2016 Nebula Awards Winners

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced the winners of the 50th Annual Nebula Awards, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book tonight in Chicago.

Novel

  • Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Novella

  • Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)

Novelette

  • ‘‘Our Lady of the Open Road’’, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 6/15)

Short Story

  • ‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

  • Mad Max: Fury Road, Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

  • Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)

Other Awards: Gay Haldeman presented the Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award to Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen.

Jodi Lynn Nye presented the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award to Sir Terry Pratchett. The Solstice Award is presented to individuals who have had a significant impact on the science fiction or fantasy landscape, and is particularly intended for those who have consistently made a major positive difference within the speculative fiction field, much like its namesake.

Cat Rambo presented the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award to C.J. Cherryh. This award is given by SFWA for “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.”

75 thoughts on “2016 Nebula Awards Winners

  1. I’m also amused that Torgersen seems annoyed a movie he liked a lot – his second fave Mad Max movie, he says – basically the second [Max Max] movie redone with a big budget, he says – won. So he’s annoyed a great movie, which he liked, won an award?! 😉 Sheesh, there’s just no pleasing some people.

  2. “Outstanding Dramatic Presentation”:
    The ones I’ve seen (haven’t seen Jessica Jones) would all have been worthy winners. Some of us can enjoy different types of movies, and one type of movie winning does not negate the existence or validity of others.

    After all, a range of different movie types were represented in the finals showing the field to be doing well. And isn’t it an honour just to be nominated?

  3. And isn’t it an honour just to be nominated?

    I think it’s safe to say that at least one 2012 Campbell Award nominee, and 2-time Hugo Award nominee, disagrees.

    Regardless, I think Torgersen’s constant assumption that his tastes are Good and True and Nutty Nuggets, as is his constant dismissal of inconvenient information, is by now old hat. His new thing seems to be the “obsession on Teh Dread Sk’all’zee” symptoms of Hydrophobic Canine Syndrome.

  4. @Soon Lee: “The ones I’ve seen (haven’t seen Jessica Jones) would all have been worthy winners. Some of us can enjoy different types of movies, and one type of movie winning does not negate the existence or validity of others.”

    Yes! Torgersen is splitting some fine hairs to claim there’s some big meaning behind one or another of excellent choices winning

    @snowcrash: (blush) I should really just ignore Torgersen’s kvetching, I know.

  5. It must be strange to live in Toegrsen’s world, where if anything doesn’t happen exactly the way you want, it is cause for wailing and gnashing of teeth.

  6. The best part of Torgerson’s odd rant (hey, I loved both movies too and I…have no idea what the hell he’s nattering on about) is the commentary by Martin Shoemaker. The clarity (and joy) of his responses almost allows me to make sense of the original blog post. Also, I know not to ask him to dance.

  7. The best part of Torgerson’s odd rant (hey, I loved both movies too and I…have no idea what the hell he’s nattering on about) is the commentary by Martin Shoemaker.

    BT’s response to Shoemaker, in which BT proclaims that science fiction is DOOOOMED, is hilarious for its complete cluelessness.

  8. Cheryl S.: I loved both movies too and I…have no idea what the hell he’s nattering on about

    Those stupid SFWA members. They voted for what they thought was the Best Dramatic Presentation — instead of what they should have been voting for, Portrayal of the Most Desirable Future. Or maybe they were supposed to vote for Biggest Box-Office Hit. But they definitely weren’t supposed to be voting for Best Dramatic Presentation.

    I have to say that I agree with BT that a higher education does not necessarily make someone smart — but he’s really not the poster child for the idea that people without higher education can also be smart. If I belonged to that demographic, I would be pretty pissed off that BT was unfairly making people like me look bad.

  9. @Aaron – BT’s response to Shoemaker, in which BT proclaims that science fiction is DOOOOMED, is hilarious for its complete cluelessness.

    Uh, Martin Shoemaker identifies himself as an old school Campbellian and says he had an amazing time surrounded by people who write what Torgerson calls (I think, I was gasping for air by that point) New Wave (huh, wasn’t that 70s cinema? Or Dangerous Visions?) who loved his work. In other words, Shoemaker’s personal experience at the Nebulas, surrounded by the very same SFWA members Torgerson is castigating for only liking (I think, because hypoxia had set in) littarachoor, was of being fussed over for his story and made much of. And Torgerson tells him that he is wrong, because those SFWA people are (what? killing? despising?) something something and that means the death of SF. Or some damn thing. Dear God.

    @JJ – If I belonged to that demographic, I would be pretty pissed off that BT was unfairly making people like me look bad.

    I do belong to that demographic and I’m not pissed off, but that’s because it appears we have nothing else in common other than a lack of formal education. Unless he too has all his teeth. That would make two things.

  10. Cheryl S. it appears we have nothing else in common other than a lack of formal education. Unless he too has all his teeth. That would make two things.

    *snort*

  11. I am still not sure just what it is that Torgerson loves and feels strongly is being neglected. It’s pretty clear he wants us all to get off his lawn, though.

    One of my favorite comments from the Alternate Universe speeches: “There is room in SF for all of us.” That was from Henry Lien, but it was echoed in various ways by several others. The stories on the ballot were diverse and amazing. When I voted, I picked my favorites; I’m not going to pretend I was picking The Best.

  12. @Cheryl S.: Heh, thanks for mentioning Shoemaker’s comment; it was awesome, and I hadn’t read it. I couldn’t even read much of Torgersen’s condescending* reply, though.

    * Or dare I say, to use his own words…

    We will increasingly see their stridency overtaking every aspect of this field, as it increasingly overtakes our societal conversations at large.

    …strident?

    Hmm, is “the New Wave” BT’s new way of saying “SJW” or “CHORF”? Wikipedia (that bastion of incorrect knowledge) seems to say the New Wave died, sorta. 😉

    And what the heck is the “Analytical Laboratory certificate” BT mentioned (Google is unhelpful here); some nutty nuggety award, perchance?

    So much that makes no sense to me over there.

  13. @snowcrash:

    And isn’t it an honour just to be nominated?

    I think it’s safe to say that at least one 2012 Campbell Award nominee, and 2-time Hugo Award nominee, disagrees.

    Strikes me as these nominees, feeling insufficiently honored by their nominations, strove mightily to ensure that 2014 and 2015 nominees would have to question whether their nominations were truly honors.

    Talk about dogs in the manger.

  14. Thanks, @JJ! My searching is clearly sub-par. (blush) Aha, the Analog award – yes, BT would value that over the Nebulas, although I’m skeptical the world at large does. I mean, it’s the best of one magazine. (yawn)

  15. @Kendall
    BT is stuck in literary movement feuds from before he was born. I giggled and rolled my eyes when I came to the New Wave part of his post. Yes we’ve had several literary movements since New Wave. Give the poor guy a break he doesn’t have a fancy degree and how does one learn how to use Google or Wikipedia without a masters or Ph.D.?

  16. @Naomi Kritzer

    I am still not sure just what it is that Torgerson loves and feels strongly is being neglected. It’s pretty clear he wants us all to get off his lawn, though.

    I’m not sure Torgersen himself knows what he wants from SFF, except that it should be more like The Martian.

  17. @Tasha Turner: Maybe he just learned about the New Wave movement recently. 😉

    (Okay, I should stop snarking on him so much, but it’s just so easy, when someone says “I liked both of these movies, how dare the ‘wrong’ one win, I’ll blame blah blah blah.”)

  18. Kendall: And what the heck is the “Analytical Laboratory certificate” BT mentioned (Google is unhelpful here); some nutty nuggety award, perchance?

    You’re not kidding Google is unhelpful.

    I know what the award is — Asimov’s also gave a set of its own, both this weekend at a private function (or two?) at the Nebula conference. Seeing Brad mention it reminded me. I literally spent an hour sifting Google, Twitter, and various websites and have only tracked down two winners.

    If one of you well-connected Filers knows somebody who can come up with the winners of the Asimov’s Readers Awards and the Analog AnLab, please email me so I can scoop the competition. ([email protected])

  19. BT is stuck in literary movement feuds from before he was born. I giggled and rolled my eyes when I came to the New Wave part of his post. Yes we’ve had several literary movements since New Wave. Give the poor guy a break he doesn’t have a fancy degree and how does one learn how to use Google or Wikipedia without a masters or Ph.D.?

    This vaguely reminds me of how at the age of approx. 16 I decided that I disliked the entire New Wave based on disliking two SF novels from the late 1960s/early 1970s, only one of which actually was New Wave. I have no idea how or where I picked up the term New Wave at all in those pre-Internet days

  20. @Mike Glyer: It’s the ultimate insider award if it’s given away in private, the award is not linked from their own web site, and they link to other awards from their Links page. Why don’t they list their own past winners, at least?!

    Good luck getting the scoop!

  21. @Cora Buhlert
    At 16 before the Internet making that kind of mistake is not unusual. But at our age*, with the Internet, and being in the publishing business one is held to a higher standard.

    *BT (1974); me (1967)

  22. Wikipedia (that bastion of incorrect knowledge) seems to say the New Wave died, sorta.

    Sort of. Mostly what happened is what often happens to transformative artistic movements: Elements of the New Wave got incorporated into the medium and are now simply an accepted part of the landscape. BT is railing against the field of science fiction itself at this point. Pretty much everything he has read in his lifetime has been influenced by, and reflective of, the New Wave writers.

    The reason people call BT dumb isn’t because he doesn’t have a fancy degree. It is because BT says so many incredibly stupid things.

  23. What made it any better than The Martian

    Well, I watched both. And at the end of “Fury Road” I was in tears and applauding. And at the end of “The Martian” I looked at my partner and said “that is the longest narrative I’ve ever seen in which there was absolutely zero character arc for any of the characters.”

    So. One person’s opinion, of course.

    I’m not sure Torgersen himself knows what he wants from SFF, except that it should be more like The Martian.

    Based on a total scientific fallacy? (Winds on Mars wouldn’t knock over a person much less a spacecraft.)

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