1977 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: One interesting thing about looking back at genre fiction awards is that you can see how some winners and nominees have aged well, and how others have not. For the field of 1977 Campbell Award nominees, the enduring appeal of the work seems to have an inverse relationship to its finishing order. Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang remains a well-regarded landmark in science fiction, Frederik Pohl's Man Plus is still somewhat notable and read on occasion, and Kingley Amis' The Alteration languishes in relative obscurity. This is not a comment on the quality of the novels, just how well they have endured in the eyes of fans.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Alteration by Kingsley Amis

Second Place:

Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

Third Place:
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
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1977 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: 1977 seems to have been the year for Best of collections. This year saw the publication of The Best of John W. Campbell, The Best of Damon Knight, The Best of Frederic Brown, The Best of Poul Anderson, The Best of Robert Silverberg, The Best of C.M. Kornbluth, and The Best of Jack Vance. If you were a science fiction fan in 1977 and wanted to peruse the best short fiction produced by any of these authors, this was your year to celebrate.

The other notable developments in the 1977 Locus Awards is the elimination of the Best Associational Item category, and the merger of Best Hardback Publisher and Best Paperback Publisher into the single category of Best Publisher. The Associational Item category had appeared for the first time in 1976, and there is no indication why the category was dropped. It seems to me to be almost inexplicable that such a category would be eliminated when it seems clear that many books that fit into it were being published, but it would return in 1979. The merger of the two publisher categories, on the other hand, was a good idea. The distinction between "Best Paperback Publisher" and "Best Hardback Publisher" is one that I am certain is important in industry circles, but is probably almost irrelevant to the concerns of the bulk of the Locus voters.

Best Novel
Winner:
1.   Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Other Nominees:
2.   Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman
3.   Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
4.   Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
5.   A World Out of Time by Larry Niven
6.   Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg
7.   Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
8.   Millennium by Ben Bova
9.   The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny
10. Brothers of Earth by C.J. Cherryh
11. The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley
12. Maske: Thaery by Jack Vance
13. Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
14. Triton by Samuel R. Delany
15. The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm
16. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
17. Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
18. The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson
19. Cloned Lives by Pamela Sargent
20. The End of All Songs by Michael Moorcock
21. Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland
22. Time of the Fourth Horseman by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Samurai and the Willows by Michael Bishop

Other Nominees:

2.   Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper

3.   Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.
4.   The Anvil of Jove by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund
5.   The Eyeflash Miracles by Gene Wolfe
6.   Weather War by William E. Cochrane
7.   Media Man by Joan D. Vinge
8.   Birthdays by Fred Saberhagen
9.   By Any Other Name by Spider Robinson
10. The Greenhouse Effect by andrew j. offutt
11. A Thrust of Greatness by Stanley Schmidt
12. Plutonium by Arsen Darnay
13. The Crystal Ship by Joan D. Vinge

Best Novelette
Winner:

1.   The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
2.   The Diary of the Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin
3.   Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance by John Varley
4.   The Phantom of Kansas by John Varley
5.   The Hertford Manuscript by Richard Cowper
6.   The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats by James Tiptree, Jr.
7.   Custer's Last Jump by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
8.   Meathouse Man by George R.R. Martin
9.   Bagatelle by John Varley
10. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank by John Varley
11. Woman Waiting by Lisa Tuttle

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Tricentennial by Joe Haldeman

Other Nominees:

2.   I See You by Damon Knight (reviewed in TV: 2000)

3.   Custom Fitting by James White
4.   The Death of Princes by Fritz Leiber
5.   A Crowd of Shadows by Charles L. Grant
6.   Seeing by Harlan Ellison
7.   Paradise Beach by Richard Cowper
8.   This Tower of Ashes by George R.R. Martin
9.   Mary Margaret Road-Grader by Howard Waldrop
10. Appearance of Life by Brian W. Aldiss
11. From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet by Harlan Ellison
12. The Never Ending Western Movie by Robert Sheckley
13. Stone Circle by Lisa Tuttle
14. An Infinite Summer by Christopher Priest
15. Con Artist by P.J. Plauger

Best Author Collection
Winner:
1.   A Song for Lya and Other Stories by George R.R. Martin

Other Nominees:
2.   Star Light, Star Bright by Alfred Bester
3.   The Worlds of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber
4.   The Light Fantastic by Alfred Bester
5.   The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
6.   The Best of Damon Knight by Damon Knight
7.   The Best of Robert Silverberg by Robert Silverberg
8.   The Best of Jack Vance by Jack Vance
9.   Alyx by Joanna Russ
10. Capricorn Games by Robert Silverberg
11. The Best of C.M. Kornbluth by Cyril M. Kornbluth, edited by Frederik Pohl
12. The Best of John W. Campbell by John W. Campbell, Jr., edited by Lester del Rey
13. The Best of Poul Anderson by Poul Anderson
14. The Best of Fredric Brown by Fredric Brown, edited by Robert Bloch
15. The Custodians and Other Stories by Richard Cowper

Best Anthology
Winner:
1.   The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 edited by Terry Carr

Other Nominees:
2.   Stellar #2 edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey
3.   Future Power edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
4.   Universe 6 edited by Terry Carr
5.   Orbit 18 edited by Damon Knight
6.   New Dimensions 6 edited by Robert Silverberg

7.   The 1976 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

8.   The Crystal Ship edited by Robert Silverberg
9.   Science Fiction Discoveries edited by Carol Pohl and Frederik Pohl
10. Nebula Award Stories 11 edited by Ursula K. Le Guin
11. Frights edited by Kirby McCauley
12. Andromeda 1 edited by Peter Weston
13. More Women of Wonder edited by Pamela Sargent
14. Aurora: Beyond Equality edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and Susan Anderson
15. Analog Annual edited by Ben Bova
16. Bio-futures edited by Pamela Sargent

Best Magazine
Winner:
1. Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Edward L. Ferman

Other Nominees:
2. Analog edited by Ben Bova
3. Galaxy edited by James Baen
4. Amazing Stories edited by Ted White
5. Fantastic edited by Ted White
6. Universe edited by Terry Carr
7. Galileo edited by Charles G. Ryan
8. Orbit edited by Damon Knight
9. New Dimensions edited by Robert Silverberg

Best Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown

Other Nominees:
2.   Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis
3.   Algol edited by Andrew Porter
4.   Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers
5.   Delap's F&SF Review edited by Richard Delap
6.   SF Commentary edited by Bruce Gillespie
7.   Whispers edited by Stuart David Schiff
8.   Mythologies edited by Don D'Ammassa
9.   Don-O-Saur edited by Don Thompson
10. Scintillation edited by Carl Bennett
11. Rune edited by Fred Haskell
12. Karass edited by Linda Bushyater
13. Maya edited by Rob Jackson

Best Critic
Winner:
1.   Spider Robinson

Other Nominees:
2.   Lester del Rey
3.   Algis Budrys
4.   Richard E. Geis
5.   Richard Lupoff
6.   Charles N. Brown
7.   Baird Searles
8.   Richard Delap
9.   Joanna Russ
10. Susan Wood
11. Fred Patten
12. Darrell Schweitzer

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Ballantine

Other Nominees:
2.   DAW
3.   Science Fiction Book Club
4.   Doubleday
5.   Ace
6.   Berkley/Putnam
7.   Harper & Row
8.   Pocket
9.   Bantam
10. St. Martin's
11. Pyramid
12. Avon

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Rick Sternbach

Other Nominees:
2.   Steve Fabian
3.   Frank Kelly Freas
4.   Vincent Di Fate
5.   George Barr
6.   Tim Kirk
7.   Frank Frazetta
8.   Jack Gaughan
9.   John Schoenherr
10. Boris Vallejo
11. Michael Whelan
12. Darrell Sweet
13. Mike Hinge
14. Richard Corben
15. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
16. The Brothers Hildebrandt
17. Jeff Jones

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1978

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