Nebula Awards Showcase 2000

I haven't had a chance to read the annual Nebula Awards volumes lately, so this book was a pleasant surprise. Gregory Benford does a fine job as editor, though some of his selections are weak, most notably Jane Yolen's "Lost Girls". The finest stories are Sheila Finch's "Reading the Bones", Walter Jon Williams' "Lethe", and especially, Geoffrey A. Landis' "Winter Fire". The critical essays on science fiction are also notable too, with Jonathan Lethem's essay - originally published in New York City's Village Voice - the most daringly thoughtful, even if I don't agree completely with his sentiments. Anyone interested in seeing where science fiction is now, should read this latest installment of Nebula Awards anthologies.

If you like science fiction short stories, the annual Nebula award compilations are always a good buy. The selections are sometimes a bit quirky, and this year I did think some of the runner-up stories were stronger than the winner, but they're always interesting. Collect the whole set!

If you aren't familiar with the Nebula Awards series of books, you don't know what you are missing! This anthology series collects the best science fiction of the previous year as voted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and their choices are usually on the money. I've been buying this compendium every year for the last five or six years, and I read it frequently before that -- when I could find a copy. First off, this 34th in the series is edited by Gregory Benford, author of Timescape.This series used to have a regular editor, Pamela Sargent, and while Mr. Benford has done a capable job with Nebula Awards 34 -- I do wish Pamela Sargent would return as editor to this series. I found her work to be more consistent, and some of her choices more unique, than the three editors (Jack Dann, Connie Willis, Gregory Benford) that have handled the anthology under a rotating editorship ever since her departure.Over a course of time, a rotating editorship just does not have the authoritative power or retain the cohesive voice of a series, and I think certain values are lost when a collection such as this is not tended to by a single editor. Of the last three issues in the anthology, I would have to say Jack Dann did the best job -- so if Pamela Sargent is never to return as editor to this series -- I do wish that Jack Dann would be made the permanent editor.Of the one novella, six stories, nine essays, and two poems presented here, I would say there are three outstanding items -- the novella "Reading the Bones" by Sheila Finch, the story "Winter Fire" by Geoffrey A. Landis, and the story "Lethe" by Walter Jon Williams. Sheila Finch has written a novella "Reading the Bones" (another in her Lingster series) that is simply stellar. The plot revolves around Ries Danyo, a substance-addicted linguist stranded on the alien planet Krishna, trying to save both his life and the lives of the two daughters of his employers, who have already been murdered by the natives. The whole novella, really an analysis of the development of languages both spoken and written, is all the more terrifying when you realize that ancient cultures actually used human bones to develop the characters of the written Chinese language just like the aliens in this story do to develop their Frehti alphabet. A very satisfying read indeed, and I look forward to more by this author.Dr. Geoffrey Landis (he helped build the Sojourner rover that explored Mars in 1997) has contributed perhaps the most powerful story, "Winter Fire", the ruminations of a 112 year old Japanese survivor of a war in Salzburg, Austria in 2108. The story of her girlhood struggle for order and survival, and the ultimate fate of her foster-father Johann Achtenberg is enough to bring tears to the eyes. The parallels between this story and the present day wars in Bosnia and other par

Nebula Awards Showcase presents the special picks of notable science fiction authors and award-winners who have banded together to present their own choices for 'best' science fiction and fantasy. Jane Yolen's 'Lost Girls', about a child transported to a world of Wendys and unfair Peter Pans, a man's special sacrifice for aliens in Finch's 'Reading the Bones', and others present a satisfyingly diverse showcase of fresh, innovative stories.