Comments: 1987 was the inaugural year for the Clarke Award, and right away the judges decided to jump into a controversy by giving the honor to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. This award was not controversial because Atwood's book wasn't a worthy recipient of the award, but rather because Atwood was (and remains) adamant that her books were (and are) not science fiction because they do not involve "talking squids in space", even though by any definition of the genre many of her books clearly are. In my opinion, genre awards should not be handing any awards to Atwood. If she doesn't want her work to be considered to be science-fiction, then there is no reason for it to be honored as such. It seems to me that it would be much preferable to recognize this contributions of authors who are proud to be writing genre fiction rather than someone who looks down their nose at anything other than literary fiction.
Winner
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Runner-Up
The Ragged Astronauts by Bob Shaw
Shortlist
Eon by Greg Bear
Escape Plans by Gwyneth Jones
Green Eyes by Lucius Shepard
The Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson
Queen of the States by Josephine Saxton
Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany
What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1988
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