Nebula Awards 21

Nebula Awards 21 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by George Zebrowski, the second of three successive volumes under his editorship. It was first published in trade paperback by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in December 1986, with a hardcover edition following from the same publisher in January 1987.[1]

Nebula Awards 21
Cover of first edition
Authoredited by George Zebrowski
Cover artistLanson Moles
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesNebula Awards
GenreScience fiction short stories
PublisherHarcourt Brace Jovanovich
Publication date
1986
Media typePrint (paperback), hardcover
Pagesxiii, 333
ISBN0-15-665478-4
Preceded byNebula Awards 20 
Followed byNebula Awards 22 

Summary

The book collects pieces that won or were nominated for the Nebula Awards for novella, novelette and short story for the year 1986 and various nonfiction pieces related to the awards, together with a story by 1986 Grand Master award winner Arthur C. Clarke, the two Rhysling Award-winning poems for 1985, a couple other pieces, and an introduction by the editor. Not all nominees for the various awards are included.

Contents

Reception

Publishers Weekly calls the anthology's contents "a mixed bag, [though] the best of them are treasures." The pieces by Card, Silverberg and Blaylock ("[p]erhaps best of all") are singled out for comment, as are the "three critical essays, two of which (by Algis Budrys and Gregory Benford) are stimulating reevaluations of science fiction."[2]

John G. Cramer in the Los Angeles Times judges the book a "first rate anthology," commenting on the pieces by Kress ("rather mainstream"), Martin ("a very writerly tale") and Silverberg, while noting those by Haldeman, Card, Blaylock and Waldrop as "also excellent." Of the nonfiction pieces, he calls Budrys's "penetrating" and Benford's "interesting." He criticises the inclusion of the lengthy (40 pages) discussion of science fiction films, however, opining that "[i]f I have any problem ... it is the inappropriateness of the latter piece. Nebulas are, for excellent reasons, not awarded for film. It is regrettable that the editor chose to devote 14% of the anthology to a survey of films, which, in many cases, deserve obscurity." Cramer feels including "some of the excellent Nebula nominees missing from this volume" would have been a better use of the space.[3]

The anthology was also reviewed by Debbie Notkin in Locus v. 20, no. 1 (issue no. 312), January 1987, Dave Mead in Fantasy Review v. 10, no. 2 (issue no. 99), March 1987, Edward Bryant in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine v. 7, no. 2, June 1987, Don D'Ammassa in Science Fiction Chronicle v. 9, no. 1 (issue no. 97), October 1987, and Tom Easton in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, v. 107, no. 10, October 1987.[1]

Awards

The book placed sixteenth in the 1987 Locus Poll Award for Best Anthology.[1]

Notes
  1. Nebula Awards 21 title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  2. Review in Publishers Weekly, v. 230, iss. 23, Dec. 5, 1986, p. 67.
  3. Cramer, John G. Review in the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 1, 1987, p. 4.
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