Novel: The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)This year’s Grand Master was Joe Haldeman, and the “Author Emeritus” (a title I will always loathe) was Neal Barrett. Also honored, with SFWA’s new Solstice award (the title of which also has an undertone of “you’re old and eclipsed,” but at least it is an undertone), were Tom Doherty, Terri Windling, and the late Donald Wollheim.
Novella: The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
Novelette: “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast”, Eugie Foster (Interzone 2/09)
Short Story: “Spar”, Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
Ray Bradbury Award: District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (Tri-Star)
Andre Norton Award: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (www.catherynnemvalente.com)
It's an interesting list, with some bittersweet outcomes (Kage Baker getting it so soon after her death) and some oddities (the Bacigalupi novel has gotten very mixed reviews -- I guess I'll have to read it myself now, though I've been avoiding it since he's depressing and axe-grinding enough in short form that I didn't want to inflict several hundred pages of the same on myself). I'm also not certain what to make of Valente's win in the Norton -- is it another sign that Nebula voters are utterly detached from the actual YA field, or is it a show of support for a fine writer from their community trying something interesting? (Valente published that novel online herself for "tips" -- a strategy that SFWA was debating very loudly just a few years back.) Either way, it's another book I need to find time to read, along with so many more.
I also note, as a publishing person, that smaller presses took the entire field this year -- even District 9 was arguably the movie from the smallest production house. (Though Moon is the other side of that argument.)
Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!
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