Re: Nebula Finalists 1999

On 2024-09-02, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

1999: The Mars Polar Lander more than succeeds at landing on Mars,
Liberty Bell 7 is retrieved after a slight delay from the Atlantic,
and across the world programmers work hard to prevent a calamity,
efforts that will late prove politically inconvenient to acknowledge.
>
Which 1999 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
>
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove
Moonfall by Jack McDevitt
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
>
All but the Asaro.

I missed the Turtledove (I don't regret that), and the McDevett
(I do regret that).  None of the others are Favorites.

Asaro remains an enigma to me.  She was a hard scientist (PhD in
chemical physics from Harvard), nominated numerous times (9?) for
Hugo and Nebula awards (won two Nebulas), president of the SFWA
for two terms, has written about 40 novels, but she's remarkably unknown.
I don't remember the last time she was discussed here (mentioned a couple
of times but not discussed).  Her works are generally on the lighter
space opera side, but that's true of a lot of authors, especially now.

Chris