2022 Nebula Award Nominees Announced
Last week, the nominees for the Nebulas were announced, and I thought it fitting to write a little about each since several of our store favorites are on the list. What is a Nebula you ask? The Nebula Awards are among the greatest honors a sci-fi/fantasy work can receive, where sci-fi/fantasy stories are nominated and voted upon by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association(commonly paired with the Hugos, which are awards given by fans who vote at WorldCon). Needless to say, they are a Big Deal. The actual winner will be announced May 14th of this year, so before the judges make their decision, try giving some of these a read and decide for yourself!
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Beloved by several members of Dog-Eared staff (but most ardently by Bookseller Jess and former Bookseller Danika, as well as Bestselling author and former Bookseller Genevieve Gornichec), Legends and Lattes is a low-stakes cozy fantasy about an orc who wants to give up her violent life and settle in to coffee-shop ownership and discovers love and community along the way. This is an excellent book for fans of DnD or anyone who wants a fantasy novel that feels like a hug.
Spear by Nicola Griffith
One of former Bookseller Danika’s favorite books of 2022, Spear is a queer retelling of Arthurian myth. Filled with adventures and aflame with determination, this follows our hero as she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust, and fights to the death. An unlikely hero, not a chosen one, this book is like if Ursula Le Guin decided to write a Camelot story. Said to be “a screamingly hot cannon-queering epic filled with bloody battles and earth-shaking magic” this novella can rock your reading life.
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
This little book by T. Kingfisher was one of the surprising delights of last year for me. I picked it up on a whim after seeing it on some most-anticipated lists and was utterly blown away. This story follows the third daughter of a small kingdom as she sets out to save her older sister by killing the evil prince she married, aided by a bone dog, her own magic godmother, a graveyard witch, and a former fairy slave. An utterly delightful romp following a group of adventurers who are all in a little over their heads. Madcap and deeply charming, this book has the airy dreaminess of a fairytale with the grounded, laugh-out-loud humor of a Monty Python skit. I burned through this one in an afternoon.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
I have never once claimed to be unbiased while talking about this books, and nowhere will that be more evident than here—Babel was the best book I read all year, let alone the best fantasy. Babel follows Robin Swift, a young boy orphaned by cholera in Canton, China who is then whisked away to the UK by Professor Lovell with the sole intention of him going to study at Babel (aka the Royal Institute of Translation). While attending Babel, Robin begins to question Britain’s (and his own) role in amassing wealth for the empire by taking the brightest minds and most valuable resources from the world while giving nothing in return. Featuring a magic system powered by the meaning lost in translation, this is a book about the subversive power of empire, the necessity of violence in revolution, and an individual’s moral responsibility to fight oppression. Babel is not an easy book, and not a happy one either, but it is a must-read.
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
While very buzzy, this is the only one of the nominees that I don’t think anyone on our staff read—it is about humankind discovering an intelligent octopus species in the ocean with its own languages and cultures, which sets off a high-stakes global competition to see who will end up with control of the planet. A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, The Moutain in the Sea is a debut that has—pardon the pun—made huge waves, diving deep into the treasures and wrecks of humankind’s legacy. Given that octopodes already creep me out, I might continue sitting this one out, but if any of you pick it up, you’ll have to let us at the store know what you think of it!
Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The third installment in the wildly popular Locked Tomb series, this world of Lesbian Space Necromancers has continued to steal hearts. Widely beloved and with a cult following, it’s no wonder this one is a Nebula finalist. Genevieve was so excited when this one came out and insisted it did not disappoint. Starring Nona, a girl who just wants a normal life, but doesn’t have any memories prior to six months ago. The powers that be want Nona to be a weapon, but she wants no part of that, yet she knows her quiet life can’t last forever. This is a series that is interlocked, but not sequential, so even if you haven’t read Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth you can still hop in and enjoy this story.
These are just the nominees for the novel category—there are also categories for Novellas (I’m gunning for Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk to win, though I also love A Prayer for the Crown Shy by Becky Chambers), Novelette, Short Story, Middle Grade and Young Adult, Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and Game Writing. Check out the Nebula Awards website to see all the nominees for each category.
Again, I’m not going to pretend to be unbiased—I desperately want Babel to win, with Nettle and Bone a distant second. But I’m just one person who reads a lot. What do y’all think? If you’ve read any of these titles, which do you think is deserving of the honor? Let me know in the comments below!
