Nebula Award Showcase is a series of annual science fiction and fantasy anthologies collecting stories that have won or been nominated for the Nebula Award, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers founded in 1965 by Damon Knight as the Science Fiction Writers of America.
The series has changed title a number of times over the years, with volumes 1-11 and 16-17 called Nebula Award Stories, v. 12-15 Nebula Winners, v. 18-33 Nebula Awards (v. 18-19 with the initial article The), and v. 34 onward Nebula Awards Showcase (v. 45 with the initial article The). Individual volumes are usually distinguished from each other by a volume number or year designation; both have sometimes been used for variant editions of the same volume. In general, numerical designations predominated for the first thirty-three volumes, year designations for the thirty-fourth through fifty-third volumes, and numerical designations again since.
The series has frequently changed editors and publishers.
Aside from the period from 1985–1997, when each editor edited three volumes in a row, the customary practice has been for every volume to have a different editor, or occasionally a pair of editors. The editors to date (each of one volume, unless otherwise indicated) have been Brian W. Aldiss (co-editor), Kevin J. Anderson, Poul Anderson, Catherine Asaro, Isaac Asimov, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Lloyd Biggle, Jr., Michael Bishop (3 volumes), James Blish, Ben Bova, John F. Carr (co-editor), Julie E. Czerneda, Jack Dann (2 volumes), Ellen Datlow, Samuel R. Delany, Gordon R. Dickson, Gardner Dozois, Bill Fawcett, James E. Gunn, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison (co-editor), Frank Herbert, Kij Johnson, James Patrick Kelly (co-editor), John Kessel (co-editor), Damon Knight, Nancy Kress, Mercedes Lackey, Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda N. McIntyre, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, James Morrow (3 volumes), Frederik Pohl, Jerry Pournelle (co-editor), Marta Randall, Mike Resnick, Kim Stanley Robinson, Pamela Sargent (3 volumes), Nibedita Sen, Robert Silverberg (2 volumes), Clifford D. Simak, Catherynne M. Valente, Kate Wilhelm, Connie Willis, Jane Yolen, George Zebrowski (3 volumes), and Roger Zelazny.
The publishers for the first American editions (usually, though not always, the first editions worldwide) have been Doubleday (v. 1-6), Harper & Row (v. 7-15), Holt, Rinehart and Winston (v. 16-17), Arbor House (v. 18-19), Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (v. 20-26), Harcourt Brace (v. 27-33), Harcourt (2000–2001), Roc/New American Library (2002–2010), Tor Books (2011), Pyr (2012–2018), Parvus Press (2019), and SFWA, Inc. (v. 54-55). [1] SFWA expected to release volume 56 by the end of 2021, [2] though as of February 6, 2024, it has yet to appear.
The contents of each volume are variable, but usually include an editorial introduction and the stories that won the Nebula Awards for Best Novella, Best Novelette and Best Short Story for the year covered and a selection of stories that were nominated but did not win. Also often included are excerpts from the books that won the Nebula Award for Best Novel and Andre Norton Award, the poems that won the Rhysling Award and Dwarf Stars Award for the year covered (dated for the year published rather than the year awarded, unlike the Nebulas), tributes to prominent recently deceased authors and authors voted Grand Master and Author Emeritus (together with representative pieces by them), surveys of the literature and films of the year covered, and lists of Nebula winners and nominees from previous years.
Publication date and volume editor follow each title.
George Zebrowski is an American science fiction writer and editor who has written and edited a number of books, and is a former editor of The Bulletin of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He lives with author Pamela Sargent, with whom he has co-written a number of novels, including Star Trek novels.
Kij Johnson is an American writer of fantasy. She is a faculty member at the University of Kansas.
Jack Dann is an American writer best known for his science fiction, as well as an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia since 1994. He has published over seventy books, the majority being as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He has published nine novels, numerous shorter works of fiction, essays, and poetry, and his books have been translated into thirteen languages. His work, which includes fiction in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, and historical and alternative history genres, has been compared to Jorge Luis Borges, Roald Dahl, Lewis Carroll, J. G. Ballard, and Philip K. Dick.
Terri Windling is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, and her collection The Armless Maiden appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
Ellen Datlow is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award.
Pamela Sargent is an American feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award.
Catherynne Morgan Valente is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. For her speculative fiction novels she has won the annual James Tiptree, Andre Norton, and Mythopoeic Fantasy awards. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, the anthologies Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, along with numerous "Year's Best" volumes. Her critical work has appeared in the International Journal of the Humanities as well as in numerous essay collections.
Alternate Americas is an anthology of alternate history science fiction short stories edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg as the fourth volume in their What Might Have Been series. It was first published in paperback by Bantam Spectra in October 1992. It was later gathered together with Alternate Wars into the omnibus anthology What Might Have Been: Volumes 3 & 4: Alternate Wars / Alternate Americas.
Nebula Award Stories 7 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. It was first published in the United Kingdom in hardcover by Gollancz in November 1972. The first American edition was published by Harper & Row in January 1973; a Science Fiction Book Club edition, also in hardcover, followed in March of the same year. Paperback editions followed from Harrow Books in the U.S. in 1973, and Panther in the U.K. in December 1974. The American editions bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories Seven. The book has also been published in German.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2000 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Gregory Benford. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt in April 2000.
Nebula Awards 31 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Pamela Sargent, the third of three successive volumes under her editorship. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace in April 1997, and reprinted in trade paperback in July 1999.
Nebula Awards 30 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Pamela Sargent, the second of three successive volumes under her editorship. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace in April 1996.
Nebula Awards 29 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Pamela Sargent, the first of three successive volumes under her editorship. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace in April 1995.
Nebula Awards 26 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by James Morrow, the first of three successive volumes published under his editorship. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in May 1992.
Nebula Awards 21 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by George Zebrowski, the second of three successive volumes under his editorship. It was first published in trade paperback by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in December 1986, with a hardcover edition following from the same publisher in January 1987.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2005 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by American writer Jack Dann. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in March 2005.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2010 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Bill Fawcett. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in April 2010.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2009 is an anthology of award winning science fiction short works edited by Ellen Datlow. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in April 2009.
Nebula Awards Showcase 54 is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy short works edited by Bengali writer Nibedita Sen. It was first published in trade paperback by SFWA, Inc. in November 2020, followed by an ebook edition from the same publisher in December of the same year.
Nebula Awards Showcase #55: Outstanding Science Fiction and Fantasy is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy short works edited by American writer Catherynne M. Valente. It was first published in paperback and ebook by SFWA, Inc. in August 2021.