Oceanic (novella)

Last updated
"Oceanic"
Short story by Greg Egan
Oceanic ASF.jpg
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction novella
Publication
Published in Asimov's Science Fiction
Publication type Magazine
Publication dateAugust 1998

"Oceanic" is a science fiction novella by Australian writer Greg Egan, published in 1998. It won the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Contents

Publication history

"Oceanic" was first published in the August 1998 edition of Asimov's Science Fiction by Dell Magazines. Editor Gardner Dozois republished it in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection (1999) and The Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels (2007). It was again republished in Greg Egan's collection Dark Integers and Other Stories (2008) and in Egan's collection Oceanic (2009). [1]

Reception

In 1999, "Oceanic" won the Hugo Award for Best Novella, Locus Award best novella, and Asimov's Reader Poll for best novella. [2] [3] [4] It also won two foreign short story awards: the 2000 Hayakawa's SF Magazine Reader's Award and the 2001 Seiun Award. [5] [6] "Oceanic" was also a finalist in the 1998 Aurealis Award for best science fiction short story, a long list nominee for the 1999 James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award, and a short-list nominee for the 1999 HOMer Award for best novella. [7] [8] [9]

Synopsis

The story follows Martin, a Freelander living on the oceans of Covenant. As a boy he has a religious experience that shapes his life for years to come. As he grows into manhood his experiences and studies begin to conflict with his deep rooted faith. Eventually he joins a small circle of scholars studying the effects of one of Covenant’s most abundant microbes as his views of life change dramatically.

Related Research Articles

Greg Egan is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Locus Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gardner Dozois</span> American science fiction author and editor (1947–2018)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Chiang</span> American science fiction writer (born 1967)

Ted Chiang is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He was an artist in residence at the University of Notre Dame in 2020–2021. Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, most recently on topics related to computer technology, such as artificial intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Resnick</span> American science fiction writer and editor (1942–2020)

Michael Diamond Resnick was an American science fiction writer and editor. He won five Hugo awards and a Nebula award, and was the guest of honor at Chicon 7. He was the executive editor of the defunct magazine Jim Baen's Universe, and the creator and editor of Galaxy's Edge magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kessel</span> American author

John Joseph Vincent Kessel is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer, and the author of four solo novels, Good News From Outer Space (1989), Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997), The Moon and the Other (2017), and Pride and Prometheus (2018), and one novel, Freedom Beach (1985) in collaboration with his friend James Patrick Kelly. Kessel is married to author Therese Anne Fowler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Reed (author)</span> American science fiction author

Robert David Reed is a Hugo Award-winning American science fiction author. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Nebraska Wesleyan University. Reed is an "extraordinarily prolific" genre short-fiction writer with "Alone" being his 200th professional sale. His work regularly appears in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Sci Fiction. He has also published eleven novels. As of 2010, Reed lived in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife and daughter.

Aurealis is an Australian speculative fiction magazine published by Chimaera Publications, and is Australia's longest running small-press science-fiction and fantasy magazine. The magazine is based in Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seiun Award</span> Japanese speculative fiction award

The Seiun Award is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the Science Fiction Fan Groups’ Association of Nippon, the awards are given at the annual Japan Science Fiction Convention. It is the oldest SF award in Japan, being given since the 9th Japan Science Fiction Convention in 1970.

Stephen Dedman is an Australian writer of dark fantasy and science fiction stories and novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award</span>

The Hayakawa's S-F Magazine Reader's Award is an annual poll conducted by Hayakawa's S-F Magazine for the best Japanese short story, illustrator, and foreign short story, voted by the readers from their issues in the previous year. The honor has been awarded since 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paolo Bacigalupi</span> American science fiction and fantasy writer

Paolo Tadini Bacigalupi is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has won the Hugo, Nebula, John W. Campbell, Compton Crook, Theodore Sturgeon, and Michael L. Printz awards, and has been nominated for the National Book Award. His fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction, and the environmental journal High Country News. Nonfiction essays of his have appeared in Salon.com and High Country News, and have been syndicated in newspapers, including the Idaho Statesman, the Albuquerque Journal, and the Salt Lake Tribune.

The 57th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Aussiecon Three, was held on 2–6 September 1999 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurora in Four Voices</span> Short story by Catherine Asaro

"Aurora in Four Voices" is a short science fiction novella written by Catherine Asaro and published in December 1998. It is part of the Skolian Empire series and was originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact. It was also available free online at Analog magazine's website.

The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to "recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers". To qualify, a work must have been first published by an Australian citizen or permanent resident between 1 January and 31 December of the corresponding year; the presentation ceremony is held the following year. It has grown from a small function of around 20 people to a two-day event attended by over 200 people.

<i>Dreaming Down-Under</i> Anthology edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb

Dreaming Down-Under is a 1998 speculative fiction anthology edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb.

"The Diamond Pit" is a 2001 fantasy science fiction novella by American writer Jack Dann.

<i>The 1979 Annual Worlds Best SF</i>

The 1979 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the eighth volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1979. It was reissued by DAW in 1984 under the variant title Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Eight, this time with cover art by Olivero Berni.

<i>The 1987 Annual Worlds Best SF</i>

The 1987 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the fourteenth volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1987, followed by a hardcover edition issued in July of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art by Tony Roberts was replaced by a new cover painting by Richard Powers.

<i>The 1988 Annual Worlds Best SF</i>

The 1988 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the seventeenth volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1988, followed by a hardcover edition issued in August of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art by Blair Wilkins was replaced by a new cover painting by Richard Powers.

"Press Enter ■" is a science fiction novella by American writer John Varley originally published in the May 1984 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. In 1985 it won the Locus Award for Best Novella, Hugo Award for Best Novella and Nebula Award for Best Novella.

References

  1. "Bibliography: Oceanic". ISFDB . Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  2. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1999 Hugo Awards". Locus Online. Archived from the original on 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  3. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1999 Locus Awards". Locus Online. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  4. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1999 Asimov's Reader Poll". Locus Online . Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  5. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2000 Hayakawa's SF Magazine Reader's Award". Locus Online . Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  6. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2001 Seiun Awards". Locus Online . Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  7. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1999 Aurealis Awards". Locus Online . Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  8. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1999 James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award". Locus Online. Archived from the original on 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  9. "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1999 HOMer Awards". Locus Online . Retrieved 2010-03-24.