"A Birthday" is a 1995 science fiction short story by American writer Esther Friesner, about abortion. It was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction .
Women who have had abortions are forced to view and interact with computerized recreations of the hypothetical children they could have had.
"A Birthday" won the 1996 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, [1] and was a finalist for the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. [2]
At the SF Site, Dave Truesdale called it "fascinating, if disturbing", noting that while it was "as fresh as tomorrow's headlines", it was nonetheless evocative of material published "in the (19)50s heyday of Galaxy ." [3]
Friesner has described the story as "super-dark". [4]
Gregory Dale Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict, parallel universes, consciousness and cultural practices, and accelerated evolution. His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total. He was one of the five co-founders of San Diego Comic-Con.
Jack McDevitt is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. Most of his books follow either superluminal pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins or galactic relic hunters Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath. McDevitt has received numerous nominations for Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell awards. Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending some early years in Canada. After a few years working in the clothing industry, he worked at Short Brothers Ltd., an aircraft company based in Belfast, from 1965 until taking early retirement in 1984 as a result of diabetes. White married Margaret Sarah Martin, another science fiction fan, in 1955 and the couple had three children. He died of a stroke.
Dangerous Visions is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by American writer Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It was published in 1967 and contained 33 stories, none of which had been previously published.
Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (1986–2004), garnering multiple Hugo and Locus Awards for those works almost every year. He also won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story twice. He was inducted to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.
Robert Silverberg is a prolific American science fiction author and editor. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF since 2004.
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis, commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than any other writer—most recently the "Best Novel" Hugo and Nebula Awards for Blackout/All Clear (2010). She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011.
Kate Wilhelm was an American author. She wrote novels and stories in the science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres, including the Hugo Award–winning Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Wilhelm established the Clarion Workshop along with her husband Damon Knight and writer Robin Scott Wilson.
Steven H Silver is an American science fiction fan and bibliographer, publisher, author, and editor. He has been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer twelve times and Best Fanzine eight times without winning.
Esther Mona Friesner-Stutzman, née Friesner is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is also a poet and playwright. She is best known for her humorous style of writing, both in the titles and the works themselves. This humor allows her to discuss with broader audiences issues like gender equality and social justice.
Phyllis Eisenstein was an American author of science fiction and fantasy short stories as well as novels. Her work was nominated for both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award.
Helix SF was a quarterly American speculative fiction online magazine edited by William Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans. The poetry editor was Bud Webster.
Jason Sanford is an American science fiction author whose 2022 novel Plague Birds was a finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. He's also known for his short fiction, which has been published in Interzone, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Year's Best SF 14, InterGalactic Medicine Show and other magazines and anthologies.
Aliette de Bodard is a French-American speculative fiction writer.
Lightspeed is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine edited and published by John Joseph Adams. The first issue was published in June 2010 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since. The magazine published four original stories and four reprints in every issue, in addition to interviews with the authors and other nonfiction. All of the content published in each issue is available for purchase as an ebook and for free on the magazine's website. Lightspeed also made selected stories available as a free podcast, produced by Audie Award–winning editor Stefan Rudnicki.
Rachel Swirsky is an American literary, speculative fiction and fantasy writer, poet, and editor living in Oregon. She was the founding editor of the PodCastle podcast and served as editor from 2008 to 2010. She served as vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2013.
Ken Liu is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Liu has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for his novel translations and original short fiction, which has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.
Ann Leckie is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Her 2013 debut novel Ancillary Justice, which features artificial consciousness and gender-blindness, won the 2014 Hugo Award for "Best Novel", as well as the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the BSFA Award. The sequels, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, each won the Locus Award and were nominated for the Nebula Award. Provenance, published in 2017, and Translation State, published in 2023, are also set in the Imperial Radch universe. Leckie's first fantasy novel, The Raven Tower, was published in February 2019.
"Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" is a 2009 science fiction novelette by American writer Eugie Foster. It was first published in Interzone, and has subsequently been republished in Apex Magazine, in The Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, and in The Mammoth Book of Nebula Awards SF; as well, it has been translated into Czech, French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, and Hungarian, and an audio version was released on Escape Pod.
Nebula Awards 32 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Jack Dann. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace in April 1998.
A Birthday title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database