Nebula Awards Showcase 2000: The Year's Best SF and Fantasy Chosen by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

312 Pages·2000·14.04 MB·English

by  Gregory Benford

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EBULA
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sHowcAsE2 000
TheY ear'sB estS F and Fantasy
Chosenb y theS ciencFe iction
and FantasyW riterso f America
EDITEDBY
GregoryB enford
A HARVESOTR IGINAL
HARCOURITN,C .
SanD iego NewYork London
compilation copyright @ zom by Science l.'iction and Fantasyw riters of America
Inhoduction copyright @ zrrc, 1999 byAbbenford Associates
Headnotes copyright @ zooo by Abbenford Associates
George Zebrowski essaysc oplright @ zom by Ceorgc Zebrowski
David Hartwell essayc opytight O zom by Davi<l Hartwell
Bill Warren essayc opyright @ zooo by Bill Warren
Poul Anderson essavc opyright O zooo by poul Anderson
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The Library ofCongress has cataloged this serial as follows:
The Nebula awards.- No. r9-New york lN.y.]: Arbor House, cr9g3_v.;z zcm.
Annual.
Published: San Diego, Calil: Harcourt, Inc., 1984-
Published for: Science Fiction and Flntasy Writers ofAmerica, r9g3_
Continues: Nebula award stories (New york, N.y.: r98z)
ISSN o7415567 = The Nebula awards
r. Science fi ction. Anrerican - Per.iodicals.
r. Science Fiction and FantasyW riters ofAmerica.
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IN MEMORIAM
RobertA.W . ("Doc") Lowndes
Naomi Mitchison
RachelC osgroveP ayes
T. A. Waters
fo Clayton
|ean-ClaudeF orest
Allen Drury
LawrenceS anders
Alain Doremieux
Shin'ichiH oshi
SeanA . Moore
Ernstf tinger
PeterN ilson
WaylandD rew
Ted Hughes
FrankD . McSherryf r.
JohnL . Millard
AuberyV incent Clarke
|ohn V. Baltadonis
T. BruceY erke
RichardW right
fudis Waters

CON TEN TS
Introduction: The ScienceF ictionat Genhrry ix
GregorBy enford
Readingt he Bones 1
SheilaF inch
lost Girls 69
faneY olen
ThirteenY Vaytso Water 89
BruceH ollandR ogers
FromF orenePr eace 101
)oe Haldeman
Genrea nd Genesis:
A Discussiono f $cienceF iction'sL iterary Role tl5
WHYC AN'TW EA LLJ USTL IVET OGETHER?
)onathanL ethem
RESPECTABILITY
GordonV an Gelder
GATEKEEPEARNSD L ITERARBYI GOTS
GeorgeZ ebrowski
GOODN EWSA BOUT5 F IN BADP UBLISHINTGIM ES
David Hartwell
THET RUTHA BOUTS CI-FIM OVIESR, EVEAIEAOT LAST
Bill Warren
Winter Fire 147
GeoffreyA.L andis
Lethe t6S
Walter)onW illiams
The lt{ercy Gate ZO3
Mark) . McGaruy
The 1998 Author Emeritus: Wiiliam Tenn 237
GeorgZee browski
My life and llard Times in SF Z4t
William Tenn
The Grand Master Award: Hal Clement Z4g
Poul Anderson
UncommonS ense ZS3
Hal Clement
Rhysling Award Winners Z7t
fohnG rey
LaurelW inter
Appendixes ZTs
About the NebulaA wards
SelectedTitlesfr om the ryg8p reliminaryN ebula Ballot
PastN ebulaA ward Winners
'\bout the ScienceF ictiona nd FantasyW riterso f America
Introduction
THES CIENCEF ICTIONALC ENTURY
GREGORBYE NFORD
This volume celebratess omeo f the bests ciencef iction published
duringa particularlye ngagingp eriod,t he yearsju sta bit beforet he cen-
fury turnso vera ndd eliversu nto usa millennium.A suitablem omentt o
casta backwardg lance.
Severapl iecesin this anthologyre fect on sciencefi ction'sp lacei n
literatureo verall.( See,i n particulart,h e pieceb y fonathanL ethema nd
the responsesto it.) Others revel in the genre'sh istory.B oth viewsa re
particularly germanet o a field that has come to dominate the visual
media,w hile remainingl argelyn eglectedb y the conventionalli terary
world.
Nebula volumesa re not collectionso f the best of the year;f or
those,s ee the annual productionso f Messrs.H artwell and Dozois.
Instead,N ebula nomineesa nd winnersa re the favoriteso f a club, the
ScienceF iction Writers of America,w hich is as riddled with highly
opinionatedf olk as any small town. Winnersc an represenat compro-
mise,t he resultanot f divergenfto rcesF. actionsa nde venb locv otingc an
carryt he day,a ndh ave.S incea largen umbero f fantasyw ritersm igrated
into the SFWA,m akingi t the SFFWA,w e seem ore fantasya mongt hose
honoredb y nomination.S o any Nebulav olumei s more like a momen-
tary readingo f the pulset han a pinnacleo f effort.T hat given,I have
tried to framet he fiction herew ith commentarvb v otherso n how the
Introduction
genrel ooksi n the waningm omentso f a millennium. onry in this inho-
duction shall I hold forth from my own, rafier unusual,p erspective.
- Here I mingle my own opinionsw ith somei ncidentsI found clar_
lfyiT, from the genre'so ther source:s cience.A s a professoro f phpics
(atthe universityo f california at lrvine) and an SF writer,I feel myself
at the intersectiono f both thesei lluminating spotlights.
Considert heseq uotationsf rom century:
""rorJth.
"It is the businesosf the future to be dangerousa; nd it is
amongt he meritso f scienceth at it equipst he future for its
duties." _Atfred North Whitehead,r gu
"Deniedt he magico f mythologyw, e musth avei t in science_
hences ciencefi ction." -Edward Harrisonr,9 8o
"Scienceis my tenitory,b ut sciencefi ction is the landscapeo f
my dredms." _Freeman
Dyson,1 997
me, this bespeaksa curhrre thinking aroud.w hitehead was a
philosopher,H arrisoni s an astronomera, nd Dysoni s a physicistf,u turisg
and an excellentw riter.T hey all felt the quick pulseo f science,hse artbeat
beneaths ociety'ss kin.
In 1997D avid Hartwell presenteda mammoth tome titled The
scienceF iction century, making the broad claim that in this last re-
markableh undred years," science fiction did not aspiret o take overl it-
erah:re,b ut reality."
Furthermore, in his view, "t-he overwhelming evidence is that
Americans ciencefi ction and the Americanm arketd iive the sF world.,,
sF has" now outlasteda ll the other countercultureo r outsiderl iterary
movementso f the century" and "is read with easea nd comprehension
by the teenagec hildren of educateda dultsw ho can derivel ittle or no
pleasuref rom it." Hartwell seesth e genrea s" attemptst o get at the truth
of the human condition in this century,s o contoureda nd conditioned
by sciencea nd technology."
Alas,I wish more peopleb elievedt his weres o.
Much of our cultures till doesn ot sees ciencef iction this way-
principally, I think, becausew e all have a built-in reflex: to acceptt he
presenta sa given,o rdinary,u nremarkable.
Yet today would have been a wonder to anyone living in rg99,
simplyb ecauseo f changesw roughtb y scienceu. nthinkingly anchoring