Comments: 1955 was a down year for the Hugo Awards, and the reason why can be summed up with four words: They'd Rather Be Right. Simply put, this selection was so weak that it casts a pallor over the entire year's worth of awards. This is kind of shame, because The Darfsteller is an excellent novella, and Allamagoosa is a fun, albeit not particularly substantial, short story. Still, the extraordinary awfulness of handing the Hugo to They'd Rather Be Right looms over this round of awards like a nightmarish shadow darkening everything beneath it.
Sadly, the lists of finalists for the Hugo Award were not preserved until 1959, so we have no idea what novels lost out to this book, but eligible works included Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, and Edgar Pangborn's A Mirror for Observers, any of which would have been a far superior choice to Clifton and Riley's decidedly mediocre offering.
Best Novel
They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley
Other Finalists:
None
Best Novelette
The Darfsteller by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 1)
Other Finalists:
None
Best Short Story
Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 1)
Other Finalists:
None
Best Magazine
Astounding edited by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Other Finalists:
None
Best Artist
Frank Kelly Freas
Other Finalists:
None
Best Fanzine
Fantasy Times edited by James V. Taurasi, Sr. and Ray Von Houten
Other Finalists:
None
What Are the Hugo Awards?
Go to previous year's finalists: 1954 (awarded in 2004)
Go to subsequent year's finalists: 1956
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