Nebula Awards Showcase 2013
Nebula Awards Showcase 2013 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Catherine Asaro. It was first published in trade paperback by Pyr in May 2013. Summary. The book collects pieces that won or were nominated for the Nebula Awards for best novel, novella, novelette and short story for the year 2011 (presented in 2012), as well as the novel that won the Andre Norton Award for that year, an early story by 2011 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award winner Connie Willis, nonfiction pieces related to the awards, and the two Rhysling Award -winning poems for 2011, together with an introduction by the editor. The pieces winning the Best Novel and Andre Norton awards are represented by excerpts. Not all nominees for the various awards are included. Reception. "Kirkus Reviews" calls the collection "[e]ssential fare for short story aficionados, even though some of the contents have appeared in other collections." It goes on to discuss several of the included pieces briefly, singling out those of Liu, Johnson, Ryman, Willis, and Yu for particular praise. Ryder Miller in the "Portland Book Review" writes that "The Nebula, despite the recent proliferation of new awards, has  remained a stalwart guide to what the field aspires to be. One can also get a sense of how the field has changed with recent works veering off into the fantastic in this Showcase." While regretting the dearth of such traditional themes as "interstellar travel, journeys in time and encounters with extraterrestrials [and] the dream of a clear cut divide between good and evil," he notes the emergence in the anthology of "new directions and genre hybrids [and] some interesting literary stories requiring a close or second reading [that] seem more appropriate for more mature audiences, but maybe one should  not underestimate the young." He notes the presence of "[s]ome big names" along with "new writers and disparate voices" and finds some of the pieces "oceanic, rather than cosmic." He concludes that while "[o]ne is not likely to enjoy everything, ... there is a fair bit to be impressed by." The anthology was also reviewed by Wendy Bousfield in "SFRA Review" no. 305 Summer 2013, Don Sakers in "Analog Science Fiction and Fact", October 2013, and Cherith Baldry in "Vector" 274, Winter 2013.