1986 World Fantasy Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Providence, Rhode Island.

Comments: In 1986, Anne Rice made the first of her many appearances on the nominee list with The Vampire Lestat. This marked a distinct development in the world of fantasy, as romance oriented vampire fiction emerged as a dominant form in the field. Eventually, other traditional fantasy creatures such as werewolves and witches joined this style of fiction, resulting in the format now known as Paranormal Romance. But in 1986, this was all in the future and all that there was of this was the embryonic seeds.

In contrast, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Avram Davidson, a distinguished member of the "old guard" of fantasy fiction. In many ways, the nomination of Anne Rice and the win for Avram Davidson represent the transition the fantasy field was going through in the 1980s, as the older, male dominated vision of the genre was slowly giving way to a new, more female-friendly one.

Best Novel

Winner:
Song of Kali by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
The Damnation Game by Clive Barker
The Dream Years by Lisa Goldstein
Illywhacker by Peter Carey
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Winterking by Paul Hazel

Best Novella

Winner:
Nadelman's God by T.E.D. Klein

Other Nominees:
Dead Image by David Morrell
Do I Dare to Eat a Peach? by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Flight by Peter Dickinson
The Gorgon Field by Kate Wilhelm

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
Paper Dragons by James P. Blaylock

Other Nominees:
The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
Return of the Dust Vampires by Sharon N. Farber
The Slovo Stove by Avram Davidson

Best Anthology or Collection

Winner:
Imaginary Lands edited by Robin McKinley

Other Nominees:
Black Venus by Angela Carter
Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Volumes IV-VI by Clive Barker
Dragonfield and Other Stories by Jane Yolen
Faery! edited by Terri Windling
Night Visions 2 edited by Charles L. Grant
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
Whispers V edited by Stuart David Schiff

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Avram Davidson

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
(tie) Thomas Canty
(tie) Jeff Jones

Other Nominees:
Alan Lee
J.K. Potter

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Pat LoBrutto

Other Nominees:
Thomas Canty and Phil Hale
Donald M. Grant
Terri Windling

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Douglas E. Winter

Other Nominees:
Jeff Conner
W. Paul Ganley
Paul Mikol and Scot Stadalsky
David B. Silva

Special Convention Award

Winner:
Donald A. Wollheim

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home

1986 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1986, for the first time, the Mythopoeic Award for Scholarship in Inklings Studies reported a full slate of nominees to the public, and not merely the winning entry. This was the first time this had happened, and the last time it would happen until the early 1990s, as the Mythopoeic Society seems to have recovered from whatever malady made them think that observers appreciated additional information about the process that led to particular works winning their awards. The recovery was short-lived, however, and when the Mythopoeic Awards were completely overhauled in 1991, the non-winning nominees would be listed for all categories.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

Other Nominees:
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
Dark of the Moon by P.C. Hodgell
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
The Wandering Unicorn by Manuel Mujica Lainez

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:

Charles Williams, Poet of Theology by Glen Cavaliero

Other Nominees:
The Fantasts by Edmund Little
J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion by Richard Purtill
The Novels of Charles Williams by Thomas Howard
Splintered Light by Verlyn Flieger

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home

1986 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: With wins in the Best Novelette, Best Short Story, and Best Anthology categories and another nomination in the Best Nonfiction, Reference, or Related Work category, there can be no doubt but that Harlan Ellison had a great year in the Locus Awards. Given Ellison's track record, this sort of year is not at all surprising, or even unexpected.

The other interesting thing about the 1986 Locus Awards is that David Brin's The Postman beat out Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game for Best Science Fiction Novel. Given the novel's respective reputations, one would expect the results to have been reversed. This is not to say that Brin's post-apocalyptic story is not a worthy winner - I actually like it more than Card's book - but with the adulation that has been heaped upon Ender's Game, one might think that nothing could possibly beat it in a reader poll. I'm glad that Brin got the recognition over Card, partially because I think The Postman is a better book, and partially because I think Brin is a better human being.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   The Postman by David Brin

Other Nominees:
2.   Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
3.   Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
4.   Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov
5.   Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss
6.   The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein
7.   Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers
8.   Brightness Falls from the Air by James Tiptree, Jr.
9.   Cuckoo's Egg by C.J. Cherryh
10. Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
11. Blood Music by Greg Bear
12. Eon by Greg Bear
13. The Proteus Operation by James P. Hogan
14. The Kif Strike Back by C.J. Cherryh
15. Contact by Carl Sagan
16. Artifact by Gregory Benford
17. The Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson
18. Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling
19. Between the Strokes of Night by Charles Sheffield
20. Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
21. Ancient of Days by Michael Bishop
22. Emprise by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
23. Dayworld by Philip José Farmer
24. Child of Fortune by Norman Spinrad
25. Tom O'Bedlam by Robert Silverberg
26. Starquake by Robert L. Forward
27. Kiteworld by Keith Roberts
28. The Remaking of Sigmund Freud by Barry N. Malzberg
29. Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott
30. The Darkling Wind by Somtow Sucharitkul

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Trumps of Doom by Roger Zelazny

Other Nominees:
2.   The Book of Kells by R.A. MacAvoy
3.   Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
4.   The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
5.   Lyonesse II: The Green Pearl by Jack Vance
6.   The King's Justice by Katherine Kurtz
7.   The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
8.   The Dream Years by Lisa Goldstein
9.   With a Tangled Skein by Piers Anthony
10. Dark of the Moon by P.C. Hodgell
11. Silverthorn by Raymond E. Feist
12. Mulengro by Charles de Lint
13. Lovecraft's Book by Richard A. Lupoff
14. Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust
15. The Damnation Game by Clive Barker
16. The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks
17. Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm
18. In Yana, the Touch of Undying by Michael Shea
19. The Last Rainbow by Parke Godwin
20. Things Invisible to See by Nancy Willard
21. The Song of Mavin Manyshaped by Sheri S. Tepper
22. Wings of Flame by Nancy Springer
23. The Bronze King by Suzy McKee Charnas
24. Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore by Sheri S. Tepper

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.   Contact by Carl Sagan

Other Nominees:
2.   Emprise by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
3.   In the Drift by Michael Swanwick
4.   The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
5.   Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams
6.   Cats Have No Lord by Will Shetterly
7.   Masters of Glass by M. Coleman Easton
8.   Saraband of Lost Time by Richard Grant
9.   Walk the Moon's Road by Jim Aikin
10. Infinity's Web by Sheila Finch
11. The Isle of Glass by Judith Tarr
12. Saturnalia by Grant Callin
13. The Torch of Honor by Roger MacBride Allen
14. Children of the Light by Susan B. Weston
15. The Warrior Who Carried Life by Geoff Ryman
16. Song of Kali by Dan Simmons
17. The Secret Country by Pamela C. Dean
18. Skyrider 1: Skirmish by Melisa C. Michaels
19. The Long Forgetting by Edward A. Byers
20. The Sorcery Within by Dave Smeds
21. The Princess of Flames by Ru Emerson
22. Pandora's Genes by Kathryn Lance
23. Down Town by Viido Polikarpus and Tappan King
24. Ibis by Linda Steele
25. Staroamer's Fate by Chuck Rothman

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Tiptree, Jr.

Other Nominees:

2.   Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg

3.   Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   The Plague Star by George R.R. Martin
5.   24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelazny
6.   The Scapegoat by C.J. Cherryh
7.   Loaves and Fishes by George R.R. Martin
8.   To the Storming Gulf by Gregory Benford
9.   Green Days in Brunei by Bruce Sterling
10. World War Last by Norman Spinrad
11. The Gorgon Field by Kate Wilhelm
12. The Curse of Kings by Connie Willis
13. When Winter Ends by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
14. How the Wind Spoke at Madaket by Lucius Shepard
15. Duke Pasquale's Ring by Avram Davidson
16. George Washington Slept Here by Charles L. Harness
17. Flight by Peter Dickinson
18. Talion by John Brunner

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   Paladin of the Lost Hour by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
2.   The Fringe by Orson Scott Card (reviewed in The Folk of the Fringe)
3.   Portraits of His Children by George R.R. Martin
4.   The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
5.   Dogfight by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson
6.   Under Siege by George R.R. Martin
7.   All My Darling Daughters by Connie Willis
8.   A Gift from the GrayLanders by Michael Bishop
9.   The Road Not Taken by Harry Turtledove
10. Storming the Cosmos by Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling
11. A Spanish Lesson by Lucius Shepard
12. The Things That Happen by Frederik Pohl
13. Mercurial by Kim Stanley Robinson
14. The End Of Life as We Know It by Lucius Shepard
15. Kitemistress by Keith Roberts
16. Side Effects by Walter Jon Williams
17. The Slovo Stove by Avram Davidson
18. Vilest Beast by Eric G. Iverson
19. Rockabye Baby by S.C. Sykes
20. Solstice by James Patrick Kelly
21. Shanidar by David Zindell
22. O Happy Day! by Geoff Ryman
23. Unferno by George Alec Effinger
24. Vestibular Man by Felix C. Gotschalk

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:

2.   Fermi and Frost by Frederik Pohl

3.   Snow by John Crowley
4.   Time's Rub by Gregory Benford
5.   Dinner in Audoghast by Bruce Sterling
6.   Mengele by Lucius Shepard
7.   No Regrets by Lisa Tuttle
8.   Flying Saucer Rock & Roll by Howard Waldrop
9.   The Gods of Mars by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick
10. '. . . How My Heart Breaks When I Sing This Song. . .' by Lucius Shepard
11. Hong's Bluff by William F. Wu
12. Tourists by Lisa Goldstein
13. Sunrise on Pluto by Robert Silverberg
14. Out of All Them Bright Stars by Nancy Kress
15. Paper Dragons by James P. Blaylock
16. The Transmigration of Philip K. by Michael Swanwick
17. Mozart in Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner
18. My Life in the Jungle by Jim Aikin
19. The Poplar Street Study by Karen Joy Fowler
20. The Great Wall by Wayne Wightman
21. (tie) The Blind Minotaur by Michael Swanwick
      (tie) The War at Home by Lewis Shiner
22. The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things by Karen Joy Fowler
23. The R Strain by Eric G. Iverson
24. Heirs of the Perisphere by Howard Waldrop
25. The Last Dragon Master by A.A. Attanasio

26. The Bob Dylan Tambourine Software & Satori Support Services Consortium Ltd. by Michael Bishop

Best Collection
Winner:

1.   Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Other Nominees:
2.   Fire Watch by Connie Willis
3.   Limits by Larry Niven
4.   Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin
5.   Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson
6.   Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Vols. IV-VI by Clive Barker
7.   The Gorgon by Tanith Lee
8.   Slow Birds and Other Stories by Ian Watson
9.   Dealing in Futures by Joe Haldeman
10. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon by Philip K. Dick
11. Anthonology by Piers Anthony
12. Byte Beautiful by James Tiptree, Jr.
13. Phoenix in the Ashes by Joan D. Vinge
14. Flight from Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany
15. The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley by Marion Zimmer Bradley
16. Viriconium Nights by M. John Harrison
17. Dragonfield and Other Stories by Jane Yolen
18. Beastmarks by A.A. Attanasio
19. Eye by Frank Herbert
20. The Book of Ian Watson by Ian Watson
21. Trinity and Other Stories by Nancy Kress

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   Medea: Harlan's World edited by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:

2.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

3.   Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year #14 edited by Terry Carr
4.   The Dead of Winter edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey
5.   Universe 15 edited by Terry Carr
6.   Imaginary Lands edited by Robin McKinley
7.   The Hugo Winners, Volume 4: 1976-1979 edited by Isaac Asimov

8.   The 1985 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

9.   Interzone: The 1^st Anthology edited by John Clute, Colin Greenland, and David Pringle

10. Berserker Base edited by Fred Saberhagen
11. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future edited by Algis Budrys
12. Liavek edited by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull
13. The Planets edited by Byron Preiss

14. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 13 (1951) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

15. Bestiary! edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
16. The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XIII edited by Karl Edward Wagner
17. Shadows 8 edited by Charles L. Grant
18. Nebula Awards 20 edited by George Zebrowski

19. Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind edited by Jen Green and Sarah Lefanu

20. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 14 (1952) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

21. Afterwar edited by Janet Morris

22. The Science Fiction Yearbook edited by Jerry Pournelle, Jim Baen, and John F. Carr

23. After the Flames edited by Elizabeth Mitchell
24. Whispers #21/22 edited by Stuart David Schiff
25. The Third Omni Book of Science Fiction edited by Ellen Datlow
26. The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 11 edited by Arthur W. Saha

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf by Algis Budrys

Other Nominees:

2.   The Pale Shadow of Science by Brian W. Aldiss

3.   The Novels of Philip K. Dick by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   Faces of Fear: Encounters with the Creators of Modern Horror by Douglas E. Winter
5.   Science Made Stupid by Tom Weller
6.   Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels by David Pringle
7.   Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror edited by E.F. Bleiler
8.   The Atlas of the Land by Karen Wynn Fonstad
9.   An Edge in My Voice by Harlan Ellison
10. Ghastly Beyond Belief by Neil Gaiman and Kim Newman
11. A. Merritt: Reflections in the Moon Pool by Sam Moskowitz
12. Microworlds: Writings on Science Fiction and Fantasy by Stanislaw Lem

Best Magazine or Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Locus

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

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Ballantine/Del Rey

Other Nominees:
2.   Putnam/Berkley/Ace
3.   Tor
4.   DAW
5.   Bantam Spectra
6.   Bluejay
7.   Baen
8.   Arbor House
9.   Phantasia
10. Doubleday
11. Scream/Press
12. Gollancz
13. Mark V. Ziesing
14. Donald M. Grant
15. Atheneum
16. Pocket
17. Arkham House
18. Science Fiction Book Club
19. Avon
20. NAL/Signet
21. Warner/Questar

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   J.K. Potter
3.   Boris Vallejo
4.   Frank Kelly Freas
5.   Rowena Morrill
6.   Victoria Poyser
7.   Don Maitz
8.   Darrell Sweet
9.   Barclay Shaw
10. Frank Frazetta
11. Jim Burns
12. Vincent Di Fate
13. Carl Lundgren
14. David Mattingly
15. David A. Cherry
16. Val Lakey Lindahn
17. Tom Canty
18. Kevin Johnson
19. Phil Foglio

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home

1986 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In an act that was either self-deprecating humor or completely clueless irony, in 1986 the Libertarian Futurist Society inducted The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson into its Hall of Fame. The key element here is that The Illuminatus Trilogy is very much not a work of libertarian fiction, and is instead a brutally satirical send-up of libertarian ideas. The fact that this series of books was inducted into the Prometheus Award Hall of Fame seems to me to be yet another indication of the scarcity of actual libertarian science fiction, leading to works that really aren't in the subgenre getting nominated for, and fairly frequently winning, the award.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milán

Other Nominees:

Elegy for a Soprano by Kay Nolte Smith

The Gallatin Divergence by L. Neil Smith
A Matter of Time by Glen Cook
Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K. Dick

Hall of Fame

Winner:

The Illuminatus Trilogy (The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, and Leviathan) by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

The Syndic by Cyril M. Kornbluth

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home

1986 Campbell Award Nominees

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

Comments: The results of the 1986 Campbell Award raise the interesting question of "what is a novel". The Campbell Award is specifically intended to honor the best science fiction novel of the year, and in this year the honor went to David Brin's The Postman. But The Postman isn't really a novel in some ways, but is rather a set of three connected novellas that all happen to include the same protagonist. The "fix-up" novel - that is a novel that is stitched together out of pieces of shorter fiction - has a long pedigree in science fiction, and The Postman seems like a fairly well done example of this sort of novel, but it still doesn't feel like an actual novel, and it doesn't seem like the sort of book that should be regarded as the best novel in a year.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Postman by David Brin

Second Place:

Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Third Place:

(tie) Blood Music Greg Bear

(tie) Kiteworld by Keith Roberts

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home

1986 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: ConFederation in Atlanta, Georgia.

Comments: 1986 seems to me to be the year that second-best works took home the critical victories, as there was more than one winner that I think was simply weaker than the competition it beat out. Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game took home the Best Novel trophy, which was an expansion of his previously nominated novelette of the same name, and the first Hugo win for the author. Although Ender's Game is a good novel, I don't think it was as good as Blood Music by Greg Bear, or Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. In the Best Dramatic Presentation category the time travel comedy Back to the Future won the prize, although both the surreal Brazil and the brilliant Enemy Mine were probably better movies. And so on.

The Hugo Awards had their first declined award in this year when Lester del Rey declined the Best Editor Hugo Award on behalf of his late wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. Apparently Judy-Lynn was opposed to the idea of posthumous awards, and he declined her posthumous victory in this category on that ground, as well as on the ground that she would not have won if she had not died earlier in the year.

Best Novel

Winner:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Other Nominees:
Blood Music by Greg Bear
Cuckoo's Egg by C.J. Cherryh
Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Postman by David Brin

Best Novella

Winner:

24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelazny

Other Nominees:
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Tiptree, Jr.
Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg
The Scapegoat by C.J. Cherryh

Best Novelette

Winner:

Paladin of the Lost Hour by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
Dogfight by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson
The Fringe by Orson Scott Card (reviewed in The Folk of the Fringe)
A Gift from the GrayLanders by Michael Bishop
Portraits of His Children by George R.R. Martin

Best Short Story

Winner:

Fermi and Frost by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Dinner in Audoghast by Bruce Sterling
Flying Saucer Rock & Roll by Howard Waldrop
Hong's Bluff by William F. Wu
Snow by John Crowley

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:

Science Made Stupid by Tom Weller

Other Nominees:
Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf by Algis Budrys
An Edge in My Voice by Harlan Ellison
Faces of Fear: Encounters with the Creators of Modern Horror by Douglas E. Winter

The John W. Campbell Letters, Vol. 1 edited by Perry A. Chapdelaine, Sr., Tony Chapdelaine, and George Hay

The Pale Shadow of Science by Brian W. Aldiss

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Back to the Future

Other Nominees:
Brazil
Cocoon
Enemy Mine
Ladyhawke

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Judy-Lynn del Rey [award declined]

Other Nominees:
Terry Carr
Edward L. Ferman
Shawna McCarthy
Stanley Schmidt

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Michael Whelan

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

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:

Locus edited by Charles N. Brown

Other Nominees:
Fantasy Review edited by Robert A. Collins
Interzone edited by Simon Ounsley and David Pringle
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew Porter
Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Lan's Lantern edited by George "Lan" Laskowski

Other Nominees:
Anvil edited by Charlotte Proctor
Greater Columbia Fantasy Costumers Guild Newsletter edited by Bobby Gear
Holier Than Thou edited by Marty Cantor and Robbie Cantor
Universal Translator edited by Susan Bridges

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Mike Glyer

Other Nominees:
Don D'Ammassa
Richard E. Geis
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Arthur Hlavaty
David Langford

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Joan Hanke-Woods

Other Nominees:
Brad W. Foster
Steven Fox
William Rotsler
Stu Shiffman

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Melissa Scott

Other Nominees:
Karen Joy Fowler
Guy Gavriel Kay
Carl Sagan
Tad Williams
David Zindell

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home

1986 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Claremont Hotel, Berkeley, California.

Comments: 1986 was the year that Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card's one really good book, won the Nebula Award. Which is kind of a shame, because the book beat out some other great works including Bear's Blood Music, and Sterling's Schismatrix. The problem isn't that Ender's Game is an undeserving winner, the problem is that Card has had an extended career based primarily on the strength of this one book, and the rest of his career has been a pale shadow of it. And yet he still gets published. Without Ender's Game, Card's career likely would have been much shorter, and this might have paved the way for a better and less homophobic author to get a break.

One story that I have always had questions about is The Gods of Mars by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick. Multiple author collaborations are fairly common, but The Gods of Mars is a short story, so one wonders why it needed three authors to write it, or how they managed to fit all their contributions into such a short tale.

Best Novel

Winner:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Other Nominees:
Blood Music by Greg Bear
Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers
Helliconia Winter by Brian W. Aldiss
The Postman by David Brin
The Remaking of Sigmund Freud by Barry N. Malzberg
Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling

Best Novella

Winner:

Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg

Other Nominees:
24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelazny
The Gorgon Field by Kate Wilhelm
Green Days in Brunei by Bruce Sterling
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Tiptree, Jr.

Best Novelette

Winner:

Portraits of His Children by George R.R. Martin

Other Nominees:
Dogfight by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson
The Fringe by Orson Scott Card (reviewed in The Folk of the Fringe)
A Gift from the GrayLanders by Michael Bishop
The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
Paladin of the Lost Hour by Harlan Ellison
Rockabye Baby by S.C. Sykes

Best Short Story

Winner:
Out of All Them Bright Stars by Nancy Kress

Other Nominees:
Flying Saucer Rock & Roll by Howard Waldrop
The Gods of Mars by Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann, and Michael Swanwick
Heirs of the Perisphere by Howard Waldrop
Hong's Bluff by William F. Wu
More Than the Sum of His Parts by Joe Haldeman
Paper Dragons by James P. Blaylock
Snow by John Crowley

Go to previous year's nominees: 1985
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1987

Book Award Reviews     Home