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The fortunes of the science-fiction genre wax and wane. Some years the selections in
the bricks and mortars have been downright puny; at other times (and I'm thinking of those
other times when every little snotnose, it seemed, had a lightsaber and the name
"Chewbacca" wasn't considered a politically incorrect statement) the
"sci-fi" section took up a whole wall. We seem to be in one of the
"wane" periods right now for a lot of different reasons. What is interesting is
that the genre continues to pull in new readers with good, solid novels and stories year
after year. That is why the NEBULA AWARDS series is so indispensable, even if you have at
most a passing interest in the genre.
The Nebula Awards are annually bestowed by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
America (SFWA); the annual showcase volume it publishes is edited each year by a different
author of some note. This year's editor, Robert Silverberg, has been active since about
the time that I was learning to hold a pencil properly (think: Sputnik). The overriding
characteristic of everything is quality; his turn as editor, with his fine introduction,
is no exception. Silverberg's introduction presents yet another piece of the historical
underpinnings of the SFWA, their membership and voting procedures, and is by itself great
fun. Then we get into the stories.
The current SHOWCASE follows the format of its predecessors, reprinting the year's (1999)
best novella, novelette, and short story, a couple of runner-up stories, an essay about
the year in science fiction and fantasy, and should an Author Emeritus or Grandmaster
Award be issued, an essay from the Honoree(s). I'm going to blather on about one story and
one essay, to the exclusion of the others.
The winner of the 1999 Nebula for Best Novella is "Story of Your Life" by Ted
Chiang. Chiang is hardly prolific. This is his fourth story in 10 years. What is
noteworthy is that he has won awards for three of them. "Story of Your Life" is
at it's very bare bones a First Contact story, with physics and linguistics forming the
underpinnings. The aliens --- Chiang never comes right out and says it, but they sound
like spiders to me --- don't come with translators on their belts. How to communicate?
Chiang painstakingly builds a step-by-step account as to how this is done. Now, some of
this is rough sledding --- but Chiang does an excellent job of explaining really
difficult concepts so that even middle-aged men who still read comic books can kind of get
a grasp as to what is going on, and as to those elements that are just too intellectually
far out...well, the thing to do is just hang on, because it's worth it. What happens here
is that as the Earthers learn how to communicate with the aliens they begin thinking like
them, which leads to a change in their perception of reality, and they gradually start
seeing the past, present, and future as one continuum. Chiang raises all sorts of
questions with that --- what would you do if you could foresee the future, but it wasn't
the future? Why do we perceive time as we do? --- and they are questions that will stay
with you long after you read this story. There is grist in here for a 400 page novel;
Chiang does it all quite nicely in less than 50 pages and politely walks away, leaving you
sleepless and wondering. "Story of Your Life" is worth the price of the volume
alone.
The other major contribution here is an essay by Daniel Keyes, who was given the Author
Emeritus 2000 Award. Keyes has not exactly been prolific in the fiction arena, but he
hasn't needed to be. His novel FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON, a classic from the minute that ink
was laid to paper, is in a class all by itself. Keyes, in SHOWCASE 2001, describes the
conception, gestation, and birth of this wonderful novel. All of those processes were
long, if not painful; but if you think you have a book inside you somewhere, you
absolutely must read "Algernon, Charlie and I: A Writer's Journey." It is, with
King's ON WRITING, absolutely indispensable.
There is more, much more to NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 2001. Whether you are a hard-core fan
of the science ficiton/fantasy genre, have fallen away, or are at some point in between,
this volume belongs on your bookshelf.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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