2009 Nebula Award Nominees

Short Story:

Spar by Kij Johnson: 4

Bridesicle by Will McIntosh: 4

Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela by Saladin Ahmed: 3.5

Going Deep by James Patrick Kelly: 3

Non-Zero Probabilities by N.K. Jemisin: 1.5

I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein: SHUNNED

Novelette:

Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster: 5

The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi: 4.5

A Memory of Wind by Rachel Swirsky: 4.5

Divining Light by Ted Kosmatka: 4

I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said by Richard Bowes: 3

Vinegar Peace, or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage by Michael Bishop: 1

Novella:

The God Engines by John Scalzi: 4.5

Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow: 4.5

Sublimation Angels by Jason Sanford: 3.5

Arkfall by Carolyn Ives Gilman: 3.5

Act One by Nancy Kress: 3

The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker: Impossible to get for under $100

All stories ranked in order of my preference. Winners in bold. In cases where two stories had the same score, I preferred the one higher on the list. But my general guideline is that I'd be happy with anything that scored 4 or higher winning a Nebula, and anything 3.5 or lower winning would be a disappointment. While I would vote for Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest, I would be perfectly content with the awards process to see Divining Light win.

In particular, I hugely prefer Spar to Bridsicle in the short story category, just barely not enough for different ratings, I prefer The Gambler over Memory of Wind significantly, although Sinner, Baker, ... makes that decision moot, but God Engines and Shambling are very close in the Novella category. I have decided I prefer Scalzi in this case, but only by a hair, and on average I'm a bigger fan of James Morrow than John Scalzi.

Turns out I pretty much called them, with the exception of Novellas where I was unable to even read the winning story. I'd love to see the voting numbers for runners up placing and how close I was on the runners up.