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Friday, August 7, 1998

1998 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: BucConeer in Baltimore, Maryland.

Comments: Although Joe Haldeman's Best Novel winning Forever Peace sounds like it should be a sequel to his Hugo-Award winning The Forever War, it is an entirely different story, with entirely different characters. However, like Haldeman's earlier book, Forever Peace is a thoughtful and devastating examination of the consequences of war in a future more technologically advanced age.

The one category in this year that I have a quibble with is the Best Dramatic Presentation award. While it was probably inevitable that the movie Contact would win, given its big budget production and the fact that it was based upon a book written by the deservedly well-respected Carl Sagan, it seems criminal that Babylon 5 didn't even get a single nomination for any of the episodes of its stellar fourth season. Among great episodes like Falling Toward Apotheosis, Into the Fire, Intersections in Real Time, and Endgame, certainly there was one that deserved at least a slight nod. But no, the voters had to reward Veerhoeven's execrable treatment of Starship Troopers and the airy fluff of Men in Black instead. There is no justice in the world.

Best Novel

Winner:
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

Other Finalists:
City on Fire by Walter Jon Williams
Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer
Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

Best Novella

Winner:
. . . Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen M. Steele

Other Finalists:
Ecopoiesis by Geoffrey A. Landis
The Funeral March of the Marionettes by Adam-Troy Castro
Loose Ends by Paul Levinson
Marrow by Robert Reed

Best Novelette

Winner:
We Will Drink a Fish Together . . . by Bill Johnson

Other Finalists:
Broken Symmetry by Michael A. Burstein
Moon Six by Stephen Baxter
Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream by James Alan Gardner
The Undiscovered by William Sanders

Best Short Story

Winner:
The 43 Antarean Dynasties by Mike Resnick

Other Finalists:
Beluthahatchie by Andy Duncan
The Hand You're Dealt by Robert J. Sawyer
Itsy Bitsy Spider by James Patrick Kelly
No Planets Strike by Gene Wolfe
Standing Room Only by Karen Joy Fowler

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy edited by John Clute and John Grant

Other Finalists:
Infinite Worlds: The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art by Vincent Di Fate
Reflections and Refractions: Thoughts on Science-Fiction, Science, and Other Matters by Robert Silverberg
Space Travel by Ben Bova with Anthony R. Lewis
Spectrum 4: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner, with Jim Loehr

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Contact

Other Finalists:
The Fifth Element
Gattaca
Men in Black
Starship Troopers

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Gardner Dozois

Other Finalists:
Scott Edelman
David G. Hartwell
Stanley Schmidt
Gordon van Gelder

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Bob Eggleton

Other Finalists:
Jim Burns
Thomas Canty
David A. Cherry
Don Maitz
Michael Whelan

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown

Other Finalists:
Interzone edited by David Pringle
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Ariel Haméon, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin Maroney
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew I. Porter
Speculations edited by Kent Brewster and Denise Lee

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Mimosa edited by Dick Lynch and Nicki Lynch

Other Finalists:
Ansible edited by Dave Langford
Attitude edited by Michael Abbott, John Dallman, and Pam Wells
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Tangent edited by David Truesdale

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
Bob Devney
Mike Glyer
Andy Hooper
Evelyn C. Leeper
Joseph T. Major

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Joe Mayhew

Other Finalists:
Brad W. Foster
Ian Gunn
Teddy Harvia
Peggy Ranson

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Mary Doria Russell

Other Finalists:
Raphael Carter
Andy Duncan
Richard Garfinkle
Susan R. Matthews

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's finalists: 1997
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 1999

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