Nebula Winners!

So, here's my analysis of this year's Nebula winners. It's brief because I'm tired from way too much videoconferencing over the weekend.

Ray Bradbury:

Good Omens: "Hard Times." I need to see this show. I need to see this show. Somehow. I don't want to subscribe to Prime... (Please don't suggest anything involving a skull and crossbones).

Andre Norton:

Riverland by Fran Wilde. Many congratulations, Fran. My number one remains Henry Lien's delightful Peasprout Chen, but apparently people wanted a more serious book this year.

(Content warning: Riverland deals with domestic violence. It does so beautifully and with wonderful nuance, but it goes there).

Game Writing:

The Outer Worlds from Obsidian Entertainment.

Unfortunately, the only tabletop supplement nominated was one I would have given an ENnie to for sure, but not a Nebula. Amazing work, but the Nebula should be about story.

Short Story:

"Give the Family My Love" by A.T. Greenblatt. I preferred "A Catalog of Storms" but everything in this category deserved to win.

Novelette

"Carpe Glitter" by Cat Rambo. Amazing story that well deserved its win.

Novella:

"This Is How You Lose The Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. How is this Gladstone's first win? The epistolary form is hard and perhaps works better when you have two different writers...

Novel:

A Song For A New Day by Sarah Pinsker.

I thought the pandemic was going to screw this wonderful exploration of a dystopia where people are not allowed to gather face to face. Instead, it looks like the opposite happened.

My #1 book of 2019 remains Arkady Martine's wonderful space opera, A Memory Called Empire, but I can't say this book didn't deserve to win.

They all did.

This was a tough year for sure. 2020 may bring some oddities with many books delayed by the pandemic (which probably means 2021 is going to be...fun).