1992 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1992, the Mythopoeic Awards experienced two significant and, thus far permanent, changes. The first change is that the two award categories were split into four. Going forward, there would be two awards for fantasy literature - one for Adult Fantasy Literature, and one for Children's Fantasy Literature - and two awards for scholarly work - one award for work focused on the lives and works of the Inklings, and another that would honor scholarly work related to fantasy and myth in general. I consider this change to be and excellent one, as it allowed the Mythopoeic Society to both expand the range of works it would honor and also compare works that are similar to one another.

The other change is that from this point forward, all of the non-winning nominees would be listed in each category in most years. I also regard this change to be a good one, as it gives outside observers a chance to compare the winning works in each category with their competition, and make an informed evaluation.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason

Other Nominees:

Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper

Moonwise by Greer Ilene Gilman
The Sorceress and the Cygnet by Patricia A. McKillip
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Other Nominees:
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
Elsewhere by Will Shetterly
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
Song of the Gargoyle by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:

Word and Story in C.S. Lewis edited by Peter J. Schakel and Charles A. Huttar

Other Nominees:
C.S. Lewis: A Biography by A.N. Wilson
Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis by Owen Barfield
The Pattern in the Web: The Mythical Poetry of Charles Williams by Roma A. King

A Purgatorial Flame: Seven British Writers in the Second World War by Sebastian Knowles

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:

The Victorian Fantasists edited by Kath Filmer

Other Nominees:
Mervyn Peake: The Evolution of a Dark Romantic by Tanya J. Gardiner-Scott
The Weird Tale by S.T. Joshi
Witches of the Mind: A Critical Study of Fritz Leiber by Bruce Byfield

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

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1992 Campbell Award Nominees

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

Comments: The 1992 Campbell Award results are curious. Not because of what book won, but rather because somehow the third place finishers all ended up in a three way tie. At first I thought this might be a sneaky way for the judges to add in more finishers, and consequently make the Campbell Award results look more like the Hugo or Nebula award results, with a full slate of non-winning nominees, but since this format does not seem to have been replicated in succeeding years, that doesn't seem to be the case. It just seems that the extraordinary unlikely result of three novels earning exactly enough votes to share third place in the balloting is the explanation.

Best Novel

Winner:

Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton

Second Place:

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

Third Place:

(tie) The Silicon Man by Charles Platt

(tie) Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
(tie) A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

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1992 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: It is always interesting to see books on award lists that one has read and realize that they received much more acclaim when they were published than one would have thought. I have read both Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, and The Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee, and I was decidedly unimpressed with either. And yet the Locus Award voters ranked Xenocide as the second best science fiction novel of 1992, and The Garden of Rama only slightly further down the ballot. Perhaps they looked better in 1992 and have simply not aged well. Perhaps people were attracted by the names of Card and Clarke and voted based upon that. I don't know exactly why they are ranked where they are, but their presence so high on the ballot certainly seems undeserved to me.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Other Nominees:
2.   Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
3.   Bone Dance by Emma Bull
4.   The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
5.   All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
6.   Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
7.   Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh
8.   The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson
9.   Synners by Pat Cadigan
10. Brain Child by George Turner
11. The Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
12. Ecce and Old Earth by Jack Vance
13. A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason
14. Russian Spring by Norman Spinrad
15. The Trinity Paradox by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason
16. Death Qualified: A Mystery of Chaos by Kate Wilhelm
17. The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid by Rebecca Ore
18. The Ragged World by Judith Moffett
19. Carve the Sky by Alexander Jablokov
20. The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
21. Eternal Light by Paul J. McAuley
22. Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper

Other Nominees:
2.   The Little Country by Charles de Lint
3.   Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart
4.   King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald
5.   The Rainbow Abyss by Barbara Hambly
6.   The Hereafter Gang by Neal Barrett, Jr.
7.   Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
8.   Riverrun by S.P. Somtow
9.   Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll
10. King of the Dead by R.A. MacAvoy
11. Nothing Sacred by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
12. The Sorceress and the Cygnet by Patricia A. McKillip
13. The Revenge of the Rose by Michael Moorcock
14. Cloven Hooves by Megan Lindholm
15. The Magic Spectacles by James P. Blaylock
16. The End-of-Everything Man by Tom De Haven
17. Flying Dutch by Tom Holt
18. Elsewhere by Will Shetterly
19. The White Mists of Power by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
20. The Architecture of Desire by Mary Gentle
21. Illusion by Paula Volsky

Best Horror or Dark Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
2.   Imajica by Clive Barker
3.   The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King
4.   The M.D. by Thomas M. Disch
5.   Blood Price by Tanya Huff
6.   In the Blood by Nancy A. Collins
7.   The Cipher by Kathe Koja
8.   Saint Peter's Wolf by Michael Cadnum
9.   Mrs. God by Peter Straub
10. The Angel of Pain by Brian Stableford
11. Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon
12. The Fetch by Robert Holdstock
13. Needful Things by Stephen King

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.   The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Other Nominees:
2.   The White Mists of Power by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
3.   Carve the Sky by Alexander Jablokov
4.   Raft by Stephen Baxter
5.   Halo by Tom Maddox
6.   Alien Blues by Lynn S. Hightower
7.   The Illusionists by Faren Miller
8.   The Spiral Dance by R. Garcia y Robertson
9.   Groundties by Jane Fancher
10. Mojo and the Pickle Jar by Douglas Bell
11. Prodigal by Melanie Tem
12. Moonwise by Greer Ilene Gilman
13. The Initiate Brother by Sean Russell
14. Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
15. Shade by Emily Devenport
16. Second Star by Dana Stabenow
17. Wilderness by Dennis Danvers

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Gallery of His Dreams by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Other Nominees:

2.   Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

3.   Griffin's Egg by Michael Swanwick
4.   Jack by Connie Willis
5.   Star of the Sea by Poul Anderson
6.   And Wild for to Hold by Nancy Kress
7.   Fetish by Edward Bryant
8.   Desert Rain by Mark L. Van Name and Pat Murphy
9.   Our Lady of the Harbour by Charles de Lint
10. City of Truth by James Morrow
11. Outnumbering the Dead by Frederik Pohl
12. The Mill by Paul Di Filippo
13. Candle by Tony Daniel
14. Canso de Fis de Jovent by John Barnes

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   All Dracula's Children by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
2.   Fin de Cyclé by Howard Waldrop
3.   Matter's End by Gregory Benford
4.   Gold by Isaac Asimov
5.   Black Glass by Karen Joy Fowler
6.   Miracle by Connie Willis
7.   Over There by Mike Resnick
8.   What Continues, What Fails . . . by David Brin
9.   A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations by Kim Stanley Robinson
10. Mairzy Doats by Paul Di Filippo
11. The Better Boy by James P. Blaylock and Tim Powers
12. Dispatches from the Revolution by Pat Cadigan
13. Understand by Ted Chiang
14. Traveling West by Pat Murphy
15. Living Will by Alexander Jablokov
16. What Eats You by Norman Spinrad
17. (tie) The Invisible Worm by Brian Stableford
      (tie) The Return of Weird Frank by Allen M. Steele
19. A Tip on a Turtle by Robert Silverberg
20. Standing in Line with Mister Jimmy by James Patrick Kelly
21. The Happy Man by Jonathan Lethem
22. Water Bringer by Mary Rosenblum
23. Snow on Sugar Mountain by Elizabeth Hand
24. Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats by Michael Bishop
25. The Will of God by Keith Roberts
26. The Ragthorn by Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Buffalo by John Kessel

Other Nominees:

2.   Daughter Earth by James Morrow

3.   Vinland the Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   In the Late Cretaceous by Connie Willis
5.   Press Ann by Terry Bisson
6.   Angels in Love by Kathe Koja
7.   Division by Zero by Ted Chiang
8.   Blood Sisters by Greg Egan
9.   The Dark by Karen Joy Fowler
10. Winter Solstice by Mike Resnick
11. Dream Cargoes by J.G. Ballard
12. Images by Joe Haldeman
13. One Perfect Morning, With Jackals by Mike Resnick
14. An Outpost of the Empire by Robert Silverberg
15. Skinner's Room by William Gibson
16. Bright Light, Big City by Greg Costikyan
17. True Love by K.W. Jeter
18. A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis
19. Voices by Jack Dann
20. Johnny Come Home by Pat Cadigan
21. Dog's Life by Martha Soukup
22. Venus Rising on Water by Tanith Lee
23. Fidelity by Greg Egan
24. Pipes by Robert Reed
25. Chu Chai by S.P. Somtow
26. Pogrom by James Patrick Kelly

Best Collection
Winner:

1.   Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories by Howard Waldrop

Other Nominees:
2.   Playgrounds of the Mind by Larry Niven
3.   Remaking History by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   Gravity's Angels by Michael Swanwick
5.   The Best of James H. Schmitz by James H. Schmitz
6.   Mirabile by Janet Kagan
7.   The Book of the Dead by Tanith Lee
8.   The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson
9.   The Bone Forest by Robert Holdstock
10. Grimscribe: His Lives and Works by Thomas Ligotti
11. The Collected Short Fiction of Robert Sheckley by Robert Sheckley
12. Lafferty in Orbit by R.A. Lafferty
13. Wormwood by Terry Dowling
14. The Start of the End of It All by Carol Emshwiller
15. Transreal! by Rudy Rucker
16. Sexual Chemistry by Brian Stableford
17. Courting Disasters and Other Strange Affinities by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   Full Spectrum 3 edited by Lou Aronica, Amy Stout, and Betsy Mitchell

Other Nominees:

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

3.   The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

4.   A Whisper of Blood edited by Ellen Datlow

5.   What Might Have Been? Vol. 3: Alternate Wars edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg

6.   Man-Kzin Wars IV edited by Larry Niven
7.   After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Martin H. Greenberg

8.   Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales edited by Lester del Rey and Risa Kessler

9.   The Best of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
10. (tie) Final Shadows edited by Charles L. Grant
      (tie) New Worlds 1 edited by David Garnett
12. Future on Fire edited by Orson Scott Card
13. The Ultimate Werewolf edited by Byron Preiss
14. Welcome to Reality: The Nightmares of Philip K. Dick edited by Uwe Anton
15. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume VII edited by Algis Budrys

16. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 23 (1961) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

17. Nebula Awards 25 edited by Michael Bishop

18. Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine: Issue Ten: Winter 1991 edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

19. The New Hugo Winners, Volume II edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   Science-Fiction: The Early Years by Everett F. Bleiler

Other Nominees:

2.   The World of Charles Addams by Charles Addams

3.   Clive Barker's Shadows in Eden edited by Stephen Jones

4.   Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: 1990 by Charles N. Brown and William G. Contento

5.   Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymous Bosch by Nancy Willard; illustrated by Leo Dillon, Diane Dillon, and Lee Dillon

6.   Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock
7.   Witches of the Mind: A Critical Study of Fritz Leiber by Bruce Byfield
8.   The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; illustrated by Alan Lee
9.   Dreamlands by Mark Harrison

10. The Connecticut Yankee in the Twentieth Century: Travel to the Past in Science Fiction by Bud Foote

11. H.R. Giger's Necronomicon by H.R. Giger

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2.   Kristine Kathryn Rusch
3.   Ellen Datlow
4.   Stanley Schmidt
5.   Edward L. Ferman
6.   Martin H. Greenberg
7.   David G. Hartwell
8.   David Pringle
9.   Lou Aronica
10. Terri Windling
11. Kim Mohan
12. Dean Wesley Smith

Best Magazine or Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Asimov's

Other Nominees:
2.   Fantasy & Science Fiction
3.   Analog
4.   Amazing Stories
5.   Interzone
6.   Science Fiction Chronicle
7.   Aboriginal SF
8.   Pulphouse
9.   Omni
10. Weird Tales
11. Science Fiction Eye
12. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine
13. The New York Review of Science Fiction
14. Cemetery Dance

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Tor/St. Martin's

Other Nominees:
2.   Bantam/Doubleday/Dell
3.   Berkley/Ace
4.   Ballantine/Del Rey/Fawcett/Random House
5.   Baen
6.   DAW
7.   Avon/Morrow
8.   Ziesing/Ursus
9.   Pulphouse/Axolotl
10. Penguin/Roc/Viking
11. Warner/Questar
12. Dark Harvest
13. Arkham House
14. Underwood-Miller

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Tom Canty
3.   Don Maitz
4.   Bob Eggleton
5.   J.K. Potter
6.   Darrell K. Sweet
7.   David A. Cherry
8.   Jim Burns
9.   Keith Parkinson
10. Alan Lee
11. Boris Vallejo
12. Frank Kelly Freas
13. W.J. Hodgson
14. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
15. David Mattingly
16. H.R. Giger
17. Jody Lee
18. Vincent Di Fate

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

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1992 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Comments: Although he didn't win any of the categories, with four nominations, on for Best Novel, one for Best Novella, and two for Best Short Fiction, 1991 was clearly Charles de Lint's year. This is not to say that other authors didn't have a great year as well: Robert Holdstock won for Best Novella and was nominated for Best Collection, Darrell Schweitzer won a Special Professional Award and was nominated for Best Novella, Ellen Datlow won for Best Anthology and was nominated for another work in the same category, and Martin H. Greenberg garnered two nomination in the Best Anthology Category. Why this concentration of nominees occurred is unclear - the established pattern for the World Fantasy Awards to this point had been for the same people to be nominated from year to year, but it was rare for people to garner multiple nominations in a single year - but one possible explanation is the increasing concentration of the publishing industry, squeezing out the authors who provided the revolving variety around the perennial stalwarts.

Best Novel

Winner:
Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon

Other Nominees:
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Hunting the Ghost Dancer by A.A. Attanasio
The Little Country by Charles de Lint
Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll
The Paper Grail by James P. Blaylock

Best Novella

Winner:
The Ragthorn by Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth

Other Nominees:
The Gallery of His Dreams by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Gwydion and the Dragon by C.J. Cherryh
Our Lady of the Harbour by Charles de Lint
The Pavilion of Frozen Women by S.P. Somtow
To Become a Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
The Somewhere Doors by Fred Chappell

Other Nominees:
The Better Boy by James P. Blaylock and Tim Powers
The Conjure Man by Charles de Lint
Pity the Monsters by Charles de Lint

Best Anthology

Winner:

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Other Nominees:
After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Martin H. Greenberg

Famous Fantastic Mysteries edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg, and Martin H. Greenberg

Final Shadows edited by Charles L. Grant
When the Music's Over edited by Lewis Shiner
A Whisper of Blood edited by Ellen Datlow

Best Collection

Winner:
The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard

Other Nominees:
The Bone Forest by Robert Holdstock
Grimscribe: His Lives and Works by Thomas Ligotti
Lafferty In Orbit by R.A. Lafferty
More Shapes Than One by Fred Chappell
Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories by Howard Waldrop

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Edd Cartier

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Tim Hildebrandt

Other Nominees:
David Bergen
Alan M. Clark
Ned Dameron
Alan Lee

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
George Scithers and Darrell Schweitzer

Other Nominees:
Ramsey Campbell
Donald M. Grant
Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Terri Windling

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
W. Paul Ganley

Other Nominees:
Crispin Burnham
Barry Hoffman
Peggy Nadramia
Joe Stefko and Tracy Cocoman

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

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1992 Clarke Award Nominees

Location: United Kingdom.

Comments: I have not read either Pat Cadigan's Synners or Paul J. McAuley's Eternal Light, but I have read Stephen Baxter's Raft, and I found it to be an excellent book. If those two books turn out to be better than Baxter's imagined universe where gravity is a thousand times stronger than it is in our universe, then I will be pleasantly surprised. I think this highlights the overwhelming nature of printed science fiction in the modern world. I've read a lot of science fiction, and I have the sagging bookshelves to prove it. But in many award years, I find that I have read only a few of the nominated works, and frequently I haven't read the winners. This isn't because I've been avoiding them, I just haven't gotten to them yet, because there is simply so much excellent published science fiction turned out every year that it is almost impossible to keep up with it.

Winner
Synners by Pat Cadigan

Runner-Up
Eternal Light by Paul J. McAuley

Shortlist
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
Raft by Stephen Baxter
Subterranean Gallery by Richard Paul Russo
White Queen by Gwyneth Jones

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

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1992 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: Apparently tired of making it public that they were consistently inducting mediocre novels into their Hall of Fame while giving the cold shoulder to much better books that were nominated against them, the Libertarian Futurist Society appears to have decided to solve this problem by simply not listing the non-winning nominees. Ironically, in 1992, one of those better books that had been an also-ran in previous years actually gained induction into the Hall of Fame, so perhaps this plan was not as well thought out as its creators might have thought.

Best Novel

Winner:

Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn

Other Nominees:

Distant Drums by D.L. Carey

D'Shai by Joel Rosenberg
The Infinity Gambit by James P. Hogan
Me: A Novel of Self-Discovery by Thomas T. Thomas
The Silicon Man by Charles Platt
Star Trek #57: The Rift by Peter David
A Tale of the Wind by Kay Nolte Smith

Hall of Fame

Winner:

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home