NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE: 2003

Chosen by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2002, this slim anthology includes the four Nebula Award winners in the categories of short story, novelette, novella and novel (represented by an extract), plus a couple of runners-up (James Patrick Kelly's "Undone" and Mike Resnick's "The Elephants on Neptune"), an introduction by editor Kress, a list of nominees, a few brief essays and a list of past winners. While it's good to have the Nebula winners for a given year gathered in one place, some readers might wonder whether there's enough content here to justify such a book. On balance, the answer is yes, if only because of the unlikely juxtapositions. It's fascinating to watch Jack Williamson's expansive, far-future speculation, "The Ultimate Earth," rubbing shoulders with Kelly Link's tight, nervous little maybe-ghost story, "Louise's Ghost." It's also amusing to imagine how Mike Resnick's sardonic elephants from Neptune would wreak havoc in Catherine Asaro's SF retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" (The Quantum Rose). In short, the variety of taste shown by the SFFWA continues to be striking and heartening. (Apr. 1)

Forecast:This anthology series is finding a niche for itself by not competing with the two major best-of-the-year collections—Gardner Dozois's mammoth assembly that favors literary experimentation and David Hartwell's relatively compact selection of more traditional SF. Still, the two big anthologies are better bargains.