Reading All The Nebula Finalists 2019

I don’t usually pay attention to awards (I think the Oscars are crap and that makes me think I’m not going to like any of the others either) but I’ve been watching booktube and some of the books I’ve read are starting to overlap. 

On Youtube Kalanadi had a project of reading all the Hugo and Nebula winners through the years then she picked her favourites. 

So that got me interested and then of course obsession took over. Now I know all the science fiction awards and the nominations, when I knew none of them at the beginning of the week. I’m a bit fascinated with what gets nominated and for what reasons. 

I’m going to try to read all the books nominated for Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards this year. So here’s what’s been nominated for the Nebula Awards.

Best Novel

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
Witchmark by C.L. Polk
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

The only book I’ve read is Trail of lightning which I gave 3.5 stars and I can’t wait to read the sequel Storm of Locusts which is out now. This book is urban fantasy but with indigenous native american monsters and legends. It’s own voices native american rep and it has a gay male side character. Other than that it’s very standard urban fantasy which I tend to get a bit bored by, so it’s not really for me. I just found the native american culture aspect interesting.

I’ve read The Poppy War and I hate it. I’ll post a review at some point.

The Calculating Stars and Witchmark I’ve been meaning to read for ages so they’re going on the TBR first.

I haven’t read Spinning Silver but I’ve been meaning to read something by Naomi Novik. Although this wouldn’t have been what I’d chose to read first. I was looking to read those books about the dragons in the Napoleonic Wars.

I’ve never heard of Blackfish City or the author so I’ll probably read this one last.

Best Novella

Artificial Condition, (Murderbot #2) by Martha Wells 
Fire Ant by Jonathan P. Brazee
Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield
The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark 
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Kelly Robson 
The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard 

Artificial Condition I gave 4.5 stars when I read it last year and Murderbot is now one of my favourite series ever. The First book All Systems Red is also one of my favourite books. I reread it within a month of first reading it. I couldn’t get it out of my head. The only other book I’ve done that with is Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. So looking at this category I really doubt of any of the other books are going to beat Artificial Condition for me.

I’ve also read Alice Payne Arrives and I gave it four stars. I don’t usually like time travel but the characters are the focus and I really enjoyed it. The main character is also in a relationship with another woman. I can’t wait to read the sequel.

I’ve been meaning to read the Black God’s Drums for ages so that’s another one I’m going to need a push to read.

I’ve never heard of Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach or the author.

Aliette de Bodard is becoming one of my favourite authors and I’m slowly getting through all her work but I haven’t read this and I’m excited she’s on the list. I’ve only read her Dominion of the Fallen series and I think I gave five stars to both the books. They were so good to listen to. Peter Kenny has a great voice and gives an outstanding performance. I could listen to him doing Asmodeus’s voice forever.

I’ve never heard of Fire Ant or the author so I’ll read that one last.

Best Novelette

“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections,” by Tina Connolly 
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander 
“An Agent of Utopia” by Andy Duncan
“The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births” by José Pablo Iriarte
“The Rule of Three” by Lawrence M. Schoen
“Messenger” by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R.R. Virdi

I’ve read none of these stories and I’ve heard of none of these authors. So I’m glad that these are short because reading all of them is going to take a while.

Best Short Story

“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker 
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark 
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow 
The Same as above. Although I think I’ve heard of T. Kingfisher.
“Interview for the End of the World” by Rhett C. Bruno
“Going Dark” by Richard Fox
“And Yet” by A.T. Greenblatt

Same as above. I’ve never heard of the books or the authors.

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy”, Written by: Megan Amram
Black Panther, Written by: Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole
A Quiet Place, Screenplay by: John Krasinski and Bryan Woods & Scott Beck
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Screenplay by: Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman
Dirty Computer, Written by: Janelle Monáe and Chuck Lightning
Sorry to Bother You, Written by: Boots Riley

I love the Good Place and I’m constantly rewatching it.

I liked Black Panther and I think it will probably win this category because a lot of people loved that movie.

I preferred A Quiet Place because of it’s atmosphere and I love horror.

I haven’t watched Into the Spider-verse but I’ve been meaning to.

I’ve never heard of Dirty Computer or Sorry to Bother You. If I have time I’ll look them up and try to watch.

Best SFF Young Adult

Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)
Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman (Random House / Penguin Teen)
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
A Light in the Dark by A.K. DuBoff
Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien

I don’t usually like Young Adult books and I’ve read none of these. I’ve heard of The Cruel Prince and Children of Blood and Bone so if I’m going to start I’ll start there but that won’t be until after I’ve read the books of the other categories.

So I’m going to see what I can read before the winners are announced and do some research on the authors I don’t know then I’ll do another post. I didn’t do any research for this post because it would be the longest post ever and would probably never get posted.

The winners will be announced 16th-19th May so I’m going to see how many books I can read in 16 days.