Reviews

YA‘Imagination is the constant in this well-crafted collection of the 1994 Nebula awards for short story, novelette, novella, and novel. In addition to the winning selections, five short story and novella finalists are included, as are essays, memorials, and Rhysling Award poetry. A variety of styles and themes awaits readers. An expanding nightmare about Vietnam seems almost as real as the rain in Joe Haldeman's Graves. Love, friendship, and the search for understanding are beautifully expressed in Jack Cady's The Night We Buried Road Dog and Charles Sheffield's Georgian on My Mind. Frank Chalmer's scheme for self advantage is both cunning and criminal in ``Festival Night'' from Red Mars. All told, a bountiful excursion for YA minds.‘Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA

As in previous years, this excellent 1993 collection of Nebula Award winners covers a broad range of styles, treatments and subjects. Selected SF authors, in short essays, bemoan the state of the genre, yet these stories and novellas (and even a poem or two) give the lie to any pessimism. Connie Willis's ``Death on the Nile'' describes a bizarre vacation to Egypt in which a group of tourists gains firsthand knowledge of the Pyramids' original purpose. ``Georgia on My Mind'' shines with the excitement of scientific discovery as Charles Sheffield rewrites computer history to introduce another inventor of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. And for those who love their cars more than they do people, Jack Cady's novella ``The Night We Buried Road Dog'' offers a psychological and supernatural mystery celebrating the freedom of the road. Sargent also includes memorial tributes to SF greats Avram Davidson, Lester del Rey and Chad Oliver. Essential reading for anyone who enjoys science fiction, this collection goes a long way toward demonstrating that, now and then, those who engage in the sometimes thankless task of bestowing writing awards really do know how to pick winners. (Apr.)