2025 Awards
The Nebula Award Winners 2025
Best Novel
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
John Wiswell
Genres:
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romantic Monster Fiction
Synopsis:
A lonely shapeshifter yearning for connection meets a woman who sees past its monstrous nature. What follows is a tender, strange love story about making a home in unexpected places.
Why we think it won:
Wiswell flips the script on horror tropes with compassion and wit. It’s cozy, creepy, and emotionally rich—an instant genre classic.
Best Novella
The Dragonfly Gambit
A.D Sui
Genres:
Spy Fiction, Sci-Fi, Identity Drama
Synopsis:
A double agent must maintain their cover while grappling with
fragmented identities and competing loyalties in a far-future world.
Why we think it won:
A tense, cerebral take on espionage in speculative settings, elevated by lyrical prose and emotional clarity.
Best Novelette
Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being
A.W Prihandita
Genres:
Metafiction, Sci-Fi Philosophy, Academic Satire
Synopsis:
A surreal narrative that blurs the line between academic critique and metaphysical revelation.
Why we think it won:
Bold, heady, and strangely hilarious—it pushes the boundaries of how stories about knowledge and power are told.
Best Short Story
Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole
Isabel J. Kim
Genres:
Satirical Dystopia, Moral Philosophy, Weird Fiction
Synopsis:
A darkly funny answer to Le Guin’s classic question, filtered through
biting wit and modern despair.
Why we think it won:
It’s unforgettable. Brutally clever, emotionally sharp, and totally unafraid to upset the status quo.
Best Game Writing
Writing The Cozy Mystery
Stewart C. Baker et al.
Genres:
Interactive Fiction, Cosmic Horror, Sci-Fi Mystery
Synopsis:
A branching-paths game of existential dread aboard a derelict
spaceship.
Why we think it won:
It’s immersive and narratively ambitious, proving that interactive storytelling deserves its place among the literary elite.