Nebula Awards Showcase 2016 Read online

  ALSO AVAILABLE:

  Nebula Awards Showcase 2015

  edited by Greg Bear

  Nebula Awards Showcase 2014

  edited by Kij Johnson

  Nebula Awards Showcase 2013

  edited by Catherine Asaro

  Nebula Awards Showcase 2012

  edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel

  Published 2016 by Pyr®, an imprint of Prometheus Books

  Nebula Awards Showcase 2016. Copyright © 2016 by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopy­ing, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, ex­cept in the case of brief quotations em­bodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Any characters, organizations, products, locales, and events portrayed either are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

  Cover image © Reiko Murakami

  Cover design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht

  Inquiries should be addressed to

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  ISBN 978-1-63388-138-9 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-63388-139-6 (ebk)

  Printed in the United States of America

  PERMISSIONS

  “Introduction,” copyright 2015 by Mercedes Lackey.

  “A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide,” copyright 2014 by Sarah Pinsker, first published in Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 2014.

  “The Breath of War,” copyright 2014 by Aliette de Bodard, first published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, March 2014.

  “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family,” copyright 2014 by Usman T. Malik, first published in Qualia Nous, Written Backwards Press, August 2014.

  “The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye,” copyright 2014 by Matthew Kressel, first published in Clarkesworld, May 2014.

  “When It Ends, He Catches Her,” copyright 2014 by Eugie Foster, first published in Daily Science Fiction, September 2014.

  “The Fisher Queen,” copyright 2014 by Alyssa Wong, first published in Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 2014.

  “Jackalope Wives,” copyright 2014 by Ursula Vernon, first published in Apex, January 2014.

  “Sleep Walking Now and Then,” copyright 2014 by Richard Bowes, first published in Tor.com, July 2014.

  “The Devil in America,” copyright 2014 by Kai Ashante Wilson, first published in Tor.com, April 2014.

  “The Husband Stitch,” copyright 2014 by Carmen Maria Machado, first published in Granta: 129, October 2014.

  “The Magician and Laplace’s Demon,” copyright 2014 by Tom Crosshill, first published in Clarkesworld, December 2014.

  “We Are the Cloud,” copyright 2014 by Sam J. Miller, first published in Lightspeed, September 2014.

  “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” copyright 2014 by Alaya Dawn Johnson, first published in Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2014.

  Excerpt from Calendrical Regression copyright 2014 by Lawrence M. Schoen, first published by NobleFusion Press, November 2014.

  Excerpt from “The Mothers of Voorhisville,” copyright 2014 by Mary Rickert, first published in Tor.com, April 2014.

  Excerpt from “The Regular,” copyright 2014 by Ken Liu, first published in Upgraded, Wyrm Publishing, September 2014.

  Excerpt from “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap),” copyright 2014 by Rachel Swirsky, first published in Subterranean, July 2014.

  Excerpt from We Are All Completely Fine, copyright 2014 by Daryl Gregory, first published by Tachyon Press, July 2014.

  Yesterday’s Kin, copyright 2014 by Nancy Kress, first published by Tachyon Press, August 2014.

  Excerpt from Annihilation, copyright 2014 by Jeff VanderMeer, first published by FSG Originals, January 2014.

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  Mercedes Lackey

  ABOUT THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA

  ABOUT THE NEBULA AWARDS

  2014 NEBULA AWARDS FINAL BALLOT

  Nebula Award Nominees: Best Short Story

  “A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide”

  Sarah Pinsker

  “The Breath of War”

  Aliette de Bodard

  “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family”

  Usman T. Malik

  “The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye”

  Matthew Kressel

  “When It Ends, He Catches Her”

  Eugie Foster

  “The Fisher Queen”

  Alyssa Wong

  Nebula Award Winner: Best Short Story

  “Jackalope Wives”

  Ursula Vernon

  Nebula Award Nominees: Best Novelette

  “Sleep Walking Now and Then”

  Richard Bowes

  “The Devil in America”

  Kai Ashante Wilson

  “The Husband Stitch”

  Carmen Maria Machado

  “The Magician and Laplace’s Demon”

  Tom Crosshill

  “We Are the Cloud”

  Sam J. Miller

  Nebula Award Winner: Best Novelette

  “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i”

  Alaya Dawn Johnson

  Nebula Award Nominees: Best Novella

  Excerpt from Calendrical Regression

  Lawrence M. Schoen

  Excerpt from “The Mothers of Voorhisville”

  Mary Rickert

  Excerpt from “The Regular”

  Ken Liu

  Excerpt from “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)”

  Rachel Swirsky

  Excerpt from We Are All Completely Fine

  Daryl Gregory

  Nebula Award Winner: Best Novella

  Yesterday’s Kin

  Nancy Kress

  Nebula Award Winner: Best Novel

  Excerpt from Annihilation

  Jeff VanderMeer

  PAST NEBULA AWARD WINNERS

  ABOUT THE EDITOR

  ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST

  INTRODUCTION

  If you’re late to the party, the Nebula Awards are chosen every year by the members of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America); in other words, they are chosen out of all of the science fiction and fantasy literature written that year by the peers of those writers. By writers, for writers. As such, the nominators and voters tend to have a slightly different outlook on the work that comes up for the Nebulas than the average reader.

  Those who nominate and vote want something more. Something different. It may or may not equate to what has gotten popular acclaim that year. It probably won’t be what the “average reader” would like.

  Kafka said it best, I think:

  Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow on the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? So that it can make us happy, as you put it? Good God, we’d be just as happy if we had no books at all; books that make us happy we could, at a pinch, also write ourselves. What we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the death of someone we loved more than we love ourselves, that make us feel as though we had been banished to the woods, far from any human presence, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the
frozen sea within us. That is what I believe.

  —Franz Kafka, from a letter to Oskar Pollak dated January 27, 1904

  Ideally, there is nothing in the works that follow this introduction that will make you feel cozy and comfortable. Ideally, they will challenge you. Ideally, while they might leave you deciding you are absolutely never going to reread a story, you will never be sorry you read it in the first place.

  A Nebula winner should be, as Harlan Ellison put it in the anthologies he edited, a “dangerous vision.” Danger wakes us up, makes us realize we are alive, makes us realize why we want to stay alive. It may move us to terror, to joy, to tears, but it should never leave us unmoved.

  Here’s to danger.

  Mercedes Lackey

  ABOUT THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA

  The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (formerly known as the Science Fiction Writers of America; the original acronym “SFWA” was retained), includes among its members many active writers of science fiction and fantasy. According to the bylaws of the organization, its purpose “shall be to promote the furtherance of the writing of science fiction, fantasy, and related genres as a profession.” SFWA informs writers on professional matters, protects their interests, and helps them in dealings with agents, editors, anthologists, and producers of nonprint media. It also strives to encourage public interest in and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy.

  Anyone may become an active member of SFWA after the acceptance of and payment for one professionally published novel, one professionally produced dramatic script, or three professionally published pieces of short fiction. Only science fiction, fantasy, horror, or other prose fiction of a related genre, in English, shall be considered as qualifying for active membership. Beginning writers who do not yet qualify for active membership but have published qualifying professional work may join as associate members; other classes of membership include affiliate members (editors, agents, reviewers, and anthologists), estate members (representatives of the estates of active members who have died), and institutional members (high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, broadcasters, film producers, futurist groups, and individuals associated with such an institution).

  Readers are invited to visit the SFWA site on the internet at www.sfwa.org.

  ABOUT THE NEBULA AWARDS

  Shortly after the founding of SFWA in 1965, its first secretary-treasurer, Lloyd Biggle, Jr., proposed that the organization periodically select and publish the year’s best stories. This notion evolved into the elaborate balloting process, an annual awards banquet, and a series of Nebula anthologies.

  Throughout every calendar year, members of SFWA read and recommend novels and stories for the Nebula Awards. The editor of the Nebula Awards Report collects the recommendations and publishes them in the SFWA Forum and on the SFWA members’ private web page. At the end of the year, the NAR editor tallies the endorsements, draws up a preliminary ballot containing ten or more recommendations, and sends it all to active SFWA members. Under the current rules, each work enjoys a one-year eligibility period from its date of publication in the United States. If a work fails to receive ten recommendations during the one-year interval, it is dropped from further Nebula consideration.

  The NAR editor processes the results of the preliminary ballot and then compiles a final ballot listing the five most popular novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories. For purposes of the award, a novel is determined to be 40,000 words or more; a novella is 17,500 to 39,999 words; a novelette is 7,500 to 17,499 words, and a short story is 7,499 words or fewer. Additionally, each year SFWA impanels a member jury, which is empowered to supplement the five nominees with a sixth choice in cases where it feels a worthy title was neglected by the membership at large. Thus, the appearance of more than five finalists in a category reflects two distinct processes: jury discretion and ties.

  A complete set of Nebula rules can be found at www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/rules/.

  2014 NEBULA AWARDS BALLOT

  NOVEL

  Winner: Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals; Fourth Estate; HarperCollins Canada)

  Nominees:

  The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Tor)

  Trial by Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)

  Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

  The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor)

  Coming Home, Jack McDevitt (Ace)

  NOVELLA

  Winner: Yesterday’s Kin, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)

  Nominees:

  We Are All Completely Fine, Daryl Gregory (Tachyon)

  “The Regular,” Ken Liu (Upgraded, Wyrm)

  “The Mothers of Voorhisville,” Mary Rickert (Tor.com, April 30, 2014)

  Calendrical Regression, Lawrence M. Schoen (NobleFusion)

  “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap),” Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean, Summer 2014)

  NOVELETTE

  Winner: “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2014)

  Nominees:

  “Sleep Walking Now and Then,” Richard Bowes (Tor.com, July 9, 2014)

  “The Magician and Laplace’s Demon,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld, December 2014)

  “The Husband Stitch,” Carmen Maria Machado (Granta, October 27, 2014)

  “We Are the Cloud,” Sam J. Miller (Lightspeed, September 2014)

  “The Devil in America,” Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com, April 2, 2014)

  SHORT STORY

  Winner: “Jackalope Wives,” Ursula Vernon (Apex, January 7, 2014)

  Nominees:

  “The Breath of War,” Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, March 6, 2014)

  “When It Ends, He Catches Her,” Eugie Foster (Daily Science Fiction, September 26, 2014)

  “The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye,” Matthew Kressel (Clarkesworld, May 2014)

  “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family,” Usman T. Malik (Qualia Nous, Written Backwards)

  “A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide,” Sarah Pinsker (Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2014)

  “The Fisher Queen,” Alyssa Wong (Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2014)

  RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION

  Winner: Guardians of the Galaxy, written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

  Nominees:

  Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., and Armando Bo (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

  Captain America: The Winter Soldier, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

  Edge of Tomorrow, screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth (Warner Bros. Pictures)

  Interstellar, written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan (Paramount Pictures)

  The Lego Movie, screenplay by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures)

  ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

  Winner: Love Is the Drug, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)

  Nominees:

  Unmade, Sarah Rees Brennan (Random House)

  Salvage, Alexandra Duncan (Greenwillow)

  Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, A.S. King (Little, Brown)

  Dirty Wings, Sarah McCarry (St. Martin’s Griffin)

  Greenglass House, Kate Milford (Clarion)

  The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Leslye Walton (Candlewick)

  NEBULA AWARD NOMINEE

  BEST SHORT STORY

  “A STRETCH OF HIGHWAY TWO LANES WIDE”

  SARAH PINSKER

  Sarah Pinsker is not only a two-time Nebula Award Nominee and a Theodore Sturgeon Award winner, but she’s also a singer/songwriter with three albums under independent labels and started her first band when she was thirteen. “A Stretch of Highw
ay Two Lanes Wide” was originally published in Fantasy and Science Fiction.

  Andy tattooed his left forearm with Lori’s name on a drunken night in his seventeenth year. “Lori & Andy Forever and Ever” was the full text, all in capital letters, done by his best friend Susan with her homemade tattoo rig. Susan was proud as anything of that machine. She’d made it out of nine-volt batteries and some parts pulled from an old DVD player and a ballpoint pen. The tattoo was ugly and hurt like hell, and it turned out Lori didn’t appreciate it at all. She dumped him two weeks later, just before she headed off to university.

  Four years later, Andy’s other arm was the one that got mangled in the combine. The entire arm, up to and including his shoulder and right collarbone and everything attached. His parents made the decision while he was still unconscious. He woke in a hospital room in Saskatoon with a robot arm and an implant in his head.

  “Brain-Computer Interface,” his mother said, as if that explained everything. She used the same voice she had used when he was five to tell him where the cattle went when they were loaded onto trucks. She stood at the side of his hospital bed, her arms crossed and her fingers tapping her strong biceps as if she were impatient to get back to the farm. The lines in her forehead and the set of her jaw told Andy she was concerned, even if her words hid it.

  “They put electrodes and a chip in your motor cortex,” she continued. “You’re bionic.”

  “What does that mean?” he asked. He tried to move his right hand to touch his head, but the hand didn’t respond. He used his left and encountered bandages.

  His father spoke from a chair by the window, flat-brimmed John Deere cap obscuring his eyes. “It means you’ve got a prototype arm and a whole lot of people interested in how it turns out. Could help a lot of folks.”

  Andy looked down at where his arm had been. Bandages obscured the points where flesh met prosthetic; beyond the bandages, the shine of new metal and matte-black wire. The new arm looked like their big irrigation rig, all spines and ridges and hoses. It ended in a pincer, fused fingers and a thumb. He tried to remember the details of his right hand: the freckles on the back, the rope-burn scar around his knuckles, the calluses on the palm. What had they done with it? Was it in a garbage can somewhere, marked as medical waste? It must have been pretty chewed up or they would have tried to reattach it.