Nebula Awards Showcase 2008 (39 page)

 

T
he André Norton Award for Best Young Adult Science Fiction honors the memory of one of the field’s most prolific and most beloved authors, André Norton. Equally adept in science fiction or fantasy, she was a major force in developing both genres for young readers.

The 2007 André Norton Award winner is Justine Larbalestier, for her novel
Magic or Madness
. She lives in Sydney and, she says, travels too much. In addition to the Magic or Madness trilogy, Larbalestier has written
Ultimate Fairy Book
and the nonfiction
Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction
. She has also edited the scholarly anthology
Daughter of Earth
.

She writes:

 

Magic or Madness
arose out of my desperate desire for a quicker way to get between Sydney (where I am from) and New York City (my husband’s home). A way that did not involve twenty-four hours of taxis, airports, and planes. What if, I thought to myself, there were a door between there and here? Which led to other thoughts, like, Would you still get jet lag (or, rather, door lag) as you traveled between the two? Who would make such a door? How? And what kind of a world would have that kind of magic?

The book (and trilogy
—Magic or Madness
is the first of three) was also shaped by my exasperation with a certain kind of fantasy novel. The kind that usually has a scene like this:

“I am in trouble!” quoth the hero. “Fortunately I have a magic pill of trouble-destroying properties! I will swallow it! All will be well.”

I couldn’t swallow it. I have never been able to swallow it. I wanted to write about a world where magic wasn’t there to fix every problem the hero (or author) encounters; a book where, indeed, magic is the problem.

Quite a nasty problem, actually. As the title suggests, the choice is between magic or madness. If you’re born with magic but don’t use it, you go mad. Not merely eccentric, but must-be-locked-up-because-dangerous mad. Yet if you use your magic, you shorten your life span. Most magic wielders don’t make it much past thirty. In the Magic or Madness trilogy magic is not a blessing, it’s a curse.

Make ’em suffer, after all, is an excellent prescription for page-turning novels and one at the heart of a great many young adult novels. That, and a set of questions centered around not just identity (learning who you are) but also questions of place (learning your world, literally and metaphysically). One of the many pleasures of writing for young adults is being free to explore such questions without having to send in an envoy from another planet to investigate this one. All teenagers are envoys from another planet.

On this planet right now it’s an extraordinary time for young adult literature. Not only has the audience expanded hugely in the last ten years (thank you, J. K. Rowling), but so, too, has the quality and quantity of the work, not to mention the support of publishers, booksellers, librarians, readers, and other YA writers. Bliss it is in this dawn to be alive, but to be a young adult writer is very heaven.

 

1965

Best Novel:
Dune
by Frank Herbert

Best Novella (tie): “The Saliva Tree” by Brian W. Aldiss “He Who Shapes” by Roger Zelazny

Best Novelette: “The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth” by Roger Zelazny

Best Short Story: “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” by Harlan Ellison

 

1966

Best Novel (tie):
Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes

Babel-17
by Samuel R. Delany

Best Novella: “The Last Castle” by Jack Vance

Best Novelette: “Call Him Lord” by Gordon R. Dickson

Best Short Story: “The Secret Place” by Richard McKenna

 

1967

Best Novel:
The Einstein Intersection
by Samuel R. Delany

Best Novella: “Behold the Man” by Michael Moorcock

Best Novelette: “Gonna Roll the Bones” by Fritz Leiber

Best Short Story: “Aye, and Gomorrah” by Samuel R. Delany

 

1968

Best Novel:
Rite of Passage
by Alexei Panshin

Best Novella: “Dragonrider” by Anne McCaffrey

Best Novelette: “Mother to the World” by Richard Wilson

Best Short Story: “The Planners” by Kate Wilhelm

 

1969

Best Novel:
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. LeGuin

Best Novella: “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison

Best Novelette: “Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones” by Samuel R. Delany

Best Short Story: “Passengers” by Robert Silverberg

 

1970

Best Novel:
Ringworld
by Larry Niven

Best Novella: “Ill Met in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber

Best Novelette: “Slow Sculpture” by Theodore Sturgeon

Best Short Story: No Award

 

1971

Best Novel:
A Time of Changes
by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella: “The Missing Man” by Katherine MacLean

Best Novelette: “The Queen of Air and Darkness” by Poul Anderson

Best Short Story: “Good News from the Vatican” by Robert Silverberg

 

1972

Best Novel:
The Gods Themselves
by Isaac Asimov

Best Novella: “A Meeting with Medusa” by Arthur C. Clarke

Best Novelette: “Goat Song” by Poul Anderson

Best Short Story: “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ

 

1973

Best Novel:
Rendezvous with Rama
by Arthur C. Clarke

Best Novella: “The Death of Doctor Island” by Gene Wolfe

Best Novelette: “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand” by Vonda N. McIntyre

Best Short Story: “Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death” by James Tiptree Jr.

Best Dramatic Presentation:
Soylent Green
screenplay by Samuel R. Greenberg (based on the novel
Make Room! Make Room!
by Harry Harrison)

 

1974

Best Novel:
The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. LeGuin

Best Novella: “Born with the Dead” by Robert Silverberg

Best Novelette: “If the Stars Are Gods” by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford

Best Short Story: “The Day Before the Revolution” by Ursula K. LeGuin

Best Dramatic Presentation:
Sleeper
by Woody Allen

Grand Master: Robert A. Heinlein

 

1975

Best Novel:
The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman

Best Novella: “Home Is the Hangman” by Roger Zelazny

Best Novelette: “San Diego Lightfoot Sue” by Tom Reamy

Best Short Story: “Catch that Zeppelin!” by Fritz Leiber

Best Dramatic Writing: Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder for
Young Frankenstein

Grand Master: Jack Williamson

 

1976

Best Novel:
Man Plus
by Frederik Pohl

Best Novella: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” by James Tiptree Jr.

Best Novelette: “The Bicentennial Man” by Isaac Asimov

Best Short Story: “A Crowd of Shadows” by Charles L. Grant

Grand Master: Clifford D. Simak

 

1977

Best Novel:
Gateway
by Frederik Pohl

Best Novella: “Stardance” by Spider and Jeanne Robinson

Best Novelette: “The Screwfly Solution” by Racoona Sheldon

Best Short Story: “Jeffty Is Five” by Harlan Ellison

Special Award:
Star Wars

 

1978

Best Novel:
Dreamsnake
by Vonda N. McIntyre

Best Novella: “The Persistence of Vision” by John Varley

Best Novelette: “A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn’s Eye” by Charles L. Grant

Best Short Story: “Stone” by Edward Bryant

Grand Master: L. Sprague de Camp

 

1979

Best Novel:
The Fountains of Paradise
by Arthur C. Clarke

Best Novella: “Enemy Mine” by Barry Longyear

Best Novelette: “Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin

Best Short Story: “giANTS” by Edward Bryant

 

1980

Best Novel:
Timescape
by Gregory Benford

Best Novella: “The Unicorn Tapestry” by Suzy McKee Charnas

Best Novelette: “The Ugly Chickens” by Howard Waldrop

Best Short Story: “Grotto of the Dancing Deer” by Clifford D. Simak

Grand Master: Fritz Leiber

 

1981

Best Novel:
The Claw of the Conciliator
by Gene Wolfe

Best Novella: “The Saturn Game” by Poul Anderson

Best Novelette: “The Quickening” by Michael Bishop

Best Short Story: “The Bone Flute” by Lisa Tuttle (declined by the author)

 

1982

Best Novel:
No Enemy but Time
by Michael Bishop

Best Novella: “Another Orphan” by John Kessel

Best Novelette: “Fire Watch” by Connie Willis

Best Short Story: “A Letter from the Clearys” by Connie Willis

 

1983

Best Novel:
Startide Rising
by David Brin

Best Novella: “Hardfought” by Greg Bear

Best Novelette: “Blood Music” by Greg Bear

Best Short Story: “The Peacemaker” by Gardner Dozois

Grand Master: André Norton

 

1984

Best Novel:
Neuromancer
by William Gibson

Best Novella: “PRESS ENTER
” by John Varley

Best Novelette: “Bloodchild” by Octavia E. Butler

Best Short Story: “Morning Child” by Gardner Dozois

 

1985

Best Novel:
Ender’s Game
by Orson Scott Card

Best Novella: “Sailing to Byzantium” by Robert Silverberg

Best Novelette: “Portraits of His Children” by George R. R. Martin

Best Short Story: “Out of All Them Bright Stars” by Nancy Kress

Grand Master: Arthur C. Clarke

 

1986

Best Novel:
Speaker for the Dead
by Orson Scott Card

Best Novella: “R & R” by Lucius Shepard

Best Novelette: “The Girl Who Fell into the Sky” by Kate Wilhelm

Best Short Story: “Tangents” by Greg Bear

Grand Master: Isaac Asimov

 

1987

Best Novel:
The Falling Woman
by Pat Murphy

Best Novella: “The Blind Geometer” by Kim Stanley Robinson

Best Novelette: “Rachel in Love” by Pat Murphy

Best Short Story: “Forever Yours, Anna” by Kate Wilhelm

Grand Master: Alfred Bester

 

1988

Best Novel:
Falling Free
by Lois McMaster Bujold

Best Novella: “The Last of the Winnebagos” by Connie Willis

Best Novelette: “Schrodinger’s Kitten” by George Alec Effinger

Best Short Story: “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge” by James Morrow

Grand Master: Ray Bradbury

 

1989

Best Novel:
The Healer’s War
by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Best Novella: “The Mountains of Mourning” by Lois McMaster Bujold

Best Novelette: “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis

Best Short Story: “Ripples in the Dirac Sea” by Geoffrey A. Landis

 

1990

Best Novel:
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
by Ursula K. LeGuin

Best Novella: “The Hemingway Hoax” by Joe Haldeman

Best Novelette: “Tower of Babylon” by Ted Chang

Best Short Story: “Bears Discover Fire” by Terry Bisson

Grand Master: Lester del Rey

 

1991

Best Novel:
Stations of the Tide
by Michael Swanwick

Best Novella: “Beggars in Spain” by Nancy Kress

Best Novelette: “Guide Dog” by Mike Conner

Best Short Story: “Ma Qui” by Alan Brennert

 

1992

Best Novel:
Doomsday Book
by Connie Willis

Best Novella: “City of Truth” by James Morrow

Best Novelette: “Danny Goes to Mars” by Pamela Sargent

Best Short Story: “Even the Queen” by Connie Willis

Grand Master: Frederik Pohl

 

1993

Best Novel:
Red Mars
by Kim Stanley Robinson

Best Novella: “The Night We Burned Road Dog” by Jack Cady

Best Novelette: “Georgia on My Mind” by Charles Sheffield

Best Short Story: “Graves” by Joe Haldeman

 

1994

Best Novel:
Moving Mars
by Greg Bear

Best Novella: “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” by Mike Resnick

Best Novelette: “The Martian Child” by David Gerrold

Best Short Story: “A Defense of the Social Contracts” by Martha Soukup

Grand Master: Damon Knight

Author Emeritus: Emil Petaja

 

1995

Best Novel:
The Terminal Experiment
by Robert J. Sawyer

Best Novella: “Last Summer at Mars Hill” by Elizabeth Hand

Best Novelette: “Solitude” by Ursula K. LeGuin

Best Short Story: “Death and the Librarian” by Esther M. Friesner

Grand Master: A. E. van Vogt

Author Emeritus: Wilson “Bob” Tucker