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From: Chris Buckley <alan@sabir.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Nebula Finalists 2008
Date: 4 Nov 2024 18:19:46 GMT
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On 2024-11-04, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
> In article <los5hfFhm3gU1@mid.individual.net>,
> Chris Buckley  <alan@sabir.com> wrote:
>>On 2024-11-04, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>>> 2008! Canadian PM Harper feigns official regret for the residential 
>>> school system, billions around the world are heart-broken when the 
>>> Large Hadron Collider does not create a mini-black hole and instantly 
>>> destroy the Earth, and in the US, the election of the very first Black 
>>> President drives tens of millions of white voters completely bat-shit 
>>> insane.
>>>
>>>
>>> Which 2008 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
>>>
>>> The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
>>> Odyssey by Jack McDevitt
>>> Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
>>> The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
>>> The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
>>>
>>> Only the McDevitt and the Buckell.
>>
>>Only the Chabon and the Buckell. The Buckell was quite good (second in
>>a series that trailed off I thought.)  The Chabon was a more typical
>>Nebula Award winner - more mainstream and I admired it (or parts of
>>it) but didn't like it.
>>
>>Nothing shorter, nor any of the films.
>>
>
> I am puzzled by how few of the finalists I read. I guess my shadowy 
> masters didn't think the finalists were particularly commercial, or
> they were snapping them up for themselves.

I would venture that there weren't that many above average books that year.
Looking at a more extended Hugo nominee list (top 15), there were lots of
sequels/series (Rowling, Pratchett, Scalzi etc) but not many very good
books, IMO, so attention got spread out among many books.

There were two of my Favorites that year, but I'm not that surprised they
didn't make Nebula nominee status .  _Halting State_ appealed to me but has
somewhat niche appeal. _The Name of the Wind_ has more mass appeal, but as
an author's first book fantasy doorstop probably hadn't been read by enough
of the Nebula crowd.

Chris