The preliminary list of nominees for the 2007 Nebula Awards have been announced. Below are the novel selections, with the novella, novelette, short story and film selections available at the SFWA site. Some of the novels have free links as listed below, although some require you to be a SFWA member. My favourite of those I’ve read is Chabon’s excellent alternate history. What do people think of the list?
NOVELS:
Ragamuffin, by Tobias Buckell
(Tor, Jun07) First Third available on his website for free
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, by Michael Chabon
(HarperCollins, May07)
Species Imperative #3: Regeneration, by Julie E. Czerneda (full PDF on Private Edition)
(DAW, May06)
Vellum: The Book of All Hours, by Hal Duncan
(Del Rey, Apr06 (Macmillan hardcover Nov05 (UK)))
The Accidental Time Machine, by Joe Haldeman
(Ace, Aug07)
The New Moon’s Arms, by Nalo Hopkinson
(Warner Books, Feb07)
Mainspring, by Jay Lake
(Tor, Jun07)
Odyssey, by Jack McDevitt (full PDF on Private Edition)
(Ace, Nov06)
The Outback Stars, by Sandra McDonald
(Tor, May07)
Strange Robby, by Selina Rosen (full PDF and hardcopy offer on Private Edition)
(Meisha Merlin Publishing Jul06)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
(Scholastic Press, Jul07)
Rollback, by Robert J. Sawyer
(Analog, Feb07 (serialized in Oct06 through Jan/Feb07 issues; Tor book, Apr07))
Blindsight, by Peter Watts (free Creative Commons versions)
(Tor, Oct06)
[links from the SFWA page, via numerous editors and authors]
At the risk of sounding a trifle partisan, I’m right behind Niall Harrison, who holds up the list of nominees for this year’s BSFA Best Novel award for comparison, and finds the Nebulas sorely lacking in currency.
As Niall points out, this is the big difference between awards where the nominations are made by other professionals in the industry (Nebulas) and fans (BSFA). I don’t think you can say that one method is inherently *better* than the other … but I know which of the two I take seriously when looking for new titles to check out.
[Disclosure – I am a BSFA member.]
I have to admit the Nebula list doesn’t excite me that much either – I thought Ragamuffin and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union were great but where’s Brasyl, Black Man, The Prefect, Un Lun Dun, Spook Country, any of the three Kim Stanley Robinson climate change books, anything by Charles Stross? Although I’m sure there’s a few good titles on the Nebula list I haven’t read, the BSFA list has so many more of the books I’d consider ‘must have’ from last year.