1996 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: 1996 represents a clear turnaround from 1994, when apparently no science fiction novel was good enough to win the Campbell Award, because in this year the first and the second place novels were both deserving of the top prize. Both Stephen Baxter and Neal Stephenson are brilliant, although very different, writers, and The Time Ships and The Diamond Age are both examples of them at the top of their respective games. Unfortunately for Stephenson, the judges didn't see fit to place his novel in a tie for first place, and Baxter walked away with the trophy.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

Second Place:

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Third Place:

Chaga (aka Evolution's Shore) by Ian McDonald

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

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1996 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: Another year, another set of nominees in the Inklings Studies category that focus exclusively on Tolkien and Lewis. As a counterweight to this predictability, the two fantasy literature categories included both books by fantasy fiction royalty like Patricia A. McKillip, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper and relative newcomers like Sylvia Waugh and Sherwood Smith as well as a work by Kenneth Morris, an author who died in 1937. This variety, much more so than the hidebound obsession over two authors displayed in the Inklings Studies category, is what makes the Mythopoeic Awards interesting and keeps them fresh. Endless rehashing of the works of a single author, or a pair of authors, is a dead end path that leads to a moribund award, and the sooner the Mythopoeic Society realizes this, the better.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Waking the Moon (Revised) by Elizabeth Hand

Other Nominees:

All the Bells on Earth by James P. Blaylock

The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip
Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop
The Dragon Path by Kenneth Morris

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:
The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones

Other Nominees:
The Boggart by Susan Cooper
Falcon's Egg by Luli Gray
The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh
Wren's War by Sherwood Smith

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:

J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull

Other Nominees:
C.S. Lewis: A Reference Guide, 1927-1988 by Susan Lowenberg
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Patterning of a Fantastic World by Colin Manlove
The Fiction of C.S. Lewis: Mask and Mirror by Kath Filmer
The Hobbit: A Journey into Maturity by William H. Green

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:

From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers by Marina Warner

Other Nominees:

The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books by Eleanor Cameron

T.H. White's The Once and Future King by Elisabeth Brewer

When Toys Come Alive: Narratives of Animation, Metamorphosis, and Development by Lois Rostow Kuznets

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

1996 Clarke Award Nominees

Location: United Kingdom.

Comments: After an absence of two years, the "runner-up" category returned to the Clarke Awards in 1996. Why? I have no idea. For the most part I have simply given up trying to figure out the rhyme or reason for the ever fluctuating methodologies used by genre awards.

On a more concrete note, 1996 was the year that Paul J. McAuley finally won a Clarke Award. As one of the most prominent British science fiction authors of recent years, he had been nominated multiple times for the award, but until 1996 he had always been a bridesmaid and never the bride.

Winner
Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley

Runner-Up
The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod

Shortlist
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Happy Policeman by Patricia Anthony
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

1996 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Schaumburg, Illinois.

Comments: Though the pace of change can be glacial, sometimes when the wheel turns, it turns in a hurry. And when it comes to female representation in the World Fantasy Awards, the turnaround, incomplete though it was, was rapid. Although the Awards had only gotten around to honoring Ursula K. Le Guin for her impressive body of work in 1995, and their track record of nominating and honoring women prior to that had been spotty at best, in 1996, the field was filled with contributions from female authors and editors. Gwyneth Jones won two awards, one for Best Short Fiction and one for Best Collection, and the Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women won in the Best Anthology category. Every fiction category had at least one female nominee, and more than one category had multiple female nominees. The only category devoid of women was the Best Artist category. Actual equity had not yet been achieved, but substantial steps in that direction had been taken.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Prestige by Christopher Priest

Other Nominees:
All the Bells on Earth by James P. Blaylock
Expiration Date by Tim Powers
Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra
Requiem by Graham Joyce
The Silent Strength of Stones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Best Novella

Winner:
Radio Waves by Michael Swanwick

Other Nominees:
Ether OR by Ursula K. Le Guin
Home for Christmas by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The Insipid Profession of Jonathan Hornebom by Jonathan Lethem
More Tomorrow by Michael Marshall Smith
Where They Are Hid by Tim Powers

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
The Grass Princess by Gwyneth Jones

Other Nominees:
Angel Thing by Petrina Smith
Dragon's Fin Soup by S.P. Somtow
Loop by Douglas E. Winter
The Perseids by Robert Charles Wilson
The Singing Marine by Kit Reed

Best Anthology

Winner:

The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy by Women edited by A. Susan Williams and Richard Glyn Jones

Other Nominees:
Dark Love edited by Nancy A. Collins, Edward E. Kramer, and Martin H. Greenberg
Dark Terrors edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton
High Fantastic edited by Steve Rasnic Tem
She's Fantastical edited by Lucy Sussex and Judith Raphael Buckrich

Best Collection

Winner:

Seven Tales and a Fable by Gwyneth Jones

Other Nominees:
Death Stalks the Night by Hugh B. Cave
The Ivory and the Horn by Charles de Lint
The Panic Hand by Jonathan Carroll
The Secret of This Book (aka Common Clay) by Brian W. Aldiss

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Gene Wolfe

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Gahan Wilson

Other Nominees:
Thomas Canty
Alan M. Clark
Bob Eggleton
J.K. Potter

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Richard Evans

Other Nominees:
Stephen Jones
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Gordon van Gelder
Paul Williams

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Marc Michaud

Other Nominees:
Fedogan & Bremer
Robert K.J. Killheffer, Meg Hamel, and Jenna A. Felice
Steve Pasechnick
Robert Weinberg

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

1996 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1996, the Libertarian Futurist Society went back to its roots and inducted Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novel Red Planet into its Hall of Fame. This is one of the fortuitous circumstances in which the book inducted was both an decent example of the libertarian ideology and also a very good book. Red Planet also just happens to be one of my favorite of Heinlein's juvenile novels, so for me, that's an additional bonus.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod

Other Nominees:

CLD (Collective Landing Detachment) by Victor Milán

Design for Great-Day by Alan Dean Foster and Eric Frank Russell
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Hall of Fame

Winner:

Red Planet by Robert A. Heinlein

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

1996 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: LAcon III in Anaheim, California.

Comments: The odd thing about Neal Stephenson's Best Novel win for The Diamond Age is not that he won the award - he deserved to. But rather, it is that this is the first time Stephenson appears on a Hugo list in any capacity. This is, I think, an important development. Traditionally, a writer would spend the early part of his career writing shorter fiction, getting it published in the various science fiction and fantasy oriented magazines, maybe garner a few nominations for their short work, and build their career for a while before tackling the challenge of writing a novel. But while Stephenson doesn't mark the end of that model, he certainly represents the changing nature of the publishing world. By the 1990s, short fiction, quite simply, wasn't as important as it had been in prior decades. I'm not certain, but it seems that leapfrogging the process of sharpening one's skills for a couple years with shorter fiction before tackling a novel-length work is problematic for genre fiction as a whole. It can work - witness the high quality of Stephenson's work - but I think something is being lost. For fans, there is less short fiction being produced, and for writers, there are fewer and fewer markets for them to make a living while honing their skills.

In happier news, 1996 was the year that my favorite television show of all time won its first Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation when Babylon 5 took home the rocket trophy for the season two episode The Coming of Shadows. As far as I'm concerned, Babylon 5 should have won the Hugo in every year that it was eligible, but didn't. In this cycle of Hugo voting Straczynski took the rather unusual step of suggesting that fans vote for one episode of the season so as to concentrate the fan vote into one bloc, which explains the absence from the ballot of other great season two episodes like Confessions and Lamentations, Comes the Inquisitor, and The Fall of Night. I also have to wonder why Apollo 13 is on the nominating ballot. Granted it is a great movie, and I love it as much as anyone, but it is decidedly not science fiction or fantasy, so why was it nominated for a Hugo Award?

Best Novel

Winner:
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Other Finalists:
Brightness Reef by David Brin
Remake by Connie Willis
The Terminal Experiment (serial title Hobson's Choice) by Robert J. Sawyer
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

Best Novella

Winner:

The Death of Captain Future by Allen M. Steele

Other Finalists:
Bibi by Mike Resnick and Susan Shwartz
Fault Lines by Nancy Kress
A Man of the People by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Woman's Liberation by Ursula K. Le Guin

Best Novelette

Winner:

Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly

Other Finalists:
The Good Rat by Allen M. Steele
Luminous by Greg Egan
Must and Shall by Harry Turtledove
TAP by Greg Egan
When the Old Gods Die by Mike Resnick

Best Short Story

Winner:

The Lincoln Train by Maureen F. McHugh

Other Finalists:
A Birthday by Esther M. Friesner
Life on the Moon by Tony Daniel
TeleAbsence by Michael A. Burstein
Walking Out by Michael Swanwick

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:

Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute

Other Finalists:
Alien Horizons: The Fantastic Art of Bob Eggleton by Bob Eggleton

Spectrum 2: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Burnett and Arnie Fenner

To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction by Joanna Russ
Yours, Isaac Asimov by Isaac Asimov, edited by Stanley Asimov

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Babylon 5: The Coming of Shadows

Other Finalists:
12 Monkeys
Apollo 13
Star Trek - Deep Space Nine: The Visitor
Toy Story

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Gardner Dozois

Other Finalists:
Ellen Datlow
Scott Edelman
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Stanley Schmidt

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Bob Eggleton

Other Finalists:
Jim Burns
Thomas Canty
Don Maitz
Michael Whelan

Best Original Artwork

Winner:

Dinotopia: The World Beneath by James Gurney

Other Finalists:
Bob Eggleton for Dankden by Marc Laidlaw
Bob Eggleton for Tide of Stars by Julia Ecklar
George H. Krauter for Renascance by Poul Anderson
Gary Lippincott for Tea and Hamsters by Michael Coney

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:

Locus edited by Charles N. Brown

Other Finalists:
Crank! edited by Bryan Cholfin
Interzone edited by David Pringle

The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell, Ariel Haméon, and Tad Dembinski

Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew Porter

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Ansible edited by Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
Apparatchik edited by Andrew Hooper and Victor Gonzalez
Attitude edited by Michael Abbott, John Dallman, and Pam Wells
FOSFAX edited by Timothy Lane and Elizabeth Garrott
Lan's Lantern edited by George "Lan" Laskowski
Mimosa edited by Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
Sharon Farber
Andy Hooper
Evelyn C. Leeper
Joseph T. Major

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

William Rotsler

Other Finalists:
Ian Gunn
Teddy Harvia
Joe Mayhew
Peggy Ranson

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
David Feintuch

Other Finalists:
Michael A. Burstein
Felicity Savage
Sharon Shinn
Tricia Sullivan

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's finalists: 1995
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

1946 Retro Hugo Award Finalists (awarded in 1996)

Location: L.A.Con III in Anaheim, California.

Comments: The "1946" Hugo Award ballot was actually composed and voted on in 1996, using the "Retrospective Hugo" voting rules. Under these rules a Worldcon held 50, 75, or 100 years after a Worldcon in which no Hugo Awards were handed out may choose to hand out Hugo Awards to works and individuals who would have been eligible in that year using the same rules as those used for regular Hugo Awards. Consequently, even though this round of awards has not handed out until 1996, the works represented in this list are currently the oldest works to have been honored with Hugo Awards.

The "Retro Hugos" are somewhat controversial, as there are questions about the validity of making assessments of the quality of a work fifty or more years after the fact. One has to wonder, for example, if voters actually thought The Mule was the best novel of 1946, or if they were actually honoring the Foundation series that it represented.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Mule by Isaac Asimov

Other Finalists:
Destiny Times Three by Fritz Leiber
Red Sun of Danger (aka Danger Planet) by Brett Sterling
That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis
The World of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt

Best Novella

Winner:
Animal Farm by George Orwell

Other Finalists:
Dead Hand by Isaac Asimov
Giant Killer by A. Bertram Chandler
I Remember Lemuria by Richard S. Shaver

Best Novelette

Winner:

First Contact by Murray Leinster (reviewed in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume I, 1929-1964)

Other Finalists:
Into Thy Hands by Lester del Rey
The Mixed Men by A.E. van Vogt
Pi in the Sky by Fredric Brown
The Piper's Son by Lewis Padgett

Best Short Story

Winner:
Uncommon Sense by Hal Clement

Other Finalists:
Correspondence Course by Raymond F. Jones
The Ethical Equations by Murray Leinster
The Waveries by Fredric Brown
What You Need by Lewis Padgett

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Other Finalists:
Blithe Spirit
The Body Snatcher
The Horn Blows at Midnight
House of Dracula

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
John W. Campbell, Jr.

Other Finalists:
Sam Merwin, Jr.
Raymond F. Palmer
Donald A. Wollheim

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Virgil Finlay

Other Finalists:
Earle K. Bergey
Hannes Bok
Edd Cartier
Frank R. Paul

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Voice of the Imagi-Nation edited by Forrest J Ackerman

Other Finalists:
Acolyte edited by Francis Towner Laney
Chanticleer edited by Walt Liebscher
Fantasy Commentator edited by A. Langley Searles
Shangri L'Affaires edited by Charles E. Burbee and Gerald Hewett

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Forrest J. Ackerman

Other Finalists:
Charles E. Burbee
Francis Towner Laney
Bob Tucker
Art Widner

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
William Rotsler

Other Finalists:
Joe Gibson
Lou Goldstone, Jr.
Alva Rogers
Jack Wiedenbeck

Go to previous year's finalists: 1945 (awarded in 2020)
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 1951 (awarded in 2001)

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Book Award Reviews     Home

1996 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Westercon in El Paso, Texas.

Comments: One of the benefits of cataloging the Locus Awards year by year in this manner is that one notices odd little corners of science fiction history. Sometimes these corners make the science fiction community look good. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they are just odd. In 1996, Pamela Sargent edited three books that made it on to the Best Anthology list of nominees. Despite this, somehow Sargent was overlooked when the time came to nominate people for the Best Editor award. I'd like to believe this was merely an oversight, and not the result of sexism, but sadly, the track record of the science fiction community makes that belief somewhat difficult to maintain.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Other Nominees:
2.   Brightness Reef by David Brin
3.   Invader by C.J. Cherryh
4.   Legacy by Greg Bear
5.   The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
6.   Sailing Bright Eternity by Gregory Benford
7.   Chaga (aka Evolution's Shore) by Ian McDonald
8.   Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams
9.   Worldwar: Tilting the Balance by Harry Turtledove
10. Slow River by Nicola Griffith
11. Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem
12. Kaleidoscope Century by John Barnes
13. Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley
14. The Ganymede Club by Charles Sheffield
15. The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski
16. Gaia's Toys by Rebecca Ore
17. The Stone Garden by Mary Rosenblum
18. Testament by Valerie J. Freireich
19. The Golden Nineties by Lisa Mason
20. Shadow Man by Melissa Scott
21. The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer
22. An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card

Other Nominees:
2.   Waking the Moon (revised) by Elizabeth Hand
3.   Fortress in the Eye of Time by C.J. Cherryh
4.   The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
5.   Resurrection Man by Sean Stewart
6.   The Silent Strength of Stones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
7.   The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip
8.   Blood by Michael Moorcock
9.   Storm Rising by Mercedes Lackey
10. City of Bones by Martha Wells
11. Crown of Shadows by C.S. Friedman
12. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
13. Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer
14. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
15. Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
16. The Tower of Beowulf by Parke Godwin
17. A Sorcerer and a Gentleman by Elizabeth Willey
18. World Without End by Sean Russell
19. Harp of Winds by Maggie Furey

Best Horror or Dark Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Expiration Date by Tim Powers

Other Nominees:
2.   Travelling with the Dead (aka Traveling with the Dead) by Barbara Hambly
3.   Rose Madder by Stephen King
4.   The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman
5.   Paint it Black (aka Midnight Blue) by Nancy A. Collins
6.   All the Bells on Earth by James P. Blaylock
7.   The Off Season by Jack Cady
8.   Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
9.   Vanitas by S.P. Somtow
10. Desmodus by Melanie Tem
11. Vivia by Tanith Lee
12. Night Magic by Tom Tryon

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.   The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata

Other Nominees:
2.   The Shape-Changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn
3.   Lethe by Tricia Sullivan
4.   Dead Girls by Richard Calder
5.   Door Number Three by Patrick O'Leary
6.   The Baker's Boy by J.V. Jones
7.   Quasar by Jamil Nasir
8.   Humility Garden by Felicity Savage
9.   Genellan: Planetfall by Scott G. Gier
10. Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro
11. Legacies by Alison Sinclair
12. The Printer's Devil by Chico Kidd

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   Remake by Connie Willis

Other Nominees:

2.   A Man of the People by Ursula K. Le Guin

3.   A Woman's Liberation by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.   Fault Lines by Nancy Kress
5.   Harvest the Fire by Poul Anderson
6.   The Death of Captain Future by Allen M. Steele
7.   The Ziggurat by Gene Wolfe
8.   Mortimer Gray's History of Death by Brian Stableford
9.   Hottentots by Paul Di Filippo
10. Bibi by Mike Resnick and Susan Shwartz
11. We Were Out of Our Minds With Joy by David Marusek
12. Human History by Lucius Shepard
13. At the Eschaton by Charles Sheffield
14. Hot Times in Magma City by Robert Silverberg
15. Looking for Kelly Dahl by Dan Simmons
16. Inherit the Earth by Brian Stableford
17. The City of God by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
18. Death in the Promised Land by Pat Cadigan
19. Hypocaust & Bathysphere by Rebecca Ore
20. De Secretis Mulierum by L. Timmel Duchamp
21. The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires by Brian Stableford
22. You Could Go Home Again by Howard Waldrop
23. In Forests Afloat Upon the Sea by Daniel Hatch

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   When the Old Gods Die by Mike Resnick

Other Nominees:
2.   Ether OR by Ursula K. Le Guin
3.   Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly
4.   Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan
5.   Evolution by Nancy Kress

6.   Coming of Age in Karhide by Sov Thade Tage em Ereb, of Rer, in Karhide, on Gethen by Ursula K. Le Guin

7.   For White Hill by Joe Haldeman
8.   I, Iscariot by Michael Bishop
9.   The Good Rat by Allen M. Steele
10. A Worm in the Well by Gregory Benford
11. The Ant-Men of Tibet by Stephen Baxter
12. Luminous by Greg Egan
13. Must and Shall by Harry Turtledove
14. Judgment Engine by Greg Bear
15. Lunch at the Gotham Café by Stephen King
16. TAP by Greg Egan
17. Starship Day by Ian R. MacLeod
18. Recording Angel by Paul J. McAuley
19. Gone to Glory by R. Garcia y Robertson
20. Silver Fire by Greg Egan
21. Waging Good by Robert Reed
22. The Red Blaze is the Morning by Robert Silverberg

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   The Lincoln Train by Maureen F. McHugh

Other Nominees:

2.   Gossamer by Stephen Baxter

3.   High Abyss by Gregory Benford
4.   A Birthday by Esther M. Friesner
5.   The Three Descents of Jeremy Baker by Roger Zelazny
6.   Walking Out by Michael Swanwick
7.   Life on the Moon by Tony Daniel
8.   The Lens of Time by James E. Gunn
9.   There Are No Dead by Terry Bisson
10. Olders by Ursula K. Le Guin
11. The Day the Aliens Came by Robert Sheckley
12. The Age of Innocence by Brian Stableford
13. Into the Tunnel! by Brian W. Aldiss
14. Home by Geoff Ryman
15. Alice's Asteroid by G. David Nordley
16. The Beautiful, the Damned by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
17. The Promise of God by Michael F. Flynn

Best Collection
Winner:

1.   Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:

2.   Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson by Zenna Henderson

3.   Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler

4.   The Ultimate Egoist: Volume I: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon by Theodore Sturgeon, edited by Paul Williams

5.   The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo
6.   Axiomatic by Greg Egan
7.   The Ivory and the Horn by Charles de Lint
8.   Georgia on My Mind and Other Places by Charles Sheffield
9.   Strange Highways by Dean Koontz
10. The Panic Hand by Jonathan Carroll
11. Our Lady of Chernobyl by Greg Egan
12. Tales of Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith
13. A Flush of Shadows by Kate Wilhelm
14. Lunching with the Antichrist by Michael Moorcock
15. The Secret of This Book (aka Common Clay) by Brian W. Aldiss
16. Fabulous Harbours by Michael Moorcock
17. Blue Shifting by Eric Brown

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelfth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:

2.   New Legends edited by Greg Bear

3.   The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

4.   Far Futures edited by Gregory Benford
5.   Full Spectrum 5 edited by Jennifer Hershey, Tom Dupree, and Janna Silverstein
6.   Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
7.   Women of Wonder: The Classic Years edited by Pamela Sargent
8.   Peter S. Beagle's Immortal Unicorn edited by Peter S. Beagle and Janet Berliner
9.   Dark Love edited by Nancy A. Collins, Edward E. Kramer, and Martin H. Greenberg
10. Nebula Awards 29 edited by Pamela Sargent

11. The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors edited by Terri Windling

12. Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years edited by Pamela Sargent
13. Tombs edited by Peter Crowther and Edward E. Kramer
14. How To Save the World edited by Charles Sheffield
15. Killing Me Softly edited by Gardner Dozois
16. Xanadu 3 edited by Jane Yolen
17. Best New Horror 6 edited by Stephen Jones
18. Peter Straub's Ghosts edited by Peter Straub
19. Chicks in Chainmail edited by Esther M. Friesner

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute

Other Nominees:

2.   Anatomy of Wonder 4 edited by Neil Barron

3.   The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, Second Edition by David Pringle

4.   The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings edited by Lawrence Sutin

5.   The Detached Retina by Brian W. Aldiss

6.   St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers: 4^th Edition edited by Jay P. Pederson and Robert Reginald

7.   To Write Like a Woman: Essays in Feminism and Science Fiction by Joanna Russ
8.   Our Vampires, Ourselves by Nina Auerbach

9.   Future Perfect: American Science Fiction of the Nineteenth Century - An Anthology edited by H. Bruce Franklin

Best Art Book
Winner:

1.   Spectrum 2: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Burnett and Arnie Fenner

Other Nominees:
2.   Dinotopia: The World Beneath by James Gurney
3.   Alien Horizons: The Fantastic Art of Bob Eggleton by Bob Eggleton
4.   The Alien Life of Wayne Barlowe by Wayne Douglas Barlowe
5.   A Hannes Bok Showcase edited by Stephen D. Korshak; art by Hannes Bok
6.   Electric Dreams: The Art of Barclay Shaw by Barclay Shaw
7.   Stephen E. Fabian's Women & Wonders by Stephen E. Fabian

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2.   Kristine Kathryn Rusch
3.   Ellen Datlow
4.   Stanley Schmidt
5.   Terri Windling
6.   David G. Hartwell
7.   David Pringle
8.   Martin H. Greenberg
9.   Scott Edelman
10. Robert K.J. Killheffer
11. Algis Budrys

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Asimov's

Other Nominees:
2.   Fantasy & Science Fiction
3.   Analog
4.   Science Fiction Age
5.   Interzone
6.   Realms of Fantasy
7.   Century
8.   Science Fiction Chronicle
9.   Omni
10. The New York Review of Science Fiction
11. Crank!
12. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine
13. Tomorrow Speculative Fiction

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Tor/St. Martin's

Other Nominees:
2.   Bantam/Doubleday/Dell
3.   Ballantine/Del Rey/Random House
4.   HarperCollins US
5.   DAW
6.   Putnam/Berkley/Ace
7.   Baen
8.   Avon/Morrow
9.   Gollancz
10. White Wolf
11. Mark V. Ziesing
12. Penguin/Roc/Viking
13. Warner Aspect

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Bob Eggleton
3.   Don Maitz
4.   Thomas Canty
5.   James Gurney
6.   Wayne Douglas Barlowe
7.   Jim Burns
8.   Barclay Shaw
9.   W.J. Hodgson
10. David A. Cherry
11. Janny Wurts

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

1996 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Queen Mary, Long Beach, California.

Comments: The Nebula Awards in 1996 were slightly controversial because Robert Charles Wilson's nominated story The Perseids was deleted from the ballot. After the story was placed on the Best Novella ballot is was discovered that the work was not novella length, but was actually a novelette. In this case, removing the story was exactly the correct thing for the SFWA to do. However, the fact that The Perseids got onto the Best Novella final ballot before someone thought to check to see if it qualified as a novella is somewhat troubling. How difficult is it to check the length of a piece of fiction before you put it on the final ballot for a literary award?

On the plus side, this year saw Robert J. Sawyer win a best Novel Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment. I know there are a lot of people who are not entirely impressed with Sawyer's writing, but whether you love him or not, it is clear that he can write novels that win awards. I remember attending a presentation he gave at Dragon*Con in 2011 in which he said that someone had calculated that he is the most honored science fiction novelist in history, which is kind of an interesting bit of trivia.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer

Other Nominees:
Beggars and Choosers by Nancy Kress
Caldé of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Celestis by Paul Park
Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams
Mother of Storms by John Barnes

Best Novella

Winner:

Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand

Other Nominees:
Bibi by Mike Resnick and Susan Shwartz
Mortimer Gray's History of Death by Brian Stableford
Soon Comes Night by Gregory Benford
Yaguara by Nicola Griffith
The Perseids by Robert Charles Wilson [nomination deleted]

Best Novelette

Winner:

Solitude by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
Home for Christmas by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Jesus at the Bat by Esther M. Friesner
The Resurrection Man's Legacy by Dale Bailey
Tea and Hamsters by Michael Coney
Think Like a Dinosaur by James Patrick Kelly
When the Old Gods Die by Mike Resnick

Best Short Story

Winner:
Death and the Librarian by Esther M. Friesner

Other Nominees:
Alien Jane by Kelley Eskridge
Grass Dancer by Owl Goingback
The Kingdom of Cats and Birds by Geoffrey A. Landis
The Lincoln Train by Maureen F. McHugh
The Narcissus Plague by Lisa Goldstein
Short Timer by Dave Smeds

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home