The Nebula Awards

Each year the the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)  present the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction. The 2011 Nebula Awards were announced this past weekend. Six novels were nominated for this year’s honor. The winning novel was Among Others by Jo Walton.

Among Others by Jo Walton.
After the death of her twin sister, 14-year-old Morwenna, or "Mori," flees her unstable mother and her Welsh hometown to live with the father she barely knows--and never will, since he immediately packs her off to a boarding school in the English countryside. Grief-stricken and friendless, Mori takes refuge in books, eventually meeting others who share her interests in fantasy and science fiction. But Mori can't avoid her past forever. Unfolding in the form of a diary, Among Others is both a coming-of-age story full of subtle magic and a love letter to literature.

Additional nominees for best novel were:

Embassytown by China Mieville
Embassytown's human colonists maintain a fragile peace with the indigenous aliens of planet Arieka, whose literally double-tongued speech cannot be understood by humans. The colonists create "Ambassadors," cloned twins, whose simultaneous speech allows the alien Ariekei to understand human language; in turn, the Ariekei grant certain humans the ability to depict Ariekei thought to the colony's leaders during ritualized performances. Avice Benner Cho escaped a life of servitude as one of these living figures of Ariekei "speech" -- only to be lured back now, as strange new Ambassadors warp the Ariekei in insidious, world-ending ways. Surreal, immersive world-building in a true SF setting will wow fans of the author's 2009 Hugo-winning The City & The City.

Firebird (Alex Benedict Series #6) by Jack McDevitt
Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath discover that a missing renowned physicist had several interstellar yachts flown far outside the planetary system where they vanished. Following the physicist's trail into the unknown puts Benedict and Kolpath in danger.

God’s War (Nyx Novel, 1) by Kameron Hurley

“In a ravaged war torn land, a government assassin is about to break the law. Kameron Hurley's debut

novel is part cyberpunk, and part military SF, but all action and excitement. Some days, Nyx was a bel dame—an honored, respected, and deadly government-funded assassin—other days, she was a butcher and a hunter; a woman with nothing to lose. Now the butcher has a bounty to bring in. Nyx and her ragtag team of mercenaries are about to take up a contract that will shake the foundations of two warring governments. Bugpunk at its best. Night Shade Books is proud to present the debut novel from Kameron Hurley.” (from publisher’s press release)

Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine
As a circus of performers recreated with mechanical parts treks across a chaotic world, a government man asks for the ringmaster's help in building a world of order, while two performers desire a pair of cursed magical wings.

The Kingdom of Gods (Inheritance trilogy, 3) by N.K. Jemisin
When Sieh, the ageless trickster god of childhood, befriends Shahar and Dekarta, twin scions of the power-obsessed Arameri dynasty, the trio swear a blood oath that goes terribly wrong. Sieh awakens years later to discover that he is now mortal -- and growing older. As for Shahar and Dekarta, well, it's never easy belonging to the backstabbing Arameri clan, whose rule over the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was tenuous even before their enslaved gods gained their freedom. Although this 3rd book of the Inheritance Trilogy can stand on its own, readers will get a fuller picture of the series' world if they start at the beginning, with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms


In addition to novels, the SFWA also honors other works of speculative fiction. To view all the Nebula awards presented this past weekend, visit the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site at: http://www.sfwa.org/2012/05/2011-nebula-awards-announced/