading the award-winning stories from this compilation. Rating is only for the (combined) stories listed below. I'll make notes about the stories as I read them.

"The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu
Nebula and Hugo award for Best Short Story
This is a really touching story, and it makes me wonder what I could have done better in my relationships with my grandparents. I also appreciate the look at the way assimilating to American culture is both a benefit and yet also comes with a loss of our heritage. Really enjoyed this one.

"Ado" by Connie Willis
Interesting take on censorship and freedom of speech. Not her best work, but it is thought-provoking.

"What We Found" by Geoff Ryman
Nebula award for Best Novelette
I have no idea what to think of this one. It was odd; it made perfect sense. It was about family drama and illness; it was about science and memory. I don't actually think I like it much, but it was an interesting read, if for no other reason than to see where how hints from earlier in the story played out in the end.

"The Man Who Bridged the Mist" by Kij Johnson
Nebula and Hugo awards for Best Novella
I really liked this one. It had good characters, an interesting plot, and a fascinating setting. I need to look into more of Johnson's work, partly to see if more has been written about this Mist. The whole story kept me entranced, start to finish.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nice thing about award anthologies is that--unlike some of the other short fiction anthologies I've read--all of the selections are well-written. It's quite the variety, so let's get to it (skip straight to the last one if you only want to know the one I liked best). In the order they appear in the book:

"The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (winner: short story) is about a boy whose mother creates for him origami that comes to life. A touching story of family, magic, and love.

"The Ice Owl" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (novella: nominee) is about a young girl who travels with her itinerant mother. She finds a mentor to help her with her schooling and he entrusts her with a precious gift. Excellent world building for so short a piece, I liked Thorn and her progression through the story as she comes of age.

"Ado" by Connie Willis is a satire with the Bard himself whose works cause trouble in an era where political correctness limits learning. Funny and thoughtful.

"The Migratory Pattern of Dancers" by Katherine Sparrow (novelette: nominee) is a strange story about how birds are extinct, so men have bird DNA injected into them, which compels them to migrate every year as part of a tour of shows. But what happens when a bird-man is too old to fly?

"Peach-Creamed Honey" by Amal El-Mohtar and "The Sea King's Second Bride" by C.S.E. Cooney were both poems and they were ok I guess. I'm not a great judge of poetry.

"The Axiom of Choice" by David W. Goldman (short story: nominee) is a warped choose your own adventure that questions whether you really had a choice after all. It's interesting and I see his point, but it was frustrating to read.

"Club Story" by John Clute is an essay from his The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: Third Edition. Personally I thought it was uninteresting because I couldn't understand what the heck he was talking about.

"What We Found" by Geoff Ryman (novelette: winner) is set in Africa and is about a young scientist who discovers that the more you talk about a particular scientific truth, it becomes less true over time. It's mainly about his growing up in a dysfunctional household and his affection for his wild brother. It wasn't something that appealed to me personally, but it was interesting and well written.

AMONG OTHERS by Jo Walton (novel: winner)--the anthology only contains an excerpt, but I wrote a review a while back so you can check that out here (EBR review).

"Movement" by Nancy Fulda (short story: nominee) is about a young woman who has a kind of autism of time displacement. Her parents think an operation will cure her, but she doesn't want to be cured because she knows that she won't be able to see the world in the same way if she does. Imaginative and thoughtful.

"Sauerkraut Station" by Ferrett Steinmetz (novelette: nominee) is one of the stories I liked best (after "The Man Who Bridged the Mist"). It's about a girl who lives on a space station with her mother and grandmother. It serves as a way station for space ships, but they find themselves caught in the middle of an interplanetary war. Lizzie meets one of the boys used to keep the peace by serving as a hostage and they become instant friends. I really liked Lizzie's PoV, how even though she's a kid she had depth and interest. The story and setting were particularly interesting.

"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" by E. Lily Yu (short story: nominee) is told from the PoV of the bugs. The wasps try to take over a beehive because they want slaves, but the bees have other plans. It's amusing, imaginative, and interesting.

"Ray of Light" by Brad R. Torgersen (novelette: nominee) is about the result of aliens (unintentionally?) blocking the sun's rays and leaving the planet cold and lifeless, while humans attempt to live underwater in habitats to survive. The teenage daughter of the main PoV yearns to actually see the sun again, and she and her friends hatch a dangerous plan to do just that. It was a short story that really needed to be more if he wanted to see it reach it's potential, but instead it fell flat.

THE FREEDOM MAZE (excerpt) by Delia Sherman (Andre Norton award for young adult science fiction and fantasy book) is about young girl Sophie who goes back in time to her great-grandparent's Southern plantation only to learn that the 'good old days' are a little hyped up. The premise isn't new, but Sherman's portrayal of life back then is compelling. From what I read I'm curious to find this book and read more.

"The Man Who Bridged the Mist" by Kij Johnson (novella: winner). Kit is an accomplished architect who is sent to bridge the mist that divides the continent. Told from his PoV we watch as he deals with the locals, plans the building process, and how his actions affect the local ferriers. It's a story with a man who builds bridges as the hero (in itself a nice change of pace) whose work gives him purpose; but when he meets Rasali he finds a woman whose love of what she does truly inspires him. The story was just right--the tone, pace, length, prose. This is my favorite of the selections, so if you read one thing from this anthology this is it.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Very little
Violence: Varies, but none of them were graphic
Sex: Referenced, implied

***Read this and other reviews at Elitist Book Reviews.***

[Ed · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uneven collection, poorly copy-edited. Not recommended as a unit, though some of the stories are good.

[Cody Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible and mind bending short fiction, perfect for nightly reading

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some stunning stories in here.

[Sam Barris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stories here. I particularly enjoyed Kij Johnson’s novella, “The Man Who Bridged the Mist.”

[Carasel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some I didn't like, but I enjoyed these ones:
Paper Menagerie - well that was heartbreaking!
The Ice Owl - nice set up but a rather unsatisfying enging, this mostly left me wanting to know more about the worlds it was set in, so I may now check out the author's other works
What We Found - the sci-fi idea (that facts wear out over time)
Sauerkraut Station
Ray of Light - Aliens dimmed the sun
The Man Who Bridged the Mist

[Rdowd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a real mixed bag. The last story is the best.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

July 2013's bookgroup book. We've been reading the Nebula Awards Showcase since 2002.

I had the advantage in that about half of the stories in this installment were 2012 Hugo Nominees, which I read before the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago.

The Paper Menagerie Ken Liu Hugo Winner – Short Story

The Ice Owl Carolyn Ives Gilman Hugo Nominee

Ado Connie Willis

The Migratory Pattern of Dancers Katherine Sparrow

Peach-Creamed Honey (poetry) Amal El-Mohtar

The Axiom of Choice David W. Goldman

What We Found Geoff Ryman Hugo Nominee

Among Others (excerpt) Jo Walton Hugo Winner - Novel

Movement Nancy Fulda Hugo Nominee

Sauerkraut Station Ferrett Steinmetz

The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees
E. Lily Yu Hugo Nominee

Ray of Light Brad R. Torgersen Hugo Nominee

The Freedom Maze(excerpt) Delia Sherman

The Sea King’s Second Bride (poetry) CSE Cooney

The Man Who Bridged the Mist
Kij Johnson Hugo Winner - Novella



I thought this was perhaps one of the best selections yet. I enjoyed nearly all the selections with the exception of a couple: The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees and The Ice Owl. I was so-so about What We Found.

My favorites include:
The Paper Menagerie
The Migratory Pattern of Dancers
Sauerkraut Station

Nebula Awards Showcase 2013 recommended if you enjoy a variety of novel excerpts, novellas, novelettes and short stories.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent way of getting caught up on some of the big works from a given year, and exposure to some excellent writing. It's kind of a dissatisfying reading experience, though, in that while the short stories lend themselves well to the anthology format, I'm not a huge fan of novel excerpts and the nonfiction piece was very hard to read in isolation. They're trying to include every category, and some just don't work well in a collection.

That said, the work here is (predictably) uniformly excellent. “The Axciom of Choice” is a fascinating meditation on fate via a choose-your-own-adventure format about a crippled musician. “The Ice Owl” mixes adolescent righteousness with a futuristic version of a Nazi collaborator hunt. Two different stories about dance, “Movement” and “The Migratory Pattern of Dancers” explore the ecstatic expression of dance and the cost to the dancer. The poem “The Sea King' Second Bride” is a joy to read not only for the story told but for the bouncy pleasure of the language itself. “Saurkraut Station” and “Ray of Light”both feature teenage survivors of extraordinary circumstances, and both end with surprising sweetness. In short, everything here that appears in its entirety is delightful. Among Others, which I have read in full elsewhere, is a great book but not a very satisfying excerpt. I suspect this indicates that the other pieces I didn't enjoy here would be better off sought out on their own.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection with quite a few newer authors and a good range of settings and themes. The standouts for me:

"The Paper Menagerie," by Ken Liu, about culture clashes and the magic of love

"The Ice Owl," by Carolyn Ives Gilman about a peripatetic young girl, her careless mother, the mysterious older man who becomes her tutor, and a strange collection of art from a near-extinct people; echoes of the Nazi looting of Jewish wealth during World War II

"Ado," by Connie Willis (obviously not one of the new authors!), in which political correctness runs amok in Shakespeare's plays; a brilliant satire that's all too believable these days

"Movement," about appreciating the beauty of the aberration; made me think of The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius);

And my favorite, "The Man Who Bridged the Mist," by Kij Johnson (whose The Fox Woman I read recently), about friendship, freedom, and the value of doing something that you love to do

[Tim Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expect people will like this book in different ways.

I liked Paper Menagerie.

Sauerkraut Station was an implausible premise but turned into a pretty good old-style space challenge.

Skipped Among Others because I read the book recently, and the other excerpt so I can read it later.

The others didn't work for me, except ...

The Man Who Bridged the Mist was exceptionally good. Interesting setting, good range of characters who develop throughout. I don't care if you liked the ending, because I thought it was perfect, and made the story complete, and defined what the story is about. Said to be available online by itself. Get it!

Overall, I like the way that these stories expect an intelligent and focused reader who has read a fair bit of this stuff before -- not the kind who thought Independence Day was a great movie because explosions! and hey, the mothership runs Mac OS 7 and has no security!

[Betted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found in Nebula Awards Showcase 2013 edited by Catharine Asaro this short story is as timely today as it was in 1988 although in 1988 it probably seemed a bit far fetched.

The story outlines political correctness taken to the Nth degree--as an example, teachers edit Hamlet to remove all objectionable lines in order to teach their students and very few lines are left.

A very good story for 2013 especially as I read it just as exercise enthusiast Maria Kang had her Facebook page "edited" and account suspended for mentioning "fat" in what was deemed an unfavorable and hostile light.

I apologize for mentioning the "f" word in a public venue. Please shield your children from my post.

[Douglas Summers-Stay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been my favorite anthology series forever-- I went back and read all the old ones back to the very first Nebula anthology when I was at BYU. In this year's the ones that stuck out to me were "The Man Who Bridged the Mist," "Cartographer Wasps and The Anarchist Bees," and "Sauerkraut Station." There was also a choose-your-own-adventure story where all choice was an illusion, which is a clever joke.

[Chunyang Ding · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't write that many reviews, preferring to simply enjoy and read. But, this collection of award winning science fiction short stories, novellas and novels was a truly amazing book. Filled with wonder and hope, danger and love, it is a must read for any person wishing to be inspired by our world.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with many collections there's some wheat and some chaff. Or some gold and some sludge. I liked the stories by Lui, Sparrow, Steinmetz and Torgersen. Much of the rest was not worth reading and some of it downright awful. I read a ton of sci-fi and have every year since I was 12 years old and I know good sci-fi when I read it... and some of this drek did not even qualify as mediocre.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mix of amazing, blah, and meh. Just like all anthologies. Since this is a collection of award winning stories, I expected a lot better. It wasn't an awful collection by any means, there are truly fantastic works in here, but it wasn't all good, which was why I gave it three stars.

[Florin Constantinescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

As evidenced by Dozois' Best of the Year (29th), 2011 sure was a good year (at least when compared to its 'neighborhood').
So this anthology is similarly good enough, containing some standouts (the Liu, the Goldman, the Steinmetz, and the Johnson) and only one unreadable (the Sparrow).