Nebula Awards 2007 - novelette nominees & winners: Brief summaries & my rankings

List below is based on the results of preliminary ballot, final ballot, & the official winners announcement. Some remarks on peculiar Nebula conventions are in the opening paras of my post of Nebula 2007 short stories.

My rating in brackets (ABC: A = worth your time; C = don't bother). Where I have posted a separate review of the entry, link on story title takes you there.

Story list (14 stories, best first).

An observation: novelette nominees this year seem to be a lot less gamed than short story nominees. Several good stories here, unlike the short story list. While first 3 entries stand in a class of their own, I found each of the first 6 interesting.

I wonder if Resnick's entry is removed from final ballot on technical grounds? There was some talk that stories published in 2008 are not eligible.

1. [winner, final, prelim] Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (A); download as text, as MP3; as a short book by Subterranean Press, July 2007; fantasy: Four time travel folktales - told in the style of (I think) Arabian Nights. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
2. [final, prelim] Kij Johnson's "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change" (A); download; Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Ed)'s "Coyote Road, Trickster Tales", July 2007: What if animals could speak? Very moving accounts of man/dog relations - told from the perspective of dogs. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
3. [prelim] Mike Resnick's "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" (A); download; Asimov's, January 2008; fantasy: An enigma is described. Added to my best of the year 2008 list.
   
4. [final, prelim] Nancy Kress' "Safeguard" (B); download; Asimov's, January 2007; science fiction: An earthquake has forced 4 little children, genetically modified to have a poisonous breath & kept in quarantine, to get out of quarantine. Plot is a variation of classic Indian story of "vish kanya".
5. [final, prelim] Geoff Ryman's "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter" (B); download; F&SF, November 2006; non-genre: A love story, in the backdrop of a political story - a girl comes to terms with the ghosts of her dictator dad's victims.
6. [prelim] Peg Robinson's "Tonino & the Incubus" (B); download; Helix #2 (Fall 2006); fantasy: A male prostitute takes his job very seriously.
7. [prelim] Beth Bernobich's "A Flight of Numbers Fantastique Strange" (B); download; Asimov's, June 2006; science fiction: A serial killer is on the lose on a university campus. I found the science fictional ending rather incomprehensible
8. [prelim] William Shunn's "Not of this Fold" (B); download; An Alternate History of the 21st Century, Spilt Milk Press, September 2007; science fiction: A priest on duty aboard a big space habitat to convert locals to his faith becomes a hero when he becomes the main human contact with aliens due to a misunderstanding.
9. [final, prelim] Robin Wayne Bailey's "The Children's Crusade"; Martin H Greenberg and Jim C Hines (Ed)'s Heroes in Training, September 2007 : not read.
10. [prelim] Michael A Burstein and Robert Greenberger's "Things That Aren't"; Analog, April 2007: not read.
11. [prelim] Jim C Hines' "Sister of the Hedge"; Realms of Fantasy, June 2006: not read.
12. [prelim] Andrea Kail's "The Sun God at Down, Rising from a Lotus Blossom"; Algis Budrys (Ed)'s Writers of the Future Volume 23, September 2007: not read.
13. [final, prelim] Delia Sherman's "The Fiddler of Bayou Teche"; Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Ed)'s "Coyote Road, Trickster Tales", July 2007: not read.
14. [final] Terry Bramlett's "Child, Maiden, Mother, Crone"; download; Jim Baen's Universe, #7 (June 2007): Not read. This was not on preliminary ballet (is probably a jury nominee).
    

Related.

1. 2007 Nebula Awards short stories, novellas.
2. 2008 Hugo Awards novelettes.
   

Peg Robinson's "Tonino and the Incubus" (novelette, fantasy): On differentiating prostitution from prayer!

Because of the subject matter, this story is unlikely to be received enthusiastically in many communities. I suspect even the discussion might be taboo at some places. Use your discretion when picking up this story.

I liked the first two thirds; last third is way too dramatic for my taste.

Names in the story did not mean much to me, but I have a feeling they are from Southern Europe. Someone familiar with the place could perhaps clarify the country where the story is set.

Full text of this story is available for download.

Story summary.

Tonino is a man - a profession "gigolo" - a sort of male prostitute. I think some people will take objection to translating it as "male prostitute", but he is a man who receives money & material favors from lonely &/or old women in return for his company. The company given may or may not involve sex - in fact, Tonino vehemently denies having sex with his older clients. So, let's say providing company in return for money.

Suddenly, there are a lot of deaths among his older clients - 8 dead in 3 months. People have been whispering that his sex with these women probably excited them enough to result in their death. Tonino is also upset, & is suspecting that some kind of shape shifting demon ("incubus") has been visiting his clients in his form!

Among Tonino's most vocal opponents is Prieta Safina, a priestess at the local "Shrine of the Hidden God".

One fine night, priestess is hunting Tonino to catch him red handed. Tonino is hunting the demon. And both will end up facing the demon. That's the last third - Safina fighting off the demon with sorcery, & Tonino doing it with love.

Fact sheet.

"Tonino and the Incubus", short story, review
First published: Helix #2, Fall 2006.
Rating: B
Passed the preliminary nominations stage of Nebula Awards 2007 in novelette category.