Customer Reviews

The Best of the Nebulas

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A collection that is taken from the list of Nebula winners between 1965 and 1985. As such, chosen by an experienced editor like Bova, you would expect it to be an excellent selection. It is, averaging the magic 4.0 per story exactly.

Best of the Nebulas : The Doors of His Face the Lamps of His Mouth - Roger Zelazny
Best of the Nebulas : Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman - Harlan Ellison
Best of the Nebulas : He Who Shapes - Roger Zelazny
Best of the Nebulas : Aye and Gomorrah - Samuel R. Delany
Best of the Nebulas : Passengers - Robert Silverberg
Best of the Nebulas : Behold the Man [SS] - Michael Moorcock
Best of the Nebulas : When It Changed - Joanna Russ
Best of the Nebulas : Gonna Roll the Bones - Fritz Leiber
Best of the Nebulas : Dragonrider - Anne McCaffrey
Best of the Nebulas : Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death - James Tiptree Jr.
Best of the Nebulas : Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones - Samuel R. Delany
Best of the Nebulas : A Boy and His Dog - Harlan Ellison
Best of the Nebulas : The Day Before the Revolution - Ursula K. Le Guin
Best of the Nebulas : Slow Sculpture - Theodore Sturgeon
Best of the Nebulas : Houston Houston Do You Read? - James Tiptree, Jr.
Best of the Nebulas : Catch That Zeppelin! - Fritz Leiber
Best of the Nebulas : Of Mist and Grass and Sand - Vonda N. McIntyre
Best of the Nebulas : The Persistence of Vision [SS] - John Varley
Best of the Nebulas : Grotto of the Dancing Deer - Clifford D. Simak
Best of the Nebulas : Sandkings - George R. R. Martin
Best of the Nebulas : Jeffty Is Five - Harlan Ellison


Big fish, or cut bait bloke.

3.5 out of 5


Joker fan not keen on digital watches, but does quite like a jelly bean.

3.5 out of 5


Psychiatric seeing rather stoopid.

3.5 out of 5


Gender altered space workers provide exotic rough trade on shore leave.

3 out of 5


Mind ridden physical reservations.

4 out of 5


Jaysus, it's time for.

4 out of 5


Separation anxiety.

3.5 out of 5


Dicing with Death.

4.5 out of 5


Time for some serious dragon recruiting.

5 out of 5


I'm for dinner, mum.

4 out of 5


Singing shiny password.

4 out of 5


Never you mind my mind, people are tasty.

4 out of 5


Political extroversion is tiring.

4 out of 5


Charged cancer cure.

4 out of 5


Solar flare spaceship time lost in space, plague earth now has paucity of separatist clone chick population.

4.5 out of 5


Airship transport changes.

3 out of 5


Double serpent treatment.

4.5 out of 5


Communication fuller but lots weirder with fewer senses.

4.5 out of 5


Only fair to have an immortal Cro-Magnon given the odd immortal neanderthal.

4 out of 5


Parents eventual terminal lack of patience with kid with the brilliant new old stuff.

5 out of 5

I've read all of these stories before, but not since I was 13, so it was almost like reading them for the first time. I want to start by getting some of the major disappointments out of the way. These are some writers who I used to love as a kid but found unpalatable as an adult:
Zelazny - His two stories I could only bear for a couple of pages before giving up because I found them so unengaging. I wonder if I would think the same of the Amber series or Lord of Light if I reread them today.
Delaney - I had assumed I would appreciate him better now because I couldn't make any sense of him when I was a kid. However, as a grownup, I find his flashy language is like decoration on an adolescent sensibility, as with many later cyberpunk writers. But maybe some of his novels are better than these stories.
Ellison - Another adolescent sensibility. I found "A Boy and His Dog" entertaining, although it's shockingly misogynistic by today's standards, but I couldn't get past the first couple of pages of "Ticktockman." And I like him least when he's in his sentimental mode, as in "Jeffty Is Five."
Le Guin - I should probably reread Left Hand of Darkness instead, but I found her story "The Day Before the Revolution" very boring and mundane. Also, I don't understand how it won a science fiction award when it's not science fiction at all. It could have taken place in any made-up country.
But I found some pleasant surprises too. The Sturgeon, Russ, Simak, and Leiber stories were much more well-written and sophisticated than I expected. I also enjoyed the Varley and Silverberg stories. The Martin story was creepy. But I don't understand how something like "Of Mist and Grass and Sand" could have received more votes than, say, Wolfe's "The Death of Doctor Island."