Skullvines Author in Nebula Showcase 2009
Skullvines Press author Rich Ristow published in Nebula Awards Showcase 2009.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2009 Edited by Ellen Datlow, ROC Books/Penguin Group, April, 2009, 436 pages, $16.00 –Trade
The Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Of America (SFFWA) was founded back in 1965 and currently has over one thousand members. The membership votes upon and annually awards the Nebula Award for achievement in a number of different categories, and each year, for the past forty-three years, an annual Anthology has been published that celebrates this distinguished award winners and contains the award winning stories and novellas and novel excerpts, along with some of the nominated finalists. This year’s anthology is no exception, and is filled with over four hundred pages of fantastic science fiction and fantasy fiction from 2008, along with additional essays and information about the SFFWA, the Nebula Awards, the 2008 Nebula Award Final Ballot and more.
The 2008 Nebula Award finalists and winners whose award-caliber fiction and/or essays appear within this fantastic anthology include authors: Ted Chiang, Karen Fowler, Barry Malzberg, David Levine, Michael Chabon, Jane Yolen, Rich Ristow, Lucius Shepard, Tim Lucas, Kim Newman, Michael Moorcock, Ellen Asher, Nancy Kress, and Joe Landsdale, among many others. Kudos are, as usual, due to editor Ellen Datlow who nimbly intermixes some of the finest science fiction and fantasy writing to appear in print over the past year with engaging guest essays that examine topics ranging from the year in film, to whether science fiction as a genre is now “finished,” or if and what future it has, to why one writes fiction in these genres, and how “young adult” fantasy and science fiction have revitalized the genres.
Briefly examining a representative portion of the stories included within the anthology is sufficient to explain why this anthology is such a valuable addition to a reader’s library and such a treat to peruse. Ted Chiang’s award winning novelette, “The Merchant And The Alchemist’s Gate,” is an enchanting collection of interrelated, nested tales set in the olden Islamic Empire/Caliphate times in both Cairo and Bagdad and reads like another 101 Arabian Nights, but one that includes time travel and its resulting potential paradoxes. Then there is Karen Jay Fowler’s best short story winning “Always, ” that combines elements of horror and dark fantasy in a “modern realism” style and setting and concerns the reminiscences of the last surviving member of a cult in California that had been founded by charismatic leader, Brother Porter, who promised people, and especially young women, immortality for the sum of five thousand dollars.
Another truly classic and wildly entertaining story is David D. Levine’s nominee for best short story, “Titanium Mike Saves The Day,” that contains five vignettes in reverse chronological order, from centuries in the future back until the immediate future awaiting us within the next few decades, that powerfully and brilliantly demonstrate the power of stories and folk tales to effect and change people’s lives. Then there’s an excerpt from the multi-award winning novel, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon. This combination of alternate history tale combined with noir crime/murder mystery fiction is set in Sitka, Alaska where a few million European Jews that had survived the Holocaust and WW2 had been relocated, instead of the creation of the State of Israel. It is now 2077 and population of 3.5 million is about to face an uncertain future, as the Federal District of Sitka is set to revert to the State of Alaska, and protagonist, detective Meyer Landsman, is struggling with a difficult murder case. The novel is a magical combination of Raymond Chandler and Isaac Bashevis Singer and well deserves all the accolades and awards it has received. There are over four hundred pages of superlative short stories, novelettes, novellas, and other fiction, as well as an informative Introduction and fascinating essays and going through them all in detail would almost make a novella in its own right.
The simple, honest fact is that you can open this rather massive anthology to any given story or essay and you will be immediately immersed and fascinated. Each and every included piece of fiction in this anthology is compelling and brilliantly written. It is also worth noting that while the anthology is ostensibly one of science fiction and fantasy, there is such an overlap between genres found in most of the included fiction that the majority of all of the included tales can arguably be included within the horror and/or related dark fantasy genres just as easily. The sure thing is that those who pick up a copy of Nebula Awards Showcase 2009 will find themselves happily entertained and engrossed within a wide range of superb fiction for many, many hours and will experience some of the finest authors and genre fiction to have been produced in 2008.
– Norman L. Rubenstein
For a taste of Rich Ristow’s writing, check out his novella INTO THE CRUEL SEA here:
http://skullvines.com/?page_id=40
