Monday, September 5, 1988

1988 Hugo Award Nominees

Location: Nolacon II in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Comments: 1988 was a quirky year for the Hugo Awards, driven by the introduction of the one-shot category for "Other Forms". There appears to be almost no coherent set of qualifications that can be discerned for this category. The nominees were a graphic novel, a humor book parodying literature textbooks, a screenplay for an unproduced movie, a retrospective collection, and a shared world series about superheroes. Although I have no idea how one would compare these disparate nominees, I cannot argue with the selection of Alan Moore's brilliant graphic novel Watchmen as the winner. This category was retired after 1988 and has never returned to the Hugo Award ballots.

In the standard written fiction categories, David Brin broke Orson Scott Card's two year hold on the Best Novel prize with The Uplift War, but Card still took home a rocket statue with his novella Eye for Eye. Ursula K. Le Guin earned another Hugo for her novelette Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight, and my second favorite author-who-I-have-met Lawrence Watt-Evans won for his short story Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers.

In the Best Dramatic Presentation category, the sweet humor of The Princess Bride beat out a strong field that included the bitterly satirical Robocop and the first nominated episode of Star Trek - The Next Generation.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Uplift War by David Brin

Other Nominees:
The Forge of God by Greg Bear
Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card
The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger

Best Novella

Winner:
Eye for Eye by Orson Scott Card

Other Nominees:
The Blind Geometer by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Forest of Time by Michael F. Flynn
Mother Goddess of the World by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Secret Sharer by Robert Silverberg

Best Novelette

Winner:
Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
Dinosaurs by Walter Jon Williams
Dream Baby by Bruce McAllister
Flowers of Edo by Bruce Sterling
Rachel in Love by Pat Murphy

Best Short Story

Winner:
Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Other Nominees:
Angel by Pat Cadigan
Cassandra's Photographs by Lisa Goldstein
The Faithful Companion at Forty by Karen Joy Fowler
Forever Yours, Anna by Kate Wilhelm
Night of the Cooters by Howard Waldrop

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:
Michael Whelan's Works of Wonder by Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
Anatomy of Wonder, 3rd Edition edited by Neil Barron
The Battle of Brazil by Jack Matthews
Imagination: The Art & Technique of David A. Cherry by David A. Cherry
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: 1986 by Charles N. Brown and William G. Contento

Other Forms

Winner:
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Other Nominees:
Cvltvre Made Stvpid by Tom Weller
The Essential Ellison by Harlan Ellison
I, Robot: The Movie by Harlan Ellison
Wild Cards (series) created by George R.R. Martin

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
The Princess Bride

Other Nominees:
Predator
Robocop
Star Trek - The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint
The Witches of Eastwick

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
Edward L. Ferman
David G. Hartwell
Stanley Schmidt
Brian Thomsen

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
David A. Cherry
Bob Eggleton
Tom Kidd
Don Maitz
J.K. Potter

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown

Other Nominees:
Aboriginal SF edited by Charles C. Ryan
Interzone edited by Simon Ounsley and David Pringle
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew Porter
Thrust edited by D. Douglas Fratz

Best Fanzine

Winner:
Texas SF Inquirer edited by Pat Mueller

Other Nominees:
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
FOSFAX edited by Timothy Lane
Lan's Lantern edited by George "Lan" Laskowski
The Mad 3 Party edited by Leslie Turek

Best Fan Writer

Winner:
Mike Glyer

Other Nominees:
Arthur Hlavaty
Dave Langford
Guy H. Lillian, III
Leslie Turek

Best Fan Artist

Winner:
Brad W. Foster

Other Nominees:
Steve Fox
Teddy Harvia
Merle Insinga
Taral Wayne
Diana Gallagher Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Judith Moffett

Other Nominees:
C.S. Friedman
Loren MacGregor
Rebecca Ore
Martha Soukup

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1987
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1989

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