NEBULA AWARDS 24

by Michael--Ed. Bishop ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 1990

The outstanding works of 1988, as voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America, plus a selection of runners-up, overviews, poems, roundups, memorials, and essays, to a total of 20 entries. The winners: James Morrow's black-comic ""Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge"" (best Short Story) reexamines the story of Noah; George Alec Effinger's ""Schrodinger's Kitten"" (Best Novelette) involves probability physics and alternate worlds in a cyberpunk-Arabic setting; Ian Watson, in his fresh and intelligent overview, describes Connie Willis' ""The Last of the Winnebagos"" (Best Novella) as ""relying on uniquely American resonances"" and, justifiably, finds it ""opaque to outsiders""; and while Lois McMaster Bujold's Falling Free won Best Novel, Watson characterized it as ""an out-and, out juvenile,"" so her essay attempts to refute him. Elsewhere: poems (from Bruce Boston, Suzette Haden Elgin, Lucius Shepard, Robert Frazier); fiction, courtesy of Gene Wolfe, Jane Yolen, Jack McDevitt, and Neal Barrett Jr.; memorials to Clifford D. Simak and Robert A. Heinlein; humor from Paul di Filippo; and Bill Warren's skeptical rundown of 1988's mostly appalling (as usual) movies (the exception: Roger Rabbit). As nearly always: informative, absorbing, and eclectic--with its value increasing as its proportion of fiction to nonfiction continues to dwindle.

Pub Date: April 3, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION