It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in April 1988.

[1] The book collects pieces that won or were nominated for the Nebula Awards for novella, novelette and short story for the year 1987 and various nonfiction pieces related to the awards, together with an essay by 1987 Grand Master award winner Isaac Asimov, the two Rhysling Award-winning poems for 1986, a couple other pieces, and an introduction by the editor.

Jim Creighton of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reviewing the book along with another Zebrowsky-edited anthology, Paper Synergy no.

2, wrote "The annual collections of Nebula Award winners ... are always great, and this year's edition is made even more notable by the presence of Lucius Shepard's brilliant novella 'R & R.'" He also cited the Bear and Wilhelm pieces as "highly deserving prize winners."

Paper Synergy was found "not as outstanding as the Nebula collection (naturally enough), [though] an all-new and extremely interesting package."