1983 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1983 the Libertarian Futurist Society added the Hall of Fame category to the Prometheus Awards in order to honor works of libertarian science fiction that for the most part predated the entire concept of "libertarian science fiction". The newly created category was, fairly predictably, promptly won by The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, a pretty good book by Robert A. Heinlein and Atlas Shrugged, a pretty lousy book by Ayn Rand. This pair of wins seems to have set the template for the future of the Hall of Fame, which more or less seems to exist in order to allow members of the Libertarian Futurist Society to pay homage to their childhood book crushes.

Best Novel

Winner:

Voyage from Yesteryear by James P. Hogan

Other Nominees:

Fire Dancer by Ann Maxwell

Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Hall of Fame

Winner:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

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1983 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: So, after excising all results but the identity of the winner from the 1982 Campbell Awards, the judges for the 1983 Campbell Awards decided to go back to reporting on who came in second place in the voting. At this point I'm prepared to simply give up trying to figure out why the judges for the Campbell awards do any of the things they do.

Best Novel

Winner:

Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss

Second Place:

No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

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1983 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: A trend in the science fiction and fantasy community is to nominate older, revered authors for awards late in their career. Sometimes, these authors even win late career awards. The problem is, the works that these authors are nominated for are almost never particularly good examples of their work, and some are so bad as to be embarrassing. The win for Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Edge and the nominations for Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two and Robert A. Heinlein's Friday are all excellent examples of this phenomenon. Although Foundation's Edge and 2010: Odyssey Two aren't bad books, they represent a level a mediocrity that is well below the books these two authors produced in their heyday. Heinlein's book Friday, like most of Heinlein's late career output, is more problematic, but like the first two books is simply not as good as Heinlein's better books. To be brutally honest, but for the gravitas lent to them by the names of the authors on their covers, all three of these books would have been regarded as minor league fluff at best. The point here is that none of these books had any business being on the list of nominees for the award, let alone occupying the first three slots in the Best Science Fiction Novel category.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
2.   2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke
3.   Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
4.   The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh
5.   Courtship Rite by Donald M. Kingsbury
6.   Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss
7.   The Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey
8.   Starburst by Frederik Pohl
9.   Merchanter's Luck by C.J. Cherryh
10. Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
11. The Golden Torc by Julian May
12. Hawkmistress! by Marion Zimmer Bradley
13. Roderick by John Sladek
14. No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop
15. Eye of Cat by Roger Zelazny
16. The Descent of Anansi by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
17. Mindkiller by Spider Robinson
18. A Rose for Armageddon by Hilbert Schenck
19. The White Plague by Frank Herbert
20. Coils by Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny
21. Wintermind by Marvin Kaye and Parke Godwin
22. Birthright: The Book of Man by Mike Resnick
23. Aurelia by R.A. Lafferty
24. Light on the Sound by Somtow Sucharitkul
25. Nor Crystal Tears by Alan Dean Foster
26. The Fall of the Shell by Paul O. Williams

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

Other Nominees:
2.   The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe
3.   Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
4.   The One Tree by Stephen R. Donaldson
5.   The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K. Dick
6.   Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony
7.   Tempting Fate by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
8.   Centaur Aisle by Piers Anthony
9.   Juxtaposition by Piers Anthony
10. Oh Susannah! by Kate Wilhelm
11. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
12. Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
13. The Black Beast by Nancy Springer
14. The Swordbearer by Glen Cook
15. In Winter's Shadow by Gillian Bradshaw
16. In Viriconium by M. John Harrison
17. The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot
18. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
19. The Bloodwind by Charles L. Grant

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.   Courtship Rite by Donald M. Kingsbury

Other Nominees:
2.   The Red Magician by Lisa Goldstein
3.   The Windhover Tapes: An Image of Voices by Warren Norwood
4.   Lady of Light by Diana L. Paxson
5.   Dreamrider by Sandra Miesel
6.   The Space Eater by David Langford
7.   God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell
8.   Earthchild by Sharon Webb
9.   The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot
10. Magician by Raymond E. Feist
11. The Kalevide by Lou Goble
12. Sorcerer's Legacy by Janny Wurts
13. A Greater Infinity by Michael McCollum
14. The Shadow Hunter by Pat Murphy

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   Souls by Joanna Russ

Other Nominees:

2.   Unsound Variations by George R.R. Martin

3.   Thesme and the Ghayrog by Robert Silverberg
4.   The Postman by David Brin
5.   Horrible Imaginings by Fritz Leiber
6.   Another Orphan by John Kessel
7.   The Fishing of the Demon Sea by Michael Shea
8.   The Breathing Method by Stephen King
9.   The Devil of Malkirk by Charles Sheffield
10. To Leave a Mark by Kim Stanley Robinson
11. Brainchild by Joseph H. Delaney
12. Rats in the Moon by Pauline Ashwell
13. Beyond Any Measure by Karl Edward Wagner
14. Moon of Ice by Brad Linaweaver
15. The Magi by Damien Broderick

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   Djinn, No Chaser by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
2.   Willow by C.J. Cherryh
3.   Myths of the Near Future by J.G. Ballard
4.   Fire Watch by Connie Willis
5.   High Steel by Jack C. Haldeman II and Jack Dann
6.   Swarm by Bruce Sterling
7.   The Gorgon by Tanith Lee
8.   Pawn's Gambit by Timothy Zahn
9.   Flare Time by Larry Niven
10. Understanding Human Behavior by Thomas M. Disch
11. Nightlife by Phyllis Eisenstein
12. The Pope of the Chimps by Robert Silverberg
13. Aquila by Somtow Sucharitkul
14. The Raft by Stephen King
15. Come Then, Mortal, We Will Seek Her Soul by Michael Shea
16. Farmer on the Dole by Frederik Pohl
17. Burning Chrome by William Gibson
18. The Little Dirty Girl by Joanna Russ
19. Relativistic Effects by Gregory Benford
20. A Private Whale by Brian W. Aldiss
21. Blind Windows by Garry Kilworth

22. Helen, Whose Face Launched Twenty-Eight Conestoga Hovercraft by Leigh Kennedy

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Sur by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:

2.   The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.

3.   Spider Rose by Bruce Sterling
4.   God's Hooks! by Howard Waldrop
5.   Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson
6.   Petra by Greg Bear
7.   A Letter from the Clearys by Connie Willis
8.   Dr. Bhumbo Singh by Avram Davidson
9.   The Scourge by James White
10. The Man Who Met Picasso by Michael Swanwick
11. It Grows On You by Stephen King
12. (tie) The Sorceress in Spite of Herself by Pat Cadigan
      (tie) The Theology of Water by Hilbert Schenck
14. The Horror on the #33 by Michael Shea
15. Blair House by Barry N. Malzberg
16. Ike at the Mike by Howard Waldrop
17. Coexistence by David Brin
18. Gianni by Robert Silverberg
19. Written in Water by Tanith Lee
20. The Garden of the Cognoscenti by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
21. Kitemaster by Keith Roberts
22. Corridors by Barry N. Malzberg
23. The Broken Hoop by Pamela Sargent
24. The Comedian by Timothy R. Sullivan
25. Poems to Play on the Piccolo by George Chesbro
26. The River Styx Flows Upstream by Dan Simmons
27. Meet Me At Apogee by Bill Johnson
28. What in Solemn Silence by Charles L. Grant

Best Single Author Collection
Winner:

1.   The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
2.   Majipoor Chronicles by Robert Silverberg
3.   Stalking the Nightmare by Harlan Ellison
4.   Different Seasons by Stephen King
5.   Dilvish, the Damned by Roger Zelazny
6.   Blooded on Arachne by Michael Bishop
7.   The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov
8.   Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea
9.   The Best of Randall Garrett by Randall Garrett
10. The Man Who Had No Idea by Thomas M. Disch
11. Collected Fantasies of Avram Davidson by Avram Davidson
12. The Best of Beaumont by Charles Beaumont
13. Myths of the Near Future by J.G. Ballard
14. The Robot Who Looked Like Me by Robert Sheckley
15. Erasmus Magister by Charles Sheffield
16. Maurai & Kith by Poul Anderson
17. Worlds of George O. Smith by George O. Smith
18. Soldier Boy by Michael Shaara

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   The Best Science Fiction of the Year #11 edited by Terry Carr

Other Nominees:
2.   Storm Season edited by Robert Lynn Asprin
3.   Perpetual Light edited by Alan Ryan
4.   Universe 12 edited by Terry Carr
5.   Fantasy Annual V edited by Terry Carr

6.   The 1982 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

7.   The Road to Science Fiction #4: From Here to Forever edited by James E. Gunn
8.   Elsewhere, Vol. II edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold
9.   The Eureka Years edited by Annette Peltz McComas
10. Shadows 5 edited by Charles L. Grant
11. Nebula Award Stories Sixteen edited by Jerry Pournelle
12. The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series X edited by Karl Edward Wagner

13. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 8 (1946) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

14. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 7 (1945) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

15. The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: 24^th Edition edited by Edward L. Ferman

16. Yesterday's Tomorrows edited by Frederik Pohl
17. The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 8 edited by Arthur W. Saha
18. The Berkley Showcase Vol. 5 edited by Victoria Schochet and Melissa Singer
19. Amazons II edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   The Engines of the Night by Barry N. Malzberg

Other Nominees:

2.   A Reader's Guide to Fantasy by Baird Searles, Beth Meacham, and Michael Franklin

3.   Fear Itself: The Horror Fiction of Stephen King edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller

4.   Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction by James E. Gunn
5.   The World of the Dark Crystal by J.J. Llewellyn, illustrated by Brian Froud

6.   Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early 19^th Century to the Present Day edited by E.F. Bleiler

7.   Index to the Science Fiction Magazines: 1926-1950, Revised Edition by Donald B. Day

8.   Mirage by Boris Vallejo and Doris Vallejo

9.   Brackett, Bradley, McCaffrey: A Primary & Secondary Bibliography by Rosemarie Arbur

10. The NESFA Index to the Science Fiction Magazines and Original Anthologies: 1981 by NESFA

11. Critical Encounters II: Writers and Themes in Science Fiction edited by Tom Staicar

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Locus

Other Nominees:
2.   Fantasy & Science Fiction
3.   Analog
4.   Asimov's
5.   Science Fiction Review
6.   Omni
7.   Twilight Zone
8.   Amazing Stories
9.   Science Fiction Chronicle
10. Shayol
11. Fantasy Newsletter
12. Whispers
13. Starlog
14. File 770
15. Patchin Review
16. Interzone

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Pocket/Timescape

Other Nominees:
2.   Ballantine/Del Rey
3.   DAW
4.   Ace
5.   Science Fiction Book Club
6.   Berkley
7.   Tor
8.   Underwood-Miller
9.   Doubleday
10. Bantam
11. Donald M. Grant
12. Phantasia
13. Donning/Starblaze
14. Atheneum

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Rowena Morrill
3.   Don Maitz
4.   Boris Vallejo
5.   Val Lakey
6.   Brian Froud
7.   Victoria Poyser
8.   Frank Kelly Freas
9.   Alicia Austin
10. Barclay Shaw
11. Stephen Fabian
12. David Mattingly
13. Vincent Di Fate
14. Darrell Sweet
15. Rick Sternbach
16. George Barr
17. Carl Lundgren
18. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

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1983 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown

Comments: There is a curious dichotomy in the first couple of decades of the Mythopoeic Awards. The Mythopoeic Society usually provided a full slate of nominees in the Fantasy Literature category, ensuring that later observers would be able to compare the winning works against their competition. But in the Scholarship Award category, the Mythopoeic Society only lists the winners. They don't indicate whether this is because there was only one work considered (or in the case of 1971 and 1976, two and three nominees considered respectively), or because they simply refuse to reveal what non-winning works were considered for the award. This creates an odd differentiation where, for example, in this year there were nine total nominees for the Fantasy Literature Award, but only one nominee for the Scholarship Award.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
The Firelings by Carol Kendall

Other Nominees:
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce
The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley
God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell
Lady of Light by Diana L. Paxson
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The One Tree by Stephen R. Donaldson
Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:
Companion to Narnia by Paul F. Ford

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

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1983 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Chicago, Illinois.

Comments: In 1983, the World Fantasy Awards stopped publishing the full slate of candidates nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award, opting instead to merely announce that Roald Dahl had won. I'm not sure why the World Fantasy Awards made the decision to do this, but it is one of the few times I have seen an Award decide to give out less information about their process. There doesn't seem to have been any scandal or embarrassing result that would have prompted this choice. It just seems that the organizers of the World Fantasy Convention simply decided that they wouldn't bother telling anyone who else they had considered for a Lifetime Achievement Award any more.

Other than this change in reporting, the World Fantasy Awards seem to have been about what one might expect. The people you would expect to be nominated were nominated. The people you would expect to win did win. And women were mostly ignored. For the most part, it was business as usual for the World Fantasy Awards.

Best Novel

Winner:
Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea

Other Nominees:
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
The Nestling by Charles L. Grant
Phantom by by Thomas Tessier
The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

Best Novella

Winner:
(tie) Beyond Any Measure by Karl Edward Wagner
(tie) Confess the Seasons by Charles L. Grant

Other Nominees:
The Breathing Method by Stephen King
Horrible Imaginings by Fritz Leiber
Night's Swift Dragons by Charles L. Grant

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
The Gorgon by Tanith Lee

Other Nominees:
Deathtracks by Dennis Etchison
Firestorm by Steve Rasnic Tem
The Man Who Met Picasso by Michael Swanwick
Petra by Greg Bear

Best Anthology or Collection

Winner:
Nightmare Seasons edited by Charles L. Grant

Other Nominees:
The Dark Country by Dennis Etchison
Different Seasons by Stephen King
Hecate's Cauldron edited by Susan M. Shwartz
Perpetual Light edited by Alan Ryan
Shadows 5 edited by Charles L. Grant

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Roald Dahl

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
Jill Bauman
Tom Canty
R.J. Krupowicz
Don Maitz

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Donald M. Grant

Other Nominees:
Lester del Rey
David G. Hartwell
Pat LoBrutto
Douglas E. Winter

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Stuart David Schiff

Other Nominees:
Francesco Cova
W. Paul Ganley
Robert T. Garcia
Stephen Jones and David Sutton
Ken Keller

Special Convention Award

Winner:
Arkham House

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

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1983 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: ConStellation in Baltimore, Maryland.

Comments: 1983 was one of the few times that members of the "Big Three" of Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein went head to head in the Hugo Awards, and as far as I know, it was the only time all three were competing against each other in the same category. Sadly, all three were nominated for work that was clearly not up to their best standards, and realistically none of them should have won. In the end, Asimov took home the rocket statue for the decidedly mediocre Foundation's Edge. Asimov's win in the Best Novel category was possibly partially driven by the win for James Gunn's win in the Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work category for his biography of Asimov, Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction.

Jim Henson returned to the Hugo nominating ballot in 1983, this time for the fantasy film The Dark Crystal, which was represented twice in the nominations: once for the film itself in the Best Dramatic Presentation category, and also in the Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work category for the book The World of the Dark Crystal by J.J. Llewellyn. It didn't win in either category, losing to James Gunn's aforementioned biography of Isaac Asimov in the Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work category, and losing the Dramatic Presentation award to the Philip K. Dick inspired movie Blade Runner. 1983 also marks the second time a Star Trek feature length movie had been nominated for a Hugo award, but had lost.

Best Novel

Winner:
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke
Courtship Rite by Donald M. Kingsbury
Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh
The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe

Best Novella

Winner:

Souls by Joanna Russ

Other Nominees:
Another Orphan by John Kessel
Brainchild by Joseph H. Delaney
The Postman by David Brin
To Leave a Mark by Kim Stanley Robinson
Unsound Variations by George R.R. Martin

Best Novelette

Winner:

Fire Watch by Connie Willis

Other Nominees:
Aquila by Somtow Sucharitkul
Nightlife by Phyllis Eisenstein
Pawn's Gambit by Timothy Zahn
Swarm by Bruce Sterling

Best Short Story

Winner:

Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson

Other Nominees:
The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.
Ike at the Mike by Howard Waldrop
Spider Rose by Bruce Sterling
Sur by Ursula K. Le Guin

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:

Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction by James E. Gunn

Other Nominees:
The Engines of the Night by Barry N. Malzberg

Fear Itself: The Horror Fiction of Stephen King edited by Tim Underwood and Chuck Miller

A Reader's Guide to Fantasy by Baird Searles, Beth Meacham, and Michael Franklin
The World of the Dark Crystal by J.J. Llewellyn, illustrated by Brian Froud

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Blade Runner

Other Nominees:
The Dark Crystal
E.T. The Extraterrestrial
The Road Warrior
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Edward L. Ferman

Other Nominees:
Terry Carr
David G. Hartwell
Stanley Schmidt
George Scithers

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
Frank Kelly Freas
Don Maitz
Rowena Morrill
Barclay Shaw
Darrell Sweet

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Locus edited by Charles N. Brown

Other Nominees:
Fantasy Newsletter edited by Robert A. Collins
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew Porter
Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Richard E. Geis

Other Nominees:
Mike Glyer
Arthur Hlavaty
Dave Langford

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Alexis Gilliland

Other Nominees:
Joan Hanke-Woods
William Rotsler
Stu Shiffman
Dan Steffan

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Paul O. Williams

Other Nominees:
Joseph H. Delaney
Lisa Goldstein
Sandra Miesel
Warren G. Norwood
David R. Palmer

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

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1983 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Statler Hilton, New York City, New York.

Comments: With two Nebula wins in this year, one for Best Short Story and one for Best Novelette, this was definitely Connie Willis' award ceremony. On the other hand, it was clear that there had been a changing of the guard underway, as both Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein were nominated for Nebulas, but neither won.

Despite Connie's double win, gender inequity still seems to have been ascendant in the world of science fiction, as out of the entire field of nominees, only one other woman, Joanna Russ, received any recognition. Granted, that was more nominations for Willis and Russ each than for any individual man, but that means that out of twenty-three total nominations on the final ballot, only four went to works written by women.

Best Novel

Winner:
No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop

Other Nominees:
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss
The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by Philip K. Dick

Best Novella

Winner:

Another Orphan by John Kessel

Other Nominees:
Horrible Imaginings by Fritz Leiber
Moon of Ice by Brad Linaweaver
Souls by Joanna Russ
Unsound Variations by George R.R. Martin

Best Novelette

Winner:

Fire Watch by Connie Willis

Other Nominees:
Burning Chrome by William Gibson
The Mystery of the Young Gentleman by Joanna Russ
Myths of the Near Future by J.G. Ballard
Swarm by Bruce Sterling
Understanding Human Behavior by Thomas M. Disch

Best Short Story

Winner:
A Letter from the Clearys by Connie Willis

Other Nominees:
Corridors by Barry N. Malzberg
God's Hooks! by Howard Waldrop
High Steel by Jack C. Haldeman II and Jack Dann
Petra by Greg Bear
The Pope of the Chimps by Robert Silverberg

Go to previous year's nominees: 1982
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1984

Book Award Reviews     Home