1992 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: It is always interesting to see books on award lists that one has read and realize that they received much more acclaim when they were published than one would have thought. I have read both Xenocide by Orson Scott Card, and The Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee, and I was decidedly unimpressed with either. And yet the Locus Award voters ranked Xenocide as the second best science fiction novel of 1992, and The Garden of Rama only slightly further down the ballot. Perhaps they looked better in 1992 and have simply not aged well. Perhaps people were attracted by the names of Card and Clarke and voted based upon that. I don't know exactly why they are ranked where they are, but their presence so high on the ballot certainly seems undeserved to me.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Other Nominees:
2.   Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
3.   Bone Dance by Emma Bull
4.   The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
5.   All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
6.   Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
7.   Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh
8.   The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson
9.   Synners by Pat Cadigan
10. Brain Child by George Turner
11. The Garden of Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
12. Ecce and Old Earth by Jack Vance
13. A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason
14. Russian Spring by Norman Spinrad
15. The Trinity Paradox by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason
16. Death Qualified: A Mystery of Chaos by Kate Wilhelm
17. The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid by Rebecca Ore
18. The Ragged World by Judith Moffett
19. Carve the Sky by Alexander Jablokov
20. The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
21. Eternal Light by Paul J. McAuley
22. Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede by Bradley Denton

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper

Other Nominees:
2.   The Little Country by Charles de Lint
3.   Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart
4.   King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald
5.   The Rainbow Abyss by Barbara Hambly
6.   The Hereafter Gang by Neal Barrett, Jr.
7.   Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
8.   Riverrun by S.P. Somtow
9.   Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll
10. King of the Dead by R.A. MacAvoy
11. Nothing Sacred by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
12. The Sorceress and the Cygnet by Patricia A. McKillip
13. The Revenge of the Rose by Michael Moorcock
14. Cloven Hooves by Megan Lindholm
15. The Magic Spectacles by James P. Blaylock
16. The End-of-Everything Man by Tom De Haven
17. Flying Dutch by Tom Holt
18. Elsewhere by Will Shetterly
19. The White Mists of Power by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
20. The Architecture of Desire by Mary Gentle
21. Illusion by Paula Volsky

Best Horror or Dark Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Summer of Night by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
2.   Imajica by Clive Barker
3.   The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King
4.   The M.D. by Thomas M. Disch
5.   Blood Price by Tanya Huff
6.   In the Blood by Nancy A. Collins
7.   The Cipher by Kathe Koja
8.   Saint Peter's Wolf by Michael Cadnum
9.   Mrs. God by Peter Straub
10. The Angel of Pain by Brian Stableford
11. Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon
12. The Fetch by Robert Holdstock
13. Needful Things by Stephen King

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.   The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Other Nominees:
2.   The White Mists of Power by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
3.   Carve the Sky by Alexander Jablokov
4.   Raft by Stephen Baxter
5.   Halo by Tom Maddox
6.   Alien Blues by Lynn S. Hightower
7.   The Illusionists by Faren Miller
8.   The Spiral Dance by R. Garcia y Robertson
9.   Groundties by Jane Fancher
10. Mojo and the Pickle Jar by Douglas Bell
11. Prodigal by Melanie Tem
12. Moonwise by Greer Ilene Gilman
13. The Initiate Brother by Sean Russell
14. Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
15. Shade by Emily Devenport
16. Second Star by Dana Stabenow
17. Wilderness by Dennis Danvers

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Gallery of His Dreams by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Other Nominees:

2.   Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

3.   Griffin's Egg by Michael Swanwick
4.   Jack by Connie Willis
5.   Star of the Sea by Poul Anderson
6.   And Wild for to Hold by Nancy Kress
7.   Fetish by Edward Bryant
8.   Desert Rain by Mark L. Van Name and Pat Murphy
9.   Our Lady of the Harbour by Charles de Lint
10. City of Truth by James Morrow
11. Outnumbering the Dead by Frederik Pohl
12. The Mill by Paul Di Filippo
13. Candle by Tony Daniel
14. Canso de Fis de Jovent by John Barnes

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   All Dracula's Children by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
2.   Fin de Cyclé by Howard Waldrop
3.   Matter's End by Gregory Benford
4.   Gold by Isaac Asimov
5.   Black Glass by Karen Joy Fowler
6.   Miracle by Connie Willis
7.   Over There by Mike Resnick
8.   What Continues, What Fails . . . by David Brin
9.   A History of the Twentieth Century, with Illustrations by Kim Stanley Robinson
10. Mairzy Doats by Paul Di Filippo
11. The Better Boy by James P. Blaylock and Tim Powers
12. Dispatches from the Revolution by Pat Cadigan
13. Understand by Ted Chiang
14. Traveling West by Pat Murphy
15. Living Will by Alexander Jablokov
16. What Eats You by Norman Spinrad
17. (tie) The Invisible Worm by Brian Stableford
      (tie) The Return of Weird Frank by Allen M. Steele
19. A Tip on a Turtle by Robert Silverberg
20. Standing in Line with Mister Jimmy by James Patrick Kelly
21. The Happy Man by Jonathan Lethem
22. Water Bringer by Mary Rosenblum
23. Snow on Sugar Mountain by Elizabeth Hand
24. Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats by Michael Bishop
25. The Will of God by Keith Roberts
26. The Ragthorn by Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Buffalo by John Kessel

Other Nominees:

2.   Daughter Earth by James Morrow

3.   Vinland the Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   In the Late Cretaceous by Connie Willis
5.   Press Ann by Terry Bisson
6.   Angels in Love by Kathe Koja
7.   Division by Zero by Ted Chiang
8.   Blood Sisters by Greg Egan
9.   The Dark by Karen Joy Fowler
10. Winter Solstice by Mike Resnick
11. Dream Cargoes by J.G. Ballard
12. Images by Joe Haldeman
13. One Perfect Morning, With Jackals by Mike Resnick
14. An Outpost of the Empire by Robert Silverberg
15. Skinner's Room by William Gibson
16. Bright Light, Big City by Greg Costikyan
17. True Love by K.W. Jeter
18. A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis
19. Voices by Jack Dann
20. Johnny Come Home by Pat Cadigan
21. Dog's Life by Martha Soukup
22. Venus Rising on Water by Tanith Lee
23. Fidelity by Greg Egan
24. Pipes by Robert Reed
25. Chu Chai by S.P. Somtow
26. Pogrom by James Patrick Kelly

Best Collection
Winner:

1.   Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories by Howard Waldrop

Other Nominees:
2.   Playgrounds of the Mind by Larry Niven
3.   Remaking History by Kim Stanley Robinson
4.   Gravity's Angels by Michael Swanwick
5.   The Best of James H. Schmitz by James H. Schmitz
6.   Mirabile by Janet Kagan
7.   The Book of the Dead by Tanith Lee
8.   The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson
9.   The Bone Forest by Robert Holdstock
10. Grimscribe: His Lives and Works by Thomas Ligotti
11. The Collected Short Fiction of Robert Sheckley by Robert Sheckley
12. Lafferty in Orbit by R.A. Lafferty
13. Wormwood by Terry Dowling
14. The Start of the End of It All by Carol Emshwiller
15. Transreal! by Rudy Rucker
16. Sexual Chemistry by Brian Stableford
17. Courting Disasters and Other Strange Affinities by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   Full Spectrum 3 edited by Lou Aronica, Amy Stout, and Betsy Mitchell

Other Nominees:

2.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

3.   The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

4.   A Whisper of Blood edited by Ellen Datlow

5.   What Might Have Been? Vol. 3: Alternate Wars edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg

6.   Man-Kzin Wars IV edited by Larry Niven
7.   After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Martin H. Greenberg

8.   Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales edited by Lester del Rey and Risa Kessler

9.   The Best of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
10. (tie) Final Shadows edited by Charles L. Grant
      (tie) New Worlds 1 edited by David Garnett
12. Future on Fire edited by Orson Scott Card
13. The Ultimate Werewolf edited by Byron Preiss
14. Welcome to Reality: The Nightmares of Philip K. Dick edited by Uwe Anton
15. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume VII edited by Algis Budrys

16. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 23 (1961) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

17. Nebula Awards 25 edited by Michael Bishop

18. Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine: Issue Ten: Winter 1991 edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

19. The New Hugo Winners, Volume II edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   Science-Fiction: The Early Years by Everett F. Bleiler

Other Nominees:

2.   The World of Charles Addams by Charles Addams

3.   Clive Barker's Shadows in Eden edited by Stephen Jones

4.   Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: 1990 by Charles N. Brown and William G. Contento

5.   Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymous Bosch by Nancy Willard; illustrated by Leo Dillon, Diane Dillon, and Lee Dillon

6.   Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock
7.   Witches of the Mind: A Critical Study of Fritz Leiber by Bruce Byfield
8.   The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; illustrated by Alan Lee
9.   Dreamlands by Mark Harrison

10. The Connecticut Yankee in the Twentieth Century: Travel to the Past in Science Fiction by Bud Foote

11. H.R. Giger's Necronomicon by H.R. Giger

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2.   Kristine Kathryn Rusch
3.   Ellen Datlow
4.   Stanley Schmidt
5.   Edward L. Ferman
6.   Martin H. Greenberg
7.   David G. Hartwell
8.   David Pringle
9.   Lou Aronica
10. Terri Windling
11. Kim Mohan
12. Dean Wesley Smith

Best Magazine or Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Asimov's

Other Nominees:
2.   Fantasy & Science Fiction
3.   Analog
4.   Amazing Stories
5.   Interzone
6.   Science Fiction Chronicle
7.   Aboriginal SF
8.   Pulphouse
9.   Omni
10. Weird Tales
11. Science Fiction Eye
12. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine
13. The New York Review of Science Fiction
14. Cemetery Dance

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Tor/St. Martin's

Other Nominees:
2.   Bantam/Doubleday/Dell
3.   Berkley/Ace
4.   Ballantine/Del Rey/Fawcett/Random House
5.   Baen
6.   DAW
7.   Avon/Morrow
8.   Ziesing/Ursus
9.   Pulphouse/Axolotl
10. Penguin/Roc/Viking
11. Warner/Questar
12. Dark Harvest
13. Arkham House
14. Underwood-Miller

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Tom Canty
3.   Don Maitz
4.   Bob Eggleton
5.   J.K. Potter
6.   Darrell K. Sweet
7.   David A. Cherry
8.   Jim Burns
9.   Keith Parkinson
10. Alan Lee
11. Boris Vallejo
12. Frank Kelly Freas
13. W.J. Hodgson
14. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
15. David Mattingly
16. H.R. Giger
17. Jody Lee
18. Vincent Di Fate

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home

1992 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Comments: Although he didn't win any of the categories, with four nominations, on for Best Novel, one for Best Novella, and two for Best Short Fiction, 1991 was clearly Charles de Lint's year. This is not to say that other authors didn't have a great year as well: Robert Holdstock won for Best Novella and was nominated for Best Collection, Darrell Schweitzer won a Special Professional Award and was nominated for Best Novella, Ellen Datlow won for Best Anthology and was nominated for another work in the same category, and Martin H. Greenberg garnered two nomination in the Best Anthology Category. Why this concentration of nominees occurred is unclear - the established pattern for the World Fantasy Awards to this point had been for the same people to be nominated from year to year, but it was rare for people to garner multiple nominations in a single year - but one possible explanation is the increasing concentration of the publishing industry, squeezing out the authors who provided the revolving variety around the perennial stalwarts.

Best Novel

Winner:
Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon

Other Nominees:
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Hunting the Ghost Dancer by A.A. Attanasio
The Little Country by Charles de Lint
Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll
The Paper Grail by James P. Blaylock

Best Novella

Winner:
The Ragthorn by Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth

Other Nominees:
The Gallery of His Dreams by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Gwydion and the Dragon by C.J. Cherryh
Our Lady of the Harbour by Charles de Lint
The Pavilion of Frozen Women by S.P. Somtow
To Become a Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
The Somewhere Doors by Fred Chappell

Other Nominees:
The Better Boy by James P. Blaylock and Tim Powers
The Conjure Man by Charles de Lint
Pity the Monsters by Charles de Lint

Best Anthology

Winner:

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Other Nominees:
After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Martin H. Greenberg

Famous Fantastic Mysteries edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg, and Martin H. Greenberg

Final Shadows edited by Charles L. Grant
When the Music's Over edited by Lewis Shiner
A Whisper of Blood edited by Ellen Datlow

Best Collection

Winner:
The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard

Other Nominees:
The Bone Forest by Robert Holdstock
Grimscribe: His Lives and Works by Thomas Ligotti
Lafferty In Orbit by R.A. Lafferty
More Shapes Than One by Fred Chappell
Night of the Cooters: More Neat Stories by Howard Waldrop

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Edd Cartier

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Tim Hildebrandt

Other Nominees:
David Bergen
Alan M. Clark
Ned Dameron
Alan Lee

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
George Scithers and Darrell Schweitzer

Other Nominees:
Ramsey Campbell
Donald M. Grant
Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Terri Windling

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
W. Paul Ganley

Other Nominees:
Crispin Burnham
Barry Hoffman
Peggy Nadramia
Joe Stefko and Tracy Cocoman

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home

1992 Clarke Award Nominees

Location: United Kingdom.

Comments: I have not read either Pat Cadigan's Synners or Paul J. McAuley's Eternal Light, but I have read Stephen Baxter's Raft, and I found it to be an excellent book. If those two books turn out to be better than Baxter's imagined universe where gravity is a thousand times stronger than it is in our universe, then I will be pleasantly surprised. I think this highlights the overwhelming nature of printed science fiction in the modern world. I've read a lot of science fiction, and I have the sagging bookshelves to prove it. But in many award years, I find that I have read only a few of the nominated works, and frequently I haven't read the winners. This isn't because I've been avoiding them, I just haven't gotten to them yet, because there is simply so much excellent published science fiction turned out every year that it is almost impossible to keep up with it.

Winner
Synners by Pat Cadigan

Runner-Up
Eternal Light by Paul J. McAuley

Shortlist
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
Raft by Stephen Baxter
Subterranean Gallery by Richard Paul Russo
White Queen by Gwyneth Jones

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home

1992 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: Apparently tired of making it public that they were consistently inducting mediocre novels into their Hall of Fame while giving the cold shoulder to much better books that were nominated against them, the Libertarian Futurist Society appears to have decided to solve this problem by simply not listing the non-winning nominees. Ironically, in 1992, one of those better books that had been an also-ran in previous years actually gained induction into the Hall of Fame, so perhaps this plan was not as well thought out as its creators might have thought.

Best Novel

Winner:

Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn

Other Nominees:

Distant Drums by D.L. Carey

D'Shai by Joel Rosenberg
The Infinity Gambit by James P. Hogan
Me: A Novel of Self-Discovery by Thomas T. Thomas
The Silicon Man by Charles Platt
Star Trek #57: The Rift by Peter David
A Tale of the Wind by Kay Nolte Smith

Hall of Fame

Winner:

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home

1992 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: MagiCon in Orlando, Florida.

Comments: In 1992 the importance of Lois McMaster Bujold's 1991 Best Novel victory for The Vor Game became clear when she repeated the feat and won the Best Novel award again for Barrayar. Just a handful of years after Orson Scott Card became the first author to win back to back Best Novel Hugo Awards, Lois McMaster Bujold became the first woman to do so, and did so against a field heavily populated by other female nominees. Not only that, the other fiction categories also had a fair complement of female nominees, including the excellent winning novella Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. Gender inequities had not been abolished, but clearly progress had been made.

In the Dramatic Presentation category Terminator 2: Judgement Day won the award. Granted, Terminator 2 was the best science fiction or fantasy movie of the year that year, but it is interesting that it won, while the previous (and probably better) movie in the series, Terminator, didn't even rate a Hugo nomination. In a now familiar turn of events, yet another Star Trek movie was nominated for a Hugo in this category, and yet another Star Trek movie lost. This year also saw the introduction of the short-lived category Best Original Artwork, which was promptly won by Michael Whelan.

Best Novel

Winner:
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Other Finalists:
All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

Best Novella

Winner:

Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

Other Finalists:
And Wild for to Hold by Nancy Kress
The Gallery of His Dreams by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Griffin's Egg by Michael Swanwick
Jack by Connie Willis

Best Novelette

Winner:

Gold by Isaac Asimov

Other Finalists:
Dispatches from the Revolution by Pat Cadigan
Fin de Cyclé by Howard Waldrop
Miracle by Connie Willis
Understand by Ted Chiang

Best Short Story

Winner:

A Walk in the Sun by Geoffrey A. Landis

Other Finalists:
Buffalo by John Kessel
Dog's Life by Martha Soukup
In the Late Cretaceous by Connie Willis
One Perfect Morning, With Jackals by Mike Resnick
Press Ann by Terry Bisson
Winter Solstice by Mike Resnick

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:

The World of Charles Addams by Charles Addams

Other Finalists:
The Bakery Men Don't See Cookbook edited by Jeanne Gomoll, et.al.
Clive Barker's Shadows in Eden edited by Stephen Jones

The Science Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History: Third Edition by Jack L. Chalker and Mark Owings

Science-Fiction: The Early Years by Everett F. Bleiler

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Other Finalists:
The Addams Family
Beauty and the Beast (1991 Disney Film)
The Rocketeer
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Gardner Dozois

Other Finalists:
Ellen Datlow
Edward L. Ferman
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Stanley Schmidt

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Michael Whelan

Other Finalists:
Thomas Canty
David A. Cherry
Bob Eggleton
Don Maitz

Best Original Artwork

Winner:

Michael Whelan for The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge

Other Finalists:
Thomas Canty for The White Mists of Power by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Bob Eggleton for Lunar Descent by Allen M. Steele
Bob Eggleton for Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
Don Maitz for Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh

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, David G. Hartwell, Robert K.J. Killheffer, and Gordon van Gelder

Pulphouse edited by Dean Wesley Smith
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew I. Porter

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Mimosa edited by Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch

Other Finalists:
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
FOSFAX edited by Timothy Lane and Janice Moore
Lan's Lantern edited by George "Lan" Laskowski
Trapdoor edited by Robert Lichtman

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
Avedon Carol
Mike Glyer
Andrew Hooper
Evelyn C. Leeper
Harry Warner, Jr.

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Brad W. Foster

Other Finalists:
Teddy Harvia
Peggy Ranson
Stu Shiffman
Diana Harlan Stein

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Ted Chiang

Other Finalists:
Barbara Delaplace
Greer Ilene Gilman
Laura Resnick
Michelle Sagara

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home

1992 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Colony Square Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia.

Comments: In 1992, the SFWA noticed that they hadn't honored any science fiction film in a while, and created the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. They then declared that it was not a Nebula Award and handed the first one to Terminator 2. The SFWA's insistence that the Ray Bradbury Award is not a Nebula is a reflection of the organization's somewhat quixotic stance that an award they give out at the same ceremony, to honor pretty much the exact same sort of thing, is somehow not the same sort of award. It seems they want to honor the creators of dramatic works, and maintain that the Bradbury Award is equal to the Nebula Awards, but also maintain that it is distinct. But since the Bradbury Award is much less well-known than the Nebula Award, saying that you have won a Bradbury Award isn't equal to saying you've won a Nebula Award, and everyone who observes the SFWA awards cycle knows this. So the end result is that almost everyone ignores the "Bradbury" designation for the award, and just calls it a Nebula.

Best Novel

Winner:
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick

Other Nominees:
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Orbital Resonance by John Barnes
Synners by Pat Cadigan

Best Novella

Winner:

Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

Other Nominees:
Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana by Michael Bishop
Bully! by Mike Resnick
The Gallery of His Dreams by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Jack by Connie Willis
Man Opening a Door by Paul Ash

Best Novelette

Winner:

Guide Dog by Mike Conner

Other Nominees:
The All-Consuming by Lucius Shepard and Robert Frazier
Black Glass by Karen Joy Fowler
Gate of Faces by Ray Aldridge
Getting Real by Susan Shwartz
The Happy Man by Jonathan Lethem
Standing In Line with Mister Jimmy by James Patrick Kelly

Best Short Story

Winner:
Ma Qui by Alan Brennert

Other Nominees:
Buffalo by John Kessel
the button, and what you know by W. Gregory Stewart
The Dark by Karen Joy Fowler
Dog's Life by Martha Soukup
They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson

Ray Bradbury Award

Winner:

Terminator 2

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1991
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1993

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: Through the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, the members of the Libertarian Futurist Society seem to have been playing a game with themselves. They repeatedly nominated works like Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Levin's This Perfect Day, and Zamyatin's We, and then turned around and voted for books like Wilson's An Enemy of the State to be inducted into the Prometheus Award Hall of Fame. This pattern seems to me to be the result of the voters nominating works that they think they should be reading, but when the time came to vote for the winner, they voted for the books they were actually reading, leading to a collection of high-quality nominees losing out to an array of mediocre winners.

Best Novel

Winner:

In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn

Other Nominees:

The Cybernetic Shogun by Victor Milán

The Tery by F. Paul Wilson
Under the Yoke by S.M. Stirling
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

Hall of Fame

Winner:

An Enemy of the State by F. Paul Wilson

Other Nominees:
Circus World by Barry B. Longyear
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
This Perfect Day by Ira Levin
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: In 1991, Pacific Edge, Kim Stanely Robinson's final installment in his Three Californias series, won the Campbell Award. This victory seems to continue a trend among award voters to give a nod to the final book in a series as a way to recognize the series as a whole, regardless of whether it was the best book in the series or not. There seems to be a trend in genre fiction towards making publishing a trilogy length series of book the de facto standard, with stand-alone novels becoming rarer and rarer. I have to wonder if this tendency of award voters to ignore books until they are the third or fourth in a series has influenced this trend, as authors and editors spend their time trying to chase accolades by pushing out more and more series fiction.

Best Novel

Winner:

Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson

Second Place:

Queen of Angels by Greg Bear

Third Place:

Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: After an absence of several years, the slate of nominees for the Scholarship Award returned in 1991, possibly as a preview for the expanded slate of awards that would show up in 1992. Whether this addition of non-winning nominees for the Scholarship Award was a harbinger of the split of both of the Mythopoeic Award categories or not is entirely unclear, but it does allow us to see what competition George Sayer's work had for the award, and be able to evaluate their relative merits.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner

Other Nominees:

The Books of Great Alta (Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna) by Jane Yolen

Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:

Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times by George Sayer

Other Nominees:
Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis by Owen Barfield
The Pattern in the Web: The Mythical Poetry of Charles Williams by Roma A. King

A Purgatorial Flame: Seven British Writers in the Second World War by Sebastian Knowles

The Taste of the Pineapple: Essays on C.S. Lewis as Reader, Critic, and Imaginative Writer edited by Bruce L. Edward

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Tuscon, Arizona.

Comments: The 1991 World Fantasy Awards were the home of some small controversy when Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess won the Best Short Story Award for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The problem was not that the story wasn't good enough to win, but rather that it had been published in graphic form, as part of the Sandman comic book series. I've always found these kinds of controversies to be silly - if the writing is good enough, and the work otherwise meets all of the requirements of the category, why does it matter if it was published in a "traditional" format or as a graphic novel? This sort of complaint seems almost petty to me. If great fantasy fiction is being produced, then it should be recognized regardless of the details regarding its publication.

Best Novel

Winner:
(tie) Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow
(tie) Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner

Other Nominees:
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Best Novella

Winner:
Bones by Pat Murphy

Other Nominees:
The Barrens by F. Paul Wilson
Black Cocktail by Jonathan Carroll
The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess

Other Nominees:
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
The Last Feast of Harlequin by Thomas Ligotti
Stephen by Elizabeth Massie

Best Anthology

Winner:

Best New Horror edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell

Other Nominees:
Alien Sex edited by Ellen Datlow
Borderlands edited by Thomas F. Monteleone
Dark Voices 2: The Pan Book of Horror edited by David Sutton and Stephen Jones
Walls of Fear edited by Kathryn Cramer

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Third Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Best Collection

Winner:
The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories by Carol Emshwiller

Other Nominees:
The Brains of Rats by Michael Blumlein
Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub
The Leiber Chronicles by Fritz Leiber
Prayers to Broken Stones by Dan Simmons

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Ray Russell

Other Nominees:
None

Best Artist

Winner:
Dave McKean

Other Nominees:
Janet Aulisio
David Bergen
Brian Froud
Don Maitz
J.K. Potter

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Arnie Fenner

Other Nominees:
Ellen Datlow
S.T. Joshi
Paul Mikol and Scot Stadalsky
David Pringle

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Richard T. Chizmar

Other Nominees:
Barry Hoffman
Marc Michaud
Steve Pasechnick

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Clarke Award Nominees

Location: United Kingdom.

Comments: As one might expect from an award that was given to an almost iconic piece of feminist fiction in its first cycle, the Clarke Awards seem to have caught on more quickly that other genre awards to the fact that women make up half of the population, and are just as capable of turning out fantastic works of genre fiction as men are. And in 1991, the judges showed that they had learned this lesson, as three of the six nominees were works by women. Compared to other awards like Campbell Award and Prometheus Award, and even the Hugo Award and Nebula Award, this recognition of reality is like a breath of fresh air.

Winner
Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland

Runner-Up
Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle

Shortlist
The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
Farewell Horizontal by K.W. Jeter
Red Spider, White Web by Misha
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

What Are the Arthur C. Clarke Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1991 the relatively new Best Horror Novel category was renamed the Best Horror or Dark Fantasy Novel. This renaming highlights what I think are the problematic aspects of the category, namely, what are the borders between "horror", "dark fantasy", and plain old "fantasy"? Genre fiction is replete with fuzzy borders - the demarcation between Science Fiction and Fantasy can be awfully blurred at times - but in the case of these three designations, they seem to overlap more than they describe three different genres.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
2.   Earth by David Brin
3.   Queen of Angels by Greg Bear
4.   The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
5.   Voyage to the Red Planet by Terry Bisson

6.   Stranger in a Strange Land [Expanded Edition] (original uncut edition) by Robert A. Heinlein

7.   The Quiet Pools by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
8.   The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
9.   Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
10. The Ring of Charon by Roger MacBride Allen
11. Pegasus in Flight by Anne McCaffrey
12. Raising the Stones by Sheri S. Tepper
13. Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson
14. The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman
15. Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith
16. Summertide by Charles Sheffield
17. Polar City Blues by Katharine Kerr
18. The World at the End of Time by Frederik Pohl
19. Clarke County, Space by Allen M. Steele
20. The Hollow Earth by Rudy Rucker
21. The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey
22. In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn
23. The Ghost from the Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke
24. The Divide by Robert Charles Wilson
25. Agviq by Michael A. Armstrong
26. Heathern by Jack Womack

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
2.   Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
3.   Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
4.   Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow
5.   Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
6.   The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
7.   The Blood of Roses by Tanith Lee
8.   Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
9.   Drink Down the Moon by Charles de Lint
10. Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle
11. Ghostwood by Charles de Lint
12. Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
13. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
14. Time and Chance by Alan Brennert
15. In Between Dragons by Michael Kandel
16. Gossamer Axe by Gaèl Baudino
17. Chase the Morning by Michael Scott Rohan
18. Castleview by Gene Wolfe

Best Horror or Dark Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

Other Nominees:
2.   The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition by Stephen King
3.   Moon Dance by S.P. Somtow
4.   Tempter by Nancy A. Collins
5.   The Werewolves of London by Brian Stableford
6.   Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
7.   Dark Matter by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
8.   Fire by Alan Rodgers
9.   The Bad Place by Dean R. Koontz
10. Gothic Romance by Emmanuel Carrère

Best First Novel
Winner:
1.   In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn

Other Nominees:
2.   Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand
3.   Arachne by Lisa Mason
4.   Golden Fleece by Robert J. Sawyer
5.   An Abyss of Light by Kathleen M. O'Neal
6.   Black Snow Days by Claudia O'Keefe
7.   In the Net of Dreams by William Mark Simmons
8.   Nightlight by Michael Cadnum
9.   Cortez on Jupiter by Ernest Hogan
10. Keepers of the Peace by Keith Brooke
11. The Interior Life by Katherine Blake
12. The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson

Other Nominees:

2.   Heads by Greg Bear

3.   The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman
4.   Bones by Pat Murphy
5.   Lion Time in Timbuctoo by Robert Silverberg
6.   Fool to Believe by Pat Cadigan
7.   Kalimantan by Lucius Shepard
8.   Skull City by Lucius Shepard
9.   Elegy for Angels and Dogs by Walter Jon Williams
10. Mr. Boy by James Patrick Kelly
11. Bully! by Mike Resnick
12. Bwana by Mike Resnick
13. Naught for Hire by John E. Stith
14. Trembling Earth by Allen M. Steele
15. Mammy Morgan Played the Organ, Her Daddy Beat the Drum by Michael F. Flynn
16. Weatherman by Lois McMaster Bujold
17. The First Since Ancient Persia by John Brunner
18. The Cairene Purse by Michael Moorcock

Best Novelette
Winner:
1.   Entropy's Bed at Midnight by Dan Simmons

Other Nominees:
2.   Dr. Pak's Preschool by David Brin
3.   The Shobies' Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.   Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang
5.   And the Angels Sing by Kate Wilhelm
6.   A Braver Thing by Charles Sheffield
7.   Invaders by John Kessel
8.   Piecework by David Brin
9.   Inertia by Nancy Kress
10. The All-Consuming by Lucius Shepard and Robert Frazier
11. The Shores of Bohemia by Bruce Sterling
12. The Safe-Deposit Box by Greg Egan
13. Toward Kilimanjaro by Ian McDonald

14. The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, a Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk by Dafydd ab Hugh

15. (tie) Mrs. Byres and the Dragon by Keith Roberts
      (tie) UFO by Michael Swanwick
17. Hot Sky by Robert Silverberg
18. Hyena Eyes by Ray Aldridge
19. The Caress by Greg Egan
20. Timekeeper by John Morressy
21. The Last Feast of Harlequin by Thomas Ligotti
22. Transit of Betelgeuse by Robert R. Chase
23. Chaff by Robert Reed
24. Limekiller at Large by Avram Davidson
25. The Death Artist by Alexander Jablokov
26. The Haunted Boardinghouse by Gene Wolfe
27. Simulation Six by Steven Gould
28. Stephen by Elizabeth Massie
29. The Spiral Dance by R. Garcia y Robertson

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson

Other Nominees:

2.   Cibola by Connie Willis

3.   Godspeed by Charles Sheffield
4.   The First Time by K.W. Jeter
5.   Zürich by Kim Stanley Robinson
6.   Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates by Pat Murphy
7.   Husbands by Lisa Tuttle
8.   White City by Lewis Shiner
9.   We See Things Differently by Bruce Sterling
10. The Utility Man by Robert Reed
11. Axiomatic by Greg Egan
12. Missolonghi 1824 by John Crowley
13. Designated Hitter by Harry Turtledove
14. Lieserl by Karen Joy Fowler
15. True Colors by Kathe Koja
16. Shore Leave Blacks by Nancy Etchemendy
17. Learning to Be Me by Greg Egan
18. (tie) The Cold Cage by Ray Aldridge
      (tie) Midnight News by Lisa Goldstein
19. Après Moi by Gardner Dozois
20. The Sadness of Detail by Jonathan Carroll
21. VRM-547 by W.R. Thompson
22. Over Flat Mountain by Terry Bisson
23. Arousal by Richard Christian Matheson
24. Projects by Geoffrey A. Landis
25. Lizard Lust by Lisa Tuttle

Best Collection
Winner:

1.   Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card by Orson Scott Card

Other Nominees:
2.   Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr.
3.   Prayers to Broken Stones by Dan Simmons
4.   N-Space by Larry Niven
5.   The Leiber Chronicles by Fritz Leiber
6.   (tie) The Ends of the Earth by Lucius Shepard
       (tie) Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
8.   The Gateway Trip by Frederik Pohl
9. Points of Departure by Pat Murphy
10. The Shield of Time by Poul Anderson
11. Facets by Walter Jon Williams
12. Slow Dancing Through Time by Gardner Dozois
13. Lunar Activity by Elizabeth Moon
14. The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard
15. Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub
16. War Fever by J.G. Ballard
17. The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories by Carol Emshwiller

Best Anthology
Winner:

1.   The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:

2.   Alien Sex edited by Ellen Datlow

3.   The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Third Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

4.   Universe 1 edited by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber

5.   The 1990 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

6.   Borderlands edited by Thomas F. Monteleone
7.   Nebula Awards 24 edited by Michael Bishop
8.   Project Solar Sail edited by Arthur C. Clarke

9.   Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine: Issue Nine: Fall 1990 edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

10. Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror edited by Paul M. Sammon
11. Zenith 2 edited by David S. Garnett

12. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 20 (1958) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

13. Skin of the Soul edited by Lisa Tuttle

14. Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories: 21 (1959) edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

15. Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine: Issue Seven: Spring 1990 edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

16. The Mammoth Book of Vintage Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1950s edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh

17. The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XVIII edited by Karl Edward Wagner
18. Women of Darkness II edited by Kathryn Ptacek
19. Best New Horror edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell

20. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume VI edited by Algis Budrys

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1.   Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith

Other Nominees:

2.   How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

3.   Science Fiction in the Real World by Norman Spinrad
4.   H.R. Giger's Biomechanics by H.R. Giger
5.   Hollywood Gothic by David J. Skal
6.   Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith's by Brian W. Aldiss

7.   Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: 1989 by Charles N. Brown and William G. Contento

8.   The Weird Tale by S.T. Joshi
9.   Fantasy Literature: A Reader's Guide edited by Neil Barron
10. C.S. Lewis: A Biography by A.N. Wilson
11. Horror Literature: A Reader's Guide edited by Neil Barron
12. Don't Tell the Grown-Ups by Alison Lurie

13. Understanding American Science Fiction: The Formative Period, 1926-1970 by Thomas D. Clareson

14. Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: 1984 by Charles N. Brown and William G. Contento

Best Editor
Winner:
1.   Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2.   Ellen Datlow
3.   Kristine Kathryn Rusch
4.   Edward L. Ferman
5.   Stanley Schmidt
6.   David Pringle
7.   David G. Hartwell
8.   Donald A. Wollheim
9.   Terri Windling
10. Charles C. Ryan
11. Martin H. Greenberg
12. Beth Meacham

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Asimov's

Other Nominees:
2.   Fantasy & Science Fiction
3.   Analog
4.   Interzone
5.   Aboriginal SF
6.   Omni
7.   Weird Tales
8.   Amazing Stories
9.   Science Fiction Chronicle
10. Science Fiction Eye
11. Pulphouse
12. Quantum (formerly Thrust)
13. The New York Review of Science Fiction
14. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Tor/St. Martin's

Other Nominees:
2.   Bantam/Doubleday/Dell
3.   Putnam/Berkley/Ace
4.   Ballantine/Del Rey/Fawcett
5.   Baen
6.   DAW
7.   Ziesing/Ursus
8.   Avon/Morrow
9.   Dark Harvest
10. Pulphouse/Axolotl
11. Warner/Popular Library/Questar
12. Arkham House
13. Penguin USA/Roc/Viking/Signet/NAL
14. Gollancz
15. Underwood-Miller

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Michael Whelan

Other Nominees:
2.   Don Maitz
3.   Tom Canty
4.   J.K. Potter
5.   Gary Ruddell
6.   Keith Parkinson
7.   David A. Cherry
8.   Bob Eggleton
9.   Frank Kelly Freas
10. Boris Vallejo
11. W.J. Hodgson
12. Jim Burns
13. Janet Aulisio
14. Ilene Meyer
15. Darrell K. Sweet
16. Barclay Shaw
17. Thomas Kidd
18. (tie) Ian Miller
      (tie) Vincent Di Fate

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: Chicon V in Chicago, Illinois.

Comments: In 1991, Lois McMaster Bujold took home the Best Novel prize for her Miles Vorkosigan adventure The Vor Game. While this represented yet another step for women in science fiction, the full import of this victory would not be clear until 1992. In the other written fiction categories, reasonably solid choices were made, although all were won by men, and the bulk of the nominees were men. Science fiction has made strides with respect to gender equality, but it still has a long way to go.

In the Best Dramatic Presentation category, the bizarre Tim Burton-directed Edward Scissorhands took the prize, beating out a mostly indifferent collection of competitors, demonstrating that the Hugo voters are willing to look past the popular but mundane, such as Back to the Future III, and embrace the ethereal, the weird, and the surreal.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

Other Finalists:
Earth by David Brin
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Queen of Angels by Greg Bear
The Quiet Pools by Michael P. Kube-McDowell

Best Novella

Winner:

The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman

Other Finalists:
Bones by Pat Murphy
Bully! by Mike Resnick
Fool to Believe by Pat Cadigan
A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Manamouki by Mike Resnick

Other Finalists:
A Braver Thing by Charles Sheffield

The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk by Dafydd ab Hugh

Over the Long Haul by Martha Soukup
Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang

Best Short Story

Winner:

Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson

Other Finalists:
Cibola by Connie Willis
Godspeed by Charles Sheffield
The Utility Man by Robert Reed
VRM-547 by W.R. Thompson

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

Winner:

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

Other Finalists:
Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith's by Brian W. Aldiss
Hollywood Gothic by David J. Skal
Science Fiction in the Real World by Norman Spinrad

Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Edward Scissorhands

Other Finalists:
Back to the Future III
Ghost
Total Recall
The Witches

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Gardner Dozois

Other Finalists:
Ellen Datlow
Edward L. Ferman
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Stanley Schmidt

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Michael Whelan

Other Finalists:
Thomas Canty
David A. Cherry
Bob Eggleton
Don Maitz

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, David G. Hartwell, and Gordon van Gelder

Quantum edited by D. Douglas Fratz
Science Fiction Chronicle edited by Andrew Porter

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Lan's Lantern edited by George "Lan" Laskowski

Other Finalists:
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
FOSFAX edited by Janice Moore and Timothy Lane
Mainstream edited by Jerry Kaufman and Suzanne Tompkins
Mimosa edited by Richard Lynch and Nicki Lynch

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Dave Langford

Other Finalists:
Avedon Carol
Mike Glyer
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Arthur Hlavaty
Evelyn C. Leeper

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Teddy Harvia

Other Finalists:
Merle Insinga
Peggy Ranson
Stu Shiffman
Diana Stein

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Julia Ecklar

Other Finalists:
Nancy A. Collins
John Cramer
Scott Cupp
Michael Kandel

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home

1991 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Roosevelt Hotel, New York City, New York.

Comments: I don't think it is any secret that I love Ursula K. Le Guin's writing. So it should surprise no one that I am entirely happy with the fact that Tehanu won the Nebula this year. Granted, a lot of criticisms have been leveled at the novel, mostly because it isn't exactly the same as the three Earthsea novels that preceded it, but whether those criticisms are valid or not is beside the point. Every piece of Le Guin's writing manages to be both enjoyable and thought-provoking, and Tehanu is no exception. Also granted, the other nominees this year were somewhat underwhelming. None of that matters. Le Guin won another Nebula, and as a result, I am happy.

In a mildly ironic twist, the subtitle of Tehanu, declaring it to be The Last Book of Earthsea, is a little dated now, as The Other Wind has since been published.

Best Novel

Winner:
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin
Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow
Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith
White Jenna by Jane Yolen

Best Novella

Winner:

The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman

Other Nominees:
Bones by Pat Murphy
Fool to Believe by Pat Cadigan
Mr. Boy by James Patrick Kelly
Weatherman by Lois McMaster Bujold

Best Novelette

Winner:

Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang

Other Nominees:
1/72^nd Scale by Ian R. MacLeod

The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk by Dafydd ab Hugh

Loose Cannon by Susan M. Shwartz
The Manamouki by Mike Resnick
Over the Long Haul by Martha Soukup
The Shobies' Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Time for Every Purpose by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Best Short Story

Winner:
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson

Other Nominees:
Before I Wake by Kim Stanley Robinson
Lieserl by Karen Joy Fowler
Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates by Pat Murphy
The Power and the Passion by Pat Cadigan
Story Child by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Go to previous year's nominees: 1990
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1992

Book Award Reviews     Home