N EBULA /A WARDS /_|r\ sHo wcAsE2 001 TheY ear'sB esSt F andF antasy Chosenb y theS ciencFe iction and FantasyW riterso f America EDITEDB Y RobertS itverberg A HARVESOTR IGINAL HARCOURITN,C . SanDiego NewYorkL ondon Compilation copyright @ zoor by Science Fiction and FantasyW riters ofAmerica Inhoduction and headnotcs copyright @ zoor by Agberg, Ltd. Gary K. Wolfe essayc opyright @ zoor by Gary K. Wolfe Harry Harrison cssayc opvright @ zmr bv Harry Harrison Barry N. Malzberg essayc opyright @ zoor by Barry N. Malzberg AII rights reserved.N o part ofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, elechonic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storagea nd retrieval system,w ithor,rt permission in writing from the publisher. Rcqucsts for permission to make copics ofany part ofthe work should be mailed to the following address:P ennissionsD epartment, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 328874777. www.harcourt.com The SFWA Nebula Awards is a trademark of the Science Fiction and Fantasyw riters of America, Inc. Thc Library ofCongress has cataloged this serial as follows: The Nebula awards.-No. r9-NewYork [N.y]:Arbor House,c r9g3_v.;z zcm. Annual. Published:S an Dicgo, Cali[: Harcourt, Inc., 1984- Published for: Science Fiction and Flntasy Writers ofAmerica, r9g3- Continues: Nebula award stories (New York, N.y: r98z) ISSN o74r-5567= The Nebula awards r. Scienccf ic tion. American- Periodicals. r. Science! -iction and FantasyW ritcrs of America. PS648.S3N83z8- 6+nss 8r3'.o876'o8-dcr9 MCRz MARC.S Library of Congrcs [87o9r84]rev ISBN o-r5-rm58i-8 ISBN or5-6o1335-5( pbk) Text set in Electra Designed by Kaelin Chappell Printcd in thc United Stateso f America I(JTHGFEDCBA First cdition Permissionsa cknowledgments appear on page 253,w hich constihrtes a contimration of the copyright page. IN MEMORIAM A. E. van Vogt Oliver E. Saari A,rt Saha Marion Zimmer Bradley CharlesD . Hornig Eddie| ones FrankB ryning Howard Browne WaltWillis famesW hite George" Lan" Laskowski Marjii Ellers Charles" Chuch" Harris Chris Boyce fim Tirrner TerryH odel RayR ussell StanleyK ubrick Robert" Buck" Coulson FrankM cConnell )ohn W. Pritchard( "Ian Wallace") CON TEN TS Introduction: Nebulasa t Centu4y'Es nd ix RobertS ilverberg Storyo f YourL ife (bestn ovelta) 7 Ted Chiang Mars Is No Placef or Children (bestn ovetette) 49 MaryA. Turzillo TheC osto f DoingB usiness(b ests horts tory) 85 LeslieW hat EpiloguefromP arableo ftlre Talents (bestn ovel) 96 OctaviaE . Butler Unhidden Agendas,U nfinished ltialogues: 1999 in ScienceF iction 1.07 GaryK .W olfe The Wedding Atbum 1,?3 David Marusek Radiant Doors 177 Michael Swanwick TheG randM asterA ward:B rian W.A tdiss 794 Harry Harrison JudasD anced 196 BrianW .A ldiss Author Emeritus 2000: Daniel Keyes 21'0 BarryN . Malzberg Algernon,C harlig and I: A Write/s Journey ?13 Daniel Keyes RhystingA wardW inners 236 BruceB oston Laurel Winter Appendixes ?43 About the Nebula Awards PastN ebulaA wa rd Wi nners AbouttheS cienceF iction andFantasyWriterso f America Introduction NEBULAAST CENTURYE'SN D ROBERTS ILVERBERG So here we all are in the twenty-first century, we raggle-taggle band of survivingt wentieth-centurys ciencef ictionists,s taringf uthur C. Clarke'so wn yearo f 2001 in the eyea nd looking back in this volume at the NebulaA wardse vento f May 2000,w heret he ScienceF iction and FantasyW riters of America, hereafterk nown in thesep agesa s SFWA, honoredt he bests ciencefi ctiona ndf antasys torieso f 1998a nd 1999t:h e stateo f the art in our field ast he old centuryc amet o its end. (Why the bests torieso f 1998a nd ry99,y ou may ask?I s the Neb- ula Awardn ot given annually?Y es,i t is. Why, then, weres omeo f the nominateds toriesfi rstp ublishedt wo yearsb eforet he banqueta t which theyw ereh onored?B ecauseth e Nebulae ligibilityr ulesa rev erys trange, kiddo.N ow go awaya nd studyy our non-Aristotelianlo gic lessonsw, ill you?) The organizationth at givest hesea wardsw asf oundedi n 1965b y the writer,c ritic, and editorD amon Knight.I ts purposea, ss etf orth in the original seto f bylaws,w as" to inform sciencef iction writerso n mat- terso f professionailn terest,t o promotet heir professionawl elfare,a nd to help them deal effectivelyw ith publishers,a gents,e ditors,a nd antholo- gists."N ote that nothing is explicitly mentioned about awardsi n that statement. Seventy-twow ritersr espondedto Knight'si nitial invitation and be- came charter memberso f SFWA. At least thirty-one of them are still Introduction alive,t hreea nda half decadelsa ter:n ot a bada ctuariadl isplayT. he very first name on the list of charterm embersi s that of Brian W. Aldiss,w ho wasn amed to the rostero f SFWA'sG rand Mastersa t the z,oooN ebula ceremony. The name of Daniel Keyes,t he zooo Author Emerifus, shouldh aveb eeno n that list too-certainly he waso n the scenea t the iime-but evidentlyh e didn't bothers igningu p. The list of original membersi s bespeckledw ith the nameso f a number of other writersw ho eventuallyr eceivedt he Grand Master award-Poul AndersonI,s aacA simov,A ]fredB esterf,u thur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, Fritz Leiber, Frederik Pohl, fack Vance,A . E. vanV ogt,a nd fack Williamson.T hat'st welveG rand Mas- terso ut of the firsts eventy-twmo embersi,n cluding,b y a curiousc oinci- dence,t he first four nameso n the alphabeticarlo sterA. nderson,P ohl, and Williamson alsow ent on to becomep residentso f SFWA, as did sucho therc harterm embersa sB en Bova,G ordonR . Dickson,| amesE . Gunn, AIan E. Nourse,a nd Norman Spinrad.( l wasa charterm ember too, and in an unguardedm omentI allowedm yselft o becomet he sec- ond presidenot f SFWA,s ucceedingD amon Knight in fuly 1967.) As those statisticss how, we were a tight-knit little bunch then. Everybodyk newp racticallye verybodey lse,a nd mosto f usw eref amiliar with nearly everythingt hat everybodye lse had writien. In that far-off yearo f 1965s, ciencef iction wasa quaintl ittle cornero f the publishing world, cherishedo nly by thosef ew who cherishedi t and generallyi g- noredo r mockedb y everybodye lse.T wo or threeh ardcovepr ublishers, a handfulo fpaperbackh ousesa, nd sixo r sevenm agazinepsr ovidedt he English-speakinwgo rldw ith suchS F asw asa vailableL. esst han a dozen of the original seventy-twoS FWA memberse arneda full-time living ftom sciencef iction. Nobody made the New YorkT imesb est-sellelri st. Nobody even made the Locus best-sellelri st, becauseL ocus hadn't begun publication. Star Trek hadn't happenedy et, either. Stanley Kubrick hadn't even startedt alking to futhur Clarke, probably,a bout the movie that would be calledz oor. Nor had all the resto f the stuffthat makesS F such big businessto day-the computerg amest,h e fantasy playingc ards,t he jilliondollar spacea dventurem oviess tarringB ruce Willis or SeanC onnery or Keanu Reeveso r SigourneyW eaver-come into view We wrote our little storiesa nd our little novels,a nd we were paid a little bit of money,a nd we had a little gagg;leo f faithful readers, and that wast hat. Introduction Damon Knight dreamedu p the Nebula Awardsm idway through the organization'fsi rst year,n ot som uch asa promotionald evice( ast hey haves incei nevitablyb ecome)b ut asa wayf or professionawlr iterst o rec- ognizeh igh literarya ccomplishmenint the worko f theirp eersH. is plan wast o hold a formal banquet each year in New York, then as now the publishingc entero f the counhy, at which hophieso f somea ppropri- ately dignified sort would be given out to the writers of the best novel, novella,n ovelette,a nd short story of the previousy ear,n ominations beingo pen to the entirem embershipa nd winnersc hosenb y member vote.S incet ranscontinentatrl avelw asn ot then ase asya si t would later becomeW, estC oastm embersw ereg ivent he optiono f holdinga simul- taneousb anqueto f their own. The firstN ebulab anquetsw ereh eld on March rr, 1966-the New York one at the OverseasP ressC lub in midtown Manhattan, the West Coasto ne at McHenry'sT hil o'the Cock Restauranitn BeverlyH ills. I wasp resenat t the New Yorkd inner,a nd I recallt hreet hingsi n particu- lar abouti t: r) The food wast errible. z) Among thosea t my table were not only the well-knownw riters Anne McCaftey andG ordonR . Dickson,b ut a certainD amon Stetson, then a reporterf or the NewYorkTimes.al skedh im whetherh e wasc ov- eringt he banquetf or his newspaper".O h, no," he said." Damon Knight invitedm e justb ecausem y namei s Damon. He likesh avingo ther Da- monsa round."T his was,a las,n ot my first clue to the existenceo f the mile-wides treako f frivolityt hat wasa nd is a distinguishingc haracteris- tic of our organizatione'ss teemedfo under. 3) Also seateda t my table wasa writer whosen ame I remember only too well but will leaveu nstatedh ere.T hroughs omei ncomprehen- siblem iracleh e had begunh is careeri n sciencefi ction with the almost impossibletr ick of sellinga collectiono f his shorts toriesto Doubleday, then the premierp ublishero f hardcovers ciencef iction-stories that, asi t happenedh, ad nearlya ll beenr ejectedb y the SF magazineosf that day.( lt wash is first and lastb ook, incidentally.)A bout an hour through the meal,a fterl isteningt o the veteranp rosM cCaftey, Dickson,a nd Sil- verberge ngagingin a steadys treamo f insiderc hat,M r. X turnedt o me pleasantlya nd said," Oh, arey ou a writert oo, Ralph?" Annie McCaffrey,b lessh er,s eth im straighot n thats ubjectw ith a bursto f true Gaelicf ervor.A nd then we went on to the speecheosf the