The Nebula Awards Showcase, a collection put together every year by the SFWA, continues its annoying tradition of creating a title thats off-by-one, when considering the selections it includes. In other words, this 2007 collection contains award winners and other notable works from 2006. But thats really just a minor quibble...
The 2007 collection is actually quite strong. Each of the chosen stories truly held their own, and were quite original. Still Life with Boobs by Anne Harris was hands down the most strange, bringing back memories of the 1990s song by King Missle called Detachable Penis. The other titles were equally well written, though none really fit the classic space opera style you might expect.
In addition, the non-fiction essays this year were also quite good. Unlike prior years, the essayists kept their writing short and to the point, which made them much easier for general public style readers (like me). This was much appreciated.
But the collection ends on a downbeat: the Grand Master award for 2006 went to Harlan Ellison, and for whatever reason, the novella chosen to represent this was a story that contrasted the styles of 1940s and 1960s film. Not science fiction at all. Ive never been a fan of Ellison, and this selection isnt likely to make me one either. Its unfortunate that this appears at the end of the collection, because that means this final feeling is the one Im left at for the book as a whole, and I have to consciously remind myself that the rest of the book was much better.
So, yeah. Mostly, this was worth reading. 4 of 5 stars.
The 2007 collection is actually quite strong. Each of the chosen stories truly held their own, and were quite original. Still Life with Boobs by Anne Harris was hands down the most strange, bringing back memories of the 1990s song by King Missle called Detachable Penis. The other titles were equally well written, though none really fit the classic space opera style you might expect.
In addition, the non-fiction essays this year were also quite good. Unlike prior years, the essayists kept their writing short and to the point, which made them much easier for general public style readers (like me). This was much appreciated.
But the collection ends on a downbeat: the Grand Master award for 2006 went to Harlan Ellison, and for whatever reason, the novella chosen to represent this was a story that contrasted the styles of 1940s and 1960s film. Not science fiction at all. Ive never been a fan of Ellison, and this selection isnt likely to make me one either. Its unfortunate that this appears at the end of the collection, because that means this final feeling is the one Im left at for the book as a whole, and I have to consciously remind myself that the rest of the book was much better.
So, yeah. Mostly, this was worth reading. 4 of 5 stars.
