Friday, January 2, 1970

1968 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments:  Unlike the Hugo Awards, which were a sausage fest for almost two decades, the Nebula Awards began recognizing female authors fairly quickly, nominating both Anne McCaffrey and Kate Wilhelm in the Award's third year of existence. The comparison is perhaps a bit unfair - after all, the Nebula Awards were created later, and in an environment in which cultural attitudes had shifted considerably - but it is an indication that then Nebula Awards established themselves as being more female friendly quite early, and in many ways they still are.

An interesting point about the 1968 Nebula nominees is just how many authors garnered multiple nominations. Samuel R. Delany was nominated three times (and pulled off the impressive feat of securing two wins), and Roger Zelazny was also nominated three times, while Robert Silverberg and Fritz Leiber both secured two nominations. It seems that while attempting to make the awards more "literary" in tone, those making nominations for the Nebulas more or less implicitly stated that the literary talent in the science fiction field was concerntrated in a handful of authors. On another note, it is interesting to observe that there was a substantial amount of overlap between the nominees for the Nebula Awards and the contemporaneous Hugo Award nominations, which seems to be somewhat counter to the Nebula Award's claim to being more literary than the Hugo.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany

Other Nominees:
Chthon by Piers Anthony
The Eskimo Invasion by Hayden Howard
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Thorns by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:
Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock

Other Nominees:
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg
If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister? by Theodore Sturgeon
Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Best Novelette

Winner:
Gonna Roll the Bones by Fritz Leiber (reviewed in More Stories from the Hugo Winners, Volume II)

Other Nominees:
Flatlander by Larry Niven
The Keys to December by Roger Zelazny
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes by Harlan Ellison
This Mortal Mountain by Roger Zelazny

Best Short Story

Winner:
Aye, and Gomorrah. . . by Samuel R. Delany

Other Nominees:
Answering Service by Fritz Leiber
Baby, You Were Great by Kate Wilhelm
The Doctor by Ted Thomas
Driftglass by Samuel R. Delany
Earthwoman by Reginald Bretnor

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