The Nebulas: 1972
Apr. 8th, 2013 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollIn general, I'd say if you wanted a Nebula nomination in this period, getting edited by either Damon Knight or Terry Carr would be a good first step. That said, the selection editors behind the nominated works is fairly diverse; there's nothing like Orbit's domination of the short story in the 1971 Nebulas.
Novels
Robert Silverberg* A Time of Changes Galaxy Science Fiction
Poul Anderson The Byworlder Fantastic
R. A. Lafferty The Devil is Dead Avon Publications
T. J. Bass Half Past Human Ballantine Books
Ursula K. Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven Amazing Stories
Kate Wilhelm Margaret and I Little, Brown and Company
Silverberg's Bildungsroman invites comparison with Ayn Rand's Anthem in that both involve societies that eschew the use of the word "I" but in fact the two are not much alike. It attracted nominations, both when it came out and later on (It keeps being nominated for the Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel). It has not been reprinted much in the last 20 years (and I'm guessing it's bait for Old Guarders whose blood is still angried up over the new wave).
The Anderson, which details the struggle to communicate with a visiting alien in possession of technology of impressive power, is one of his more obscure works but I have a fondness for it because it is the only book by him I can think of in which the counter culture comes off in any way positively. There's also a moment where he foreshadows the web, although his version only does hard copies (For that matter, Satan's World foreshadows Google). I think to some extent Anderson was sabotaged by the sheer quantity of his output, as no one publisher could possibly be able to keep all of his fiction in print. In this case, this almost entire dropped out of print after the 1970s.
I know there are some standard Andersonian tics in this - the well-intended extremist motivated to act unfortunately because he doesn't want to see children burned alive - and I am sure if I revisited I would find more.
I have not read the Lafferty. I must have a lot of company in that because it has not often been reprinted.
The Bass... Ah, the Bass. I kept seeing it in stores all through the 1970s but only picked it up in 1980. It and Bass's other novel The Godwhale are set in a world where AIs have maximized human population at something more than a trillion people, at the cost of simplifying the ecologies and some lifestyle adjustments for the humans. It has a certain wacky appeal, not least because a surprising number of people in it talk like first year medical students. It's been out of print in English for thirty years (and as I recall a 2000ish discussion of the book on rasfw, Bass was surprised to learn that people were still talking about his book).
The Le Guin is about a therapist's efforts to use a patient's dream powers to reshape the world in positive ways. This does not go entirely well. Lathe of Heaven has had multiple editions in multiple languages.
The Wilhelm ... I have my copy in my hand and I still don't remember anything about it. Hasn't seen print in decades.
This isn't a bad little list but in retrospect I am surprised the Le Guin didn't win.
Novella
Katherine MacLean* "The Missing Man" Analog Science Fact & Fiction
Jerzy Kosinski "Being There" Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Keith Roberts "The God House" New Worlds Quarterly #1
Kate Wilhelm "The Infinity Box" Orbit 9
Kate Wilhelm "The Plastic Abyss" Abyss
Yeah, I am going to start looking like an ill-read doofus after this point.
I've read the MacLean in both short and novel forms but I don't recall much about it. Anything about it. I remember it was good enough I picked up anything with her name on it because of it. Neither version of the story has been reprinted much.
I assume the Kosinki is the basis for the movie of the same name but again, have not read it and cannot comment on it. I have no idea what its publication history is.
The Roberts is in the The Chalk Giants so I must have read it but I have absolutely no memory of it. It has not been reprinted in nearly 40 years.
I have not read either Wilhelm. "The Infinity Box" was the title story of a collection (out of print since 1979) and pretty much fell into shadow with that collection. The other story has never been reprinted since it appeared in the anthology Abyss
Novelette
Poul Anderson* "The Queen of Air and Darkness" The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Gardner Dozois "A Special Kind of Morning" New Dimensions 1
Edgar Pangborn "Mount Charity" Universe 1
Joanna Russ "Poor Man, Beggar Man" Universe 1
Kate Wilhelm "The Encounter" Orbit 8
The Anderson (set in the same universe as Orbit Unlimited) involves the quest by a consulting detective on a faraway world to work out why it his adopted community seems to be suffering through a recapitulation of old time myth.
This or rather one of the two collections it appears in
has an important place in my relationship to Anderson's fiction. I got hooked on Anderson's fiction when I bought a copy of Satan's World during a grade ten field trip when I was 15 or 16 and over the next couple of years I read dozens of his books, novels and collections. WHat got me dehooked was a combination of The Avatar and DAW's The Book of Poul Anderson. The Book of Poul Anderson has two essays on Anderson, "Challenge and Response" by Sandra Miesel and "Her Strong Enchantments Failing" by Patrick McGuire. Miesel comes off as a cheerleader for the awesome that was Poul Anderson but McGuire rather impolitely points out some stylistic characteristics that I had until then managed to avoid noticing. He also was unkind enough to point out the bits of Queen that don't make much sense. Even worse, every problem Queen has Avatar has a hundred-fold and I was never as keen a fan of Anderson after that.
I believe Miesel became disillusioned with Anderson's fiction herself but I have not read the review(s) in question.
The Anderson is one of his more successful stories, as far as staying print goes.
I have read and remember the Dozois, although I'm pressed to come up with a pithy description. Let's say "a study of the effects of a violent revolution on one man." It's been collected a number of times since it first saw print, most recently in Prime Books' When the Great Days Come.
I don't remember the Pangborn at all, which makes me sad. I loved Pangborn's fiction. Part of the problem is the story is not in the Pangborn collections I own and it was not widely anthologized.
I also have not read the Russ, not a terrible surprise because it first saw print in the same anthology the Pangborn did. This is my sad face. The Russ was anthologized a bit more frequently than the Pangborn, which is to say instead of multiple printings of two anthologies, it appeared in multiple printings of three anthologies. I don't see anything more recent than 1983's The Zanzibar Cat.
To finish things off, the Wilhelm is yet another story I probably read but don't remember, although I have to say I have a fair memory for book covers and the cover to Orbit is not ringing bells. The Wilhelm has been out of print since the 1970s.
I can see why they picked the Anderson but I'm very curious about the Pangborn.
Short Story
Robert Silverberg* "Good News from the Vatican" Universe 1
Gardner Dozois "Horse of Air" Orbit 8
Stephen Goldin "The Last Ghost" Protostars
George Zebrowski "Heathen God" The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
I've only read the Silverberg, a satirical treatment of the election of the first robot Pope. Silverberg is pretty good about keeping his own stuff in print, so it has not languished in obscurity like so many other stories. Aside from Silverberg collections, perhaps the most significant anthology it has appeared in is The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990.
The rest I'm drawing a blank on (annoying, because among other things I know I read many Orbit books).
The Dozois has not been reprinted since the 1970s.
I used to be a Gerrold completist and I know I own his anthology Protostars so I must have read the Goldin and yet here's me not toddling upstairs to rekindle my memories. I did not bear Goldin's fiction any ill will. Aside from one 2003 collection, this story has not seen print since the late 1970s.
Zebrowski's fiction I do bear ill will because his fiction tends to range from mediocre to dreadful. Not having read this example, I could not say where in that range it falls, whether we're talking 'milk that has just gone off' or 'thawed turkey, accidentally stored in the hall closet'. It's even possible it's not bad, although that's not how I'd bet. It has not been reprinted much.
The Silverberg seems like a reasonable choice but it's not like I have a basis for judgment here.
Novels
Robert Silverberg* A Time of Changes Galaxy Science Fiction
Poul Anderson The Byworlder Fantastic
R. A. Lafferty The Devil is Dead Avon Publications
T. J. Bass Half Past Human Ballantine Books
Ursula K. Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven Amazing Stories
Kate Wilhelm Margaret and I Little, Brown and Company
Silverberg's Bildungsroman invites comparison with Ayn Rand's Anthem in that both involve societies that eschew the use of the word "I" but in fact the two are not much alike. It attracted nominations, both when it came out and later on (It keeps being nominated for the Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel). It has not been reprinted much in the last 20 years (and I'm guessing it's bait for Old Guarders whose blood is still angried up over the new wave).
The Anderson, which details the struggle to communicate with a visiting alien in possession of technology of impressive power, is one of his more obscure works but I have a fondness for it because it is the only book by him I can think of in which the counter culture comes off in any way positively. There's also a moment where he foreshadows the web, although his version only does hard copies (For that matter, Satan's World foreshadows Google). I think to some extent Anderson was sabotaged by the sheer quantity of his output, as no one publisher could possibly be able to keep all of his fiction in print. In this case, this almost entire dropped out of print after the 1970s.
I know there are some standard Andersonian tics in this - the well-intended extremist motivated to act unfortunately because he doesn't want to see children burned alive - and I am sure if I revisited I would find more.
I have not read the Lafferty. I must have a lot of company in that because it has not often been reprinted.
The Bass... Ah, the Bass. I kept seeing it in stores all through the 1970s but only picked it up in 1980. It and Bass's other novel The Godwhale are set in a world where AIs have maximized human population at something more than a trillion people, at the cost of simplifying the ecologies and some lifestyle adjustments for the humans. It has a certain wacky appeal, not least because a surprising number of people in it talk like first year medical students. It's been out of print in English for thirty years (and as I recall a 2000ish discussion of the book on rasfw, Bass was surprised to learn that people were still talking about his book).
The Le Guin is about a therapist's efforts to use a patient's dream powers to reshape the world in positive ways. This does not go entirely well. Lathe of Heaven has had multiple editions in multiple languages.
The Wilhelm ... I have my copy in my hand and I still don't remember anything about it. Hasn't seen print in decades.
This isn't a bad little list but in retrospect I am surprised the Le Guin didn't win.
Novella
Katherine MacLean* "The Missing Man" Analog Science Fact & Fiction
Jerzy Kosinski "Being There" Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Keith Roberts "The God House" New Worlds Quarterly #1
Kate Wilhelm "The Infinity Box" Orbit 9
Kate Wilhelm "The Plastic Abyss" Abyss
Yeah, I am going to start looking like an ill-read doofus after this point.
I've read the MacLean in both short and novel forms but I don't recall much about it. Anything about it. I remember it was good enough I picked up anything with her name on it because of it. Neither version of the story has been reprinted much.
I assume the Kosinki is the basis for the movie of the same name but again, have not read it and cannot comment on it. I have no idea what its publication history is.
The Roberts is in the The Chalk Giants so I must have read it but I have absolutely no memory of it. It has not been reprinted in nearly 40 years.
I have not read either Wilhelm. "The Infinity Box" was the title story of a collection (out of print since 1979) and pretty much fell into shadow with that collection. The other story has never been reprinted since it appeared in the anthology Abyss
Novelette
Poul Anderson* "The Queen of Air and Darkness" The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Gardner Dozois "A Special Kind of Morning" New Dimensions 1
Edgar Pangborn "Mount Charity" Universe 1
Joanna Russ "Poor Man, Beggar Man" Universe 1
Kate Wilhelm "The Encounter" Orbit 8
The Anderson (set in the same universe as Orbit Unlimited) involves the quest by a consulting detective on a faraway world to work out why it his adopted community seems to be suffering through a recapitulation of old time myth.
This or rather one of the two collections it appears in
has an important place in my relationship to Anderson's fiction. I got hooked on Anderson's fiction when I bought a copy of Satan's World during a grade ten field trip when I was 15 or 16 and over the next couple of years I read dozens of his books, novels and collections. WHat got me dehooked was a combination of The Avatar and DAW's The Book of Poul Anderson. The Book of Poul Anderson has two essays on Anderson, "Challenge and Response" by Sandra Miesel and "Her Strong Enchantments Failing" by Patrick McGuire. Miesel comes off as a cheerleader for the awesome that was Poul Anderson but McGuire rather impolitely points out some stylistic characteristics that I had until then managed to avoid noticing. He also was unkind enough to point out the bits of Queen that don't make much sense. Even worse, every problem Queen has Avatar has a hundred-fold and I was never as keen a fan of Anderson after that.
I believe Miesel became disillusioned with Anderson's fiction herself but I have not read the review(s) in question.
The Anderson is one of his more successful stories, as far as staying print goes.
I have read and remember the Dozois, although I'm pressed to come up with a pithy description. Let's say "a study of the effects of a violent revolution on one man." It's been collected a number of times since it first saw print, most recently in Prime Books' When the Great Days Come.
I don't remember the Pangborn at all, which makes me sad. I loved Pangborn's fiction. Part of the problem is the story is not in the Pangborn collections I own and it was not widely anthologized.
I also have not read the Russ, not a terrible surprise because it first saw print in the same anthology the Pangborn did. This is my sad face. The Russ was anthologized a bit more frequently than the Pangborn, which is to say instead of multiple printings of two anthologies, it appeared in multiple printings of three anthologies. I don't see anything more recent than 1983's The Zanzibar Cat.
To finish things off, the Wilhelm is yet another story I probably read but don't remember, although I have to say I have a fair memory for book covers and the cover to Orbit is not ringing bells. The Wilhelm has been out of print since the 1970s.
I can see why they picked the Anderson but I'm very curious about the Pangborn.
Short Story
Robert Silverberg* "Good News from the Vatican" Universe 1
Gardner Dozois "Horse of Air" Orbit 8
Stephen Goldin "The Last Ghost" Protostars
George Zebrowski "Heathen God" The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
I've only read the Silverberg, a satirical treatment of the election of the first robot Pope. Silverberg is pretty good about keeping his own stuff in print, so it has not languished in obscurity like so many other stories. Aside from Silverberg collections, perhaps the most significant anthology it has appeared in is The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990.
The rest I'm drawing a blank on (annoying, because among other things I know I read many Orbit books).
The Dozois has not been reprinted since the 1970s.
I used to be a Gerrold completist and I know I own his anthology Protostars so I must have read the Goldin and yet here's me not toddling upstairs to rekindle my memories. I did not bear Goldin's fiction any ill will. Aside from one 2003 collection, this story has not seen print since the late 1970s.
Zebrowski's fiction I do bear ill will because his fiction tends to range from mediocre to dreadful. Not having read this example, I could not say where in that range it falls, whether we're talking 'milk that has just gone off' or 'thawed turkey, accidentally stored in the hall closet'. It's even possible it's not bad, although that's not how I'd bet. It has not been reprinted much.
The Silverberg seems like a reasonable choice but it's not like I have a basis for judgment here.
