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

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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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1977 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Los Angeles, California.

Comments: One way that a new award can build up credibility quickly is by handing awards to established artists, and hoping that some of their gravitas will adhere to the award itself. And the World Fantasy Award seems to have been constructed at least in part to try to accomplish this via the inclusion of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which gave the judges the opportunity to honor some prominent writers right off the bat. This year the award went to Ray Bradbury, who followed Fritz Lieber winning it in 1976, and Robert Bloch in 1975. And as a result, the World Fantasy Award was able to claim these titanic figures as its own from the award's very earliest years.

What the World Fantasy Awards really couldn't claim at this point in time was women authors. Despite Patricia McKillip winning the first World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for her book The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, the awards had otherwise completely ignored the female half of the human race. Through 1975, 1976, and 1977, the only other female nominee for a World Fantasy Award was Shelley Torgeson, who was nominated (and won) this year for the Special Award, Professional, but she had to share that award with her husband Roy. And there really is no excuse for ignoring the contributions of female authors in 1977, as they had produced many significant works of fantasy fiction in the year, such as Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire, Susan Cooper's Silver on the Tree, and Andre Norton's Trey of Swords. There was simply no justification for overlooking women this way, and the fact that the World Fantasy Awards did so is a travesty.

Best Novel

Winner:
Doctor Rat by William Kotzwinkle

Other Nominees:
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck
Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner
The Doll Who Ate His Mother by Ramsey Campbell
The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding by Russell Kirk

Other Nominees:
The Companion by Ramsey Campbell
Dark Wings by Fritz Leiber
It Only Comes Out at Night by Dennis Etchison
Two Suns Setting by Karl Edward Wagner
What Is Life? by Robert Sheckley

Best Anthology or Collection

Winner:
Frights edited by Kirby McCauley

Other Nominees:
Cinnabar by Edward Bryant
Flashing Swords #3: Warriors and Wizards edited by Lin Carter
The Height of the Scream by Ramsey Campbell
Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury
Superhorror edited by Ramsey Campbell

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Ray Bradbury

Other Nominees:
Jorge Luis Borges
L. Sprague de Camp
Frank Belknap Long
H. Warner Munn
E. Hoffmann Price
Manly Wade Wellman

Best Artist

Winner:
Roger Dean

Other Nominees:
George Barr
Steve Fabian
Tim Kirk
Michael Whelan

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Shelley Torgeson and Roy Torgeson

Other Nominees:
Arkham House
Ballantine Books
DAW
Edward L. Ferman

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Stuart David Schiff

Other Nominees:
Jonathan Bacon
Arnie Fenner
Nils Hardin
Gary Hoppenstand
Harry O. Morris, Jr.

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
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1977 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: SunCon in Miami Beach, Florida.

Comments: The most notable fact about Kate Wilhelm's Best Hugo award for her novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is not just that she won, but that she beat out old stalwarts like Frank Herbert, Frederik Pohl, and Robert Silverberg while doing so. In the eight years since Anne McCaffrey became the first woman to win a Hugo Award, the boys club of science fiction has made some progress including women. It isn't huge progress, but it is a decent start.

Once again, while the writing awards were on the whole unsurprising, and each award went to deserving winners, the Best Dramatic Presentation Award provided this year with its, for lack of a better word, drama. For the fourth time the award went to "No Winner", which seems like something of a shock after the modest quality of the winners over the previous couple of years. Surely if movies like A Boy and His Dog and Sleeper could garner a victory in this category, either Logan's Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth, or even Carrie was worthy of a Hugo statute. This was also the last year before the sea change in science fiction film making that took place when Star Wars was released, and it would have been nice to have one final "classic" style science fiction film win a Hugo.

Best Novel

Winner:
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Other Finalists:
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman
Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:

(tie) By Any Other Name by Spider Robinson

(tie) Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.

Other Finalists:
Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper
The Samurai and the Willows by Michael Bishop

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Other Finalists:
The Diary of the Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin
Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance by John Varley
The Phantom of Kansas by John Varley

Best Short Story

Winner:

Tricentennial by Joe Haldeman

Other Finalists:
A Crowd of Shadows by Charles L. Grant
Custom Fitting by James White
I See You by Damon Knight (reviewed in TV: 2000)

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
No Winner

Other Finalists:
Carrie
Futureworld
Logan's Run
The Man Who Fell to Earth

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Ben Bova

Other Finalists:
Jim Baen
Terry Carr
Edward L. Ferman
Ted White

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Rick Sternbach

Other Finalists:
George Barr
Vincent Di Fate
Steve Fabian

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Other Finalists:
Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown
Mythologies edited by Don D'Ammassa
Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers
The Spanish Inquisition edited by Suzanne Tompkins and Jerry Kaufman

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

(tie) Richard E. Geis

(tie) Susan Wood

Other Finalists:
Don D'Ammassa
Mike Glicksohn
Don C. Thompson

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Phil Foglio

Other Finalists:
Grant Canfield
Tim Kirk
Bill Rotsler
Jim Shull

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
C.J. Cherryh

Other Finalists:
Jack L. Chalker
M.A. Foster
Carter Scholz

What Are the Hugo Awards?

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1977 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: New York City, New York.

Comments: The 1977 Nebula Awards turned out to be a mostly negative affair. The most obvious negative took place in the Dramatic Presentation category, where "No Award" won out over Logan's Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Harlan Ellison's recording of himself reading some of his works. For "No Award" to win out even over Harlan Ellison is a major upset, and an indication that something was definitely awry in the voting this year.

The second negative event associated with this year's Nebula Awards took place in the Best Novelette category when Ursula K. Le Guin withdrew The Diary of the Rose from consideration to protest the withdrawal of an offer of membership that the SFWA had made to Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem. Apparently some SFWA members had earlier protested the offer, on the grounds that Lem had been highly critical of American science fiction authors, and Le Guin was dismayed that mere personal animosity would be given that sort of power. I tend to agree with Le Guin. Lem may have been a curmudgeon who thought that American science fiction was juvenile and jingoistic, but that's no reason not to offer a science fiction writer with his clearly undeniable talent membership in your science fiction writers' organization.

Best Novel

Winner:
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Islands by Marta Randall
Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg
Triton by Samuel R. Delany
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Best Novella

Winner:

Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.

Other Nominees:
The Eyeflash Miracles by Gene Wolfe
Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper
The Samurai and the Willows by Michael Bishop

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
Custer's Last Jump by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
His Hour Upon the Stage by Grant Carrington
In the Bowl by John Varley
The Diary of the Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin [nomination withdrawn]

Best Short Story

Winner:
A Crowd of Shadows by Charles L. Grant

Other Nominees:
Back to the Stone Age by Jake Saunders
Breath's a Ware That Will Not Keep by Thomas F. Monteleone
Mary Margaret Road-Grader by Howard Waldrop
Stone Circle by Lisa Tuttle
Tricentennial by Joe Haldeman

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:

No Award

Other Nominees:

Harlan! Harlan Ellison Reads Harlan Ellison (recording) by Harlan Ellison

Logan's Run screenplay by David Zelag Goodman; based on the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson

The Man Who Fell to Earth screenplay by Paul Mayersberg; based on the novel by Walter Tevis

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

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