Comments: In 1976, the Campbell judges decided not to give an award to any novel, instead reaching back six years to hand a Retrospective Prize to Wilson Tucker's 1970 novel The Year of the Quiet Sun. Like all of the other "off-brand" awards that have been handed out at the Campbell Awards, this was the first, and so far, only time this kind of prize was given out. Everything about the Campbell awards in 1976 is somewhat puzzling. Tucker's novel, while good (evidenced by its nominations in 1970 for both the Hugo and Nebula Award), isn't so compelling that it seems like it would have demanded retroactive recognition. Not only that, there seem to have been plenty of deserving novels that were eligible for the Best Novel award in 1976. Not only is Robert Silverberg's Stochastic Man a fine novel, but if one looks at the Hugo and Nebula nominees for this year one finds a list replete with excellent novels, starting with Joe Haldeman's Hugo and Nebula winning Forever War. But even if the Campbell judges didn't want to be seen as following the Hugos and Nebulas, they could have voted for Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren, Joanna Russ' The Female Man, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye, Roger Zelazny's Doorways in the Sand, or any number of other excellent novels. Given the plethora of strong novels published in 1975, it seems puzzling that the Campbell Awards simply declined to recognize any of them.
Best Novel
No Award
Second Place:
The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg
Third Place:
Orbitsville by Bob Shaw
Retrospective Prize
The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker
Other Nominees:
None
Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977
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