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Nebula Awards Showcases #13
Nebula Winners Thirteen
paperback.
207 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
2 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Samuel R. Delany
306 books2,247 followersSamuel Ray Delany, also known as "Chip," is an award-winning American science fiction author. He was born to a prominent black family on April 1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. His mother, Margaret Carey Boyd Delany, was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system. His father, Samuel Ray Delany, Senior, ran a successful Harlem undertaking establishment, Levy & Delany Funeral Home, on 7th Avenue, between 1938 and his death in 1960. The family lived in the top two floors of the three-story private house between five- and six-story Harlem apartment buildings. Delany's aunts were Sadie and Bessie Delany; Delany used some of their adventures as the basis for the adventures of his characters Elsie and Corry in the opening novella Atlantis: Model 1924 in his book of largely autobiographical stories Atlantis: Three Tales.
Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Delany attended the Dalton School and the Bronx High School of Science, during which he was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Delany and poet Marilyn Hacker met in high school, and were married in 1961. Their marriage lasted nineteen years. They had a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany (b. 1974), who spent a decade working in theater in New York City.
Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as several prize-winning short stories (collected in Driftglass [1971] and more recently in Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories [2002]). His eleventh and most popular novel, Dhalgren, was published in 1975. His main literary project through the late 1970s and 1980s was the Return to Nevèrÿon series, the overall title of the four volumes and also the title of the fourth and final book.
Delany has published several autobiographical/semi-autobiographical accounts of his life as a black, gay, and highly dyslexic writer, including his Hugo award winning autobiography, The Motion of Light in Water.
Since 1988, Delany has been a professor at several universities. This includes eleven years as a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a year and a half as an English professor at the University at Buffalo. He then moved to the English Department of Temple University in 2001, where he has been teaching since. He has had several visiting guest professorships before and during these same years. He has also published several books of criticism, interviews, and essays. In one of his non-fiction books, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999), he draws on personal experience to examine the relationship between the effort to redevelop Times Square and the public sex lives of working-class men, gay and straight, in New York City.
In 2007, Delany was the subject of a documentary film, The Polymath, or, The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman. The film debuted on April 25 at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 20, 2022
Skipped over a couple I had read in other collections- really enjoyed Vonda N. McIntyre’s star-crossed bodyhack romance, not much else stuck.
March 2, 2024
Most scifi collections I've read have had many mediocre and one or two really great stories. However, Delany's picks were all really good. Raccoona Sheldon, also known as James Tiptree Jr.'s short story "Screwfly Solution" and Ellison's "Jefty is Five" were absolutely great.
March 31, 2025
This reminds me of those Facebook postings of the top-20 singles from any particular week in the 1970s or 80s. I'll often remember the melody of 18-or-so of those twenty titles.
Likewise this collection of Nebula Award Winners and editor Samuel R. Delany's favourite nominees; I remember most of them from their first publication in 1977. At-the-time I was reading Analog and FSF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) magazines, so I read Harlan Ellison's wonderful paign to past-times Jeffty is Five first published in FSF. Likewise Racoona Sheldon's The Screwfly Solution from Analog and Spider and Jeanne Robinson's Stardance also from Analog (Ben Bova, the then-editor was brilliant at selecting such stories for publication).
Vonda McIntyre's Aztecs and Ed Bryants Particle Theory were read in later anthologies (perhaps this one on first reading in 1978) and I know I first read Varley's Air Raid in this collection, as I never read Isacc Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine until the 1980s.
Of the six titles here, Jeffty is Five is probably the most famous, having reached a wider audience over the years than the (relatively) small number of readers of FSF. Varley's Air Raid was probably the most lucrative, spawning an expansion into a novel (Millennium) and a somewhat unsuccessful movie adaptation of the same name, starring Cheryl Ladd & Kris Kristofferson. Air Raid is great fun, one of those 'woke up at 2am with a great idea' stories.
McIntyres Aztecs is a little dated now, and reads a little like a Robert Silverberg short story. It was too easy to see the 'twist' early on. Bryant's Particle Theory didn't really register with me.
Likewise the Robinson's Stardance is a little dated, though I remember it was well thought-of in 1977, and a worthy winner for 'Best Novella'.
The standout for me though is Racoona Sheldon's (also known as 'James Tiptree Jnr') The Screwfly Solution winner of 'Best Novelette' and, in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's White Mason can be described as what a snorter! Utterly original, utterly compelling and very scary, The Screwfly Solution hasn't aged one iota. It was filmed as a TV movie, starring Jason Priestley and Elliot Gould, directed by Joe (Gremlins) Dante. The novelettes epistolary-style narrative (conveyed as a series of letters) was a brilliant choice by Alice Sheldon.
So in summary, a collection that included two classics of short fiction, namely Jeffty is Five and The Screwfly Solution. The other four are pretty good (particularly the nominee Air Raid, but Ellison and Sheldon did rather eclipse them.
Delaney provided a short intro and chose the inclusion of the nominee titles. There's an In memoriam listing for those who passed away in 1977, which included Eric Frank Russell and Tom Reamey, who had won a Nebula just two years before with San Diego Lightfoot Sue.
Likewise this collection of Nebula Award Winners and editor Samuel R. Delany's favourite nominees; I remember most of them from their first publication in 1977. At-the-time I was reading Analog and FSF (Fantasy & Science Fiction) magazines, so I read Harlan Ellison's wonderful paign to past-times Jeffty is Five first published in FSF. Likewise Racoona Sheldon's The Screwfly Solution from Analog and Spider and Jeanne Robinson's Stardance also from Analog (Ben Bova, the then-editor was brilliant at selecting such stories for publication).
Vonda McIntyre's Aztecs and Ed Bryants Particle Theory were read in later anthologies (perhaps this one on first reading in 1978) and I know I first read Varley's Air Raid in this collection, as I never read Isacc Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine until the 1980s.
Of the six titles here, Jeffty is Five is probably the most famous, having reached a wider audience over the years than the (relatively) small number of readers of FSF. Varley's Air Raid was probably the most lucrative, spawning an expansion into a novel (Millennium) and a somewhat unsuccessful movie adaptation of the same name, starring Cheryl Ladd & Kris Kristofferson. Air Raid is great fun, one of those 'woke up at 2am with a great idea' stories.
McIntyres Aztecs is a little dated now, and reads a little like a Robert Silverberg short story. It was too easy to see the 'twist' early on. Bryant's Particle Theory didn't really register with me.
Likewise the Robinson's Stardance is a little dated, though I remember it was well thought-of in 1977, and a worthy winner for 'Best Novella'.
The standout for me though is Racoona Sheldon's (also known as 'James Tiptree Jnr') The Screwfly Solution winner of 'Best Novelette' and, in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's White Mason can be described as what a snorter! Utterly original, utterly compelling and very scary, The Screwfly Solution hasn't aged one iota. It was filmed as a TV movie, starring Jason Priestley and Elliot Gould, directed by Joe (Gremlins) Dante. The novelettes epistolary-style narrative (conveyed as a series of letters) was a brilliant choice by Alice Sheldon.
So in summary, a collection that included two classics of short fiction, namely Jeffty is Five and The Screwfly Solution. The other four are pretty good (particularly the nominee Air Raid, but Ellison and Sheldon did rather eclipse them.
Delaney provided a short intro and chose the inclusion of the nominee titles. There's an In memoriam listing for those who passed away in 1977, which included Eric Frank Russell and Tom Reamey, who had won a Nebula just two years before with San Diego Lightfoot Sue.
August 14, 2019
I've stated before in previous reviews that "hard" sci fi just isn't my thing, but sometimes I end up with books in the genre and decide to give them a try. This collection wasn't bad, but I always feel like I'm missing whatever it is about them that makes them so great. Ellison's story is cool, and I know what he's trying to do, but I don't see it as a best of the year story. Some of the others are the same way, although a few of them I just didn't care for nor did I see a deeper meaning. I did enjoy "The Screwfly Solution" but really that's as much a horror story as it is sci fi, as evidenced by it's inclusion in the Showtime series Masters of Horror a while back.
If you are a true sci fi enthusiast I'm sure you will enjoy this collection, but if you're a more casual sci fi reader like myself you'll probably find you can take it or leave it.
If you are a true sci fi enthusiast I'm sure you will enjoy this collection, but if you're a more casual sci fi reader like myself you'll probably find you can take it or leave it.
April 3, 2025
A collection of Science Fiction award winning stories - all worth reading! Enjoyed them.
March 17, 2025
6 stories:
** Jeffty Is Five (1977) • Harlan Ellison
**** Air Raid (1977) • John Varley
***** The Screwfly Solution (1977) • James Tiptree, Jr. (Raccoona Sheldon)
***** Particle Theory (1977) • Edward Bryant
*** Stardance (1977) • Jeanne and Spider Robinson
**** Aztecs (1977) • Vonda N. McIntyre
** Jeffty Is Five (1977) • Harlan Ellison
**** Air Raid (1977) • John Varley
***** The Screwfly Solution (1977) • James Tiptree, Jr. (Raccoona Sheldon)
***** Particle Theory (1977) • Edward Bryant
*** Stardance (1977) • Jeanne and Spider Robinson
**** Aztecs (1977) • Vonda N. McIntyre
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews