Comments: 2002 was a good year for Catherine Asaro. Obviously, winning the Nebula Award for Best Novel is the foundation for a good year for any science fiction author. But because that was not enough to honor this author's work, she was also nominated in the best Novella category for her story A Roll of the Dice. Both stories are set in her expansive Skolian Saga, which at this point has to be reckoned as one of the most comprehensive and interesting science fiction series that have been written.
I know Best Script was a relatively new category for the Nebula voters, but it seems like they were still working out the kinks in the selection process. Either that, or those selecting the ballot simply lost their minds in 2002, because I cannot fathom how O Brother, Where Art Thou? got onto the ballot. Granted, it was loosely based upon Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, but that's such a tenuous connection given that the story itself has no speculative fictional elements. In the same time period, the Hugo Award voters managed to nominate both the Dune miniseries and the movie Frequency, neither of which appear on the Nebula ballot. One might argue that either of those choices are not as good as O Brother, Where Art Thou? as dramatic presentations, but both have the distinction of actually being speculative fiction, which the Coen brothers movie is not.
Best Novel
The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro
Other Nominees:
The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy
Declare by Tim Powers
Eternity's End by Jeffrey A. Carver
Mars Crossing by Geoffrey A. Landis
Passage by Connie Willis
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
Best Novella
The Ultimate Earth by Jack Williamson
Other Nominees:
The Diamond Pit by Jack Dann
May Be Some Time by Brenda W. Clough
Radiant Green Star by Lucius Shepard
A Roll of the Dice by Catherine Asaro
Best Novelette
Louise's Ghost by Kelly Link
Other Nominees:
Auspicious Eggs by James Morrow
Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites by William Shunn
The Pottawatomie Giant by Andy Duncan
To Kiss the Star by Amy Sterling Casil
Undone by James Patrick Kelly
Best Short Story
The Cure for Everything by Severna Park
Other Nominees:
The Elephants on Neptune by Mike Resnick
Kaddish for the Last Survivor by Michael A. Burstein
Mom and Dad at the Home Front by Sherwood Smith
Wound the Wind by George Zebrowski
Best Script
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by James Schamus, Kuo Jung Tsai, and Hui-Ling Wang
Other Nominees:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Body by Joss Whedon
O Brother, Where Art Thou? by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
X-Men story by Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer; screenplay by David Hayter
Go to previous year's nominees: 2001
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2003
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