Nebula Award Announces Finalists for the 58th Annual Nebula Awards  

By Miclpea

On March 7, 2023, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced the finalists for the 58th Annual Nebula Awards®. The awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony on Sunday, May 14, 2023, for works published/aired in 2022. The event will stream live as it is held in person in Anaheim, CA. The ceremony is part of the 2023 Nebula Conference Online. Winners in each category will be determined by the vote of full, associate, and senior members of SFWA.

The first Nebulas were given in 1966, for works published in 1965. The idea for the awards was based on the Edgar Awards which are presented by the Mystery Writers of America. The initial ceremony consisted of four literary awards for novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories. These awards have been presented yearly since 1966.  

An award for script writing was presented from 1974 to 1978 under the names Best Dramatic Presentation and Best Dramatic Writing and again from 2000 through 2009 as Best Script. However, after 2009 it was again removed and replaced with the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book was added in 2006. In 2018, a new Game Writing category was debuted for writing in video and tabletop games.

Several other awards and honors are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony.

• The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award (begun in 1975) for “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy”
• The Author Emeritus since 1995 for contributions to the field
• The Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Award for service to SFWA
• The Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award since 2009 for significant impact on speculative fiction. 

All four awards are discretionary but the Grand Master award has been presented every year for more than a decade. The Solstice Award may be presented posthumously, whereas only living writers may be named Grand Master or Author Emeritus. 

Here are the finalists in each category for the 58th Annual Nebula Awards®.

Nebula Award for Novel

• Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree (Cryptid; Tor)
• Spear, Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom)
• Nettle and Bone, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
• Babel, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
• Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
• The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

 Nebula Award for Novella

• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
• “Bishop’s Opening”, R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)
• I Never Liked You Anyway, Jordan Kurella (Vernacular)
• Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
• High Times in the Low Parliament, Kelly Robson (Tordotcom)

Nebula Award for Novelette

• “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, John Chu (Uncanny 7–8/22)
• “Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold”, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5–6/22)
• “Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld 12/22)
• “A Dream of Electric Mothers”, Wole Talabi (Africa Risen)
• “The Prince of Salt and the Ocean’s Bargain”, Natalia Theodoridou (Uncanny 9/22)
• “We Built This City”, Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld 6/22)

Nebula Award for Short Story

• “Destiny Delayed”, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Asimov’s 5–6/22)
• “Give Me English”, Ai Jiang (F&SF 5–6/22)
• “Rabbit Test”, Samantha Mills (Uncanny 11–12/22)
• “Douen”, Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 3/22)
• “Dick Pig”, Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare 1/22)
• “D.I.Y”, John Wiswell (Tor.com 8/24/22)

Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

• Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, K. Tempest Bradford (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
• The Scratch Daughters, H. A. Clarke (Erewhon)
• The Mirrorwood, Deva Fagan (Atheneum)
• The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, Maya MacGregor (Astra Young Readers)
• Every Bird a Prince, Jenn Reese (Henry Holt)

Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Andor: “One Way Out”, Beau Willimon (Lucasfilm, Disney+)
• Everything Everywhere All at Once, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (A24, AGBO, IAC Films)
• Nope, Jordan Peele (Universal Pictures)
• Our Flag Means Death, David Jenkins, Eliza Jiménez Cossio, Zadry Ferrer-Geddes, William Meny, Maddie Dai, Alyssa Lane, John Mahone, Simone Nathan, Natalie Torres, Zackery Alexzander Stephens, Alex J. Sherman, Jes Tom, Adam Stein, Yvonne Zima (Dive, HBO Max)
• The Sandman: Season 1, Neil Gaiman, Lauren Bello, Vanessa Benton, Mike Dringenberg, Sam Kieth, Catherine Smyth-McMullen, Heather Bellson, Jim Campolongo, Jay Franklin, Austin Guzman, Alexander Newman-Wise, Ameni Rozsa, David Goyer, Allan Heinberg (DC Entertainment, Netflix)
• Severance, Dan Erickson, Chris Black, Andrew Colville, Amanda Overton, Anna Ouyang Moench, Helen Leigh, Kari Drake, and Mark Friedman. (Endeavor Content, Red Hour Films, Apple TV+)

Nebula Award for Game Writing

• Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki, George R.R. Martin (FromSoftware, Bandai Namco)
• Horizon Forbidden West, Ben McCaw, Anna Kitain (Guerilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, Ajit George, F. Wesley Schneider, Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Basheer Ghouse, Alastor Guzman, D. Fox Harrell, T.K. Johnson, Felice Tzehuei Kuan, Surena Marie, Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegón, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Stephanie Yoon, Terry H. Romero (Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Ed.)
• Pentiment, Kate Dollarhyde, Zoe Franznick, Märten Rattasepp, Josh Sawyer (Obsidian Entertainment, Xbox Game Studios)
• Stray, Steven Lerner, Vivien Mermet-Guyenet, Colas Koola (BlueTwelve Studio, Annapurna Interactive)
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Sins of the Sires, Natalia Theodoridou (Choice of Games, Paradox Interactive)

While I have my favorites, I wish all of the finalists the best of luck!  To continue this discussion, please join us on the FoCC Forum (click here), Facebook, or Twitter.