2014 Nebula Nominees

To begin with, here are the 2014 Nebula Nominees for Best Novel, taken directly from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website:

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Fire with Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
Hild, Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island)
A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer)
The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker (Harper)

This is an interest group of nominees. First off, it’s much larger than usual: 8 instead of the usual 6. Second, we have some well-regarded authors included, with Neil Gaiman, Karen Joy Fowler, and Nicola Griffith all previously winning the Nebula. Lastly, there are several included novels that push the boundaries of being science fiction or fantasy. Hild is probably best considered as a historical novel, while We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves is more fiction about science than science fiction. Even The Ocean at the End of the Lane and The Golem and the Jinni might raise eyebrows, as Ocean has horror elements and Wecker’s novel is more contemporary fantasy/slipstream. All in all, this should make for an interesting award season.

I’ll be back soon with some initial analysis.