2018: The National School Walkout to protest school shootings is
futile, Prince Harry marries outside the inbred aristocracy, greatly
vexing Britain's thriving racist community, and Canada legalizes
cannabis--wise move, given events to come--but somehow fucks up the
cannabis store rollout.

Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

The Jemisin, the Donnelly (which has aged incredibly well), the Lee,
and the Lafferty.


Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read?
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
And Then There Were (N Minus One) by Sarah Pinsker
Barry's Deal by Lawrence M. Schoen
Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang

The Wells, the Pinsker, the Gailey, and the Yang.


Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Novelettes Have You Read?
A Human Stain by Kelly Robson
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Dirty Old Town by Richard Bowes
Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time by K. M. Szpara
Weaponized Math by Colonel Jonathan P. Brazee
Wind Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker

Just the Pinsker.


Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Short Stories Have You Read?
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience (tm) by Rebecca Roanhorse
Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim
Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand by Fran Wilde
Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard) by Matthew Kressel
Utopia, LOL? by Jamie Wahls

None of them, as far as I am aware.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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In article <vm39k0$5ib$1@panix2.panix.com>,
jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

2018: The National School Walkout to protest school shootings is
futile, Prince Harry marries outside the inbred aristocracy, greatly
vexing Britain's thriving racist community, and Canada legalizes cannabis--wise move, given events to come--but somehow fucks up the
cannabis store rollout.

Which 2018 Nebula Finalist

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ‹-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

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James Nicoll wrote:

2018: The National School Walkout to protest school shootings is
futile, Prince Harry marries outside the inbred aristocracy, greatly
vexing Britain's thriving racist community, and Canada legalizes cannabis--wise move, given events to come--but somehow fucks up the
cannabis store rollout.

Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

This was a pretty good mystery in space.

Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Novellas Have You Read?

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

One of my favorite stories, the lead novella in mone of my favorite
series. If you like space opera, or SF adventure, or just a story with
snarky narrator, I strongly suggest you try this. Sadly I had avoided
it for years because I misunderstood what it was about.

And Then There Were (N Minus One) by Sarah Pinsker

I read this in an anthology, and just again recently when I got a
collection of her stories. A tale of Sarah Pinsker attending a
convention of Sarah Pinskers.

Wind Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker

Again, this was in the collection mentioned above. A generational
colony ship deals with how much of the past to remember.

Just the Pinsker.

Which 2018 Nebula Finalist Short Stories Have You Read?
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience (tm) by Rebecca Roanhorse Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim
Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand by Fran Wilde
Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard) by Matthew Kressel
Utopia, LOL? by Jamie Wahls

None of them, as far as I am aware.

None at this time, but I might search to see if some are online.


Brian

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Robert Woodward wrote:

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.


Brian

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In article <vmpvq1$pns8$2@dont-email.me>,
"Default User" <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

Robert Woodward wrote:

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.

I have seen many words of praise for that series, but I have hundreds of
unread books and I am reluctant to start another series.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ‹-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

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On Tue, 21 Jan 2025 22:05:13 -0800, Robert Woodward
<robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <vmpvq1$pns8$2@dont-email.me>,
"Default User" <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

Robert Woodward wrote:

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.

I have seen many words of praise for that series, but I have hundreds of >unread books and I am reluctant to start another series.

I faced a similar (with fewer unread books) when I retired.

I read fiction four hours a day, every day.

I read with determination. I read with persistance. And, eventually, I
caught up.

So it can be done -- if it is approached as, if not a sacred duty, at
least a job.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

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Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <vmpvq1$pns8$2@dont-email.me>,
"Default User" <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

Robert Woodward wrote:

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.

I have seen many words of praise for that series, but I have hundreds of >unread books and I am reluctant to start another series.

Don't read the series. Read the first book, maybe the first three books,
and stop there. The first book is amazing but after a while there just
isn't any point.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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On 2025-01-22, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <vmpvq1$pns8$2@dont-email.me>,
"Default User" <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

Robert Woodward wrote:

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.

I have seen many words of praise for that series, but I have hundreds of >>unread books and I am reluctant to start another series.

Don't read the series. Read the first book, maybe the first three books,
and stop there. The first book is amazing but after a while there just
isn't any point.
--scott

I'll echo Scott's advice. You absolutely should read the first book,
but you don't need to read the series. The attraction is not the
worldbuilding; it's not the changing or maturing of the main
character; it's not the secondary characters. All of those
might be reasons you want to keep on reading a series, but are
not important here.

Instead the primary attraction is the portrayal of the quirky main
character. You gradually learn what Murderbot is like and Wells
completely nails the character; she gets it perfectly right. You feel
you know the essentials of Murderbot and you don't need more books
except to solve a couple of minor mysteries.

I happened to read _All Systems Red_ within a couple of days of it
coming out since I like Wells. I re-read it that day (it's short). The
next day I reported it here as the most enjoyable book I had read in
several years. It's that good.

Chris

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Robert Woodward wrote:

In article <vmpvq1$pns8$2@dont-email.me>,
"Default User" <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.

I have seen many words of praise for that series, but I have hundreds
of unread books and I am reluctant to start another series.

The first four in the series are novella length, and I was able to get
all as e-books from the library. Getting started should be relatively
quick and easy. That's up to you of course.


Brian

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Scott Dorsey wrote:

Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <vmpvq1$pns8$2@dont-email.me>,
"Default User" <defaultuserbr@yahoo.com> wrote:

Robert Woodward wrote:

AFACT, I have read none of the finalists

If I could recommend any to you, it would be All Systems Red.

I have seen many words of praise for that series, but I have
hundreds of unread books and I am reluctant to start another series.

Don't read the series. Read the first book, maybe the first three
books, and stop there. The first book is amazing but after a while
there just isn't any point.

The first four novellas form a cohesive story. All Systems Red is only
176 pages in hardback, so most readers could probably knock it off in
one or two nights.


Brian

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On 1/22/2025 11:24 PM, Chris Buckley wrote:
[snip]

I happened to read _All Systems Red_ within a couple of days of it
coming out since I like Wells. I re-read it that day (it's short). The
next day I reported it here as the most enjoyable book I had read in
several years. It's that good.

I had a more muted -- but still positive -- reaction. Back in 2021 I wrote:

I thought it was well written and quite funny in places but a little
thin. Still, it was pretty good overall. It probably worked better for
people who found the protagonist highly relatable.

It got me thinking about the fact that fictional non-humans (robots,
aliens, etc) are often fascinated with human culture. It probably tells
us something about the current state of humans, but I am not sure what
it is. I too find it attractive at the visceral level, but why? Is it a mammalian thing – we just want to cuddle? A psychological self-defense mechanism because otherwise we would be facing implacable, almost
Lovecraftian, forces out in the cold of space? A desire for external affirmation, for someone to tell us that what we have produced is of
universal value and not just a bunch of monkeys prancing in the dirt?

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On Thu, 23 Jan 2025 13:30:49 -0500, Ahasuerus <ahasuerus@email.com>
wrote:

On 1/22/2025 11:24 PM, Chris Buckley wrote:
[snip]

I happened to read _All Systems Red_ within a couple of days of it
coming out since I like Wells. I re-read it that day (it's short). The
next day I reported it here as the most enjoyable book I had read in
several years. It's that good.

I had a more muted -- but still positive -- reaction. Back in 2021 I wrote:

I thought it was well written and quite funny in places but a little
thin. Still, it was pretty good overall. It probably worked better for >people who found the protagonist highly relatable.

It got me thinking about the fact that fictional non-humans (robots,
aliens, etc) are often fascinated with human culture. It probably tells
us something about the current state of humans, but I am not sure what
it is. I too find it attractive at the visceral level, but why? Is it a >mammalian thing – we just want to cuddle? A psychological self-defense >mechanism because otherwise we would be facing implacable, almost >Lovecraftian, forces out in the cold of space? A desire for external >affirmation, for someone to tell us that what we have produced is of >universal value and not just a bunch of monkeys prancing in the dirt?

Because human culture is all the author knows, and so it must, of
necessity, be drawn on for much of the story's content?
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

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