They’re in Kansas City April 25 - 28. I was just curious if anyone was planning on attending.
I’m volunteering there for the weekend so maybe I’ll see some of you.
I know these aren’t as big as the Hugos but they should be interesting nonetheless. Speaking of which, why AREN’T they as big as the Hugos? Why can’t they be?
Speaking of which, what can I expect for the weekend? Has anyone else attended one of these?
Speaking of which…um…oh, never mind. that’s all.
The Nebulas are decided by the authors. The Hugos are decided by the readers. Now, being a member of the second group of SF folks, I’m much more likely to be impressed by something a bunch of readers enjoyed. Likewise for the vast majority of SF fans.
Chronos is probably right – it’s readers vs. writers and the sensibilities have been divirging over the years. Also, the Nebs are set up so that more time passes between publication and the award, which means that by the time the winners are announced, the stories aren’t as available.
I’ve never been, but the big event is the banquet, which is much like any award presentation: a toastmaster (it’s Esther Friesner this year, so it should be fun), a keynote speaker, and then the usual award stuff – presenters, and acceptance speeches. Some years there are other awards like the grandmaster and author emeritus, but they’re not presenthing them this year.
That was one of the issues they were dealing with. Everyone was complaining when “undeserving” people won author emeritus or grandmaster awards. So this year they have neither and the attendance numbers have dropped. It’s a lose/lose situation.
But what is a poor boy like me to do? I’m low man on the totem pole and that’s fine by me. I’m just doing some publicity for it. Should be a fun weekend, still.
Actually, there will be a special Lifetime Achievement Award presented, but it hasn’t been announced publicly yet (at least to outsiders).
And the outsider/insider thing is taken seriously at a Nebula Weekend. It’s strictly for the writers, with a lot of networking and internal politicking done. It would bore any ordinary readers out of their socks. (As some keynote talkers have also done.)
The awards themselves are taken a bit more seriously among SFWA members than the Hugos, or at least people there like to think of the awards honoring more literary works than the Hugos do. You can have a six-hour debate any day as to the likelihood of that, but one thing I can assure you is that Harry Potter will never be nominated for Best Novel. (Book 4 won the Hugo for Best Novel last year. Much unhappiness at the SFWA party afterward.)
The fans are not completely forgotten, though. There will be a giant book signing on Friday night. I forget where but it will feature bunches of writers and should be well worth attending for any sf&f fan.
OK, a quick Google and…
“The weekend will include a mass autograph session hosted by Walden Books in the Crown Center atrium from 5:30PM-7:30PM on Friday night.”