Nebula Awards 32. edited by Jack Dann. 1998
NEBULA AWARDS 32
RATED 89% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE = 3.89 OUT OF 5
9 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
The Nebula Award anthologies are quirky and I kinda like that. 2001 was all about the winners and lots of excerpts. 2015 reprinted all the nominees, plus the winning novella. 2016 made a big boast in the introduction that the stories couldn’t live up to. This anthology (from the period when they were numbered not listed by year) offers a strong collection of stories and a plethora of essays.
The one weird choice is the reprint a novella from the winner of the novel category. For me - a lover of short science fiction - that was an excellent way to do it. The story was a worthy inclusion.
Many of these stories speak for themselves and I try to address with the review of each other. This is a strong readable anthology with a great diversity of subgenere’s.
This anthology adds one story to my list of Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time.:
A Birthday • (1995) • short story by Esther M. Friesner. A woman prepares for her daughter Tessa’s six birthday, but as the story progresses, we realize that something is off in this society. And it has something to do with abortion. Great idea with serious character development. This is thoughtful instead of a political screed.
NEBULA AWARDS 32 IS RATED 89% POSITIVE
9 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
How do I arrive at a rating?
Must and Shall • (1995) • novelette by Harry Turtledove
Good. Alternate history New Orleans depicted quite interestingly. In this history’s Civil War, the Union victors were harsh on the Confederate vanquished. The seething resentment is leading to collaboration with Nazis against the USA.
In the Shade of the Slowboat Man • (1996) • short story by Dean Wesley Smith
Good. A poignant story of a vampire visiting her husband in a nursing home for the last minutes of this life.
Da Vinci Rising • (1995) • novella by Jack Dann
Good. Young Da Vinci is working on a flying machine, but the political machinations of Machiavelli make it much more complicated.
A Birthday • (1995) • short story by Esther M. Friesner
Great. A woman prepares for her daughter Tessa’s six birthday, but as the story progresses, we realize that something is off in this society. And it has something to do with abortion.
The Chronology Protection Case • (1995) • novelette by Paul Levinson
Average. Scientists have made a bit discovery about the universe. Something that makes the universe want to strike back. Is there a way to unlearn something?
The Men Return • (1957) • short story by Jack Vance
Good. The far future earth has fallen into a pocket of non-causality, human brains lost their value, and the world got very weird.
Yaguara • (1994) • novella by Nicola Griffith
Good. A sensual and erotic story of a woman who has shut herself off from experience until she travels to Belize to photograph a beautiful scientist who has discovered an important ruined temple complex.
Five Fucks • (1996) • novelette by Jonathan Lethem
Good. Each time a couple has sex, a part of the universe disappears.
Lifeboat on a Burning Sea • (1995) • novelette by Bruce Holland Rogers
Average. Scientists are trying to create a computer to store human memories for ‘life-after-death,’ but the death of their charismatic partner causes funding to disappear. Perhaps they could creat their own artificial version of him?
