Nebula Awards 24


Nebula Awards 24 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Michael Bishop, the second of three successive volumes published under his editorship. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in April 1990.

Summary

The book collects pieces that won or were nominated for the Nebula Awards for novella, novelette and short story for the year 1989 and various nonfiction pieces related to the awards, together with a profile of 1989 Damon Knight Memorial [Grand Master Award|Grand Master award winner] Ray Bradbury with some representative pieces by him, tributes to recently deceased authors Clifford D. Simak and Robert A. Heinlein, the three Rhysling Award-winning poems for 1988, a couple other pieces, and an introduction by the editor. Not all nominees for the various awards are included.

Contents

  • "Introduction"
  • "Themes and Variations: A View on the SF and Fantasy of 1988"
  • "Free Associating About Falling Free"
  • "Ray Bradbury: Ambassador to the Future"
  • "The Collector Speaks"
  • "More Than One Way to Burn a Book"
  • "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge"
  • "Rhysling Award Winners"
  • "The Nightmare Collector"
  • "Rocky Road to Hoe"
  • "White Trains"
  • "Schrödinger's Kitten"
  • "The Fort Moxie Branch"
  • "In Memoriam"
  • "In Memoriam: Clifford D. Simak"
  • "In Memoriam: Robert A. Heinlein"
  • "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus"
  • "The Daily Chernobyl"
  • "The Last of the Winnebagos"
  • "My Alphabet Starts Where Your Alphabet Ends"
  • "The Year of the Pratfall: SF Movies of 1988"
  • "About the Nebulas"

    Reception

Publishers Weekly calls the book a "richly eclectic volume" and a "high-quality collection of short fiction, prose, humor writing and poetry." Receiving particular comment are the stories by Willis, a "high point," Yolen, and Effinger, and the essays by Bradbury and Di Filippo.
The anthology was also reviewed by Gordon Van Gelder in The [New York Review of Science Fiction], April 1990, Tom Easton in Analog [Science Fiction and Fact], October 1990, and Doug Fratz in Quantum, Spring 1990.

Awards

The book placed seventh in the 1991 Locus Poll Award for Best Anthology.