2019 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced

Awards season is still upon us. Although the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes have passed, there are awards ceremonies for books and television that occur year-round. This week the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) announced the nominees for this year’s Nebula awards. Like most awards, these prizes will be given to the best works of the previous year. So let’s take a look at what the industry considers the top genre work of 2019.

Honoring excellence in genre fiction and media, this year’s nominees also feature some up and coming writers alongside established authors. Among the written works being nominated are also awards for game writing. There is also an award for dramatic presentation, that lumps genre movies and television together. In this category we can also find some of the top shows and movies from 2019, including nominations for Avengers: Endgame and Watchmen. Interestingly, The Mandalorian is nominated in this category, but Rise of Skywalker is conspicuously absent.

2019 was a banner year for genre writing, and it is good to see so many worthy writers being recognized.

The nominees for the 2019 Nebula awards are listed below.

Nebula Awards For Best Novel

Marque of Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)

The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (Tor)

Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)

A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley)

Novella

“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, Ted Chiang (Exhalation)

The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)

This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga; Jo Fletcher)

Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water, Vylar Kaftan (Tor.com Publishing)

The Deep, Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga)

Catfish Lullaby, A.C. Wise (Broken Eye)

Novelette

“A Strange Uncertain Light”, G.V. Anderson (F&SF 7-8/19)

“For He Can Creep”, Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com 7/10/19)

“His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light”, Mimi Mondal (Tor.com 1/23/19)

“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 7-8/19)

Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat)

“The Archronology of Love”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 4/19)

Nebula Awards for Short Story

“Give the Family My Love”, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld 2/19)

“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power”, Karen Osborne (Uncanny 3-4/19)

“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9/9/19)

“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare 5/19)

“A Catalog of Storms”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 1-2/19)

“How the Trick Is Done”, A.C. Wise (Uncanny 7-8/19)

The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Carlos Hernandez (Disney Hyperion)

Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)

Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee (Disney Hyperion)

Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions, Henry Lien (Holt)

Cog, Greg van Eekhout (Harper)

Riverland, Fran Wilde (Amulet)

Nebula Awards for Game Writing

Outer Wilds, Kelsey Beachum (Mobius Digital)

The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, Megan Starks, Kate Dollarhyde, Chris L’Etoile (Obsidian Entertainment)

The Magician’s Workshop, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)

Disco Elysium, Robert Kurvitz (ZA/UM)

Fate Accessibility Toolkit, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry (Evil Hat Productions)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Avengers: Endgame, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Marvel Studios)

Image via Marvel Studios

Captain Marvel, Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Marvel Studios)

Image via Marvel Studios

Good Omens: “Hard Times”, Neil Gaiman (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios)

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The Mandalorian: “The Child”, Jon Favreau (Disney+)

Image via Disney+

Russian Doll: “The Way Out”, Allison Silverman and Leslye Headland (Netflix)

Image via Netflix.

Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, Jeff Jensen & Damon Lindelof (HBO)

Image via HBO

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have been giving out Nebula awards since 1966. They are widely considered one of the best known, and most prestigious writing awards for genre fiction. The other notable awards in the sci-fi and fantasy realm – the Hugos – are currently open for nominations. There is often quite a bit of overlap between the nominees for each awards – as well as some inevitable controversy – so it will be interesting to see what the Hugos have in store this year.

The Nebula Awards ceremony will take place on May 30, 2020 during the annual SFWA Nebula Conference. Unfortunately this ceremony is not televised, but we will certainly be following up with a list of the winners once announced. Stay tuned to Comic Years on Facebook and Twitter for more news.

2019 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced
Emily O'Donnell