Comments: In 2012 Kij Johnson completed a brilliant three year run, winning her third Nebula Award in a row. In many ways, Johnson represents both the strengths and the weaknesses of the science fiction field. She is a brilliant writer, whose history includes numerous brilliant works of fiction, resulting in a number of well-earned awards. However, outside of the dedicated fans of the genre, she is relatively poorly known. This is to a certain extent the result of the decline in reading among the general public, but it is also the result of the decline of short fiction.
While the position of short fiction is certainly stronger in genre fiction than in literary fiction (where short fiction is essentially dead as a commercial item), it is definitely much weaker than it has been in the past. And so when an author like Johnson comes along, who has a masterful touch with short fiction but has written relatively few novels, they simply don't get the recognition they deserve. And the decline of short fiction is problematic for the genre, since short fiction has been the crucible in which emerging writers could hone their craft. And now that this market has dwindled to almost nothing, there seem to be few avenues for a new writer other than to try to complete an entire novel and hope that you can catch lightning in a bottle.
Best Novel
Among Others by Jo Walton
Other Nominees:
Embassytown by China Miéville
Firebird by Jack McDevitt
God's War by Kameron Hurley
The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine
Best Novella
The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson
Other Nominees:
The Ice Owl by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Kiss Me Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu
Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente
With Unclean Hands by Adam-Troy Castro
Best Novelette
What We Found by Geoff Ryman
Other Nominees:
Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky
The Migratory Pattern of Dancers by Katherine Sparrow
The Old Equations by Jake Kerr
Ray of Light by Brad R. Torgersen
Sauerkraut Station by Ferrett Steinmetz
Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders
Best Short Story
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
Other Nominees:
The Axiom of Choice by David W. Goldman
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
Her Husband's Hands by Adam-Troy Castro
Mama, We Are Zhenya, Your Son by Tom Crosshill
Movement by Nancy Fulda
Shipbirth by Aliette de Bodard (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 35, No. 2 (February 2011))
Ray Bradbury Award
Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark
Other Nominees:
The Adjustment Bureau by George Nolfi
Attack the Block by Joe Cornish
Captain America: The First Avenger written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely; directed by Joe Johnston
Hugo written by John Logan; directed by Martin ScorseseMidnight in Paris by Woody Allen
Source Code written by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones
Andre Norton Award
The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
Other Nominees:
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout
Chime by Franny Billingsley
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson
Go to previous year's nominees: 2011
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2013
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