Nebula Award Nominees That You Can Read Right Now – For Free

The coolest thing about the sci-fi literary awards these days is that a lot of the works nominated in them are short enough (and the writers are confident in new technology enough) to be available, whole, on the internet.  What follows are the complete nominations for the Nebula Awards, with links to the nine short stories, novelettes, and novellas that are running free on the internet, unfettered by sign-ins, Kindle purchases, magazine subscriptions, or instant streaming queues.

Head on in to enjoy some of the best of the best speculative fiction of the year.

Short Story

• “Arvies‘, Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine 8/10)
• “Ponies‘, Kij Johnson (Tor.com 1/17/10)
• “I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno“, Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed Magazine 6/10)
• “The Green Book“, Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine 11/1/10)
• “Ghosts of New York“, Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith)

Also nominated:

• “How Interesting: A Tiny Man”, Harlan Ellison® (Realms of Fantasy 2/10)
• “Conditional Love”, Felicity Shoulders (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 1/10)

Novelette

• “The Jaguar House, in Shadow“, Aliette de Bodard Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 7/10)

Also nominated:

• “Map of Seventeen”, Christopher Barzak (The Beastly Bride)
• “The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara”, Christopher Kastensmidt (Realms of Fantasy 4/10)
• “Plus or Minus”, James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine12/10)
• “Pishaach”, Shweta Narayan (The Beastly Bride)
• “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made”, Eric James Stone (Analog Science Fiction and Fact 9/10)
• “Stone Wall Truth”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 2/10)

Novella

• The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
• “The Sultan of the Clouds“, Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 9/10)
• The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine Summer ’10)

Also nominated:

• The Alchemist, Paolo Bacigalupi (Audible; Subterranean)
• “Iron Shoes”, J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)
• “Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance”, Paul Park (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1-2/10)

The rest of the Nebular nominees are longer works of fiction and film, ill suited for (legal) free availability on the internet, but here’s what was nominated, for your edification:

Novel

• The Native Star, M.K. Hobson (Spectra)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
• Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• Echo, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
• Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
• Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (directors), Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) (Illumination Entertainment)
• Doctor Who: “Vincent and the Doctor”, Richard Curtis (writer), Jonny Campbell (director)
• How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (directors), William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders (screenplay) (DreamWorks Animation)
• Inception, Christopher Nolan (director), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) (Warner)
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright (director), Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) (Universal)
• Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich (director), Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee Unkrich (story) (Pixar/Disney)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
• White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry)
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
• Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
• The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen)
• I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)
• A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
• Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

(via Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.org)