Nebula Awards Showcase 2006

Table of Contents

 

 

“Reading all of
Nebula Awards Showcase 2002
is a way of reading a bunch of good stories. It is also a very good way to explore the writing of tomorrow.”

—
John Clute,
scifi.com

 

“Conveys a sense of the vitality and excitement that have characterized the field’s internal dialogues and debate over the last few years. One of the most entertaining
Nebula
volumes in years.”—
Locus

 

“An essential index of one year in SF and fantasy.”—
Booklist

 

“A stellar collection. . . . This is not only a must read for anyone with an interest in the field, but a pleasure to read. . . . That’s more reassuring than surprising, of course, given that this collection has little if any agenda besides quality writing, but it is reassuring to see that so many fresh voices are so much fun. . . . Worth picking up.”—SF Revu

 

“While the essays offer one answer to the question of where does SF go now, the stories show that science fiction writers continue to re-examine their vision of the future. It’s a continuing dialogue, and by including critical essays along with the stories, the
Nebula Awards Showcase 2002
does more to present the SF field as an ongoing conversation and discussion of ideas than any of the other best of the year anthologies. It’s a worthy contribution and a good volume to have on your shelf.”—SF Site

 

“Very impressive.”—Off the Shelf

 

“Presents the usual quality mix of literary SF and fantasy with critical essays.” —
Publishers Weekly

 

“Provocative essays. . . . [Jack] Dann’s introductions and story notes are knowledgeable, graceful, and to the point. Here’s another for the fan’s bookshelf.”—
Kirkus Reviews

Gardner Dozois
was the longtime editor of
Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
, having won the Hugo Award for Best Editor over a dozen times during his tenure, and currently holds the position of Editor Emeritus with the magazine. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife.

ROC
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First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

First Printing, March 2006

Copyright © Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 2006 Additional copyright notices can be found on p. 373 All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

 

 

 

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

eISBN : 978-1-101-09819-6

These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

 

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

The editor would like to thank the following people for their help and support: Jack Dann, Walter Jon Williams, Eleanor Wood, Susan Casper, Ellen Datlow, Gordon Van Gelder, Mark Kreighbaum, Brian Bienowski, Pamela Sargent, Vaughne Hanson, G. O. Clark, Mike Allen, Jack Williamson, Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, Betty Anne Hull, Ursula K. Le Guin, Brian W. Aldiss, Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey, Kathi Maio, Jody Lynn Nye, Harry Harrison, Eileen Gunn, Ellen Klages, Mike Resnick, Roger Dutcher, Theodora Goss, Diane Taylor, Susan Smith, Jennifer Brehl, Peter London, and special thanks to my editor, Ginjer Buchanan.

I
t’s been said so many times now that it’s become a sarcastic cliché on the lips of disappointed Nebula finalists who didn’t actually
win
the award, or who think that they have no chance of winning it, often said with a bitter, cynical, mocking smile: “It’s an honor just to be nominated!”

But you know, it really
is
.

Hundreds (if not thousands) of stories are published every year in the science fiction and fantasy genres, in the professional magazines, in anthologies, as novella chapbooks, in semiprozines, and as previously unpublished stories in single-author collections, in addition to those “published” (we really need a new word for this!) electronically online in any of dozens of e-zines and Web sites, some of them very far off the beaten track indeed (2004, for instance, saw first-rate stories published on the Web site of an association of electrical engineers, and as an
advertisement
for an upcoming novel on
Amazon.com
!) . . . and the brutal truth is that most of those hundreds of stories are going to vanish without a trace and never be heard from again. Most stories published (or “published”) during the year are
not
going to make it on to the Nebula Award ballot; most are not going to arouse a lot of word-of-mouth buzz; most are not going to generate any fan letters or trigger flamewars on Internet bulletin boards, are not going to be reprinted later on (or perhaps ever be seen in any form again, from now until the end of the universe)—most are not even going to get reviewed. At all. Ever. (There are very few places that review genre short fiction, other than the newsmagazines
Locus
and
Chronicle,
and a couple of online venues such as
Tangent Online
and the
Internet Review of Science Fiction
.) For most writers, with most stories, publishing short fiction is like tying the story to an anvil and throwing it off the end of the dock into the sea. It sinks without even a splash, swallowed by black water, and, without a ripple, it is gone. You may grow old and die, and still never hear anything about that story ever again.