2015 Nebula Award Winners Announced (sfwa.org)

Dave Knott writes: The winners of the 2015 Nebula Awards (presented 2016) have been announced. The Nebulas are voted on by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and (along with the Hugos) are considered to be one of the two most prestigious awards in science fiction. This year's winners are:

Best Novel: Uprooted , Naomi Novik
Best Novella: Binti , Nnedi Okorafor
Best Novelette: "Our Lady of the Open Road," Sarah Pinsker
Best Short Story: "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers," Alyssa Wong
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: Mad Max: Fury Road , Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Updraft , Fran Wilde
Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award: Sir Terry Pratchett
Kevin O'Donnell Jr. Service Award: Lawrence M. Schoen
2016 Damon Knight Grand Master Award: C.J. Cherryh

Comments

Fury Road

[Geoffrey.landis]

I'm surprised about Fury Road; I would have gone for The Martian.
Dystopias are still in fashion, I guess.

Re:Fury Road

[plover]

Me too.

It could be the visuals on The Martian were so good, they were almost invisible. My suspension of disbelief was maintained throughout the whole movie - it looked like it was shot on location, and they never delivered anything that didn't look like NASA has been showing us since VIKING. And it didn't hurt that Matt Damon was able to pull it off magnificently, convincing everyone that his veins were filled with The Right Stuff. If those events ever happened in reality, this movie could plausibly stand in as a documentary, it was that believable.

With Fury Road, the stunts were absolutely amazing -- far and away the best stuntwork I have ever seen. But they were stunts performed strictly to be cool looking stunts. A story that abysmal could only have been written specifically to justify the stunts: "Show unbelievably ridiculous world ruled by even more ridiculous comic-book tyrant. Ragtag band of misfits drive away to promised land. Fight awesome battles against long odds. Discover promised land not as advertised. Fight even more awesome battles against even longer odds. Return victorious. Drop mic and walk off."

But sometimes you just want to see cool looking stunts, so you give them an award anyway.

Re:A question for those familiar with these novels

[RabidReindeer]

Try 3-body Problem. It may be a slow start, though and I don't think it was a nominee. For that matter, I'm not sure it's a current-year book, but it was a good read.

I think The Water Knife was on the list, though.

In a sense, Dan Brown's Inferno is sci-fi, although like all his books, it's as much about arcana and action as about what-if. And mass-market writing, of course. Just heard it's coming out as a movie.

Re:Wow!

[serviscope_minor]

I see. You're one of those raving nutcases who is simply prepared to invent your own facts when the real ones don't support you point.

You see that nebula award winning film this year? Directed and created by a straight white dude.

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

God forbid they ever give another award to a straight white male.

Like Sir Terry Pratchett, who is right in the list in the summary.

But please, don't let facts interfere with your butthurt. MRA teardrops taste so sweet in the morning.

Re:Wow!

[Kierthos]

Nope. But are you aware that last year, four out of the six nominees were guys? And one of them one. Here's a thought (I know, that might be strange to you), maybe.... maybe the reason they won this year was because they were voted as the best?

That it's not some overarching conspiracy to make you feel frustrated and upset from the depths of your mom's basement?

Re:Wow!

[serviscope_minor]

FACT: Every Nebula Award winner this year was a female, except two separate specialty awards

Oh moving the goalposts I see. Typical nutjob reasoning. First make up facts, then when people point out that the so-called "facts" are in fact not facts you move the goalposts.

So first it's that no awards went to straight white men. Now apparently it's no awards that count in some abstract sense went to straight white men. Please do make up your mind.

which went to a movie that was popular with feminists

Mad Max was popular full stop. It did well with critics, audience reviews and overall gross. I think it was in the top 20 grossing films worldwide, and top 5(?) for R-rated films.

Did I make that one up?

You made up the bit about "separate speciality awards" since the Nebulas make no such distinction. Basically what that amounts to is you cherry picking results.

So, you know what I think of your reasoning?

MEDIOCRE!

Re:Female SF authors

[tehcyder]

I learned decades ago to avoid science fiction written by females after reading some Andre Norton crap.

I learned decades ago to avoid science fiction written by males after reading some L Ron Hubbard crap. Oh no, I didn't because that would be fucking stupid wouldn't it?

Re:Wow!

[AmiMoJo]

Mad Max got some praise for not having the typical "helpless damsel in distress" stuff and instead having female characters who could actually do something for themselves. Same with Star Wars, because Leia was damseled in all three films (at least she fought back a bit).

Both were great films, not trying to make any particular point about women, just treating them like actual adult human beings rather than a mere plot device to give the male characters something to do. I don't see that harming men in any way, if anything it's good for us because we are starting to see the same thing with other character types who were previously just there for the plot, like geeks and engineers.