Tomi Adeyemi, Janelle Monáe and Boots Riley among this year’s Nebula Awards nominees

The finalists for the 2018 Nebula Awards, considered some of the most prestigious in science fiction and fantasy, were announced on Wednesday, with novelists Tomi Adeyemi and Justina Ireland, filmmaker Boots Riley and musician Janelle Monáe among the nominees.

Adeyemi and Ireland were nominated in the young adult category, Adeyemi for “Children of Blood and Bone” and Ireland for “Dread Nation.” Both books gained critical acclaim upon their release, and Adeyemi’s book was the inaugural pick for Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” book club.

The two authors are joined in the category by Roshani Chokshi’s “Aru Shah and the End of Time,” A.K. DuBoff’s “A Light in the Dark,” Rachel Hartman’s “Tess of the Road” and Henry Lien’s “Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword.”

Finalists in the novel category included Mary Robinette Kowal’s “The Calculating Stars” and R.F. Kuang’s “The Poppy War.” Also nominated were Sam J. Miller’s “Blackfish City,” Naomi Novik’s “Spinning Silver,” C.L. Polk’s “Witchmark” and Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Trail of Lightning.”

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation category contained a slew of familiar names, including Riley for his film “Sorry to Bother You” and Monáe and Chuck Lightning for Monáe’s album “Dirty Computer.” Megan Amram was nominated for writing the “Jeremy Bearimy” episode of the television show “The Good Place.”

Three films were also nominated in the category: “Black Panther,” written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole; “A Quiet Place,” written by John Krasinski, Bryan Woods and Scott Beck; and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” written by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman.

The Nebula Awards introduced a new category this year: video game writing. Games nominated for the inaugural prize included “BlackMirror: Bandersnatch,” “God of War” and “The Martian Job.”

The Nebula Awards have been given out each year since 1966 by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, a nonprofit professional association based in Connecticut.

Notable books to have won the Nebula include Frank Herbert’s “Dune” (the first novel to win the award), Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness,” William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” and Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods.”

This year’s winners are scheduled to be announced at a May 18 ceremony in Woodland Hills, Calif. A full list of nominees can be found at the SFWA website.