For what it’s worth, if I were picking the winners of the Nebula Awards right now (not the ones I think will win, but rather the ones I thought were the best) from the preliminary ballot the winners, according to my arbitrary and would be:
For novel, either Hal Duncan‘s brilliant mess Vellum, or else Peter Watt’s “no, this is what I call hard science fiction” novel Blindsight (Available Free Here!) would be my pick. Both were highly enjoyable to read, and both wrestled with some really interesting questions. If forced to pick, I’d probably give Watts the nod, despite his award cynicism, since his book was both a done-in-one, and left me with a few more things to chew over, but it would be a close run. There were lots of other great books on the list, but I figure the ones that push the boundaries and are still great novels should get the edge.
I’ve actually read all the novella contenders except the Kress one, and frankly I’d be happy with a win for any of them. I think the Wolfe story was probably the best written, the Sterling was the most interesting, and the Shepard made the biggest emotional impact. I’d still probably pick the Hughes one, though, because I am apparently a whimsical and capricious dictator, and I want more attention for him.
I’m weaker on the novelettes, but I’m still comfortable saying I would pick Ted Chiang‘s entry there. I picked it up in the lovely Subterranean edition earlier this year, and without giving away any details I’ll say instead, in the annoying way of my people, that it’s the note perfect example of the kind of thing it is. I guess I’m also safe to say that it reminded me, in a completely non-surface way of Silverberg’s Stochastic Man
I will recuse myself on the shorts, being completely ignorant of the preliminary field. I have no idea how that happened.
The scripts category is easier, since I’ve actually seen most of them. I’d say The Prestige is pretty much the run away winner here. Thinking of it just as a script for a movie, and not as an adaptation, it’s clearly the strongest work. (I might be slightly biased against V for Vendetta, since I am unable to see it as a stand alone work, or ignore the fact that it completely lost the political point of the source work.)
The Norton award is also a hands-down win, this time for Wilce and Flora Segunda. This isn’t one where I’m being whimsical–I actually expect this to win, and that there won’t be much serious debate about it at all.
