According to Locus (and via Niall), the 2007 Nebula awards have been announced.
Best Novel : Seeker by Jack McDevitt
Best Novella : Burn by James Patrick Kelly
Novelette : "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle
Short Story : "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand
Script : Howl's Moving Castle
Andre Norton Award : Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
Most of these awards I don't really have much of an opinion about. Jo Walton's Farthing is one of the better books I've read this year but for all I know this Seeker book might be decent. It's part of a franchise (Boo!) but it is SF rather than Fantasy (Hurrah!) and is a mystery rather than MilSF warporn (Hurrah!).
What did get my goat though is that the script to Howl's Moving Castle won an award. Admittedly the shortlist included Batman, Dr. Who's "Girl in the Fireplace" and some BSG episode. However, I'm so thoroughly bored with BSG that looking up which episode was nominated, let alone what happened in that particular episode would doubtless fill me with the kind of dull lethargy that can only be remedied through the application of a hot shower and vigorous masturbation.
I really enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle and I'm a huge Ghibli fan but if there was one thing that let that film down it was the script.
Firstly, the ending made absolutely no sense. The script writers fell into that trap of not knowing how to finish the film so they had something magical happen that somehow wrapped up all outstanding plot-lines such as the War, the little girl turned into an old lady and Howl being dead. This is not a new trick by any means. In fact, It's much favoured by Terry Pratchett, who is a fan of people stumbling around in a magical haze, and also Orson Scott Card who solved al the problems in his Ender Saga with a new kind of physics. However, it is a trick used by lazy writers who don't know how to end books and seeing as the Nebula is awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, I would have expected them to notice a film script that uses such a terrible bodge to get itself out of trouble.
Secondly, the script as a whole is rather weak. Full of nice set-pieces and some memorable characters, the interactions between the characters are more a matter of implication and suggestion than the confrontation demanded by good drama. In fact, the plot and the character arcs as a whole seem to melt into the background as the film very much about mood and visual impact and very little about telling a coherent story. Even by the standards of other Ghibli films (such as the endlessly beautiful My Neighbour Totoro and the breakthrough but equally incoherent Spirited Away).
Frankly, the idea that Howl's Moving Castle is the best written SF or Fantasy film or TV episode of the last two years is nothing short of laughable. Admittedly the short-list was not particularly inspiring (featuring the well-meaning but empty Batman Begins and the delicate "The Girl in the Fireplace") but if this is the best the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America can come up with then you really have to wonder what the point is in including an award for best script. They really aren't fooling anyone.
Seeker by Jack McDevitt is a very entertaining and satisfying read. I don't know exactly if I'd call it part of a franchise. It's not Star Wars or Star Trek. It's merely the 3rd book with a pair of recurring charactors.
Posted by: David | May 13, 2007 at 02:00 PM