The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s 56th Annual Nebula conference (June 4-6) will be held online this year (as it was last year) and the 2020 Nebula Awards will be announced on Saturday, June 5, 2021.
Last week we discussed the finalists for Best Short Story and Best Novelette. Today we’ll talk about the novels and novellas, including the Middle Grade and Young Adult novels nominated for the Andre Norton Award.
Here are the finalists in these categories. Click the links to read our reviews and get the links to the stories.
BEST NOVEL:
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, Bloomsbury
- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin, Orbit
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey
- The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk, Erewhon
- Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, Saga
- Network Effect by Martha Wells, Tordotcom
BEST NOVELLA:
- Tower of Mud and Straw by Yaroslav Barsukov, Metaphorosis
- Finna by Nino Cipri, Tordotcom
- Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark, Tordotcom
- Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Afrida and the African Diaspora
- The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg, Tachyon
- Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi, Tordotcom
ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL:
- Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, Amulet
- Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, Levine Querido
- A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher, Argyll
- A Game of Fox & Squirrels by Jenn Reese, Holt
- Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar, HarperTeen
Here are our favorites (hover for title & author, click for our review):
Which are your favorites? Which stories have you read? Who do you predict will win?
Give us your thoughts and predictions in the comments. One random commenter with a USA mailing address will choose a book from our stacks. (If you’re outside the USA, we’ll send you a $5 Amazon gift card.)
Good luck to all the finalists!
I would love to read “Piranesi.” It sounds really fascinating with its great and mysterious endless mansion.
I haven’t read Mexican Gothic yet, but I’ve heard great things. And of course I adored Network Effect. Murderbot is so loved I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a (deserving) winner.
My favorites don’t tend to win these awards, so I’m going to make my predictions based on the impact and the critical acclaim of the nominees (watch me get it all wrong).
BEST NOVEL
Books: Own: ALL; Read: 1
My Favorite: “Black Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse
Potential Winner: “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
BEST NOVELLA
Books: Own: ALL; Read: 4
My Favorite: “Riot Baby” by Tochi Onyebuchi
Potential Winner: “Ring Shout” by P. Djeli Clark
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Books: Own: 4; Read: NONE
My Favorite: I did start reading “Raybearer” by Jordan Ifueko and “Elatsoe” by Darcie Little Badger, and I’m enjoying them so far.
Potential Winner: “Elatsoe” by Darcie Little Badger
Once again, I could be wrong about ALL of my predictions.
I haven’t read any of these but I am excited for Mexican Gothic and A Wizard’s Guide. I love anything dark or whimsical.
All of these that I’ve read so far were highlights in my reading – but I’m especially into Piranesi, which was simply breathtaking.
I love everything CL Polk has written, and The Midnight Bargain is no exception!
The only category that I’ve read any of the nominees in is Best Novel. Piranesi was my favorite of the ones listed. Black Sun and Network Effect were both pretty good too. Mexican Gothic was okay but less than what I was hoping for. Have not read the other two.
Not sure if they were published in the right timeframe to be eligible, but Harrow the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) and Unconquerable Sun (Kate Elliott) would have been good additions to the list.
Is it generally true that series books after the first volume don’t make the final ballot? I guess if the awards are (as they seem) mostly marketing devices for attracting new readers, that might make sense, since once you’ve started a series an award is not likely to be the deciding factor in whether you continue or not.
Piranesi and Mexican Gothic are both on my to-read list already, but these all look amazing!!!
The Best Novel category is the strongest ticket I’ve seen in ages–any of these deserve to win! I’m pulling for Murderbot, Black Sun, or Piranesi, though. I haven’t read any of the Novellas yet, but I’m eager to read Ring Shout. And I’d love to see Elatsoe win in the YA category!
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking sounds like fun
Imo.The midnight Bargain was one of the best books ive read all year and i read ALOT in 2020 some here i have not ..but would love to. Im def in the US so this is a great opportunity
As a fan of “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell”, I look forward to reading “Piranesi”, although I’d really like to read a sequel to the former.
I hear good things about the Murderbot series.
Nora Jemisin read the short story that became The City We Became (no pun intended) when she visited our class in Buffalo.
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Forgot notify box.
So many of these sound good! Piranesi and Mexican Gothic are must reads for me.
“A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” certainly has the most interesting title!
I really enjoyed The Network Effect!
¬¬¬Roxana,if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks.
Please contact me (Marion) with your choice and a US address. Happy reading!