2016 Nebula Award Finalists (c.2015 fiction)

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Next:

Waters of Versailles

"Waters of Versailles" by Kelly Robson

This is a historical fantasy set in 18th century. The story involves a fellow who works wonders with the plumbing of the palace with the aid of a nixie. I have no particular quibbles or anti-quibbles. It's very well done.

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Obviously I cannot say which novella is best without reading all of them. My favorite of the four I've seen is "The New Mother."

 

[J-Sun]

In regards to the 3 films you mentioned, it should be between ex machina and Martian, and for interesting SF thoughtfulness I'd plump for ex machina. It really is worth a watch, although a couple of niggles, but TFA shouldn't be on there, neither original, groundbreaking, nor intellectually stimulating. Especially when compared to ex machina and the Martian.

Yeah, I finally got around to ordering Ex Machina but can't speak to it yet. Re: The Martian and The Force Awakens, I wouldn't compare them, either, and didn't mean to make it sound like they were on the same plane. TFA is a fun technofantasy but I basically agree with your criticisms - just don't think it was trying to be anything it wasn't, either. I agree The Martian is a much better SF film as an SF film but just saying I enjoyed both in their ways and, given that TFA is probably much more popular than Martian and that the SFWA often doesn't like nuts-and-bolts SF, it may well win and at least I like both.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

And the winners have been announced:


http://io9.gizmodo.com/women-swept-the-2015-the-nebula-awards-1776706665

Novel

Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Novella

Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)

Novelette

‘‘Our Lady of the Open Road’’, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 6/15)

Short Story

‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Mad Max: Fury Road, Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)

Sir Terry Pratchett was the recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award, while C.J. Cherryh was named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master.

 

[Old_Man_Steve2016]

Uprooted by Naomi Novik has been picked up for a movie. News of this is from last year, and IMDB's page on it hasn't changed yet. But keep your fingers crossed, aspiring writers!
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor hasn't been picked up yet. Neither has Updraft by Fran Wilde yet, but with these awards on their belts, who knows? A producer might be interested someday.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Of course, we should also keep in mind the fact that Vonda N. McIntyre's 1997 Nebula-winning novel The Moon and the Sun, which (according to the author's afterword) began life as a screenplay, has only just now been adapted into a film, which has yet to be released.

The King's Daughter (2016)

(Hmmm. Last time I looked, the movie was still called The Moon and the Sun. IMDB now says that it's called The King's Daughter, which gives away a plot point, and not even a very important one!

Anyway, obviously the big news this year is that the four awards for the writing of printed fiction all went to women. One might also note that they include one of Nigerian ancestry, and one Filipina. (Who, apparently, is also the youngest person to win a Nebula. And, for whatever it might be worth, one who is self-identified as "queer.")

Coincidence, diversity, or political correctness? I leave it up to you.

Uprooted and Binti seem to have gotten a lot of praise. I haven't read them, and so can't comment.

"Our Lady of the Open Road" wasn't my pick, but it might have been second place.

"Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" wasn't my pick either, and would have, at best, shared third place with everything but "Today I am Paul" and "Cat Pictures Please."

I might note that among the winners we have pure fantasy, far future deep space SF, near future mundane SF, and horror. That's the best kind of diversity.