Comments: In 1975 Ursula K. Le Guin won the Hugo Award for Best Novel with one of my favorite science fiction novels, The Dispossessed. George R.R. Martin won his first Hugo for A Song for Lya, and Ellison added yet another trophy to his collection with Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W. Robert Silverberg took just enough time off from his editing duties to garner two Hugo nominations, and Larry Niven won a Hugo and was nominated for another with The Mote in God's Eye coauthored with Jerry Pournelle. None of these developments were particularly surprising.
The list of nominees for the Best Dramatic Presentation Award, however, was embarrassingly awful. The winner was Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks' send up of classic monster movies, which was a decent movie, and not a particularly awful winning entry. The other nominees, however, made this year's slate a truly awful field of candidates: Zardoz, which features Sean Connery in a diaper and an incomprehensible plot, Phantom of the Paradise, an indifferent and forgettable musical, and Flesh Gordon, a soft core porn parody of the Flash Gordon movie serials. The only worthwhile competitor for Young Frankenstein was the made for television movie The Questor Tapes, and that's setting the bar pretty low for a Hugo ballot.
Best Novel
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Other Nominees:
Fire Time by Poul Anderson
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
The Inverted World by Christopher Priest
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Best Novella
A Song for Lya by George R.R. Martin (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2)
Other Nominees:
Assault on a City by Jack Vance
Born with the Dead by Robert Silverberg
Riding the Torch by Norman Spinrad
Strangers by Gardner Dozois
Best Novelette
Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W by Harlan Ellison (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2)
Other Nominees:
After the Dreamtime by Richard Lupoff
A Brother to Dragons, a Companion of Owls by Kate Wilhelm
Extreme Prejudice by Jerry Pournelle
Midnight by the Morphy Watch by Fritz Leiber
Nix Olympica by William Walling
-That Thou Art Mindful of Him! by Isaac Asimov
Best Short Story
The Hole Man by Larry Niven (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2)
Other Nominees:
Cathadonian Odyssey by Michael Bishop
The Day Before the Revolution by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Four-Hour Fugue by Alfred Bester
Schwartz Between the Galaxies by Robert Silverberg
Best Dramatic Presentation
Young Frankenstein
Other Nominees:
Flesh Gordon
Phantom of the Paradise
The Questor Tapes (television movie)
Zardoz
Best Professional Editor
Ben Bova
Other Nominees:
Jim Baen
Terry Carr
Edward L. Ferman
Robert Silverberg
Ted White
Best Professional Artist
Frank Kelly Freas
Other Nominees:
Steve Fabian
Tim Kirk
John Schoenherr
Rick Sternbach
Best Fanzine
The Alien Critic edited by Richard E. Geis
Other Nominees:
Algol edited by Andrew Porter
Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown
Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers and Joan Bowers
SF Commentary edited by Bruce Gillespie
Starling edited by Hank Luttrell and Lesleigh Luttrell
Best Fan Writer
Richard E. Geis
Other Nominees:
John Bangsund
Sandra Miesel
Don C. Thompson
Susan Wood
Best Fan Artist
Bill Rotsler
Other Nominees:
George Barr
Grant Canfield
Jim Shull
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
P.J. Plauger
Other Nominees:
Alan Brennert
Suzy McKee Charnas
Felix C. Gotschalk
Brenda Pearce
John Varley
What Are the Hugo Awards?
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Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1976
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