Nebula Awards 23: Sfwa's Choices for the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 1987

By the time the Nebula Awards collection is published, some two or three years after its stories first appear, science fiction buffs already have had several opportunities to read most of the entries in other anthologies. As lagniappe, veteran genre editor Bishop includes the winners of the Rhysling awards for science fiction poetry, and useful, if very circumscribed, surveys of the year's fiction (by British novelist and essayist Ian Watson) and films (by critic Bill Warren). Some glaring omissions (notably, the work of Octavia Butler) mar an otherwise fine core of stories from 1986 and 1987: Pat Murphy's ``Rachel in Love'' (a chimp with a brain transplanted from a young girl tries to negotiate a bewildering world), Walter Jon Williams's ``Witness'' (comic-book superheroes are blacklisted by the HUAC), Kate Wilhelm's ``Forever Yours, Anna'' (elective affinities recognize each other across a barrier of time) and Kim Stanley Robinson's ``The Blind Geometer'' (a trite spy story redeemed by a striking point of view). (Apr.)