Did Frank Zappa really say this? Or is it one of those fake quotes, like the many attributed to Mark Twain? Apparently F.Z. really did say it. And how appropriate it is to today’s post.

This is the last post in my series about the 2026 Nebula Awards finalists. I reviewed all seven of the 2026 Nebula Awards short-listed works in the Best Novel category. On June 6, at its 61st annual conference in Chicago, the Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) will announce the winner. I also wrote a bit about some of the works nominated in other categories. To see the complete list, go HERE.

In my first post of the series, I said something silly about how I didn’t envy the judges–the finalists were all really great. If you know anything about the Nebula Awards, you’ll know they aren’t selected (like the Philip K. Dick awards) by a panel of judges at all. The decisions about the winners are the result of a careful voting process. Read about it HERE. Just the same, my general point holds up. The novels in the short-list for the Best Novel Award are all worthy of the honor.

I’m a coward and I won’t pick one.

Again:

The short-listed books for the 2026 Nebula Award for Best Novel

When We Were Real, by Daryl Gregory (Saga)–see my review HERE

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)—see my review HERE

Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)–see my review HERE

Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)–see my review HERE

The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)–see my review HERE

Sour Cherry, by Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House; Wildfire)–see my review HERE

Wearing the Lion, by John Wiswell (Daw, Arcadia)–see my review HERE

I have no idea which novel will win. I have no idea how I would have voted if I had been a voting member of the SFWA. Because I love dark academia, I might have voted for one of the three novels on the list that go in that direction, one of them tangential and uncomfortably realistic (I want to call that author and tell her I HAVE BEEN THERE with the weaponized evaluations), the other two pure fantasy and all-in.

But what about the book that is a wake-up call for a long-ignored genocide, plus serves up all the gore and creepiness we could desire in a vampire novel, plus introduces us to some adorable animals? What about the book that deliciously mines Greek mythology? What about the book that takes fascinating stylistic risks with a fairytale retelling? What about the road-trippy book that visits the dark doings of the AI bogeyman and makes us laugh all the way down the highway?

An embarrassment of riches. Read them all. That’s my advice.

Now, as I wait for the Nebula announcement, I’ll start reading and reviewing the Hugo Awards nominees. After that, the nominees for the World Fantasy Awards.