Nebula Award Nominees announced

Sunrise was at 7:03, sunset will be at 5:43.

There was blue light coming through the crack in the curtains when the alarm went off and it wasn't yet 6 am. Took the car in and the sun was up and the birds were loud. The rain froze to the windshield and the cover over the daphne plant was crunchy. There are tulip, daffodil and crocus leaves coming up through all the old leaves. Don't you love when the bulb leaves come up actually through the leaf, right through it? They must grow so slowly that they, atom by atom, push the leaf cells apart and insert themselves in the open part. The neighbors' daphne plant is sending out the first scents of spring, wafting out over their fence and down the hill. mmmm, bright and citrus-y.

I read Marsbound and Starbound over the weekend-LOVED Marsbound and couldn't wait to read Starbound so went to Elliott Bay to buy it. I don't regret having read it, but it wasn't my favorite book by any means. It was disjointed and I had to keep thinking about who was speaking and I so liked the main character in MB...I really just wanted more of her. There will be a third, which I wish was available already- the end of SB has quite the little cliffhanger. When I checked Joe Haldeman's site, he said he was working on Earthbound. It may be two years before it's done! Aarggh!

Then I had to see about John Scalzi's next book and went to his website and had a very pleasant time reading his blog: whatever.scalzi.com. And today he has a link to the Nebula Award Nominees for 2011. Here are the Young Adult Nominees, The Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, I am so excited to know about these now! Can't wait to read them all:

Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry)
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
Boy From Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen)
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)
Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

Oh, and these are the nominated adult novels:

Native Star M.K. Hobson (Spectra)
Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Echo, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okarafor (DAW)
Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)

Now, that's a LIST! If you like science fiction and fantasy, add the Hugo Award nominees (the deadline for nominations is March 26, 2011) and you have a season's worth of reading all taken care of.