Nebula Finalists 2008

[James Nicoll]

2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.


Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson

Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.


Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read?

Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress
Awakening by Judith Berman
Kiosk by Bruce Sterling
Memorare by Gene Wolfe
Stars Seen Through Stone by Lucius Shepard
The Helper and His Hero by Matthew Hughes

Just the Sterling.


Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novelettes Have You Read?

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang
Child, Maiden, Woman, Crone by Terry Bramlett
Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy) by Geoff Ryman
Safeguard by Nancy Kress
The Children's Crusade by Robin Wayne Bailey
The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After
the Change by Kij Johnson
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche by Delia Sherman

Only the Chiang.


Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Short Stories Have You Read?

Always by Karen Joy Fowler
Captive Girl by Jennifer Pelland
Pride by Mary A. Turzillo
The Story of Love by Vera Nazarian
Titanium Mike Saves the Day by David D. Levine
Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse by Andy Duncan

Only the Turzillo.


Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Script's Film Have You Seen?

Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark
Fergus, and Hawk Ostby
Doctor Who: Blink by Steven Moffat
Star Trek: New Voyages: World Enough and Time by Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves

Just Children and Blink.

Huh. Was I even reading SFF this year?

[Chris Buckley]

Post by James Nicoll
2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.

Only the Chabon and the Buckell. The Buckell was quite good (second in
a series that trailed off I thought.) The Chabon was a more typical
Nebula Award winner - more mainstream and I admired it (or parts of
it) but didn't like it.

Nothing shorter, nor any of the films.

Chris

[James Nicoll]

Post by Chris Buckley

Post by James Nicoll
2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.

Only the Chabon and the Buckell. The Buckell was quite good (second in
a series that trailed off I thought.) The Chabon was a more typical
Nebula Award winner - more mainstream and I admired it (or parts of
it) but didn't like it.
Nothing shorter, nor any of the films.

I am puzzled by how few of the finalists I read. I guess my shadowy
masters didn't think the finalists were particularly commercial, or
they were snapping them up for themselves.

[Chris Buckley]

Post by James Nicoll

Post by Chris Buckley

Post by James Nicoll
2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.

Only the Chabon and the Buckell. The Buckell was quite good (second in
a series that trailed off I thought.) The Chabon was a more typical
Nebula Award winner - more mainstream and I admired it (or parts of
it) but didn't like it.
Nothing shorter, nor any of the films.

I am puzzled by how few of the finalists I read. I guess my shadowy
masters didn't think the finalists were particularly commercial, or
they were snapping them up for themselves.

I would venture that there weren't that many above average books that year.
Looking at a more extended Hugo nominee list (top 15), there were lots of
sequels/series (Rowling, Pratchett, Scalzi etc) but not many very good
books, IMO, so attention got spread out among many books.

There were two of my Favorites that year, but I'm not that surprised they
didn't make Nebula nominee status . _Halting State_ appealed to me but has
somewhat niche appeal. _The Name of the Wind_ has more mass appeal, but as
an author's first book fantasy doorstop probably hadn't been read by enough
of the Nebula crowd.

Chris

[Bobbie Sellers]

Post by James Nicoll
2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.

The Chabon is the only one of the stories I have
read. I was not buying SF magazines due to poverty.

Post by James Nicoll
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read?
Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress
Awakening by Judith Berman
Kiosk by Bruce Sterling
Memorare by Gene Wolfe
Stars Seen Through Stone by Lucius Shepard
The Helper and His Hero by Matthew Hughes
Just the Sterling.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novelettes Have You Read?
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang
Child, Maiden, Woman, Crone by Terry Bramlett
Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy) by Geoff Ryman
Safeguard by Nancy Kress
The Children's Crusade by Robin Wayne Bailey
The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After
the Change by Kij Johnson
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche by Delia Sherman
Only the Chiang.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Short Stories Have You Read?
Always by Karen Joy Fowler
Captive Girl by Jennifer Pelland
Pride by Mary A. Turzillo
The Story of Love by Vera Nazarian
Titanium Mike Saves the Day by David D. Levine
Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse by Andy Duncan
Only the Turzillo.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Script's Film Have You Seen?
Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark
Fergus, and Hawk Ostby
Doctor Who: Blink by Steven Moffat
Star Trek: New Voyages: World Enough and Time by Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves
Just Children and Blink.
Huh. Was I even reading SFF this year?

`
There is a lot to read. I only bought SF Magazines during the Covid
restriction time. Then in 2021 the shop where I bought them
went out of business. Not so many comprehensived news shops left in
San Franciscio. The reason I bought them was simply because the
SFPL was closed for quite a while. I really like to read and gave
up some other items on my lists for that time.

It wasn't like there was much you could do with the money at the time.
bliss

[Paul S Person]

Post by James Nicoll
2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read?
Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress
Awakening by Judith Berman
Kiosk by Bruce Sterling
Memorare by Gene Wolfe
Stars Seen Through Stone by Lucius Shepard
The Helper and His Hero by Matthew Hughes
Just the Sterling.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novelettes Have You Read?
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang
Child, Maiden, Woman, Crone by Terry Bramlett
Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy) by Geoff Ryman
Safeguard by Nancy Kress
The Children's Crusade by Robin Wayne Bailey
The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After
the Change by Kij Johnson
The Fiddler of Bayou Teche by Delia Sherman
Only the Chiang.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Short Stories Have You Read?
Always by Karen Joy Fowler
Captive Girl by Jennifer Pelland
Pride by Mary A. Turzillo
The Story of Love by Vera Nazarian
Titanium Mike Saves the Day by David D. Levine
Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse by Andy Duncan
Only the Turzillo.
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Script's Film Have You Seen?
Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark
Fergus, and Hawk Ostby
Doctor Who: Blink by Steven Moffat
Star Trek: New Voyages: World Enough and Time by Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves
Just Children and Blink.

I don't usually respond, but the only two I saw were losers /Pan's
Labyrinth/ (which I didn't see until years later, however) and
/Children of Men/ (in a theater).

I think I had given up on the Star Trek reboot by then, but that may
not matter, as the title given in IMDb comes up with a TV Series that
apparently continued the original series (quite successfully,
apparently, since it ran from 2004-2023) and the title given isn't
found. Nor is it found under Zicree nor under Reaves (any of the
three).

Post by James Nicoll
Huh. Was I even reading SFF this year?

I'm not sure /Children of Men/ is really SF, as opposed to merely
being set in an SF context but really being something else. When I
watched it, it looked to me to be Yet Another Motion Picture About How
The Kids Were Right In The 60s. Which, by 2008, was getting rather
old. Also, for all /we/ know at the end of the film, the gummint has
30 pregnant women under wraps and is planning to reveal them next
week. We don't actually /know/ that there is only one in the entire
world -- that's 60's paranoia speaking.

[Robert Woodward]

Post by James Nicoll
2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential
school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the
Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly
destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black
President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit
insane.

And I believe that they have not yet recovered.

Post by James Nicoll
Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.

None and in fact, I don't remember reading any of the shorter works as
well (I also don't remember noticing several authors). I do have the
magazine issues that many of those stories appeared in.

<SNIP!>