Sci-fi writing’s Nebula Awards announced; Jeff Vandermeer takes top prize

The 2014 Nebula Awards, the prizes presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), were awarded Friday night in Chicago.

Jeff Vandermeer took best novel for “Annihilation,” book one in his Southern Reach trilogy. The novel follows a scientist investigating a mysterious era inhabited by an unknown, dangerous fungus. In our review, Lydia Millet called the book “a clear triumph” that “transcended genre with a compelling, elegant and existential story.” The book was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, known for literary fiction, not science fiction.

Alaya Dawn Johnson took two awards: the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy for “Love Is the Drug,” published by Levine, and the prize for best novelette for “A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” published in F&SF.

The prize for best novella went to Nancy Kress for “Yesterday’s Kin,” published by Tachyon; best short story went to “Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon (Apex 1/7/14). The 2015 Damon Knight Grand Master Award went to Larry Niven.

Other prizes included a movie award, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, which went to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures); the Solstice award, to Stanley Schmidt and (posthumously) to Joanna Russ; and the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service Award to Jeffry Dwight.

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