Books: 2008 Nebula Awards Showcase

There are a whole lot of science fiction anthologies released each year. Over the trip to Houston, I read the 2008 Nebula Awards Showcase, which helpfully compiles the Nebula Award winners from a previous year (Showcase 2008 features all the 2006 winners, for instance). Aside from the winners for short story, novella, and novellette, you'll find some essays by sci-fi writers and a book excerpt from the "Best Novel" winner.

The 2008 compilation has some decent fiction, including "Burn" by James Patrick Kelly and a coda to Peter S. Beagle's classic 1968 fantasy novel, "The Last Unicorn." I didn't enjoy everything here, though; "Echo," a short story by Elizabeth Hand, barely qualifies as science fiction, and I disliked its tone. I still prefer the magazine format for consumption of short sci-fi, but a paperback is at least handier to carry.