The Nebula Awards

APRIL 2009 Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Nominees and Winners

View past nominees and winners of the Nebula Award.

Novels

Virtual library of Nebula and Norton novels at Shelfari.

Pictures

View images from the 2007 Nebula Awards Ceremony.

Links

A list of links to other sites & blogs of interest.

Nebula Weekend 2004

April 15–18, 2004 in Seattle, Washington

Robert Silverberg:
Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award

Charles Harness:
Author of Distinction, by Catherine Asaro
Appreciation, by Edward Carmien

Service to SFWA Award:
Michael Capobianco & Ann Crispin

Keynote speaker: Rick Rashid

Toastmaster: Neal Stephenson

Multi-author book signing:

Barnes and Noble at Pacific Place presents SFWA’s traditional multi-author book signing from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 16.

Pacific Place is an upscale urban shopping center at 7th and Pine, just three blocks from the Westin Seattle.
Participants

Karen Anderson

Kevin J. Anderson

Robin Wayne Bailey

Current Nebula nomineeKage Baker

Greg Bear

Michael Capobianco

Richard J. Chwedyk

A.C. Crispin

Ellen Datlow, editor, SciFiction

Keith R.A. DeCandido, editor, Imaginings

William C. Dietz

L.Timmel Duchamp

Scott Edelman, ed., Science Fiction Weekly

Current Nebula nomineeHarlan Ellison

Ru Emerson

Kelley Eskridge

Sheila Finch

Current Nebula nomineeKathleen Ann Goonan

Harold Gross & Eve Gordon (writing as Gordon Gross)

Nicola Griffith

Eileen Gunn, ed. The Infinite Matrix

Karen Haber

Joe Haldeman

Peter Heck

Howard V. Hendrix

Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm

Kij Johnson

Kay Kenyon

Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)

Louise Marley

Lee Martindale

Current Nebula nomineeJack McDevitt

Vonda N. McIntyre

Syne Mitchell

Rebecca Moesta

Current Nebula nomineeElizabeth Moon

John Moore

Mike Moscoe (also writing as Mike Shepard)

Richard Paul Russo

Elizabeth Anne Scarborough

Lawrence Schoen

Robert Silverberg (2004 Grand Master)

Sara Stamey

Amy Thomson

Gordon Van Gelder, editor, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Current Nebula nomineeJames Van Pelt

Current Nebula nomineeRay Vukcevich

K.D. Wentworth

Leslie What

Connie Willis

Nebula Awards® Banquet:

Tickets

A “Parties and Panels” membership is available for $30, at the door. Holders of these tickets will be admitted into the banquet hall after the meal to enjoy the Nebula Awards ceremony.The deadline for buying banquet tickets has passed.

Hotel update: March 26. The Westin is now reporting that they are full for the Nebula Weekend.
Swirly Separator
Banquet: Saturday, April 17
Menu
Salad
Romaine hearts, spiced walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts, Cambozola blue cheese with pear vinaigrette
Entree
Filet Mignon with grilled mushrooms and balsamic shallot sauce
or
Basil crusted Salmon with red pepper pesto
or
Vegetarian Stacked Deck (layers of roasted red bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini, and fresh mozzarella)
or
Kosher or other special meals available on request
Dessert
Orange Chocolate Pyramid
or
Grand Marnier Brulée

Programming Schedule:

Thursday
April 15, 2004

6:00 p.m. — SFWA Suite opens; badges can be picked up.

Rainier Suite
(39th Floor, South Tower)

7:00 p.m. — Informal wine tasting featuring Pacific Northwest wines.

Rainier Suite
“Science Friday”
April 16, 2004

10:00 a.m. — Registration opens

Cascade Foyer, 2nd floor

1:00-2:00 p.m. — The Blind Men and the Quantum: Testing Quantum Interpretations.

Cascade 2

Presented by Prof. John G. Cramer, Department of Physics, University of Washington, and SFWA Member

A new experiment appears to falsify the orthodox Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics and the currently fashionable Many-Worlds Interpretation, while its results are easily explained with John’s “quantum-handshake” Transactional Interpretation.

2:00-3:00 p.m. — What if We Could See Molecules? Utopian and Dystopian Futures for the Emerging Technology of Quantum Biomicroscopy.

Cascade 2

Presented by John A. Sidles, “Surprised to be a quantum engineer,” University of Washington Quantum System Engineering Group

Many SF authors have written about mad scientists, but how many have you met? Dr. Sidles will discuss quantum microscopy’s thrilling (or chilling) prospects, as well as the nitty-gritty daily reality of a quantum system engineer.

3:00-4:00p.m. — The Digital Biosphere.

Cascade 2

Presented by Mark Minie, BioResearch Liaison, University of Washington Health Sciences Libraries/BioCommons; EduCollab Group, National Center for Biotechnology Information; Vice President\Director, Pacific Northwest Bio\Technologies Alliance

Earth’s BioSphere is rapidly being digitally imaged, stored and modeled on the Internet--what does this mean and where is this taking us?

4:00-5:00 p.m. — Biology: tested and approved by Mother Nature

Cascade 2

Presented by Rose James, Dept. of Genome Sciences, University of Washington; founder of the McMaines Institute

A review of biological survival in terms of evolution, ecology and medicine.

5:30-7:30 p.m. — Multi-author book signing

Barnes & Noble

6:00 p.m. — Registration closes; badges can be picked up in SFWA suite

7:30-9:00 p.m. — Dinner break

9:00 p.m., — Presentation of pins and certificate to Nebula nominees; concert by Bloodhag

Cascade 2

Their website says, “Crowds at BlöödHag shows can expect to be pelted with classic Sci-Fi novels while their hearing is destroyed by the balls-out attack that is uniquely Edu-Core. BlöödHag tears up the stage in a freaked-out frenzy of activity, pausing only to elaborate on the personal histories and great works of the authors the songs are about. In around twenty minutes the show is over, and class is dismissed. The drunken crowd mills about, reading the books they were just hit in the head with, and feeling a whole lot smarter.” And that’s exactly what it is. Don’t miss this amazing Seattle band!

10:00 p.m.-midnight — Clarion West hosts the convention suite party.

Rainier Suite
“Writer’s Saturday”
Saturday, April 17, 2004

10:00 a.m. — Registration opens

Cascade Foyer

10:00-11:00 a.m. — From Mechanical to Digital: An Overview of E-Books and E-rights

Cascade 2

Richard Curtis, moderator (founder of E-Reads and New York literary agent), Bridget McKenna (co-founder, Scorpius Digital Publishing), Marti McKenna (co-founder, Scorpius Digital Publishing, and Bob Kruger (founder of ElectricStory.com)

11:00 a.m-12 noon — For love or money? Webzines and Small Press

Cascade 2

Eileen Gunn, moderator (editor, The Infinite Matrix), Ellen Datlow (editor, Sci-Fiction), L. Timmel Duchamp (editor, Fantastic Metropolis), and Patrick Swenson (editor, Talebones)

Noon-1:00 p.m. — Lunch break

1:00-3:00 p.m. — SFWA business meeting

Cascade 2

3:00-4:00 p.m — Shivering the Timbers of the E-Pirates

Cascade 2

Andrew Burt (SFWA VP and chair of SFWA’s E-Piracy Committee), Harlan Ellison, and Rob Hamadi (chair of E-Piracy Committee of the British Publisher’s Association)

4-5pm — Hand-in-hand: Fostering the Partnership Between Independent Booksellers and Authors

Cascade 2

Greg Ketter, moderator (Dreamhaven Books), Judith Chandler (Third Place Books), and Duane Wilkins (University Book Store)

6:00-7:00 p.m. — Reception

Cascade Foyer

7:00 p.m. — Banquet. Presentations: Nebula Awards ®, Grand Master, Service to SFWA.

Cascade Ballroom

Toastmaster Neal Stephenson, Keynote Speaker Rick Rashid (Senior Vice President of Microsoft Research)

Non-banquet ticket holders may be seated to enjoy the speeches and awards ceremony after approximately 8:00 p.m.

After the ceremony, in the SFWA Suite: Nebula Awards Showcase 2004 publication party, with cake & champagne sponsored by Roc.

Rainier Suite
“To infinity… and beyond!” Sunday
April 18, 2004

Noon-3:00 p.m. (approx) — Experience Music Project

Pre-opening tour of the under-construction Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. This will be in two parts, a presentation in the JBL Theater, and small group tours of the SFM facility. Please sign up for a tour time at the Nebula Weekend registration desk.

Experience Music Project is at 325 5th Avenue North, one mile away. To get there, leave the hotel on the 5th Avenue side. To walk, turn right and follow the monorail track along 5th. It’ll actually go through the EMP/SFM building just as it arrives at the station. To take the monorail, turn left onto 5th and follow the track one block to the station at Westlake Center. Go upstairs to buy tickets and board. Don’t worry about getting off at the right stop -there’s only one! Please wear your Nebula Weekend badge to identify yourself to the museum staff.

If you enter from the side facing the monorail station, go through the main ticket lobby and down the staircase. There is also an elevator to the lower level. Turn right past the gift shop and go in to the JBL Theater.

If you enter from the 5th Avenue side, by the Turntable Restaurant, once inside turn left just past the gift shop and go in to the JBL Theater.

Hospitality Suite Schedule

Rainier Suite
39th Floor, South Tower
Thursday

6:00 p.m. — Suite opens; registration available

7:00-9:00 p.m. — Pacific Northwest wine-tasting

9:00 p.m. — Evening hospitality
Friday

9:00 a.m. — suite opens

2:00-5:00 p.m. — “Welcome to Seattle” provided by co-host Cascadia Con

6:00 p.m. — registration available in suite during signing

10:00 p.m. — party provided by co-host Clarion West
Saturday

9:00 a.m. — suite opens

3:00-5:00 p.m. — high tea provided by co-host Foolscap

7:00-10:00 p.m. — closed during banquet

10:00 p.m. — Nebula Awards Showcase 2004 publication party, hosted by Roc Books and Vonda N. McIntyre.
Sunday

9:00 a.m. — suite opens: salmon, bagels and other items provided by SFWA and co-host Black to the Future
Cascadia Con
2005 NASFIC
Lake Union Suite
39th Floor, South Tower
Saturday only

4:00-6:00 p.m. — Happy Hour at Cascadia

6:00-9:00 p.m. — Suite closed

9:00 p.m. — Local Beer and Wine tasting party
Norwescon
Crown Suite
40th Floor, South Tower

Friday: 4:00 p.m.-midnight

Saturday: 1:00-4:00 p.m.

Saturday: 10:00 p.m. — reopens after banquet and awards ceremonies

Seattle will be hosting its first ever Nebula weekend in April of 2004. Our outstanding committee is working hard to ensure a specactular event with a Northwest flair.
The Nebula weekend will take place at the The Westin Seattle. This fine facility is located in the heart of downtown Seattle, at 5th and Stewart, and surrounded by opportunities for fine dining, exciting shopping, and just plain sightseeing. A short walk will bring you to the fun of Pike Place Market and the waterfront, and the cultural heart of Seattle, Seattle Center, is just a monorail ride away.
Plans for the weekend include:
• Thursday the 15th: SFWA suite opens for the evening
• Throughout the weekend: Hospitality events hosted by local SF groups.
• Friday the 16th: The traditional Multi-Author Book Signing, at Barnes and Noble in Pacific Place, an upscale urban shopping center just three blocks from the hotel, at 7th and Pine
• Friday and Saturday: A full schedule of programming
• Saturday the 17th: Banquet and Nebula Awards® ceremony.
• Sunday: Pre-opening hard-hat tour of Experience Science Fiction, the first SF hypermuseum, scheduled to open during the summer of 2004
Information: Astrid Anderson Bear

A Nebula Awards® event will be held in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 18, the day after the Nebula Awards are announced in Seattle. It will run from 2 to 4 pm at the Main Branch of the Free Library in Philadelphia, 1701 Vine Street.
Several award-winning writers have been lined up to talk or read at the event (names will be posted when details are confirmed). Plans include a talk about Robert Silverberg, who is this year’s Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master.
Information about the main Nebula Awards weekend and ceremony in Seattle can be found at http://www.sfwa.org/awards/2004/.
Posted April 4, 2004

Winners Presented in 2008

  • Novel: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
  • Novella: Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress
  • Novelette: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang
  • Short Story: Always by Karen Joy Fowler
  • Script: Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
  • Andre Norton Award: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

View the archives for a listing of all past winners.

List of archived Nebula Weekends



Site Search

The Yiddish Policemen's Union (winner) by Michael Chabon

Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell

The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

Odyssey by Jack McDevitt

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Proud, grateful, and longing to be American, the Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant, gritty, soulful, and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. For sixty years they have been left alone, neglected and half-forgotten in a backwater of history. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end: once again the tides of history threaten to sweep them up and carry them off into the unknown.

About the Author

Michael Chabon is the bestselling author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.

Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell

The Benevolent Satrapy rule an empire of forty-eight worlds, linked by thousands of wormholes strung throughout the galaxy. Human beings, while technically “free,” mostly skulk around the fringes of the Satrapy, struggling to get by. The secretive alien Satraps tightly restrict the technological development of the species under their control. Entire worlds have been placed under interdiction, cut off from the rest of the universe.

Descended from the islanders of lost Earth, the Ragamuffins are pirates and smugglers, plying the lonely spaceways around a dead wormhole. For years, the Satraps have tolerated the Raga, but no longer. Now they have embarked on a campaign of extermination, determined to wipe out the unruly humans once and for all.

About the Author

A professional blogger and SF/F author originally born in Grenada, Tobias currently lives in Ohio with his wife, Emily. Tobias began reading at a young age and started submitting and writing multiple short stories while in high school. He attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy workshop in 1999. He sold his first story shortly afterwards, and has since gone on to sell over 30 more. He has written and sold three novels.

The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

When an abandoned toddler appears on the shore of her Caribbean island home, Chastity Theresa Lambkin, aka "Calamity," becomes a foster mother in her 50s. Years previously, a one time, teenage experiment with a best friend unsure of his sexuality resulted in daughter Ifeoma. As Calamity, who narrates, now freely admits, Ifeoma bore the brunt of Calamity's immaturity, and their relationship still suffers for it. As Calamity relates all of this, things that have been missing for years inexplicably reappear, including an entire cashew tree orchard from Calamity's childhood that shows up in her backyard overnight. It could be island magic, or something much more prosaic. The rescued little boy's origins do have some genuinely magical elements (Calamity names him "Agway" after his foreign-sounding laughter), and Hopkinson's take on "sea people" and how they came to be adds depth and enchantment.

About the Author

Nalo Hopkinson a writer who has so far published a collection of short stories, four novels and an anthology or two. She has lived in Toronto, Canada since 1977, but spent most of her first 16 years in the Caribbean, where she was born.

Odyssey by Jack McDevitt

The world has discovered, despite all the promises held out by the champions of interstellar travel, that it offers few prospects for economic advantage. Public funding and private contributions for the Academy have been drying up. Even sightings of mysterious lights in the sky, once called UFO's, now known as moonriders, draw only skepticism. In an effort to recapture some of the glamor of earlier years, the Academy plans a well-publicized mission ostensibly to seek the truth about the moonriders. The mission will visit tour spots where they've been seen, while simultaneously — the real purpose of the flight — giving the general public a chance to get a good look at famous locations in the solar neighborhood.

About the Author

Jack McDevitt is a former English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer, and motivational trainer. With the nominations of Infinity Beach, Ancient Shores, “Time Travelers Never Die,” Moonfall, “Good Intentions” (cowritten with Stanley Schmidt), “Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City,” Chindi, Omega, and Polaris,, "Henry James, This One's for You," and Seeker, his work has been on the final Nebula ballot ten of the last eleven years.

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman

Since H. G. Wells' heyday, the time travel scenario has undergone so much variation that it's easy to envision the river of ideas finally running dry. But here the ever-inventive Haldeman offers a new twist: a device that travels in one direction only, to the future. Lowly MIT research assistant Matt Fuller toils away in a physics lab until one day he makes an odd discovery. A sensitive quantum calibrator keeps disappearing and reappearing moments later when he hits the reset button. With a little tinkering, Matt realizes that the device functions as a crude, forward-traveling time machine.

About the Author

Born in Oklahoma 9 June 1943. Grew up in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D. C., and Alaska. Currently lives in Gainesville, Florida and Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife Gay Haldeman. As of August, 2008, they will have been married 43 years.