Nebula Awards 30:: SFWA's Choices For The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year (Hardcover)

~ Pamela Sargent (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 30th Nebula Award collection, while a respectable "year's best" and report on the genre, somehow fails to strike sparks. Editor Sargent includes a lot: all the short-fiction winners and nominated short stories; a section of the winning novel, Greg Bear's Moving Mars; a story by the Grand Master winner, Damon Knight (founder of the Science Fiction Writers of America, which awards the Nebulas); the Rhysling Award winners for best SF poetry, articles on the state of the genre and SF movies; and a tribute to Robert Bloch. The best pieces are Ursula K. Le Guin's runner-up novelette, "The Matter of Seggri," an insightful sketch of sex roles in an alien culture; Martha Soukup's winning short story, the bitterly memorable "A Defense of the Social Contracts"; and David Gerrold's winning novelette, "The Martian Child," a charming tale of adoption that goes on a bit too long. Mike Resnick's winning novella, "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge," also a Hugo winner, suffers from fakey aliens and hoodoo science. The other short stories, by Maureen McHugh, Knight, Ben Bova, Barry Malzberg and Kate Wilhelm, are accomplished but flawed. Joe Haldeman's Hugo-winning "None So Blind" is the best of the lot. Perhaps the recent, previous publication of most of these pieces has robbed the collection's thunder; while worthwhile, even impressive at times, it's more commendable than exciting.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America chose "A Defense of the Social Contracts" by Martha Soukup as best short story, "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold as best novelette, and "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" by Mike Resnick as best novella of 1994. They appear here with a bit of the 1994 novel Moving Mars by Greg Bear, surveys of 1994 sf and fantasy writing and films, and some also-rans from the shorter fiction categories. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; First Edition edition (April 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151001138
• ISBN-13: 978-0151001132
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,646,694 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The best sci-fi of 1994 - but was 1994 such a good year?, July 10, 2000

By	Shadowfire (College Park, MD) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Obviously enough, there is just no possibility that in a single year there will be enough groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy written to fill a book the size of Nebula Awards 30. In fact, some of the pieces in this collection are downright tepid (at least in my opinion, but yours may differ). Included within are:

Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick: an alien archeologist gets seven glimpses into the nature of mankind (now extinct), on a progressively more radioactive Earth. May drag around the edges. 4 stars.

Inspiration by Ben Bova: a visitor from the future attempts to give young Einstein the impetus to voice his beliefs on physics (and thus, oddly enough, save the future Earth from being a radioactive dump) by giving him a copy of Well's The Time Machine. Not quite interesting. 3 stars.

Virtual Love by Maureen F. McHugh: two online virtuosos, off-line nobodies, are mesmerized by each other's mastery with false visages. Nice imagery. 4 stars.

None So Blind by Joe Halderman: "Why aren't blind people geniuses?" A child genius falls in love with a blind musician and creates a greater intelligence. 3 stars.

Fortyday by Damon Knight: in an alternate Roman Empire humans grow biologically older until they are forty, and then age in reverse. 4 stars.

In Memoriam: Robert Bloch by Frank M. Robinson: an overview of Robert Bloch's life (Bloch died in 1994).

The Martian Child by David Gerrold: Not quite science fiction. A sci-fi writer father suspects that his adopted child is a Martian. Very endearing. 4 stars.

Rhysling Award Winners - poetry by W. Gregory Stweart and Robert Frazier, Jeff Vandermeer, and Bruce Boston: since I never enjoyed Science fiction poetry, I will not evaluate this part.

Understanding Enthropy by Barry N. Malzberg: It doesn't have a plot. 2 stars.

I Know What You're Thinking by Kate Wilhelm: A telepathic Woman can't blot out the chatter in her mind and starts taking pictures of contemplating criminals as a hobby. It drags. 3 stars.

A defense of Social Contracts by Martha Soukup: In a society where strife is minimized by one's marital permit - monogamous, polygamous, or free not to marry, a woman seeks to illegally bind a "nonmonogamous" man to herself with false marital documents. This is the ultimate in writing about sex with absolutely no emotion whatsoever. 3 stars.

From a Park Bench to the Great Beyond: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of 1994 by Kathi Maio: an overview of exactly what the title says. Non-fiction.

The Matter of Segri by Ursula LeGuin: Yet another story in the Ekumen series - a planet, where men are basically breeder drones and women are the only part of the organized society per se, is slowly nudged towards the "standards". Lots and lots of the f-word. Come on, she could have used a synomim! 4 stars.

An Excerpt from Moving Mars by Gregory Benford: since this is only an excerpt, I cannot grade it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but I prefer the 2 yrs best., August 24, 1998

By A Customer

If you like essays, deeply personal works, & poetry this is what you should stick with. Otherwise the 2 yrs best are better. "The Martian Child" was a great story that didn't really need to be science fiction & I honestly don't think it was, it wasn't fantasy either. Basically it's about the science fiction community & becoming a father. In some respects I think the SFFWA chose stories that are perhaps more interesting to sf authors then readers. Many of these stories are basically about the authors themselves or the sf community at large. Consequently ,I think, some of these stories were almost too personal & "inside" for average readers. "Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" was a good Stapledonian story, "Defense of the Social Contracts" was a genuine sociocultural speculation, & I liked Bova's. There were other good ones too & I liked seeing the Rhysling winners. The essays were also intriguing & provocative. It was actually a great anthology, but I think I'll keep up with the year's best more faithfully then the Nebula anthologies.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but mildly disappointing., August 22, 1998

By A Customer

Don't misunderstand this is a good collection. Some of these stories were a little too personal, but they were good. My problem's that the 2 years best anthologies A. Choose stories that cover the same ground (sometimes the exact stories that get Nebula nominations) & ,in some instances, cover it better & B. Cover more ground & have a better variety. Neither of the year's best have poetry so it does have that advantage. The essays are also an advantage, except I think Dozois does a good job in his summation. The essays do show a variety of opinions though. I didn't like griffith's because she seemed to say lesbian sf is the best sf about women. I think there are many great women sf authors who don't write lesbian or even feminist stories. The winners are ,of course among the best, but the McHugh, Bova, & the Wilhelm I also enjoyed. I've noticed that Wilhelm is somewhat unusual in science fiction in that I think her work deal with the concerns of middle aged women to a large extent. I liked her story even though I'm a 21 yr. old man, but it'd probably make more sense to the group I mentioned. I think Haldeman's won the hugo. In shot stick with the 2 yr's best unless you want essays or poetry.