The Mammoth Book of Nebula Awards SF Read online

  Kevin J. Anderson is the author of more than a hundred novels, forty-seven of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists. He has over twenty million books in print in thirty languages. He has won or been nominated for numerous prestigious awards, including the Nebula Award, Bram Stoker Award, the SFX Reader’s Choice Award, the American Physics Society’s Forum Award and New York Times Notable Book.

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  First published in the USA as The Nebula Awards Showcase 2011

  by Tor, a division of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2011

  First published in the UK by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012

  Copyright © The Science Fiction Writers of America, 2011

  The right of The Science Fiction Writers of America to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in

  Publication Data is available from the British Library

  ISBN: 978-1-78033-429-5 (paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-78033-430-1 (ebook)

  Printed and bound in the UK

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Introduction copyright © 2010 by WordFire, Inc.

  “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela” copyright © 2009 by Saladin Ahmed. Originally published in Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Books, July 2009.

  “I Remember the Future” copyright © 2008 by Michael A. Burstein. Originally published by Apex Publications, November 2008.

  “Non-Zero Probabilities” copyright © 2009 by N. K. Jemisin. Originally published in Clarkesworld, November 2009.

  “Going Deep” copyright © 2009 by James Patrick Kelly. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2009.

  “Bridesicle” copyright © 2009 by Will McIntosh. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, January 2009.

  “Spar” copyright © 2009 by Kij Johnson. Originally published in Clarkesworld, October 2009.

  “Neal Barrett, Jr.: Writer of Excellence, and My Brother” copyright © 2009 by Joe R. Lansdale.

  “Getting Dark” copyright © 2009 by Neal Barrett, Jr. Originally published by Subterranean Press.

  “The Gambler” copyright © 2008 by Paolo Bacigalupi. Originally published in Fast Forward 2, Pyr Books, October 2008.

  “Vinegar Peace (or, the Wrong-Way, Used-Adult Orphanage)” copyright © 2008 by Michael Bishop. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2008.

  “I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said” copyright © 2009 by Richard Bowes. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2009.

  “Divining Light” copyright © 2008 by Ted Kosmatka. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 2008; artwork copyright © 2008. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction. Used by permission.

  “A Memory of Wind” copyright © 2009 by Rachel Swirsky. Originally published by Tor.com, November 2009.

  “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” copyright © 2009 by Eugie Foster. Originally published in Interzone, February 2009.

  Joe Haldeman introduction copyright © 2010 by Connie Willis.

  “A !Tangled Web” copyright © 1981 by Joe Haldeman. Originally published in Analog magazine.

  The Women of Nell Gwynne’s copyright © 2009 by Kage Baker. Originally published by Subterranean Press.

  “Song for an Ancient City” copyright © 2008 by Amal El-Mohtar. Originally published in Mythic Delirium 19, Summer/Fall 2008.

  “Search” copyright © 2008 by Geoffrey A. Landis. Originally published in Helix SF 10, October 2008.

  “Fireflies” copyright © 2008 by Geoffrey A. Landis. Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2008.

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION • Kevin J. Anderson

  FINAL 2009 NEBULA BALLOT

  SHORT STORY

  “HOOVES AND THE HOVEL OF ABDEL JAMEELA” • Saladin Ahmed

  “I REMEMBER THE FUTURE” • Michael A. Burstein

  “NON-ZERO PROBABILITIES” • N. K. Jemisin

  “GOING DEEP” • James Patrick Kelly

  “BRIDESICLE” • Will McIntosh

  Nebula Award Winner: “SPAR” • Kij Johnson

  SFWA AUTHOR EMERITUS – NEAL BARRETT, JR.

  NEAL BARRETT, JR.: WRITER OF EXCELLENCE, AND MY BROTHER • Joe R. Lansdale

  “GETTING DARK” • Neal Barrett, Jr.

  NOVELETTE

  “THE GAMBLER” • Paolo Bacigalupi

  “VINEGAR PEACE (OR, THE WRONG-WAY, USED-ADULT ORPHANAGE)” • Michael Bishop

  “I NEEDS MUST PART, THE POLICEMAN SAID” • Richard Bowes

  “DIVINING LIGHT” • Ted Kosmatka

  “A MEMORY OF WIND” • Rachel Swirsky

  Nebula Award Winner: “SINNER, BAKER, FABULIST, PRIEST; RED MASK, BLACK MASK, GENTLEMAN, BEAST” • Eugie Foster

  SFWA DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER

  SFWA DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER: JOE HALDEMAN • Mark Kreighbaum

  Appreciation by Connie Willis

  “A !TANGLED WEB” • Joe Haldeman

  NOVELLA

  Nebula Award Winner: THE WOMEN OF NELL GWYNNE’S • Kage Baker

  RHYSLING AWARDS

  “SONG FOR AN ANCIENT CITY” • Amal El-Mohtar

  “SEARCH” • Geoffrey A. Land
is

  “FIREFLIES” • Geoffrey A. Landis

  OTHER AWARDS

  ABOUT THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA

  ABOUT THE NEBULA AWARDS

  COMPLETE LIST OF PAST NEBULA WINNERS

  INTRODUCTION

  Kevin J. Anderson

  For forty-five years, the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have been reading, pondering, dickering over, and selecting the most exceptional works in the genre. Each year, they present the prestigious Nebula Award for Best Novel, Novella (17,500-40,000 words), Novelette (7,500-17,500 words), and Short Story (less than 7,500 words). The first ceremonies, in 1965, honored works by Frank Herbert, Brian W. Aldiss, Roger Zelazny, and Harlan Ellison. Not a bad start.

  Throughout each year, the fifteen hundred or so members of SFWA send in recommendations to call attention to works they find worthy of consideration. If a story or novel receives enough recommendations within a year of publication, the work is included on that year’s Preliminary Ballot. The full members of SFWA vote on the shortlisted works to winnow them down to four candidates in each category (a special jury can also add works that they feel slipped through the cracks), and that’s the final Nebula ballot, from which the winners are chosen.

  Hence, the contents of this Showcase.

  The genre’s rival award, the Hugo, is chosen by the readers and fans, the equivalent of the People’s Choice Awards. The Hugo and Nebula audiences’ tastes don’t always agree, but both awards are an impressive feather in an author’s cap. For me, the final ballots serve another vital purpose: providing SF and fantasy readers with a cream-of-the-crop reading list.

  When I grew up as a kid in small-town Wisconsin, with a whole section of the public library devoted to science fiction (as denoted by little rocket stickers on the spines), it was hard to know where to start. The section was daunting and huge – six whole shelves filled with science fiction books! I could have begun at the top and worked my way down, which would have made me very familiar with Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke, but I would never have made it to Zelazny. Obviously, not a good system.

  Instead, I turned to the Nebula Awards anthologies for a selection of each year’s best work; from there, with a checklist of past Nebula novel winners, I was steered toward such masterpieces as Ringworld, The Forever War, Rendezvous with Rama, Man Plus, Gateway, Stardance, and many others. I studied the works, learned from them, and (most of all) enjoyed them.

  By age twelve I was already an aspiring writer sending stories out in the mail, and starting my pile of rejection slips. My interest in writing did not go unnoticed, and teachers began to encourage me. I got connected with a local book-review service and found myself with as many free novels as I could read, so long as I turned in reviews afterward. (I was only fifteen at the time, and “book review” felt more like a “book report.”) The book review editor encouraged me to attend a local science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin – WisCon. He even loaned me the $15 membership fee. That was where I met my very first real-live New York editor, David Hartwell. I was just a high-school kid, too shy to talk much, and I wondered if all professional editors wore such strange neckties. (Hartwell, by the way, is also Tor’s editor for this very book, and we have worked together on other projects as well.)

  After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, I moved away from the Midwest – still wanting to be an author – and took a job in the San Francisco area as a technical writer for a large research laboratory. There I discovered a much wider world of fandom, other like-minded aspiring authors, writers’ workshops, and frequent conventions. I attended my first Nebula Awards ceremony in 1985 at the swanky Claremont Hotel in Oakland, California (nobody told me I wasn’t supposed to wear my battered Star Wars T-shirt), where I watched Orson Scott Card receive the Nebula for Ender’s Game.

  I published my first professional stories, sold my first novel, then three more novels, joined SFWA as a full member – and suddenly authors and publishers began sending me novels and stories to consider for the Nebula Award. Instead of just looking at each year’s nominees and winners as a list of good fiction to read, I could cast my vote, add my recommendation to books and stories that I found particularly noteworthy. It was a heady responsibility (and a tough task for a relatively slow reader). Just keeping up with all the best writing was nearly impossible.

  Each year’s Nebula Awards Showcase certainly helps.

  Tastes and styles have changed over the years, but the works that are recommended and nominated by SFWA members always form a melting pot of science fiction and fantasy: bold ideas, excellent world-building, clear and precise prose, or mind-bending experimental writing – the whole gamut.

  This volume is no different. Reading these stories, you will find a wide range of colorful fantasy, experimental speculative fiction, steampunk, edgy near-mainstream, and hard SF. The tales will take you from the distant past, to a skewed modern day, to the far future, as well as to sideways points in between. Tor Books has generously allowed us the space to include not only the winning works in the three short-form categories, but also all of the nominees in the Novelette and Short Story categories. I guarantee that you’ll love something here.

  Let the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America show you our best.

  FINAL 2009

  NEBULA BALLOT

  Short Story

  “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed (Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Books, July 2009)

  “I Remember the Future,” Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future, Apex Publications, November 2008)

  “Non-Zero Probabilities,” N. K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld, November 2009)

  “Spar,” Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, October 2009)

  “Going Deep,” James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2009)

  “Bridesicle,” Will McIntosh (Asimov’s Science Fiction, January 2009)

  Novelette

  “The Gambler,” Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2, Pyr Books, October 2008)

  “Vinegar Peace (or, the Wrong-Way, Used-Adult Orphanage),” Michael Bishop (Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2008)

  “I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said,” Richard Bowes (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2009)

  “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast,” Eugie Foster (Interzone, February 2009)

  “Divining Light,” Ted Kosmatka (Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 2008)

  “A Memory of Wind,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com, November 2009)

  Novella

  The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press, June 2009)

  Arkfall, Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 2009)

  Act One, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2009)

  Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon, February 2009)

  Sublimation Angels, Jason Sanford (Interzone, October 2009)

  The God Engines, John Scalzi ( Subterranean Press, December 2009)

  Novel

  The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books, September 2009)

  The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak (Bantam, November 2008)

  Flesh and Fire, Laura Anne Gilman (Pocket, October 2009)

  The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey, May 2009)

  Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor, September 2009)

  Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland Press, October 2009)

  The Ray Bradbury Award for

  Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

  Star Trek, JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Paramount, May 2009)

  District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (Tri-Star, August 2009)

  Avatar, James Cameron (Fox, December 2009)

  Moon, Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker (Sony, June 2009)

  Up, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar, May 2009)

  Coraline, Henry Selic
k (Laika/Focus, February 2009)

  Andre Norton Award for

  Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

  Hotel Under the Sand, Kage Baker (Tachyon, July 2009)

  Ice, Sarah Beth Durst (Simon & Schuster, October 2009)

  Ash, Malinda Lo (Little, Brown and Company, September 2009)

  Eyes Like Stars, Lisa Mantchev (Feiwel and Friends, July 2009)

  Zoe’s Tale, John Scalzi (Tor Books, August 2008)

  When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, July, 2009)

  The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Catherynne M. Valente, June 2009)

  Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse, October 2009)

  SHORT

  STORY

  HOOVES AND THE

  HOVEL OF ABDEL

  JAMEELA

  Saladin Ahmed

  FROM THE AUTHOR: “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela” is actually a prosification of a very short poem I wrote years ago. The poem consisted entirely of a single image – an old man somewhere in the medieval Islamic world defying the narrow-minded by declaring his love for a hooved woman. Translating this image into a story, of course, introduced deeper demands in terms of plot and character. These demands eventually led to the story that appears here. Most of the characters’ names, by the way, are vaguely allegorical or otherwise playful – “Abdel Jameela,” for instance, might be roughly translated as “servant (or slave) of beauty.”

  AS SOON AS I arrive in the village of Beit Zujaaj I begin to hear the mutters about Abdel Jameela, a strange old man supposedly unconnected to any of the local families. Two days into my stay the villagers fall over one another to share with me the rumors that Abdel Jameela is in fact distantly related to the esteemed Assad clan. By my third day in Beit Zujaaj, several of the Assads, omniscient as “important” families always are in these piles of cottages, have accosted me to deny the malicious whispers. No doubt they are worried about the bad impression such an association might make on me, favorite physicker of the Caliph’s own son.