Comments: For the second year in a row the Nebula Awards had controversy. While the controversy in 1981 was merely the result of an ineligible entry making the final ballot before being removed from consideration, in 1982 Lisa Tuttle removed her own story from the ballot and refused the award due to what she believed was unseemly behavior from one of her fellow nominees. George Florance-Guthridge sent a copy of his nominated story The Quiet to all SFWA members along with an endorsement from Fantasy & Science Fiction, the magazine that published it. Although this seems to have become common practice in more recent years, at the time it was considered somewhat gauche, and Tuttle objected on the grounds that it was inappropriate.
Tuttle requested that her story be withdrawn from consideration for the award as a protest against Florance-Guthridge's campaigning, but by the time she informed the SFWA, her story had already been voted the winner of the Nebula. Tuttle declined the award, stating that she had already withdrawn her story from consideration, asking that her reasons be explained when the award was to be presented, but her publisher accepted the award on her behalf at the ceremony with no mention of her protest. As a result of the fracas, Florance-Guthridge stopped writing for years, and stopped writing science fiction altogether. While I respect that Tuttle felt she had to make a stand, I can only mourn the loss of the fiction that might have been.
Best Novel
The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe
Other Nominees:
Little, Big by John Crowley
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
Radix by A.A. Attanasio
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
Best Novella
The Saturn Game by Poul Anderson
Other Nominees:
Amnesia by Jack Dann
In the Western Tradition by Phyllis Eisenstein
Swarmer, Skimmer by Gregory Benford
True Names by Vernor Vinge
The Winter Beach by Kate Wilhelm
Best Novelette
The Quickening by Michael Bishop
Other Nominees:
The Fire When It Comes by Parke Godwin
Lirios: A Tale of the Quintana Roo by James Tiptree, Jr.
Mummer Kiss by Michael Swanwick
Sea Changeling by Mildred Downey Broxon
The Thermals of August by Edward Bryant
Best Short Story
The Bone Flute by Lisa Tuttle [award declined]
Other Nominees:
Disciples by Gardner Dozois
Going Under by Jack Dann
Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson
The Pusher by John Varley
The Quiet by George Florance-Guthridge
Venice Drowned by Kim Stanley Robinson
Zeke by Timothy R. Sullivan
Go to previous year's nominees: 1981
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1983
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