Tag Archives: nebula award

Review of “Exhalation: Stories” (2019) by Ted Chiang

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© James Pyles

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I became aware of Ted Chiang‘s book Exhalation: Stories (2019) when it was recently promoted on Bookbub (I get an email from them daily). I was curious, so I looked the book up on Amazon.

First of all, 90% of its Amazon reviews are four and five stars. That’s pretty impressive.

Secondly, under “Editorial Reviews,” there’s a long, long list of quotes from professional reviewers giving the book high praise. Even former President Barack Obama said:

“A collection of short stories that will make you think, grapple with big questions, and feel more human. The best kind of science fiction.”

Joyce Carol Oates of “The New Yorker” said:

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Nebula Award Nominations are Closing but is that Significant?

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Screenshot from twitter.

My friend Richard Paolinelli posted THIS on twitter and Matthew Hopkins / Samuel Collingwood Smith sent me the link to his blog post in the comments of my blog.

But I’m not here to talk about that. It just so happened, given the context, that I decided to see if Jason Sanford had blocked me yet (he hasn’t). In checking his twitter account, I saw he posted about the nomination period for the Nebula Awards coming to a close.

I remember as a young man in the 1970s being really impressed with science fiction novels that won a Nebula or Hugo Award. Certain experiences over the past few years have led me to become less impressed. More accurately, I think they meant something once, but they’ve lost their luster.

I tried to find the quote from Jeannette Ng (she hasn’t blocked me yet on twitter either) that said something about how these awards are on their way to becoming more significant now that marginalized and suppressed voices are more prevalent in SF/F.

I wonder.

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