Nebula Awards Showcase 2017

This compilation of Nebula Award–nominated and –winning fiction from 2016 is indispensable reading for anyone interested in fantastic fiction. The three short-fiction winners show the breadth of themes and ideas and the sheer creativity of the genre’s leading writers. Alyssa Wong’s “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” is an unsettling tale of horror and also a haunting love story. Sarah Pinsker’s novelette “Our Lady of the Open Road” is a rumination on artistic integrity in a near future in which canned StageHolos are stifling the future of live musical performance. Nnedi Okorafor’s exceptional novella “Binti” explores cultural tribalism as humans and extraterrestrials face off. In addition to all six nominated short stories, the anthology includes excerpts from all six nominated novels, two Rhysling Award–winning poems, and tributes by Betsy Wollheim for C.J. Cherryh (winner of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award) and by Michelle Sagara for Terry Pratchett (posthumous winner of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award). Czerneda has curated a sterling collection of outstanding work. (May)