Friday, December 31, 1999

1999 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Providence, Rhode Island.

Comments: In 1999 the World Fantasy awards handed a Lifetime Achievement Award to Hugh B. Cave. This award was well-deserved, as Cave had a long and distinguished career writing fantasy fiction, but giving this award now make the decision to give Cave a Special Convention Award in 1996 all the more perplexing. Why did the judges dust off an award that hadn't been awarded in over a decade to honor Cave in 1996 if his accomplishments warranted a Lifetime Achievement Award? With about 98% of his career behind him by 1996, shouldn't Cave have qualified for a Lifetime Achievement award then? Was there some tipping point that required them to wait until 1999 when 99% of Cave's career was behind him before he was a worthy recipient?

Best Novel

Winner:
The Antelope Wife by Louise Erdrich

Other Nominees:
The Martyring by Thomas Sullivan
Mockingbird by Sean Stewart
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
Someplace to Be Flying by Charles de Lint

Best Novella

Winner:
The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod

Other Nominees:
Cold by A.S. Byatt
Dragonfly by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff by Peter Straub

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
The Specialist's Hat by Kelly Link

Other Nominees:
The Death of the Duke by Ellen Kushner
Every Angel Is Terrifying by John Kessel
Shoggoth's Old Peculiar by Neil Gaiman
Travels with the Snow Queen by Kelly Link

Best Anthology

Winner:
Dreaming Down-Under edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb

Other Nominees:
The Best of Crank! edited by Bryan Cholfin
Dark Terrors 4 edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton
Legends edited by Robert Silverberg
Starlight 2 edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Collection

Winner:
Black Glass by Karen Joy Fowler

Other Nominees:
The Cleft and Other Odd Tales by Gahan Wilson
Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand
Manitou Man: The Worlds of Graham Masterton by Graham Masterton, with Ray Clark and Matt Williams
The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Hugh B. Cave

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Charles Vess

Other Nominees:
Jim Burns
Tom Canty
Alan M. Clark
Bob Eggleton

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Jim Turner

Other Nominees:
Les Daniels
Jo Fletcher
David Pringle
Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Richard T. Chizmar

Other Nominees:
David Marshall
Steve Pasechnick
Jacob Weisman

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

1999 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: When an award has a category for adult fiction and another for young adult or children's fiction, there is a recurring question of exactly where do the borders between these two categories lie. In 1999, Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess won in the Best Adult Literature category. To a certain extent I can see why the Mythopoeic Society saw fit to classify Stardust as a work of adult fiction, but if someone had asked me whether the book was a work of adult fiction or a piece aimed at younger readers before I had seen this list, I would have replied that it was a young adult book without any hesitation. This, to me, simply reinforces the fact that the borders between categories of fiction are blurry, indistinct, and mostly idiosyncratic preferences of the observer.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess

Other Nominees:
The High House by James Stoddard
The History of Our World Beyond the Wave by R.E. Klein
Someplace to Be Flying by Charles de Lint
Song for the Basilisk by Patricia A. McKillip

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones

Other Nominees:
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) by J.K. Rowling
Heavenward Path by Kara Dalkey
The Squire's Tale by Gerald Morris

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:
C.S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide by Walter Hooper

Other Nominees:
C.S. Lewis: Writer, Dreamer & Mentor by Lionel Adey
Christian Mythmakers by Rolland Hein
Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:
A Century of Welsh Myth in Children's Literature by Donna R. White

Other Nominees:
Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children by Susan Cooper
No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock by Marina Warner
Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum by Michael O. Riley

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

1999 Clarke Award Nominees

Location: United Kingdom.

Comments: What can I say about the 1999 Clarke award ballot? A good work by a woman won the award, but that's not particularly noteworthy. There was a little gender imbalance in the list of nominees, but given the overall track record of the Clarke awards, that's not particularly upsetting. There is a distinct lack of minority writers on the ballot, but that's more or less par for the course for genre awards, and in any event, the Clarke Awards seem to have done a better job at being inclusive than most other awards, so I'll forgive them for this. No one seems to have been particularly shafted by these results - there was no one book that you look at and scratch your head wondering, "How did Dreaming in Smoke beat that book?", so there's no real controversy to be had there. other than remarking on how well-run the Clarke Awards seem to be, there is basically nothing to say about them here.

Winner
Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan

Shortlist
The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod
Cavalcade by Alison Sinclair
Earth Made of Glass by John Barnes
The Extremes by Christopher Priest
Time on My Hands: A Novel with Photographs by Peter Delacorte

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

1999 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: The most interesting thing about the 1999 Campbell Award results is not the winner, although George Zebrowski's dytopian future involving asteroid penal colonies is an excellent book. No, the most interesting thing is the nomination for Poul Anderson's book Starfarers in the twilight of the author's career. It is fairly common for an older author to receive a nomination (or even an award) late in their career for a book that is clearly not their best material more or less as a way to recognize them for their earlier, better work. But in Anderson's case, this nomination was clearly not of this sort, as Starfarers is clearly one of Anderson's better pieces of fiction, easily as good as, for example, Boat of a Million Years. Even this late in his life, Anderson was still churning out excellent fiction.

Best Novel

Winner:
Brute Orbits by George Zebrowski

Second Place:
Starfarers by Poul Anderson

Third Place:
Distraction by Bruce Sterling

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

1999 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1999, once again, the sparseness of the field of libertarian science fiction seems to have once more been on display. There's nothing in particular wrong with John Varley's The Golden Globe, and a lot that is very right about it. But what is unclear is exactly how the story of an unemployed actor going on a tour of the solar system so he can return to the Earth's moon in order to clear himself of the charge that he murdered his own father reflects libertarian values. Sure, he hitches a ride in a cargo container, plays baseball with Amish farmers on the Moon, and tangles with the Charonese Mafia, but none of the story seems to really be much more than tangentially "libertarian" in nature. The implication is that the ranks of libertarian science fiction works are so thin that one can either recognize a weak book with strong libertarian themes, or a good book that only tangentially addresses the ideology, and that seems to be a problem for an award dedicated to honoring works of libertarian science fiction.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Golden Globe by John Varley

Other Nominees:
Masque by F. Paul Wilson and Matthew Costello
Moonwar by Ben Bova
Rogue Star by Michael F. Flynn
Y2K: The Millennium Bug by Don L. Tiggre

Hall of Fame

Winner:
A Planet for Texans (aka Lonestar Planet) by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire

Other Nominees:
Circus World by Barry B. Longyear
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen
Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

Saturday, September 4, 1999

1999 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: AussieCon Three in Melbourne, Australia.

Comments: Looking at the 1999 Hugo award winners alongside the other nominees they were competing against, I can only incredulously think "The Truman Show? How in the world did that overly long, pretentious, bore fest that consisted of almost nothing but Jim Carey mugging for the camera win a Hugo?" And then one looks at the competition and the mystery becomes even deeper. It should come as no surprise that in my opinion the Babylon 5 episode Sleeping in the Light should have won, but how did The Truman Show beat out Pleasantville and Dark City as well? It is just inexplicable unless one assumes that Peter Weir had pictures of the entire Hugo voting pool in compromising positions with farm animals.

And the reason for this conclusion is that with respect to the rest of the award categories, the voters seem to have done a creditable job of selecting worthwhile winners. If the other categories had had as inexplicably silly winners as the Best Dramatic Presentation category, then one could chalk The Truman Show's win up to the voters simply having lost their minds in a kind of mob mental lapse. But Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog is a fine novel, and a deserving Hugo winner, as are the winners in all the other categories, so the mystery remains.

Best Novel

Winner:
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Other Finalists:
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer

Best Novella

Winner:
Oceanic by Greg Egan

Other Finalists:
Aurora in Four Voices by Catherine Asaro
Get Me to the Church on Time by Terry Bisson
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod

Best Novelette

Winner:
Taklamakan by Bruce Sterling

Other Finalists:
Divided by Infinity by Robert Charles Wilson
Echea by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Planck Dive by Greg Egan
Steamship Soldier on the Information Front by Nancy Kress
Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages
Zwarte Piet's Tale by Allen M. Steele

Best Short Story

Winner:
The Very Pulse of the Machine by Michael Swanwick

Other Finalists:
Cosmic Corkscrew by Michael A. Burstein
Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling
Radiant Doors by Michael Swanwick
Whiptail by Robert Reed
Wild Minds by Michael Swanwick

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:
The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World by Thomas M. Disch

Other Finalists:
The Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards by Howard DeVore
Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years by Everett F. Bleiler
Spectrum 5: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner
The Work of Jack Williamson: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide by Richard A. Hauptmann

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
The Truman Show

Other Finalists:
Babylon 5: Sleeping in Light
Dark City
Pleasantville
Star Trek: Insurrection

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Gardner Dozois

Other Finalists:
Scott Edelman
David G. Hartwell
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Stanley Schmidt
Gordon van Gelder

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Bob Eggleton

Other Finalists:
Jim Burns
Donato Giancola
Don Maitz
Nick Stathopoulos
Michael Whelan

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown

Other Finalists:
Interzone edited by David Pringle
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Ariel Haméon, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin J. Maroney
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew I. Porter
Speculations edited by Denise Lee

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Ansible edited by Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Mimosa edited by Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch
Plokta edited by Alison Scott and Steve Davies
Tangent edited by David Truesdale
Thyme edited by Alan Stewart

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
Bob Devney
Mike Glyer
Evelyn C. Leeper
Maureen Kincaid Speller

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Ian Gunn

Other Finalists:
Freddie Baer
Brad W. Foster
Teddy Harvia
Joe Mayhew
D. West

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Nalo Hopkinson

Other Finalists:
Kage Baker
Julie E. Czerneda
Susan R. Matthews
James Van Pelt

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's finalists: 1998
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

Saturday, July 3, 1999

1999 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Westercon in Spokane, Washington.

Comments: In 1999, after a one year hiatus, the Best Horror or Dark Fantasy category returned for one final hurrah before being discontinued permanently. This award, which was won in this year by Stephen King for only the second time overall, has always struck me as being somewhat confused and redundant. although I am only a casual horror fan, I can definitely see a need for a dedicated Best Horror Novel category as a large proportions of horror novels don't really fit under either the science fiction or fantasy designations. If Locus wants to recognize works from the horror genre, a dedicated category would seem like the best option.

On the other hand, the "dark fantasy" half of the category is, in my view, more problematic. Although the lines between genres are often blurred and indistinct, the distinction between "fantasy" and "dark fantasy" is not so much indistinct as nonexistent. The is simply so much overlap between these two that trying the to determine which category a particular book fits into is something of a fool's errand. This dichotomy between the two halves of the category means that although it was probably for the best that this is the last year it was awarded, its loss was also not an entirely happy event.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Other Nominees:
2.   Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
3.   The Alien Years by Robert Silverberg
4.   Distraction by Bruce Sterling
5.   The Golden Globe by John Varley
6.   Cosm by Gregory Benford
7.   Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
8.   Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
9.   Ports of Call by Jack Vance
10. Starfarers by Poul Anderson
11. (tie) Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear
      (tie) Six Moon Dance by Sheri S. Tepper
13. Maximum Light by Nancy Kress
14. Moonseed by Stephen Baxter
15. Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
16. Mission Child by Maureen F. McHugh
17. Vast by Linda Nagata
18. Child of the River by Paul J. McAuley
19. Deepdrive by Alexander Jablokov
20. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
21. Otherland: River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams
22. Earth Made of Glass by John Barnes
23. The Children Star by Joan Slonczewski
24. Bloom by Wil McCarthy
25. Noir by K.W. Jeter
26. Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
27. Prisoner of Conscience by Susan R. Matthews
28. Kirinya by Ian McDonald
29. The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod
30. The Shapes of Their Hearts by Melissa Scott

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Other Nominees:
2.   Stardust by Neil Gaiman
3.   Mockingbird by Sean Stewart
4.   Heartfire by Orson Scott Card
5.   Fortress of Eagles by C.J. Cherryh
6.   Newton's Cannon by J. Gregory Keyes
7.   Song for the Basilisk by Patricia A. McKillip
8.   (tie) Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
      (tie) Someplace to Be Flying by Charles de Lint
10. Dragon's Winter by Elizabeth A. Lynn
11. Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliott
12. Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
13. The One-Armed Queen by Jane Yolen
14. Changer by Jane Lindskold
15. Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean
16. The Gilded Chain by Dave Duncan
17. The Innamorati by Midori Snyder
18. (tie) Bhagavati by Kara Dalkey
      (tie) The Book of Knights by Yves Meynard
20. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) by J.K. Rowling

Best Horror or Dark Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Other Nominees:
2.   Flanders by Patricia Anthony
3.   The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
4.   Galilee by Clive Barker
5.   Darker Angels by S.P. Somtow
6.   Homebody by Orson Scott Card
7.   Irrational Fears by William Browning Spencer
8.   Faces Under Water by Tanith Lee
9.   Judgment of Tears: Anno Dracula 1959 by Kim Newman
10. Fog Heart by Thomas Tessier
11. Santa Steps Out by Robert Devereaux

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.    Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Other Nominees:
2.   Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman
3.   In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
4.   Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) by J.K. Rowling
5.   Green Rider by Kristen Britain
6.   Silk by Caitlín R. Kiernan
7.   The Last Dragonlord by Joanne Bertin
8.   The Iron Bridge by David Morse
9.   Dawn Song by Michael Marano
10. The High House by James Stoddard
11. Nameless Magery by Delia Marshall Turner
12. A Scientific Romance by Ronald Wright
13. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
14. Anvil by Nicholas van Pallandt
15. The Wild Hunt: Vengeance Moon by Jocelin Foxe
16. Dragonclaw: Book One of The Witches of Eileanan (aka The Witches of Eileanan) by Kate Forsyth

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   Oceanic by Greg Egan

Other Nominees:
2.   Dragonfly by Ursula K. Le Guin
3.   The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
4.   The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
5.   The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod
6.   Aurora in Four Voices by Catherine Asaro
7.   Get Me to the Church on Time by Terry Bisson
8.   A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
9.   A Princess of Helium by R. Garcia y Robertson
10. (tie) The Colonel in Autumn by Robert Silverberg
      (tie) Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
12. Ancestral Voices by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
13. Reading the Bones by Sheila Finch
14. Mother Death by Robert Reed
15. Sea Change, with Monsters by Paul J. McAuley
16. Jumping Off the Planet by David Gerrold
17. Coolhunting by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
18. The Days of Solomon Gursky by Ian McDonald
19. The Bradshaw by Judith Moffett
20. Grist by Tony Daniel
21. The Cuckoo's Boys by Robert Reed

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   (tie) The Planck Dive by Greg Egan
      (tie) Taklamakan by Bruce Sterling

Other Nominees:
3.   All the Birds of Hell by Tanith Lee
4.   Echea by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
5.   Lovestory by James Patrick Kelly
6.   Waiting for the End by Robert Silverberg
7.   Divided by Infinity by Robert Charles Wilson
8.   Steamship Soldier on the Information Front by Nancy Kress
9.   A Dance to Strange Musics by Gregory Benford
10. Starfall by R. Garcia y Robertson
11. Lost Girls by Jane Yolen
12. Approaching Perimelasma by Geoffrey A. Landis
13. Zwarte Piet's Tale by Allen M. Steele
14. The Barrier by Stephen Baxter
15. Rules of Engagement by Michael F. Flynn
16. Brown Dust by Esther M. Friesner
17. A Life on Mars by G. David Nordley
18. The Picture Business by Walter Jon Williams
19. The Flying Dutchman by John Varley
20. The Rainmaker by Mary Rosenblum
21. The Eye of God by Mary Rosenblum
22. The Allies by Mark S. Geston
23. The Gardens of Saturn by Paul J. McAuley
24. Down in the Dark by William Barton
25. Home Time by Ian R. MacLeod
26. Getting to Know You by David Marusek
27. The Mercy Gate by Mark J. McGarry
28. Transit by Stephen Dedman
29. (tie) The GUAC Bug by Charles L. Harness
      (tie) Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages

Best Short Story
Winner:
1.   Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling

Other Nominees:
2.   Radiant Doors by Michael Swanwick
3.   Mr. Goober's Show by Howard Waldrop
4.   Moon-Calf by Stephen Baxter
5.   Dante Dreams by Stephen Baxter
6.   Wild Minds by Michael Swanwick
7.   Every Angel Is Terrifying by John Kessel
8.   First Fire by Terry Bisson
9.   Whiptail by Robert Reed
10. 17 by Paul J. McAuley
11. The Very Pulse of the Machine by Michael Swanwick
12. The Year of the Mouse by Norman Spinrad
13. US by Howard Waldrop
14. Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N. Sirsi and Sandra Botkin by Raphael Carter
15. Microcosmic Dog by Michael Swanwick
16. Savior by Robert Reed
17. The Stubbornest Broad on Earth by Janet Kagan
18. The Wire Continuum by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
19. (tie) Out of Space, Out of Time by David Langford
      (tie) Radio Praha by Tony Daniel
21. Tiger, Tiger by Severna Park
22. (tie) Options by Hal Clement
      (tie) Wrapper by Gene Wolfe
24. While You Wait by Kathy Oltion

Best Collection
Winner:
1.   The Avram Davidson Treasury by Avram Davidson, edited by Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis

Other Nominees:
2.   Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
3.   Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick
4.   Luminous by Greg Egan
5.   Beaker's Dozen by Nancy Kress
6.   First Contacts: The Essential Murray Leinster by Murray Leinster
7.   Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand
8.   The Perfect Host: Volume V: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon by Theodore Sturgeon, edited by Paul Williams
9.   An Ornament to His Profession by Charles L. Harness
10. Traces by Stephen Baxter
11. One Day Closer to Death by Bradley Denton
12. Black Glass by Karen Joy Fowler
13. The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady
14. The Invisible Country by Paul J. McAuley
15. A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
16. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
17. The Moon Maid and Other Fantastic Adventures by R. Garcia y Robertson
18. Lost Pages by Paul Di Filippo
19. Are You Loathsome Tonight? by Poppy Z. Brite
20. Frankensteins and Foreign Devils by Walter Jon Williams
21. Extremities by Kathe Koja
22. Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Dark Side by John Shirley

Best Anthology
Winner:
1.   Legends edited by Robert Silverberg

Other Nominees:
2.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois
3.   Starlight 2 edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
4.   Year's Best SF 3 edited by David G. Hartwell
5.   The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eleventh Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
6.   The Good Old Stuff edited by Gardner Dozois
7.   Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction edited by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel
8.   Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny edited by Martin H. Greenberg
9.   Nebula Awards 32 edited by Jack Dann
10. The Best of Crank! edited by Bryan Cholfin
11. The Fantasy Hall of Fame edited by Robert Silverberg
12. The Playboy Book of Science Fiction edited by Alice K. Turner
13. Nanotech edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
14. The Road to Science Fiction Volume 5: The British Way edited by James E. Gunn
15. Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
16. Dreaming Down-Under edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb
17. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Nine edited by Stephen Jones
18. Dark Terrors 4 edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton
19. The Road to Science Fiction Volume 6: Around the World edited by James E. Gunn
20. Tesseracts6 edited by Robert J. Sawyer and Carolyn Clink

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:
1.   The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World by Thomas M. Disch

Other Nominees:
2.   Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years by Everett F. Bleiler
3.   The Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards by Howard DeVore
4.   Lovecraft Remembered edited by Peter Cannon
5.   The Work of Jack Williamson: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide by Richard A. Hauptmann
6.   The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy: The Definitive Illustrated Guide edited by David Pringle
7.   (tie) Northern Dreamers: Interviews with Famous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers by Edo van Belkom
      (tie) St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, and Gothic Writers edited by David Pringle
9.   Windows of the Imagination by Darrell Schweitzer
10. Alternative Alices edited by Carolyn Sigler

Best Art Book
Winner:
1.   Spectrum 5: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner

Other Nominees:
2.   Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta by Frank Frazetta
3.   Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines by Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson
4.   Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
5.   Barlowe's Inferno by Wayne Douglas Barlowe
6.  Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud
7.   Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers by Dave McKean
8.   To Every Thing There Is a Season by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
9.   H.R. Giger's Retrospective 1964-1984 by H.R. Giger
10. Imagination Fully Dilated edited by Alan M. Clark and Elizabeth Engstrom

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2.   David G. Hartwell
3.   Gordon van Gelder
4.   Ellen Datlow
5.   Stanley Schmidt
6.   Patrick Nielsen Hayden
7.   Robert Silverberg
8.   Scott Edelman
9.   David Pringle
10. Terri Windling
11. Martin H. Greenberg
12. Shawna McCarthy

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Asimov's

Other Nominees:
2.   Fantasy & Science Fiction
3.   Analog
4.   Science Fiction Age
5.   Interzone
6.   Realms of Fantasy
7.   The New York Review of Science Fiction
8.   Science Fiction Chronicle

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Tor

Other Nominees:
2.   Bantam Spectra
3.   Avon Eos
4.   DAW
5.   HarperPrism
6.   Del Rey
7.   Baen
8.   Ace
9.   St. Martin's
10. NESFA Press
11. Roc
12. Warner Aspect
13. White Wolf
14. Science Fiction Book Club

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Bob Eggleton
3.   Wayne Douglas Barlowe
4.   Thomas Canty
5.   Jim Burns
6.   Dave McKean
7.   Don Maitz
8.   Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
9.   Alan M. Clark
10. Frank Frazetta
11. Charles Vess
12. David A. Cherry
13. Vincent Di Fate
14. Brian Froud

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

Book Award Reviews     Home

Saturday, May 1, 1999

1999 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Comments: In 1999, Joe Haldeman won the Best Novel Nebula for his almost but not quite sequel to The Forever War titled Forever Peace. Both are excellent novels, but neither is actually connected to one another except thematically. As a result, Haldeman won two Nebula Awards with two novels with very similar titles but which are not related to one another in any meaningful way. I'm not sure how this achievement stacks up in terms of notable Nebula Award victories, but I think it is interesting.

From my perspective, however, the real story of this year's awards is that the SFWA dusted off the Ray Bradbury Award so that they could award it to the greatest television show of all time: Babylon 5. While the Hugo Awards got around to honoring Babylon 5 first, they only bestowed awards upon two individual episodes. The SFWA, on the other hand, handed Straczynski and award for the entire run of the series, recognizing the triumphant achievement that it was.

Best Novel

Winner:
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

Other Nominees:
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove
The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Best Novella

Winner:
Reading the Bones by Sheila Finch

Other Nominees:
Aurora in Four Voices by Catherine Asaro
The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
Ecopoiesis by Geoffrey A. Landis
Izzy and the Father of Terror by Eliot Fintushel
Jumping Off the Planet by David Gerrold

Best Novelette

Winner:
Lost Girls by Jane Yolen

Other Nominees:
Echea by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lethe by Walter Jon Williams
The Mercy Gate by Mark J. McGarry
Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages
The Truest Chill by Gregory Feeley

Best Short Story

Winner:
Thirteen Ways to Water by Bruce Holland Rogers

Other Nominees:
Fortune and Misfortune by Lisa Goldstein
Standing Room Only by Karen Joy Fowler
Tall One by K.D. Wentworth
When the Bow Breaks by Steven Brust
Winter Fire by Geoffrey A. Landis

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Babylon 5 by J. Michael Straczynski

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1998
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2000

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