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Nebula Awards Showcase 60
The year's best science fiction and fantasy as selected by The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association
This special 60th anniversary edition of the prestigious Nebula Awards Showcase anthology series reprints winning and nominated works from the 60th annual Nebula Awards, as voted on by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA).
Nebula Awards Showcase 60 features stories and excerpts by this year’s Nebula Award winners and finalists, including Thomas Ha, Angela Liu, Eugenia Triantafyllou, P H Lee, Rachael K. Jones, Isabel J. Kim, Caroline M. Yoachim, AND MANY MORE!
This special 60th anniversary edition of the prestigious Nebula Awards Showcase anthology series reprints winning and nominated works from the 60th annual Nebula Awards, as voted on by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA).
Nebula Awards Showcase 60 features stories and excerpts by this year’s Nebula Award winners and finalists, including Thomas Ha, Angela Liu, Eugenia Triantafyllou, P H Lee, Rachael K. Jones, Isabel J. Kim, Caroline M. Yoachim, AND MANY MORE!
232 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 9, 2025
Nebula Awards Showcase 60, editor Stephen Kotowych
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association
3.45 stars marked down to 3 ⭐⭐⭐
The year is 2025, and my electric-powered rocket is on full display. Beautifully, it sits on a pristine launchpad located on the outskirts of my 25-acre property. As I climb into my cockpit, I comfortably check the appropriate switches to engage liftoff. The rumble from the engaging ion thrusters shakes the craft. Plotting my course, I mark a Nebula Award Showcase 60 book as my destination.
Floating amongst the stars, the autopilot firmly in control, I am finally able to unwind. My first mission is to complete my read-through. In the periphery, Earth stands still, yet moves, glowing in all its various complexities. As I slowly hover among the stars, I move to phase two of my mission, a proper assessment.
Numerous stories await your discovery, dear reader. I will highlight a few that tickled my taste buds.
Story number one, Five Views of the Planet Tartarus by Rachel K. Jones, is about a shuttle carrying prisoners to the Orpheus Factory. Along the way, the ship is under siege by some debris floating along the planet's orbit. As the morbid truth of the hovering garbage becomes clearer, the reader will certainly chuckle.
Our second story, Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being by A.W. Prihandita, presents present-day issues in a more futuristic spin. Semau, a doctor, is visited by a rare species of alien that insists they have a hole in their body. What ensues is a compassionate tale about learning to circumvent a broken healthcare system while navigating through the trouble of miscommunication.
Flashing red lights have assaulted my eyes, and the incessant beeping infiltrates my ears. I am on the descent now; the autopilot has signaled I have five minutes to return to my seat. I will leave with this little nugget. Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka by Christine Hanolsy. A water spirit of a woman lives by the riverbank next to Katya’s home. Katya, whose parents plan to marry her off to some nobleman, has become smitten with the Naiad. An enduring love story with wondrous depth flows along the rocky banks. What happens when Katya befriends all of the ghostlike entities surrounding her home, and what about the notorious witch, Baba Yaga?
As I make my exit, I look off into the sky. I smile as I think about all the amazing stories I encountered upon my journey. Thanks to Stephen Kotowych, the editor, for allowing me to play in the Nebula Awards playground. If you are a fan of short stories with an SF twist, I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
Many thanks to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association
3.45 stars marked down to 3 ⭐⭐⭐
The year is 2025, and my electric-powered rocket is on full display. Beautifully, it sits on a pristine launchpad located on the outskirts of my 25-acre property. As I climb into my cockpit, I comfortably check the appropriate switches to engage liftoff. The rumble from the engaging ion thrusters shakes the craft. Plotting my course, I mark a Nebula Award Showcase 60 book as my destination.
Floating amongst the stars, the autopilot firmly in control, I am finally able to unwind. My first mission is to complete my read-through. In the periphery, Earth stands still, yet moves, glowing in all its various complexities. As I slowly hover among the stars, I move to phase two of my mission, a proper assessment.
Numerous stories await your discovery, dear reader. I will highlight a few that tickled my taste buds.
Story number one, Five Views of the Planet Tartarus by Rachel K. Jones, is about a shuttle carrying prisoners to the Orpheus Factory. Along the way, the ship is under siege by some debris floating along the planet's orbit. As the morbid truth of the hovering garbage becomes clearer, the reader will certainly chuckle.
Our second story, Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being by A.W. Prihandita, presents present-day issues in a more futuristic spin. Semau, a doctor, is visited by a rare species of alien that insists they have a hole in their body. What ensues is a compassionate tale about learning to circumvent a broken healthcare system while navigating through the trouble of miscommunication.
Flashing red lights have assaulted my eyes, and the incessant beeping infiltrates my ears. I am on the descent now; the autopilot has signaled I have five minutes to return to my seat. I will leave with this little nugget. Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka by Christine Hanolsy. A water spirit of a woman lives by the riverbank next to Katya’s home. Katya, whose parents plan to marry her off to some nobleman, has become smitten with the Naiad. An enduring love story with wondrous depth flows along the rocky banks. What happens when Katya befriends all of the ghostlike entities surrounding her home, and what about the notorious witch, Baba Yaga?
As I make my exit, I look off into the sky. I smile as I think about all the amazing stories I encountered upon my journey. Thanks to Stephen Kotowych, the editor, for allowing me to play in the Nebula Awards playground. If you are a fan of short stories with an SF twist, I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
Many thanks to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
July 17, 2025
RATED 79% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE: 3.8 OUT OF 5
14 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
For a long time we feared that the Nebual Awards Showcase was dead. Fewer and fewer Year’s Best anthologies were being published. Although the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) was still giving out Nebula Awards, they weren’t publishing the stories in a book form that is easy both to read and the archive for the future.
This is too bad because the Nebula Awards Showcase has been a staple of my SciFi reading:
“Nebula Awards 22” edited by George Zebrowski. [1986] - 81%
“Nebula Awards 32” edited by Jack Dann. [1998] - 89%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2001.” edited by Robert Silverberg. - 75%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2010.” edited by Bill Fawcett. - 75%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2015.” edited by Greg Bear. - 80%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2016.” edited by Mercedes Lackey. - 75%
Then in 2025 the Showcase came roaring back with six volumes being published in the first half of of the year. I’m definitely going to read them.
Stephen Kotowych edits the 60th volume and his description of the new structure of the book is music to my ears. It solved by biggest criticism of the anthologies. Not enough of the stories. I also found the summaries of the novellas and novel to be quite helpful. There are books on this list that I wasn’t planning to read until these summaries.
“Long-time readers of Nebula Awards Showcase volumes may notice a change to the content of this volume from earlier entries in the series. This new format had a soft launch in the last few volumes, as we played catch-up after a five-year interruption in the annual publication of the Nebula Awards Showcase, but it is the format we plan to use in this and future volumes, even as next year's entries grow to contain new Nebula Awards categories.
In short, we’ve elected to focus on publishing full stories and fewer excerpts or original essays. Reaction to so many excerpts of longer works in previous volumes was mixed. I can understand why: longer works like novels were meant to be experienced in full and not in part.
In this volume, therefore, you’ll be able to read the full short story and novelette winners and finalists alongside descriptions of the Best Novel, Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and Game Writing winners and finalists. We hope those descriptions intrigue you enough to seek out those works in full, many of which are best enjoyed in entirely different formats.
One exception to this “no more excerpts” switch is in the Novella category. Some have argued that the novella is the ideal length for SFF work, and it's hard to argue the fact that we’re living in a golden age of science fiction and fantasy novellas. However, for the purposes of the Nebula Awards Showcase, this golden age of novellas has its drawbacks.
Don’t misunderstand: We’re thrilled for the success that our novella-writing colleagues have found with work at these lengths, but their success means that you can acquire many of today's novellas as standalone books, and reprint rights to the full work are simply not available for an annual series the same way that they were when novellas mainly showed up inside SFF magazines. So, we're adapting (again) to the times.”
—-Stephen Kotowych, Introduction
But How are the stories?
While I love the existence of the Nebula Awards Showcase - and we always find it worth reading - the anthologies tend to rate pretty average on my scale. I can’t entirely blame it on the industry’s obsession with fantasy, but I’m well aware how my dislike of fantasy plays out in these scores. If you like fantasy, this volume may speak more to you.
But let’s not dwell on the weaker stories. Three stories quality for my All-Time Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories
Five Views of the Planet Tartarus • (2024) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
Great. Very brief and very powerful. The horrifying and ultimately bittersweet story of convicted criminals who are sentenced to “eternal life” as punishment. Manages to flip your empathy in very a few pages.
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read • (2024) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
Great. Structurally experimental “story” of an alien transmission from a dying civilization that reads all things at once. They try to make us understand through a multi-column structure that has echoes of House of Leaves.
Loneliness Universe • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Great. An uncanny analog of the ways that modern life breaks your most important connections and tries to reassemble them in the digital world. A woman returns to Greece to reconnect with an old friend. She slowly discovers that she is unable to communicate or interact with anyone she cares about. She comes to believe that she has slipped into an alternative universe - a Loneliness Universe - where she can only have superficial interactions with people around her.
*** https://www.shortsf.com
NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 60 IS RATED 79% POSITIVE
14 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole • [Omelas] • (2024) • short story by Isabel J. Kim. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - SHORT STORY)
Good. I hate stories that rework Omelas. (The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas • (1973) • short story by Ursula K. Le Guin.) They are often self righteous and too proud of their own morality - something Le Guin managed to avoid in the original. This has that, but also an evil sense of humor that makes it rise above.
The V*mpire • (2024) • short story by P. H. Lee
Average. Young teenage boy who is drawn to a trans identity spends a lot of time in the cesspool of Tumblr. Vampires are real and they are manipulating threats of cancel culture to exploit young impressionable people. The prose is almost impossible to tolerate if you are an adult as it swims deep in teenage internet subculture. What’s the analogy here? Woke People are vampires who prey on children? I can’t believe that the modern science fiction establishment who permit such a story to be a Nebula finalist.
Five Views of the Planet Tartarus • (2024) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
Great. Very brief and very powerful. The horrifying and ultimately bittersweet story of convicted criminals who are sentenced to “eternal life” as punishment. Manages to flip your empathy in very a few pages.
The Witch Trap • (2024) • short story by Jennifer Hudak
Poor. A muddled fantasy about witches that seems designed to wine
Evan: A Remainder • (2024) • short story by Jordan Kurella
Average. A trans-man, newly separated from the husband, starts vomiting human bones that eventually climbs out of the grave to be his skeleton boyfriend.
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read • (2024) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
Great. Structurally experimental “story” of an alien transmission from a dying civilization that reads all things at once. They try to make us understand through a multi-column structure that has echoes of House of Leaves.
Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being • (2024) • novelette by A. W. Prihandita. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - NOVELETTE)
Good. An alien comes to a medical practitioner who holds the license to a database of alien medical care. Unfortunately, this alien doesn’t appear in the database.
Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka • (2024) • novelette by Christine Hanolsy
Good. A charmingly cozy, sapphic fairy tale with magical Russian style. A water-spirit falls in love with a young woman and has to go on a quest to recover her when the woman is married off to a wealthy man in a nearby town.
Joanna's Bodies • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Average. Horror story about two friends, one of whom is dead. The living friend uses magic to take over the body of other women as hosts for her dead friend. Too reliant on the reader knowing the movie “Jennifer’s Body.”
Another Girl Under the Iron Bell • (2024) • novelette by Angela Liu
Good. Wuxia fantasy from a. monsters point of view. The monster used to have feelings for a person, but now it is under the control of a warrior monk. The monk sends the monster and a young man on a mission. After completing the mission, the monster is to kill the young man. Of course, things aren’t quite that simple.
The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video • (2024) • novelette by Thomas Ha
Average. The discover of a “dead Book” leads to obsession and danger in a world where society is obsessed with altering and revising texts to make them “Perfect.”
What Any Dead Thing Wants • (2024) • novelette by Aimee Ogden
Good. During the terraforming of a new world, ghosts of living things are created and much be exorcised. The process is secular but deeply moving to the man who performs them. One day, he meets a ghost claiming to be a man who crashed on the planet years ago. And he doesn’t want to be exorcised.
Loneliness Universe • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Great. An uncanny analog of the ways that modern life breaks your most important connections and tries to reassemble them in the digital world. A woman returns to Greece to reconnect with an old friend. She slowly discovers that she is unable to communicate or interact with anyone she cares about. She comes to believe that she has slipped into an alternative universe - a Loneliness Universe - where she can only have superficial interactions with people around her.
The Dragonfly Gambit (excerpt) • short fiction by A. D. Sui
Good. A fast, dialogue-driven sapphic space opera about revenge and betrayal, set against the backdrop of a crumbling empire, with clear echoes of Battlestar Galactica. Entertaining and sharply voiced that reads better as a submission for a future movie.
14 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
For a long time we feared that the Nebual Awards Showcase was dead. Fewer and fewer Year’s Best anthologies were being published. Although the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) was still giving out Nebula Awards, they weren’t publishing the stories in a book form that is easy both to read and the archive for the future.
This is too bad because the Nebula Awards Showcase has been a staple of my SciFi reading:
“Nebula Awards 22” edited by George Zebrowski. [1986] - 81%
“Nebula Awards 32” edited by Jack Dann. [1998] - 89%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2001.” edited by Robert Silverberg. - 75%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2010.” edited by Bill Fawcett. - 75%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2015.” edited by Greg Bear. - 80%
“Nebula Awards Showcase 2016.” edited by Mercedes Lackey. - 75%
Then in 2025 the Showcase came roaring back with six volumes being published in the first half of of the year. I’m definitely going to read them.
Stephen Kotowych edits the 60th volume and his description of the new structure of the book is music to my ears. It solved by biggest criticism of the anthologies. Not enough of the stories. I also found the summaries of the novellas and novel to be quite helpful. There are books on this list that I wasn’t planning to read until these summaries.
“Long-time readers of Nebula Awards Showcase volumes may notice a change to the content of this volume from earlier entries in the series. This new format had a soft launch in the last few volumes, as we played catch-up after a five-year interruption in the annual publication of the Nebula Awards Showcase, but it is the format we plan to use in this and future volumes, even as next year's entries grow to contain new Nebula Awards categories.
In short, we’ve elected to focus on publishing full stories and fewer excerpts or original essays. Reaction to so many excerpts of longer works in previous volumes was mixed. I can understand why: longer works like novels were meant to be experienced in full and not in part.
In this volume, therefore, you’ll be able to read the full short story and novelette winners and finalists alongside descriptions of the Best Novel, Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and Game Writing winners and finalists. We hope those descriptions intrigue you enough to seek out those works in full, many of which are best enjoyed in entirely different formats.
One exception to this “no more excerpts” switch is in the Novella category. Some have argued that the novella is the ideal length for SFF work, and it's hard to argue the fact that we’re living in a golden age of science fiction and fantasy novellas. However, for the purposes of the Nebula Awards Showcase, this golden age of novellas has its drawbacks.
Don’t misunderstand: We’re thrilled for the success that our novella-writing colleagues have found with work at these lengths, but their success means that you can acquire many of today's novellas as standalone books, and reprint rights to the full work are simply not available for an annual series the same way that they were when novellas mainly showed up inside SFF magazines. So, we're adapting (again) to the times.”
—-Stephen Kotowych, Introduction
But How are the stories?
While I love the existence of the Nebula Awards Showcase - and we always find it worth reading - the anthologies tend to rate pretty average on my scale. I can’t entirely blame it on the industry’s obsession with fantasy, but I’m well aware how my dislike of fantasy plays out in these scores. If you like fantasy, this volume may speak more to you.
But let’s not dwell on the weaker stories. Three stories quality for my All-Time Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories
Five Views of the Planet Tartarus • (2024) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
Great. Very brief and very powerful. The horrifying and ultimately bittersweet story of convicted criminals who are sentenced to “eternal life” as punishment. Manages to flip your empathy in very a few pages.
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read • (2024) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
Great. Structurally experimental “story” of an alien transmission from a dying civilization that reads all things at once. They try to make us understand through a multi-column structure that has echoes of House of Leaves.
Loneliness Universe • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Great. An uncanny analog of the ways that modern life breaks your most important connections and tries to reassemble them in the digital world. A woman returns to Greece to reconnect with an old friend. She slowly discovers that she is unable to communicate or interact with anyone she cares about. She comes to believe that she has slipped into an alternative universe - a Loneliness Universe - where she can only have superficial interactions with people around her.
*** https://www.shortsf.com
NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 60 IS RATED 79% POSITIVE
14 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole • [Omelas] • (2024) • short story by Isabel J. Kim. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - SHORT STORY)
Good. I hate stories that rework Omelas. (The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas • (1973) • short story by Ursula K. Le Guin.) They are often self righteous and too proud of their own morality - something Le Guin managed to avoid in the original. This has that, but also an evil sense of humor that makes it rise above.
The V*mpire • (2024) • short story by P. H. Lee
Average. Young teenage boy who is drawn to a trans identity spends a lot of time in the cesspool of Tumblr. Vampires are real and they are manipulating threats of cancel culture to exploit young impressionable people. The prose is almost impossible to tolerate if you are an adult as it swims deep in teenage internet subculture. What’s the analogy here? Woke People are vampires who prey on children? I can’t believe that the modern science fiction establishment who permit such a story to be a Nebula finalist.
Five Views of the Planet Tartarus • (2024) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
Great. Very brief and very powerful. The horrifying and ultimately bittersweet story of convicted criminals who are sentenced to “eternal life” as punishment. Manages to flip your empathy in very a few pages.
The Witch Trap • (2024) • short story by Jennifer Hudak
Poor. A muddled fantasy about witches that seems designed to wine
Evan: A Remainder • (2024) • short story by Jordan Kurella
Average. A trans-man, newly separated from the husband, starts vomiting human bones that eventually climbs out of the grave to be his skeleton boyfriend.
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read • (2024) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
Great. Structurally experimental “story” of an alien transmission from a dying civilization that reads all things at once. They try to make us understand through a multi-column structure that has echoes of House of Leaves.
Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being • (2024) • novelette by A. W. Prihandita. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - NOVELETTE)
Good. An alien comes to a medical practitioner who holds the license to a database of alien medical care. Unfortunately, this alien doesn’t appear in the database.
Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka • (2024) • novelette by Christine Hanolsy
Good. A charmingly cozy, sapphic fairy tale with magical Russian style. A water-spirit falls in love with a young woman and has to go on a quest to recover her when the woman is married off to a wealthy man in a nearby town.
Joanna's Bodies • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Average. Horror story about two friends, one of whom is dead. The living friend uses magic to take over the body of other women as hosts for her dead friend. Too reliant on the reader knowing the movie “Jennifer’s Body.”
Another Girl Under the Iron Bell • (2024) • novelette by Angela Liu
Good. Wuxia fantasy from a. monsters point of view. The monster used to have feelings for a person, but now it is under the control of a warrior monk. The monk sends the monster and a young man on a mission. After completing the mission, the monster is to kill the young man. Of course, things aren’t quite that simple.
The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video • (2024) • novelette by Thomas Ha
Average. The discover of a “dead Book” leads to obsession and danger in a world where society is obsessed with altering and revising texts to make them “Perfect.”
What Any Dead Thing Wants • (2024) • novelette by Aimee Ogden
Good. During the terraforming of a new world, ghosts of living things are created and much be exorcised. The process is secular but deeply moving to the man who performs them. One day, he meets a ghost claiming to be a man who crashed on the planet years ago. And he doesn’t want to be exorcised.
Loneliness Universe • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
Great. An uncanny analog of the ways that modern life breaks your most important connections and tries to reassemble them in the digital world. A woman returns to Greece to reconnect with an old friend. She slowly discovers that she is unable to communicate or interact with anyone she cares about. She comes to believe that she has slipped into an alternative universe - a Loneliness Universe - where she can only have superficial interactions with people around her.
The Dragonfly Gambit (excerpt) • short fiction by A. D. Sui
Good. A fast, dialogue-driven sapphic space opera about revenge and betrayal, set against the backdrop of a crumbling empire, with clear echoes of Battlestar Galactica. Entertaining and sharply voiced that reads better as a submission for a future movie.
August 2, 2025
This was my first time reading the NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE and I am so happy I did. Surprised to see that most of these authors are yet to write a full novel, and I have added many that I want to keep my eyes on for more.
NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 60 IS RATED 3.5 STARS or 70% (ROUNDED UP TO 4)
14 STORIES : 3 AWESOME / 4 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 3 POOR / 0 DNF
[AWESOME]
Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole • [Omelas] • (2024) • short story by Isabel J. Kim. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - SHORT STORY)
I've not read many of the other stories that rework Ursula K Le Guin's short, but I get the feeling a lot of them are probably preachy. Whenever I hear someone talk about Omelas, it always turns into some philosophical debate. I'm glad to say this rework remembers what the original short story was trying to say, but it doesn't wax philosophical, it smashes the glass and tells us straight. Why Don't We Just Kill The Kid In The Omelas Hole.
[GOOD]
The V*mpire • (2024) • short story by P. H. Lee
I was never on Tumblr, but I knew of how terrible a place it was. Unfortunately, it was also a place many young people discovering the internet would frequent and make 'friends'.
There are messages here about the dangers lurking on the internet, about grooming, and about manipulation. However, what stood out the most was our protagonist coming to terms with their identity. They only believed themself a girl on the internet and in person a boy. Almost making excuses any time the thought of accepting themselves as a girl came into their mind. It was only when that one friend came to them at the end and called them Alexandra that they felt happiest and free.
[AVERAGE]
Five Views of the Planet Tartarus • (2024) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
I think I got what this story was about and I found how they closed the loop at the end interesting, but otherwise it didn't really grab me or make me curious to learn more. I don't want to say this is due to the short length of the story because the writer does a very good job of conveying different views of Tartarus to give us a full picture of what happens there. I was just not interested.
[POOR]
The Witch Trap • (2024) • short story by Jennifer Hudak
I don't entirely get what is happening in this story.
[POOR]
Evan: A Remainder • (2024) • short story by Jordan Kurella
I think this was another trans story about acceptance and identity, but I'm not entirely sure. The pacing was a little slow for a short story.
[GOOD]
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read • (2024) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
A little experimental with how it's told, the prose flowing almost like a poem with a repetition running through as aliens try to teach us how they communicate. It builds up to a point where they show what looks like a barcode to emphasis how they communicate all lines at once. It was a really interesting concept for how someone of not our world might communicate and the difficulty of it.
[AWESOME]
Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being • (2024) • novelette by A. W. Prihandita. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - NOVELETTE)
I loved love loved this. I want to read more from Prihandita. There were themes here about the medical system and how restricted it can be unless you have a large sum of money (and even then it might not help). What I loved was more to do with the communication between two people who barely understand each other. Through empathy and compassion, a solution can be found and the system can be overcome. It's an optimistic story and it reminded me of the difficulties a friend has to overcome with their job when seeing patients who do not speak English. Their compassion motivates them to help as best they can and find alternative ways to communicate.
[AVERAGE]
Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka • (2024) • novelette by Christine Hanolsy
It was a good fairy tale story. A sapphic romance between lady and water-spirit and how the spirit overcomes obstacles and trials to be reunited with her love. I've rated it average because I felt it didn't really give me anything new. It was alright. Nothing bad, nothing great.
[AVERAGE]
Joanna's Bodies • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
An interesting story about two best friends who grew apart, only to become close again after death... sort of. Both main characters led different lives as they grew up, with different friends, and then Joanna dies in an accident. With the help of a spell from a book they used to bond over, Joanna is brought back to possess a body, but it isn't permanent. Bodies eventually deteriorate if occupied for too long and a new host needs to be found. I get the feeling this plays on themes of guilt and toxic friendships. When Joanna doesn't get what she wants, she guilts her friend into helping. I didn't dislike the story, it played on the themes well, but I also didn't love it. It was okay.
[POOR]
Another Girl Under the Iron Bell • (2024) • novelette by Angela Liu
I wanted to love this. Stories that show us humans being more monstrous than monsters is a favourite trope of mine, however, the time jumps ruined the pacing for me and had me lost until I realised where in the story I was again. If this was a longer story with more room for the characters and world building to breathe, I would be very interested in reading it.
[AWESOME]
The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video • (2024) • novelette by Thomas Ha
One of my top 3 picks of this collection and possibly my favourite. It's set in a future where nothing seems to be genuine. People wear glasses that filter what they see so everyone looks beautiful, books and movies are updated and changed on the fly with happy endings. Everything is digital and 'perfect' and (to me) a nightmare. Our main character has an original book with it's imperfect ending where the hero doesn't save the day. It is valuable enough to be dangerous. My only gripe is that I wanted to know more and be in this hellscape world longer, just to see how people like our main character live. Instantly followed the author on Goodreads to keep an eye on what else they write.
[GOOD]
What Any Dead Thing Wants • (2024) • novelette by Aimee Ogden
It's a skill when the author can world build, not just the location of the main story, but also the system politics inside a novelette. We learn about the crew of exorcists who are sent onto a planet after terraforming it. Why would you need exorcists for this? Because they aren't terraforming dead planets. This is almost the equivalent of taking a death ray to the amazon rainforest, then sending in a crew to clear the bodies, except on a planetary scale. With that much death, it's no wonder exorcists are needed to cleanse the trauma from the land of all the haunted fauna. However, unlike most jobs, they encounter a human, and the story takes an interesting turn. I would love to read more books in this universe and more from this author.
[GOOD]
Loneliness Universe • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
I can't imagine anything more lonely than not being able to meet your friends and family. Ever. Having lived through that year we don't talk about with bubbles, sourdough starters, and zoom quizzes... the story hits close to home and it's pretty obvious where the inspiration and connections must lie.
Imagine you leave a room and come back, and your brother who was just there a moment ago has disappeared. They text you asking where you went, and you look confused as you message them back that you're in the living room they were just in. As more people from your life disappear, you learn that you have transported into a different universe. A universe where anyone who knows you enough to become a friend is suddenly gone. What's weird, and the saving grace to give a (kinda?) happy ending, is that contact through text is still possible, and contact through an MMO is also still possible.
[AVERAGE]
The Dragonfly Gambit (excerpt) • short fiction by A. D. Sui
Maybe because it's an excerpt and not the whole story, I just couldn't get into this. Or, maybe it's the leaning towards a military scifi that disinterested me. The characters were mildly interesting, and I was very curious about they relationships with each other. I loved the idea of an empire that has recruited into the army, people from the planets they have absorbed into the empire. It felt very Roman Empire. Add to that a rebellion on the horizon and an attempt to bring down the empire and it's my kind of story. That's why I've given it an average. I'm curious and might pick up the novella to find out more, but I'm not running to the shop for it.
Many thanks to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 60 IS RATED 3.5 STARS or 70% (ROUNDED UP TO 4)
14 STORIES : 3 AWESOME / 4 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 3 POOR / 0 DNF
[AWESOME]
Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole • [Omelas] • (2024) • short story by Isabel J. Kim. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - SHORT STORY)
I've not read many of the other stories that rework Ursula K Le Guin's short, but I get the feeling a lot of them are probably preachy. Whenever I hear someone talk about Omelas, it always turns into some philosophical debate. I'm glad to say this rework remembers what the original short story was trying to say, but it doesn't wax philosophical, it smashes the glass and tells us straight. Why Don't We Just Kill The Kid In The Omelas Hole.
[GOOD]
The V*mpire • (2024) • short story by P. H. Lee
I was never on Tumblr, but I knew of how terrible a place it was. Unfortunately, it was also a place many young people discovering the internet would frequent and make 'friends'.
There are messages here about the dangers lurking on the internet, about grooming, and about manipulation. However, what stood out the most was our protagonist coming to terms with their identity. They only believed themself a girl on the internet and in person a boy. Almost making excuses any time the thought of accepting themselves as a girl came into their mind. It was only when that one friend came to them at the end and called them Alexandra that they felt happiest and free.
[AVERAGE]
Five Views of the Planet Tartarus • (2024) • short story by Rachael K. Jones
I think I got what this story was about and I found how they closed the loop at the end interesting, but otherwise it didn't really grab me or make me curious to learn more. I don't want to say this is due to the short length of the story because the writer does a very good job of conveying different views of Tartarus to give us a full picture of what happens there. I was just not interested.
[POOR]
The Witch Trap • (2024) • short story by Jennifer Hudak
I don't entirely get what is happening in this story.
[POOR]
Evan: A Remainder • (2024) • short story by Jordan Kurella
I think this was another trans story about acceptance and identity, but I'm not entirely sure. The pacing was a little slow for a short story.
[GOOD]
We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read • (2024) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
A little experimental with how it's told, the prose flowing almost like a poem with a repetition running through as aliens try to teach us how they communicate. It builds up to a point where they show what looks like a barcode to emphasis how they communicate all lines at once. It was a really interesting concept for how someone of not our world might communicate and the difficulty of it.
[AWESOME]
Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being • (2024) • novelette by A. W. Prihandita. (*WINNER OF THE NEBULA - NOVELETTE)
I loved love loved this. I want to read more from Prihandita. There were themes here about the medical system and how restricted it can be unless you have a large sum of money (and even then it might not help). What I loved was more to do with the communication between two people who barely understand each other. Through empathy and compassion, a solution can be found and the system can be overcome. It's an optimistic story and it reminded me of the difficulties a friend has to overcome with their job when seeing patients who do not speak English. Their compassion motivates them to help as best they can and find alternative ways to communicate.
[AVERAGE]
Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka • (2024) • novelette by Christine Hanolsy
It was a good fairy tale story. A sapphic romance between lady and water-spirit and how the spirit overcomes obstacles and trials to be reunited with her love. I've rated it average because I felt it didn't really give me anything new. It was alright. Nothing bad, nothing great.
[AVERAGE]
Joanna's Bodies • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
An interesting story about two best friends who grew apart, only to become close again after death... sort of. Both main characters led different lives as they grew up, with different friends, and then Joanna dies in an accident. With the help of a spell from a book they used to bond over, Joanna is brought back to possess a body, but it isn't permanent. Bodies eventually deteriorate if occupied for too long and a new host needs to be found. I get the feeling this plays on themes of guilt and toxic friendships. When Joanna doesn't get what she wants, she guilts her friend into helping. I didn't dislike the story, it played on the themes well, but I also didn't love it. It was okay.
[POOR]
Another Girl Under the Iron Bell • (2024) • novelette by Angela Liu
I wanted to love this. Stories that show us humans being more monstrous than monsters is a favourite trope of mine, however, the time jumps ruined the pacing for me and had me lost until I realised where in the story I was again. If this was a longer story with more room for the characters and world building to breathe, I would be very interested in reading it.
[AWESOME]
The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video • (2024) • novelette by Thomas Ha
One of my top 3 picks of this collection and possibly my favourite. It's set in a future where nothing seems to be genuine. People wear glasses that filter what they see so everyone looks beautiful, books and movies are updated and changed on the fly with happy endings. Everything is digital and 'perfect' and (to me) a nightmare. Our main character has an original book with it's imperfect ending where the hero doesn't save the day. It is valuable enough to be dangerous. My only gripe is that I wanted to know more and be in this hellscape world longer, just to see how people like our main character live. Instantly followed the author on Goodreads to keep an eye on what else they write.
[GOOD]
What Any Dead Thing Wants • (2024) • novelette by Aimee Ogden
It's a skill when the author can world build, not just the location of the main story, but also the system politics inside a novelette. We learn about the crew of exorcists who are sent onto a planet after terraforming it. Why would you need exorcists for this? Because they aren't terraforming dead planets. This is almost the equivalent of taking a death ray to the amazon rainforest, then sending in a crew to clear the bodies, except on a planetary scale. With that much death, it's no wonder exorcists are needed to cleanse the trauma from the land of all the haunted fauna. However, unlike most jobs, they encounter a human, and the story takes an interesting turn. I would love to read more books in this universe and more from this author.
[GOOD]
Loneliness Universe • (2024) • novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou
I can't imagine anything more lonely than not being able to meet your friends and family. Ever. Having lived through that year we don't talk about with bubbles, sourdough starters, and zoom quizzes... the story hits close to home and it's pretty obvious where the inspiration and connections must lie.
Imagine you leave a room and come back, and your brother who was just there a moment ago has disappeared. They text you asking where you went, and you look confused as you message them back that you're in the living room they were just in. As more people from your life disappear, you learn that you have transported into a different universe. A universe where anyone who knows you enough to become a friend is suddenly gone. What's weird, and the saving grace to give a (kinda?) happy ending, is that contact through text is still possible, and contact through an MMO is also still possible.
[AVERAGE]
The Dragonfly Gambit (excerpt) • short fiction by A. D. Sui
Maybe because it's an excerpt and not the whole story, I just couldn't get into this. Or, maybe it's the leaning towards a military scifi that disinterested me. The characters were mildly interesting, and I was very curious about they relationships with each other. I loved the idea of an empire that has recruited into the army, people from the planets they have absorbed into the empire. It felt very Roman Empire. Add to that a rebellion on the horizon and an attempt to bring down the empire and it's my kind of story. That's why I've given it an average. I'm curious and might pick up the novella to find out more, but I'm not running to the shop for it.
Many thanks to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association for the ARC through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
October 30, 2025
Anthologies from different authors are always somewhat of a mixed bag, since the overall quality depends in large part on the anthology’s theme and the publisher or editor’s ability to get rights clearances. However, I had high hopes for “Nebula Awards Showcase 60.” There was little editorial discretion involved in the selections, and rights clearances were obviously no problem. Unfortunately, the results were mediocre overall and a major disappointment considering the basis for the stories’ inclusion in the anthology.
The Nebula Awards are 60 years old and celebrate the best fantasy and science fiction published in the United States each year, as selected by a vote of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Over the years, the Nebula Award winners have included such works as Frank Herbert’s “Dune” (the first winner for Best Novel), Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama,” and Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game.” The SFWA also publishes a “Showcase” each year to highlight that year’s winners. This “Showcase” has undergone several format changes. It now features the six nominated short stories (under 7,500 words) and seven nominated novelettes (between 7,500 and 17,500 words) for 2024. The anthology also includes an excerpt from the winning novella (17,500-40,000 words) and brief synopses of all nominated novels and novellas. These tales represent what the SFWA members think are the best science fiction and fantasy works published in the United States in 2024. With such an illustrious pedigree, I expected the award winners and nominees to be near-classics. Instead, I got a mix of a few outstanding stories, some decent but not exceptional tales, and several complete misfires.
The short stories were the biggest disappointment for me. Three of the six nominees were outright failures, confusing and difficult to follow. I felt that vital information had been edited out to pare down their lengths. One story, “The V*mpire,” by PH Lee, concerns a vampire who pays a visit to an unsuspecting 14-year-old after the two “meet” on Tumblr in 2012. Since I’ve never used Tumblr and wasn’t familiar with a lot of the terminology kids used on the app when communicating with each other, I was at a loss for most of the story. In another story, “Evan: the Remainder,” by Jordan Kurella, the title character literally upchucks human bones and assembles them to make a Skeleton Boyfriend. Enough said.
Fortunately, the other three nominated stories were better. “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones is a terrific piece of flash fiction about a prison planet and the fate of the prisoners sent there. To say more would spoil the surprise. “We Will Teach You How to Read—We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim is a valiant effort that ultimately doesn’t live up to its premise. Denizens of a dying planet send messages to Earth written in a manner beyond human comprehension. They try to make humans understand their complex language by repeating a simple mantra that shows how they can read multiple lines at once. I was reminded of the theme from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” but the conclusion is weak.
The winning story, “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim, is based on a classic short story by Ursula K. Le Guin about the planet Omelas. For those like me who haven’t read Le Guin’s story, Omelas is a seemingly idyllic planet with a single deadly drawback. The powers-that-be choose one child as a scapegoat and imprison that child in a hole where he or she suffers unimaginable torment. Some people are upset by the whole idea and decide to end the child’s suffering quickly and permanently. Like Le Guin’s original, Kim’s story poses more philosophical and moral questions than scientific ones. I found the author’s style and additional questions raised intriguing.
The novelettes are better than the short stories. The winner, “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being,” despite its abstract title, is a humorous look at the practice of medicine in the interstellar future. A vaguely humanoid alien made of water (imagine the Michelin man) from an obscure species seeks treatment from a human doctor. Unfortunately, contact with that species has been almost nonexistent, and the doctor’s vast database can’t help her figure out how to treat her patient. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou is another excellent tale. The central character becomes increasingly isolated from the world at large because everyone she is close to starts disappearing. She can still communicate with them through chat and text, but can’t see or hear them. The story is a pointed commentary on our social media era, in which chat and text messages become substitutes for human interaction.
Another novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou, “Joanna’s Bodies,” is also included in the anthology. If the title sounds familiar to movie fans, it should. The story is a variation of the movie “Jennifer’s Body,” about a teenager possessed by a demon. Here, Joanna and Eleni have been friends since childhood. However, when they grow up, Joanna is killed in an accident. Eleni discovers a spell that allows Joanna to inhabit other women’s bodies for short periods of time, but eventually develops misgivings about what she’s done. One other novelette worth mentioning is “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha. This story imagines a future in which most media is digitized and periodically “improved” by publishers and authors. Even eyeglasses are equipped to change what a person sees for the “better.” The narrator stumbles across a rare thing: a “dead book” made of actual paper and ink, incapable of after-the-fact editing. The other nominated novelettes aren’t that good, and one, ”Another Girl Under the Iron Bell” by Angela Liu, is dreadful. It’s a story set in feudal Japan featuring exorcists and monsters. As with some of the other misfires in this collection, it’s much more confusing than entertaining.
In summary, “Nebula Awards Showcase 60” contains four excellent or near-excellent stories (including the Award-winning novelette), two good stories, three average stories, and four bad ones. That’s too high a percentage of mediocre material for most anthologies, let alone a collection of what are supposed to be the best works of the year. Science fiction fans will probably find value in the synopses of the nominated novels and novellas. For that reason, I’m giving this anthology a slightly higher rating than the included stories merit. However, the collection was a major disappointment for me.
NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.
The Nebula Awards are 60 years old and celebrate the best fantasy and science fiction published in the United States each year, as selected by a vote of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Over the years, the Nebula Award winners have included such works as Frank Herbert’s “Dune” (the first winner for Best Novel), Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama,” and Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game.” The SFWA also publishes a “Showcase” each year to highlight that year’s winners. This “Showcase” has undergone several format changes. It now features the six nominated short stories (under 7,500 words) and seven nominated novelettes (between 7,500 and 17,500 words) for 2024. The anthology also includes an excerpt from the winning novella (17,500-40,000 words) and brief synopses of all nominated novels and novellas. These tales represent what the SFWA members think are the best science fiction and fantasy works published in the United States in 2024. With such an illustrious pedigree, I expected the award winners and nominees to be near-classics. Instead, I got a mix of a few outstanding stories, some decent but not exceptional tales, and several complete misfires.
The short stories were the biggest disappointment for me. Three of the six nominees were outright failures, confusing and difficult to follow. I felt that vital information had been edited out to pare down their lengths. One story, “The V*mpire,” by PH Lee, concerns a vampire who pays a visit to an unsuspecting 14-year-old after the two “meet” on Tumblr in 2012. Since I’ve never used Tumblr and wasn’t familiar with a lot of the terminology kids used on the app when communicating with each other, I was at a loss for most of the story. In another story, “Evan: the Remainder,” by Jordan Kurella, the title character literally upchucks human bones and assembles them to make a Skeleton Boyfriend. Enough said.
Fortunately, the other three nominated stories were better. “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones is a terrific piece of flash fiction about a prison planet and the fate of the prisoners sent there. To say more would spoil the surprise. “We Will Teach You How to Read—We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim is a valiant effort that ultimately doesn’t live up to its premise. Denizens of a dying planet send messages to Earth written in a manner beyond human comprehension. They try to make humans understand their complex language by repeating a simple mantra that shows how they can read multiple lines at once. I was reminded of the theme from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” but the conclusion is weak.
The winning story, “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim, is based on a classic short story by Ursula K. Le Guin about the planet Omelas. For those like me who haven’t read Le Guin’s story, Omelas is a seemingly idyllic planet with a single deadly drawback. The powers-that-be choose one child as a scapegoat and imprison that child in a hole where he or she suffers unimaginable torment. Some people are upset by the whole idea and decide to end the child’s suffering quickly and permanently. Like Le Guin’s original, Kim’s story poses more philosophical and moral questions than scientific ones. I found the author’s style and additional questions raised intriguing.
The novelettes are better than the short stories. The winner, “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being,” despite its abstract title, is a humorous look at the practice of medicine in the interstellar future. A vaguely humanoid alien made of water (imagine the Michelin man) from an obscure species seeks treatment from a human doctor. Unfortunately, contact with that species has been almost nonexistent, and the doctor’s vast database can’t help her figure out how to treat her patient. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou is another excellent tale. The central character becomes increasingly isolated from the world at large because everyone she is close to starts disappearing. She can still communicate with them through chat and text, but can’t see or hear them. The story is a pointed commentary on our social media era, in which chat and text messages become substitutes for human interaction.
Another novelette by Eugenia Triantafyllou, “Joanna’s Bodies,” is also included in the anthology. If the title sounds familiar to movie fans, it should. The story is a variation of the movie “Jennifer’s Body,” about a teenager possessed by a demon. Here, Joanna and Eleni have been friends since childhood. However, when they grow up, Joanna is killed in an accident. Eleni discovers a spell that allows Joanna to inhabit other women’s bodies for short periods of time, but eventually develops misgivings about what she’s done. One other novelette worth mentioning is “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha. This story imagines a future in which most media is digitized and periodically “improved” by publishers and authors. Even eyeglasses are equipped to change what a person sees for the “better.” The narrator stumbles across a rare thing: a “dead book” made of actual paper and ink, incapable of after-the-fact editing. The other nominated novelettes aren’t that good, and one, ”Another Girl Under the Iron Bell” by Angela Liu, is dreadful. It’s a story set in feudal Japan featuring exorcists and monsters. As with some of the other misfires in this collection, it’s much more confusing than entertaining.
In summary, “Nebula Awards Showcase 60” contains four excellent or near-excellent stories (including the Award-winning novelette), two good stories, three average stories, and four bad ones. That’s too high a percentage of mediocre material for most anthologies, let alone a collection of what are supposed to be the best works of the year. Science fiction fans will probably find value in the synopses of the nominated novels and novellas. For that reason, I’m giving this anthology a slightly higher rating than the included stories merit. However, the collection was a major disappointment for me.
NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.
July 13, 2025
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
Nebula Awards Showcase 60 is a well curated anthology of shortlisters and winners of the 60th Nebula awards as voted on by the members of the SFWA. Released 10th June 2025, it's 260 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
This is a nice collection of award worthy stories by new and established authors at the top of their form. The stories are varied, there were (as always) some which didn't grab me personally, but all were well written and competently plotted. They were mostly in the 4 star range(ish) with a smattering of really standout stories. This is a well curated solid anthology of stories in the 3-5 star range.
One reason readers love collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight.
The editor has also included lists and a blurb for all the nominated works. The format is a bit different this year.
Four stars on average. It's a diverting read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Nebula Awards Showcase 60 is a well curated anthology of shortlisters and winners of the 60th Nebula awards as voted on by the members of the SFWA. Released 10th June 2025, it's 260 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.
This is a nice collection of award worthy stories by new and established authors at the top of their form. The stories are varied, there were (as always) some which didn't grab me personally, but all were well written and competently plotted. They were mostly in the 4 star range(ish) with a smattering of really standout stories. This is a well curated solid anthology of stories in the 3-5 star range.
One reason readers love collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight.
The editor has also included lists and a blurb for all the nominated works. The format is a bit different this year.
Four stars on average. It's a diverting read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
October 5, 2025
A great anthology of the short stories and novelettes that were nominated for the Nebula Awards 2024.
Though not every story was my cup of tea, they were all of great craftsmanship. Just as I would expect from award nominated stories.
My favourite short stories were The V*mpire (an online bully with a supernatural twist) and Five Views of Planet Tartarus (so short but what a punch in the gut!).
As for the Novelettes, the winner Negative Scholarship On The Fifth State Of Being actually brought me to tears. It was beautifully written and a interesting exploration of how the health care system let's us down now matter what universe we're in.
I also loved Katya Vasilievna And The Second Drowning Of Baba Rechka (I love stories inspired by East European mythology) and Loneliness Universe (another story that made me cry).
TBH I skipped the excerpt of Dragonfly Gambit, because I dislike reading excerpts of longer stories. Personally I think it should have either been left out or included in full, though I understand that Novellas are now published as standalone books.
Overall great anthology that makes me curious about the longform nominees and winners!
Though not every story was my cup of tea, they were all of great craftsmanship. Just as I would expect from award nominated stories.
My favourite short stories were The V*mpire (an online bully with a supernatural twist) and Five Views of Planet Tartarus (so short but what a punch in the gut!).
As for the Novelettes, the winner Negative Scholarship On The Fifth State Of Being actually brought me to tears. It was beautifully written and a interesting exploration of how the health care system let's us down now matter what universe we're in.
I also loved Katya Vasilievna And The Second Drowning Of Baba Rechka (I love stories inspired by East European mythology) and Loneliness Universe (another story that made me cry).
TBH I skipped the excerpt of Dragonfly Gambit, because I dislike reading excerpts of longer stories. Personally I think it should have either been left out or included in full, though I understand that Novellas are now published as standalone books.
Overall great anthology that makes me curious about the longform nominees and winners!
July 6, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.
This is the 60th anniversary version of the Nebula Awards showcase. They changed some things about the format wo be warned that it'll be different than previous editions.
The stories were definitely very experimental which I appreciated. Some of the experiments worked better for me than others, but I think everyone will find something to love in here.
My favorite story was The V*mpire. If you were on Tumblr as a teenager you'll understand.
This is the 60th anniversary version of the Nebula Awards showcase. They changed some things about the format wo be warned that it'll be different than previous editions.
The stories were definitely very experimental which I appreciated. Some of the experiments worked better for me than others, but I think everyone will find something to love in here.
My favorite story was The V*mpire. If you were on Tumblr as a teenager you'll understand.
September 25, 2025
SF/F collections are a wonderful way to read across the genre and to keep up with what’s happening in it; this one is no different. This is, of course, a much more prestigious anthology than many, as it showcases submissions to the Nebula Awards (and includes both nominated and winning stories). Featuring authors Isabel J. Kim, Thomas Ha, Angela Liu, Eugenia Triantafyllou (twice), Jennifer Hudak, Rachael K. Jones, Jordan Kurella, PH Lee, Caroline M. Yoachim, A.W. Prihandita, Christine Hanolsy, Aimee Ogden, and A.D. Sui, this is a great snapshot of the state of play in 2024.
From that list, if you’re a reasonable superfan, you’ll know the collection includes at least three short stories that went quite viral and which you may have encountered already: Rachael K. Jones’s “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” is a brutal little tale about incarceration that loops round to its beginning; the haunting and wry “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim prompted a great deal of discussion which brought my attention to a list of [Omelas “fanfic”](https://www.kith.org/jed/hodgepodge/n... and then Caroline M. Yoachim’s “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read”, which has such an amazing structure and which may have rewired my brain. I also recommend these great novelettes: Thomas Ha’s “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” (also included in his just-released collection) which is on memory and how or *if* we should preserve the past; “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being” by A.W. Prihandita, which I first read in Clarkesworld in 2024, and which has thoughtful and somewhat scary things to say about medical management of ‘minorities’ in the age of algorithms, if you choose to read it that way; Christine Hanolsy’s “Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka”, a story about a rusalka in love; and Aimee Ogden’s thrilling, amazing ‘eco-SF’ “What Any Dead Thing Wants” (spoiler: to not be, probably).
Other great stories: Jennifer Hudak’s spooky “The Witch Trap” is (right now) appropriate to the US season; Eugenia Triantafyllou has a story about body possession and obsession, “Joanna’s Bodies”; and then I must be one of the only two people who haven’t read A.D. Sui’s “The Dragonfly Gambit”, but the provided excerpt has made me move it up my tottering TBR.
And so! This collection is a must for any SFF fan, as Nebula Awards showcases always are. Very highly recommended. Many thanks to SFWA for a DRC (and for all the work they do), and to NetGalley.
From that list, if you’re a reasonable superfan, you’ll know the collection includes at least three short stories that went quite viral and which you may have encountered already: Rachael K. Jones’s “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” is a brutal little tale about incarceration that loops round to its beginning; the haunting and wry “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim prompted a great deal of discussion which brought my attention to a list of [Omelas “fanfic”](https://www.kith.org/jed/hodgepodge/n... and then Caroline M. Yoachim’s “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read”, which has such an amazing structure and which may have rewired my brain. I also recommend these great novelettes: Thomas Ha’s “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” (also included in his just-released collection) which is on memory and how or *if* we should preserve the past; “Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being” by A.W. Prihandita, which I first read in Clarkesworld in 2024, and which has thoughtful and somewhat scary things to say about medical management of ‘minorities’ in the age of algorithms, if you choose to read it that way; Christine Hanolsy’s “Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka”, a story about a rusalka in love; and Aimee Ogden’s thrilling, amazing ‘eco-SF’ “What Any Dead Thing Wants” (spoiler: to not be, probably).
Other great stories: Jennifer Hudak’s spooky “The Witch Trap” is (right now) appropriate to the US season; Eugenia Triantafyllou has a story about body possession and obsession, “Joanna’s Bodies”; and then I must be one of the only two people who haven’t read A.D. Sui’s “The Dragonfly Gambit”, but the provided excerpt has made me move it up my tottering TBR.
And so! This collection is a must for any SFF fan, as Nebula Awards showcases always are. Very highly recommended. Many thanks to SFWA for a DRC (and for all the work they do), and to NetGalley.
July 30, 2025
Great way to sample lots of exciting writing. Awesome selection of authors. Thank you to the authors. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.
January 4, 2026
did not finish, pure crap.
is this what passes for Science fiction these days? and being awarded??
ugh, no thank you, I'll stick with the older stuff...
is this what passes for Science fiction these days? and being awarded??
ugh, no thank you, I'll stick with the older stuff...
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