Steampunk Novel up for 2011 Nebula

It’s Nebula short list time again, and for the third straight year there is a Steampunk novel in the running. This year the contender is Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine, which tells the story of a mechanical traveling circus in danger of being torn apart from the outside and from within.

I can’t make any useful predictions about her chances as this year I have yet to read any of the nominees, but she does face some solid players. Jack McDevitt has been nominated in the novel category nine(!) times, winning once. China Miéville has been nominated for best novel twice, losing to powerful works by Neil Gaiman and Paolo Bacigalupi. Jo Walton has also been nominated before and hers was one of the novels McDevitt beat out in 2006. N.K. Jemison was nominated for the novel Nebula just last year (against Miéville and McDevitt). Kameron Hurley has never been to the Nebula ballot before but her novel has already won the 2011 Golden Tentacle Kitschie Award. Stiff competition, but we stand by our Steampunk colleague and wish Valentine the best of luck.

I didn’t see anything particularly Steampunk in the other categories (please correct me if I am wrong), although there is Hugo up for the Bradbury Award. Hugo was a beautiful movie and certainly had some Steampunk touches, so I suppose it should get my support. That said, The Doctor’s Wife was quite good and I very much enjoyed Captain America. I’ll admit I’ve yet to see the remaining works in this category what with kids and babysitters, etc. so it is not clear how relevant my opinions might be.

Congratulations to all of the nominees (listed below). Thank you for giving us the best gift possible, that of your dreams.

2011 Nebula Nominees

Novel

• Among Others by Jo Walton
• Embassytown by China Miéville
• Firebird by Jack McDevitt
• Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine
• The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

Novella

• “Kiss Me Twice”, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2011)
• “Silently and Very Fast”, Catherynne M. Valente (WFSA Press; Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2011)
• “The Ice Owl”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2011)
• “The Man Who Bridged the Mist”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)
• “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary”, Ken Liu (Panverse Three, Panverse Publishing)
• “With Unclean Hands”, Adam-Troy Castro (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2011)

Novelette

• “Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4, Night Shade Books)
• “Ray of Light”, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2011)
• “Sauerkraut Station”, Ferrett Steinmetz (Giganotosaurus, November 2011)
• “Six Months, Three Days”, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com, June 2011)
• “The Migratory Pattern of Dancers”, Katherine Sparrow (Giganotosaurus, July 2011)
• “The Old Equations”, Jake Kerr (Lightspeed Magazine, July 2011)
• “What We Found”, Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

Short Story

• “Her Husband’s Hands”, Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, October 2011)
• “Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son”, Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2011)
• “Movement”, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2011)
• “Shipbirth”, Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2011)
• “The Axiom of Choice”, David W. Goldman (New Haven Review, Winter 2011)
• “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2011)
• “The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Attack the Block, Joe Cornish (writer/director) (Optimum Releasing; Screen Gems)
• Captain America: The First Avenger, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (writers), Joe Johnston (director) (Paramount)
• Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)
• Hugo, John Logan (writer), Martin Scorsese (director) (Paramount)
• Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen (writer/director) (Sony)
• Source Code, Ben Ripley (writer), Duncan Jones (director) (Summit)
• The Adjustment Bureau, George Nolfi (writer/director) (Universal)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

• Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Juvenile)
• Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial Books; Bloomsbury)
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Hodder & Stoughton)
• Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow Books)
• Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard Books; Carolrhoda Books)