Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America announce 2015 Nebula Awards

SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) is a professional organization for authors of science fiction, fantasy and related genres. Established in 1965, it has over 1800 members. Each year the organization presents its Nebula Awards for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction.

The winners this year are:

Best Novel
Jeff VanderMeer for Annihilation, the first book in his Southern Reach trilogy

“Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer... [The members of the twelfth expedition] arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers – they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding – but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.”

Best Novella
Nancy Kress for Yesterday’s Kin

“Aliens have landed in New York. After several months of no explanations, they finally reveal the reason for their arrival. The news is not good.

Geneticist Marianne Jenner is having a career breakthrough, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Her children Elizabeth and Ryan constantly bicker, agreeing only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Her youngest, Noah, is addicted to a drug that keeps temporarily changing his identity. The Jenner family could not be further apart. But between the four of them, the course of human history will be forever altered.

Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disaster – and not everyone is willing to wait.”

Best Novelette
Alaya Dawn Johnson for A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i

“Alaya (pronounced ah-lie-ah) lives, writes, cooks and (perhaps most importantly) eats in New York City.” Her novels include The Summer Prince, Love is the Drug, Moonshine, The Burning City, Racing the Dark, Wicked City: A Zephyr Hollis Novel, Detective Frankenstein and The Goblin King.

Best Short Story
Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon

Ursula Vernon is the author and illustrator of Nurk, Digger, (which won the Hugo Award in 2012) and a number of other projects. Her work has been nominated for an Eisner award, “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” and a number of Webcomics Choice Awards. She lives and works in Pittsboro, North Carolina with “her boyfriend, a spastic Beagle, a (fairly) mellow Border Collie, a small collection of cats, and a large collection of Indonesian demon masks, which generally manage to keep her out of trouble.” Her latest book, released in January 2015, is Dragonbreath: Knight-napped!

From left, James Gunn, Nicole Perlman, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Larry Niven, Joanna Russ, Stanley Schmidt. Jeffry Dwight photo unavailable.

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation went to James Gunn and Nicole Perlman for Guardians of the Galaxy and the Andrew Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy was awarded to Alaya Dawn Johnson for Love Is the Drug.

Larry Niven was voted the 2015 Damon Knight Grand Master Award; Joanna Russ (posthumously) and Stanley Schmidt were presented with the Solstice Award and Jeffry Dwight won the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service Award.