The nominee's are out now -      http://www.sfwa.org/2010/02/2009-nebula-awards-final-ballot/

I'm really not familiar with any of the literature nominated, but I hope emphatically that Moon wins the Bradbury award.

Yay to Kage Baker's two noms!

I'm still not really interested in any of the novels being nominated for these awards. . . they all look so dark. But it is kind of cool that Asia's getting some love as a setting. . .

The Love We Share Without Knowing is a phenomonal book. I really hope Barzak wins best novel.

His book says so much with so little. There is so much he shows us about the incredible and terrible power of love, both with its presence and its absence. And he reminds us about just how much we influence each other's lives with actions both great and small, even without meaning to. It is really incredible that a story full of so much death, darkness, and despair can be so inspiring and life-affirming, but Barzak pulls it off flawlessly.

Boneshaker is my number two pick, for being such a riveting steampunk adventure story.

The City and the City was a very good but flawed book. The premise is fascinating, but the writing becomes so awkward in trying to articulate that premise that I often found myself reading a paragraph four or five times trying to puzzle out what Mieville was trying to say.

VanderMeer's writings are all top notch but are just not to my taste.

On the other hand, with Bacigalupi I honestly cannot understand the appeal. His writing is so decidedly average and his ideas so Luddite that it simply confounds me as to how he has so many fans in the science fiction comminuty.

Gilman is a total unknown to me, so I'm going to have to hunt down Flesh and Fire and see what she has to offer.

" I'm really not familiar with any of the literature nominated, but I hope emphatically that Moon wins the Bradbury award."

I really need to see Moon.  And Avatar I suppose, just so I can say I've seen them all.

You haven't seen Avatar? I thought everyone on the planet had seen Avatar. . .

Gilman was the only one I hadn't heard of too. Her book actually looked the most up my alley. . . but I may check out the Barzak based on your recommendation. . . I don't mind dark if overall it is life-affirming. . . I just can't take darkness for darkness' sake.

Thanks Zylyn, I've been waiting for this list to come out, too.  I'm really happy, because I'm previously unfamiliar with most of them!

So, I've ordered Boneshaker, and The Love We Share Without Knowing.  And I've checked out The City & The City, and The Windup Girl from my local library.

I'm a little worried about Finch, because it seems to be third in a series.  And sorry, PhoenixFalls, but my first impression of Flesh and Fire is not a good one.  I'll wait to see a review or two, and then I may change my mind.

-Tom Hl.

Yep -Matt mentioned the Finch problem. I plan to order all 3. I probably won't keep them -so if you can hold off Tom I can post them to you in a while. The list looks interesting all around. I'm going to see if the library has boneshaker as soon as I'm off here.  Most of the books I had to look up. I feel hopelessly out of date at the moment.  I'm looking forward to reading a quite a few of them but like Phoenix I'm just not fond of dark for darkness sake.

Thanks for posting the link!

Boneshaker is my number two pick, for being such a riveting steampunk adventure story.

The City and the City was a very good but flawed book. The premise is fascinating, but the writing becomes so awkward in trying to articulate that premise that I often found myself reading a paragraph four or five times trying to puzzle out what Mieville was trying to say.

VanderMeer's writings are all top notch but are just not to my taste.

On the other hand, with Bacigalupi I honestly cannot understand the appeal. His writing is so decidedly average and his ideas so Luddite that it simply confounds me as to how he has so many fans in the science fiction comminuty.

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Haven't read Boneshaker yet.  Got an autographed copy from the University Book Store, but that's just because the author lives in Seattle (or thereabouts) and has friends at the store.  I always like books where I know the setting.

The City & The City was good writing (I thought) but just a "meh" book.

I've always liked VanderMeer, but haven't read Finch or the other two books (yet).

Now I puzzled over your Luddite description of Bacigalupi.  I guess I can see that, seems he doesn't think technology will fix the overpopulation problem, the energy crisis problem, the dumbing down of our society problem, the food production problems, etc. etc.  I'm only about 50 pages into the Windup Girl, but I have read Pump Six and Other Stories.  Yeah - really dark!  When I finished Pump Six I made sure all my appliances were unplugged, the recycling was taken care of, and I went out and planted a bare root cherry tree.  Oh - also I've tried to make sure the dishes are always done, even though it may be hubby's turn.   LOL!

Can't even guess who's gonna win this year.

Just finished The Windup Girl, and I'm counting it as "Work set on Earth with no space travel" in the challenge.  I have mixed feelings about it.

Should we start a separate thread for each of the six books on the final ballot?  It's looking like a few of us planning to read most of them in the near future, and that would probably organize the discussions better.

-Tom Hl.

I'm now reading my 4th from the final ballot list - The Love We Share Without Knowning.  So far the impression I've gotten is that the finalists tend to break category boundaries, which I think is a good thing, and all have been very worthwhile.  So I'd like to add at least Finch to my reading list too.  I know some here have read it, and so I'd like to ask if you recommend that I read the predecessor books as well, and if they should be read first.  The real question, I guess, is whether the earlier two books are good enough, that I should not spoil them by reading Finch first.

-Tom Hl.