Nebula Awards 2001: Showcase: The Year's Best Sci-fi and Fantasy (Nebula Awards Showcase) Book

Celebrating its 35th year with Showcase 2001, the Nebula Awards anthology series once again offers a fine snapshot of the world of science fiction. Edited by former Nebula Award winner Robert Silverberg, the anthology mixes stories, excerpts, and poetry with essays from speculative fiction notables. Silverberg introduces the collection with a hazy nonexplanation of why works from both 1998 and 1999 are considered for the 1999 Nebula Awards, along with the story of Damon Knight, how SFWA began, and what happened during that first Nebula banquet. Of course, the reason for the anthology is the winning stories, and they are on display with nice introductions from Silverberg and a bit from each writer on how the story came to be. Featured stories include Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" (best novella), Mary A. Turzillo's "Mars Is No Place for Children" (best novelette), Leslie What's "The Cost of Doing Business" (best short story), and an excerpt from Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Talents (best novel). Other stories include two nominees, David Marusek's "The Wedding Album" and Michael Swanwick's "Radiant Doors," as well as 2000 Grand Master Brain W. Aldiss's 1958 story "Judas Danced." The most notable essay in the Nebula Showcase comes from Gary K. Wolfe, who examines the field of science fiction and publishing from several different angles, although Wolfe's take on SF movies seems to be thrown in as an afterthought. Winding up the anthology is a thoughtful and enlightening excerpt from Author Emeritus 2000 Daniel Keyes's memoir, Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writer's Journey, which is about how he wrote Flowers for Algernon, and poetry from Rhysling Award Winners Bruce Boston and Laurel Winter. For anyone serious about science fiction, the Nebula Awards Showcase 2001 provides an invaluable look at how the professionals view their field. --Kathie Huddleston Read More