Nebula update

About a year and a half ago, I announced my project of reading all of the Nebula-award winning novels.

At the time, I had read 11 out of 40 award-winning novels. There are now 41 novels. I read the 1973 award winner, Rendevous with Rama, in Spring 2004. I read the 1996 winner, Slow River, and the 1997 winner, The Moon and the Sun, earlier this year. (I guess I never blogged them.) Both of them required me to request the Anne Arundel Public Library's only copy...it's kind of sad that less than 10 years after winning one of science fiction's most prestigious awards, these books are fairly difficult to track down. I read the 1999 award winner, Parable of the Talents, during Fall 2004. I read the 2000 winner, Darwin's Radio, last summer. I read the 2001 winner, The Quantum Rose this past winter. I read the 2003 winner, The Speed of Dark, in Spring 2004. I read the 2004 winner, Paladin of Souls, this past October.

So where does this leave me?

1. 1965: Dune, Frank Herbert
   
2. 1970: Ringworld, Larry Niven
3. 1973: Rendevous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
   
4. 1975: The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
   
5. 1984: Neuromancer, William Gibson
   
6. 1985: Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
   
7. 1986: Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
   
8. 1992: Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
   
9. 1993: Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
   
10. 1994: Moving Mars, Greg Bear
11. 1996: Slow River, Nicola Griffith
12. 1997: The Moon and the Sun, Vonda N. McIntyre
    
13. 1998: Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman
14. 1999: Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler
15. 2000: Darwin's Radio, Greg Bear
16. 2001: The Quantum Rose, Catherine Asaro
17. 2002: American Gods, Neil Gaiman
18. 2003: The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
19. 2004: Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold

So that's 19 out of 41. The last six I've read have all been written by women. Hmm. And I now have read the last 9 winners. Part of what I've been doing is working my way backwards -- partly because those books are easier to find, and partly to see what's current in the SF world. I have the 1995 winner on hold at the library, and I have the 1974, 1980 and 1988 winners checked out right now.

One thing that holds me back from some of the other is my aforementioned need to read series in order. The 1983 winner, Startide Rising, is a sequel to a book called Sundiver, which I read yesterday. At the time, I couldn't remember which one won the Nebula, and which one was the first...Brin kept referring to past events, and I wondered if it was a gentle reminder of the events of a previous book. I guess not.

(It may amuse you to know that when I spell-checked this I had misspelled "library's" as "libary's". Blogger's spell checker suggested "Liberace.")