56th Annual Nebula Award Nominees Announced

The nominees for the 56th annual Nebula Awards have been announced by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

The Nebulas were founded in 1965 by Damon Knight, and they grew out of the publication of an annual anthology of the best stories of the year in Nebula Award Stories. The anthology became a ballot and SFWA members choose the best stories each year. Winners are announced at an annual banquet (which will again be virtual this year).

 

NOVEL

• Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK)
• The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US & UK)
• Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
• The Midnight Bargain, C.L. Polk (Erewhon)
• Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga; Solaris)
• Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com)

NOVELLA

• “Tower of Mud and Straw”, Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis)
• Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)
• Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
• “Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Aurelia Leo)
• The Four Profound Weaves, R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)
• Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com)

NOVELETTE

• “Stepsister”, Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20)
• “The Pill”, Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)
• “Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20)
• “Two Truths and a Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20)
• “Where You Linger”, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• “Shadow Prisons”, Caroline M. Yoachim (serialized in the Dystopia Triptych series as “The Shadow Prison Experiment”, “Shadow Prisons of the Mind”, and “The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma”, Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press)

SHORT STORY

• “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• “Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math”, Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20)
• “A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
• “The Eight-Thousanders”, Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20)
• “My Country Is a Ghost”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• “Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)

THE ANDRE NORTON NEBULA AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION

• Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• A Game of Fox & Squirrels, Jenn Reese (Holt)
• Star Daughter, Shveta Thakrar (HarperTeen)

GAME WRITING

• Blaseball, Stephen Bell, Joel Clark, Sam Rosenthal (The Game Band)
• Hades, Greg Kasavin (Supergiant) 
• Kentucky Route Zero, Jake Elliott (Cardboard Computer)
• The Luminous Underground, Phoebe Barton (Choice of Games)
• Scents & Semiosis, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Cat Manning, Caleb Wilson, Yoon Ha Lee (Self)
• Spiritfarer, Nicolas Guérin, Maxime Monast, Alex Tommi-Morin (Thunder Lotus Games)

THE RAY BRADBURY NEBULA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMA PRESENTATION

• Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Christina Hodson, Warner Bros. Pictures (Clubhouse Pictures/DC Entertainment/Kroll & Co. Entertainment/LuckyChap Entertainment)
• The Expanse: “Gaugamela”, Dan Nowak, Amazon Prime (Alcon Entertainment/Alcon Television Group/Amazon Studios/Hivemind/Just So)
• The Good Place: “Whenever You’re Ready”, Michael Schur, NBC (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal)
• Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Misha Green, Shannon Houston, Kevin Lau, Wes Taylor, Ihuoma Ofordire, Jonathan I. Kidd, Sonya Winton-Odamtten, HBO Max (Bad Robot/Monkeypaw Productions/Warner Bros.Television)
• The Mandalorian: “The Tragedy”, Jon Favreau, Disney+ (Golem Creations/Lucasfilm)
• The Old Guard, Greg Rucka, Netflix (Skydance Media/Denver and Delilah Productions/Marc Evans Productions)

The results will be announced during the 2021 Nebula Conference Online, which will take place June 4-6. Voting is open to current SFWA members. The conference is open to both members and non-members.