Nebulas noms announced: my initial reactions

First, congratulations to everyone on the ballot. In particular, my best wishes go out to davidlevine, kijjohnson and Joe Haldeman; I'll be rooting for you from the sidelines, where we associate members sit with popcorn.

I'm mostly pleased by the script choices, but have notes to make about two of them. That category will be a tough one to choose from and I suspect it won't be without controversy this year.

I'm disappointed that the Doctor Who two-parter "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" isn't in there. I know that everyone is falling over themselves about "Blink," but I'm more partial to the former. Still, "Blink" deserves a nod, and if Doctor Who is going to be represented, that's not a bad choice at all. But, well, I pout on behalf of my preferred favorite. Maybe we'll see it on the Hugo ballot; more room there.

Now to the head-scratcher: "World Enough and Time" - Marc Scott Zicree and Michael Reaves (Star Trek: New Voyages). Isn't New Voyages a fan film endeavor? Isn't this akin to putting fanfic on the ballot, regardless of the fact that it was written by professionals? Did Zicree and Reeves get paid for this project? This strikes me as just ... weird. It seems like an endorsement by a professional organization that writing fanfic (a copyright violation) is okay. I'm sure the writing is first rate (I haven't seen the film in question so I'm taking it on faith), but I admit that I'm confused by this. The part of me that has faith in SFWA as an organization has to believe that there's information I don't have that qualifies this film for the ballot. But the part of me that has watched SFWA flounder the last couple of years has serious doubts about who was and wasn't paying attention when this choice was made. And I'm left here on the couch with my popcorn, unable to do much but watch things as they unfold. This should be interesting.

Edit: I did a little research on the SFWA Web site. It looks like this issue of the New Voyages is a little squishy, since the Nebula rules language says that dramatic scripts must be professionally produced but doesn't define what qualifies as professional production, though I would infer that the definition of professional is what the organization uses to qualify its membership. Interestingly, the qualifying rules don't discuss what qualifies a professional script as a membership qualification or if script-writing qualifies for membership. Maybe an update is in order.

The award rules also say "The SFWA® President shall appoint, and the NAR editor administer three Nebula juries, each consisting of at least three (3) and not more than seven (7) members. In the case of the Dramatic Script Nebula Jury, at least two members of that Jury shall have had at least one script professionally produced.... The Script Jury shall have the option of adding one work to the Script category. The Script Jury shall also be charged with ensuring, to the best of its ability, that the Nebula for best script is presented to the primary writer or writers of an actual script. Accordingly, the Jury shall be responsible for requesting a copy of the production script for each script on the Preliminary Ballot, and reviewing the attribution on those scripts, to ensure that the Award shall accurately reflect the true authorship of the Work. The Jury may disqualify productions where authorship is unclear or in doubt, or the accredited authorship consists of more than four individuals, with no primary author. Such disqualified productions will not appear on the Final Ballot." I wonder if the New Voyages entry was a special choice. Curiouser and curiouser.

More on the curious Nebula nomination

So I went back to the SFWA community and asked about the nomination of the New Voyages episode. Here are the responses I got.

From current president michaelcapo:

The eligibility of "Worlds Enough and Time" is under review by the
SFWA Awards Rules Committee.

Professional media-related fiction is and has always been a valid
SFWA membership credential.

Appearance on the Nebula ballot does not constitute an endorsement
by SFWA. Ed. note: (This was in response to my suggestion that,
taken to its most absurd extreme, the nomination could be perceived
as endorsing fan fiction, thereby endorsing copyright violation.)

As the rules are presently written, fan fiction is not disqualified
from Nebula consideration.

From former SFWA president Robin Wayne Bailey:

Professionally published media tie-in work, such as Star Trek novels,
Star Wars novels, Spider-Man novels, or game novels, are acceptable
for membership qualification. We've always accepted legitimate media tie-in work.

Why doesn't it turn up on the Nebula ballot? That's a question you'd have
to ask each SFWA member, I guess. There's no rule against it.

From this I can only infer that the New Voyages nomination was an oversight. It seems remarkable to me that due diligence wasn't done to ensure a work's actual eligibility. It also makes me wonder if the rules for eligibility won't be more clearly and strictly defined at some point in the next year. Should be interesting.

Edit: See kradical's post here. Apparently SFWA is ruling the production a professional one. I find this...interesting.