1979 Nebula Award Nominees

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

Comments: Having shed the Best Dramatic Presentation category for the time being, the 1979 Nebula Awards were back to an entirely literary affair. But this modest change to the categories wasn't the only new development in the Nebula Awards, as the winners for this year were mostly people who had never won a Nebula before. Not only that, many of the nominees were faces that hadn't previously been seen much in the world of science fiction awards. In short, the wins by Vonda N. McIntyre, John Varley, Charles L. Grant, and Edward Bryant seem to indicate that the science fiction field was undergoing something of a changing of the guard. It's not a huge change, as most of the authors had been working for quite a while before 1979, but it was a change in that the field was entirely lacking in any offerings from writers such as Asimov, Lieber, Clarke, Heinlein, Niven, Le Guin, Silverberg or any of the other usual suspects.

Best Novel

Winner:
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

Other Nominees:
Blind Voices by Tom Reamy
The Faded Sun: Kesrith by C.J. Cherryh
Kalki by Gore Vidal
Strangers by Gardner Dozois

Best Novella

Winner:

The Persistence of Vision by John Varley

Other Nominees:
Seven American Nights by Gene Wolfe

Best Novelette

Winner:

A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye by Charles L. Grant

Other Nominees:
Devil You Don't Know by Dean Ing
Mikal's Songbird by Orson Scott Card

Best Short Story

Winner:
Stone by Edward Bryant

Other Nominees:
Cassandra by C.J. Cherryh
A Quiet Revolution for Death by Jack Dann

Go to previous year's nominees: 1978
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1980

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1978 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: The best description one can use for the 1978 Locus Award ballot is aberrant. The first change from previous practice is the split of the Best Novel category into two: The Best Science Fiction Novel category and the Best Fantasy Novel category. This split would not be repeated in 1979, but would become the standard thereafter.

But the other omissions from the list of categories are perplexing. The Best Collection and Best Anthology categories were both left off the ballot. The Best Fanzine category was merged into the Best Magazine category, resulting in a situation in which radically different kinds of publications were competing against one another. The Best Critic and Best Artist categories also vanished. There seems to have been no real reason for Locus to have taken a machete to their award categories, and most were restored in 1979, but they did and it is entirely inexplicable.

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1.   Gateway by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
2.   In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford
3.   The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
4.   Time Storm by Gordon R. Dickson
5.   Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
6.   A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
7.   The Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert
8.   Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
9.   Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey
10. Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin
11. The Forbidden Tower by Marion Zimmer Bradley
12. Hunter of Worlds by C.J. Cherryh
13. Mirkheim by Poul Anderson
14. The Dark Design by Philip José Farmer
15. A Heritage of Stars by Clifford D. Simak
16. Cirque by Terry Carr
17. Moonstar Odyssey by David Gerrold
18. Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker
19. Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan
20. All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman
21. The Martian Inca by Ian Watson
22. A Little Knowledge by Michael Bishop
23. If the Stars Are Gods by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1.   The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Other Nominees:
2.   Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber
3.   The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
4.   The Shining by Stephen King
5.   The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
6.   Sword of the Demon by Richard A. Lupoff
7.   Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip
8.   The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White
9.   A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony
10. The Grey Mane of Morning by Joy Chant
11. Cry Silver Bells by Thomas Burnett Swann
12. Trey of Swords by Andre Norton
13. Queens Walk in the Dusk by Thomas Burnett Swann
14. Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson

Other Nominees:

2.   A Snark in the Night by Gregory Benford

3.   Aztecs by Vonda N. McIntyre
4.   Auk House by Clifford D. Simak
5.   The Mars Ship by Robert Thurston
6.   In the Hall of the Martian Kings by John Varley
7.   The Family Monkey by Lisa Tuttle
8.   Cold Cash War by Robert Asprin
9.   Joelle by Poul Anderson
10. The Wonderful Secret by Keith Laumer
11. Growing Boys by Robert Aickman
12. Equinoctial by John Varley
13. Heretic in a Balloon by L. Sprague de Camp

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Jeffty Is Five by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:

2.   The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon

3.   Air Raid by Herb Boehm
4.   A Rite of Spring by Fritz Leiber
5.   Eyes of Amber by Joan D. Vinge
6.   The Kugelmass Episode by Woody Allen
7.   The Stone City by George R.R. Martin
8.   Particle Theory by Edward Bryant
9.   Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
10. The Bagful of Dreams by Jack Vance

11. The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs by Carter Scholz

12. The House of Compassionate Sharers by Michael Bishop
13. The Big Fans by Keith Roberts
14. The Detweiler Boy by Tom Reamy
15. Prismatica by Samuel R. Delany
16. Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe by John Varley
17. Camera Obscura by Thomas F. Monteleone
18. Dog Day Evening by Spider Robinson
19. (tie) Bitterblooms by George R.R. Martin
      (tie) Pinnocchio by Stanley Schmidt
21. A Rain of Pebbles by Stephen Leigh

Best Magazine
Winner:
1.   Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Edward L. Ferman

Other Nominees:
2.   Locus edited by Charles N. Brown
3.   Analog edited by Ben Bova
4.   Asimov's edited by George H. Scithers
5.   Galaxy edited by James Baen and J.J. Pierce
6.   Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis
7.   Cosmos edited by David G. Hartwell
8.   Algol edited by Andrew Porter
9.   Galileo edited by Charles G. Ryan
10. Starlog edited by Howard Zimmerman
11. Amazing Stories edited by Ted White
12. Unearth edited by Jonathon Ostrowsky-Lantz and John M. Landsberg
13. Fantastic edited by Ted White
14. Universe edited by Terry Carr
15. Whispers edited by Stuart David Schiff
16. Delap's F&SF Review edited by Richard Delap
17. Cinefantastique edited by Frederick S. Clarke
18. Orbit edited by Damon Knight
19. SF Commentary edited by Bruce Gillespie

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Ballantine/Del Rey

Other Nominees:
2.   DAW
3.   Berkley/Putnam
4.   Science Fiction Book Club
5.   Ace
6.   Doubleday
7.   St. Martin's
8.   Dial
9.   (tie) Donald M. Grant
      (tie) Harper & Row
11. Avon
12. Gregg Press
13. Bantam
14. Pocket
15. Atheneum
16. Dell

Go to previous year's nominees: 1977
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1978 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: In 1978, the Campbell Awards made what is possibly the easiest choice ever to confront the judges and gave the Best Novel honor to Frederik Pohl's magnificent novel Gateway, a novel that also won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Despite the strong competition provided this year by the Strugatsky brothers and Philip K. Dick, whose books would probably have been front-runners for the award in almost any other year, there was never any real question as to who the ultimate winner should be.

Best Novel

Winner:

Gateway by Frederik Pohl

Second Place:

Roadside Picnic and Tale of the Troika Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky

Third Place:
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

Go to previous year's nominees: 1977
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1978 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Fort Worth, Texas.

Comments: Four years in, and the lack of recognition for women was getting to be a little bit ridiculous. Thirty-four nominations. One woman nominated. Sort of. Judy-Lynn del Rey was nominated as half of a nominated team along with her husband Lester del Rey. Over the first four years of the World Fantasy Award, there were only three nominations for women - and two of those nominations were shared with a male partner. To the modern eye this not only appears to be ridiculously sexist, but it is also surprising, as fantasy fiction has now come to be associated with large numbers of female authors. But when the World Fantasy Award was created, it is obvious that fantasy fiction was an almost entirely male preserve. Unfortunately, the World Fantasy Award, by failing to recognize any of the handful of excellent contributions to the genre made by women, seems to have helped compound this gender disparity.

Best Novel

Winner:
Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber

Other Nominees:
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Hour of the Oxrun Dead by Charles L. Grant

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
The Chimney by Ramsey Campbell

Other Nominees:
The Bagful of Dreams by Jack Vance
Jeffty Is Five by Harlan Ellison
Loveman's Comeback by Ramsey Campbell
Manatee Gal Ain't You Coming Out Tonight by Avram Davidson
When All the Children Call My Name by Charles L. Grant

Best Anthology or Collection

Winner:
Murgunstrumm and Others by Hugh B. Cave

Other Nominees:
Cold Chills by Robert Bloch
Swords and Ice Magic by Fritz Leiber
Whispers edited by Stuart David Schiff
The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series V edited by Gerald W. Page

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Frank Belknap Long

Other Nominees:
Jorge Luis Borges
John Collier
Roald Dahl
Richard Matheson
Manly Wade Wellman

Best Artist

Winner:
Lee Brown Coye

Other Nominees:
Stephen Fabian
Tim Kirk
Michael Whelan

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Everett F. Bleiler

Other Nominees:
Judy-Lynn del Rey and Lester del Rey
Edward L. Ferman
Donald A. Wollheim

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Robert Weinberg

Other Nominees:
Jonathan Bacon
W. Paul Ganley
Stephen Jones
Gary Hoppenstand
Harry O. Morris, Jr.

Special Convention Award

Winner:
Kirby McCauley

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1977
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1978 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: IguanaCon II in Phoenix, Arizona.

Comments: 1978 is the year that Star Wars won a Hugo award. The world of science fiction film can be split into two parts: before Star Wars, and after Star Wars. Before Star Wars science fiction movies were usually low-budget, and almost always regarded as throwaway filler by movie studios made only to mollify the minority of movie goers who enjoyed that sort of movie. And then George Lucas came along and changed the game with an homage to the old Flash Gordon movie serials. From 1978 forward, science fiction films would be touted as summer blockbusters. Just compare the production values of Star Wars to the "best" of the 1977 nominees - Logan's Run - and the shift is apparent. And while Star Wars' $11 million budget was comparable to the $9 million budget for Logan's Run, the box office for the two movies was radically different. Logan's Run did well, with a box office run of $25 million, making back its production costs plus a modest profit. Star Wars, on the other hand, earned $410 million during its initial theatrical run (when one includes the box office from its international release). After Star Wars, nothing in filmed science fiction would be the same.

The rest of the Hugo's were fairly normal. Frederik Pohl won the Best Novel award for his brilliant novel Gateway. Spider and Jeane Robinson won for Stardance, and Harlan Ellison won yet another Hugo for Jeffty Is Five. Perhaps the most interesting development in the fiction awards was that Joan D. Vinge won a Hugo for her story Eyes of Amber, which when coupled with Jeanne Robinson's shared victory for Stardance, means that women won in two of the four written fiction categories in a single year. Another interesting bit of trivia is that Alice B. Sheldon was nominated for two different Hugo awards under two different names: Once in the Novelette category as Raccoona Sheldon for The Screwfly Solution, and another in the Short Story category as James Tiptree, Jr. for Time-Sharing Angel.

Best Novel

Winner:
Gateway by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin
The Forbidden Tower by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Time Storm by Gordon R. Dickson

Best Novella

Winner:

Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson

Other Nominees:
Aztecs by Vonda N. McIntyre
In the Hall of the Martian Kings by John Varley
A Snark in the Night by Gregory Benford
The Wonderful Secret by Keith Laumer

Best Novelette

Winner:

Eyes of Amber by Joan D. Vinge

Other Nominees:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs by Carter Scholz

Prismatica by Samuel R. Delany
The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon

Best Short Story

Winner:

Jeffty Is Five by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
Air Raid by Herb Boehm
Dog Day Evening by Spider Robinson
Lauralyn by Randall Garrett
Time-Sharing Angel by James Tiptree, Jr.

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
Star Wars

Other Nominees:
Blood! The Life and Future Times of Jack the Ripper (album)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Hobbit (television movie)
Wizards

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
George Scithers

Other Nominees:
Jim Baen
Ben Bova
Terry Carr
Edward L. Ferman

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Rick Sternbach

Other Nominees:
Vincent Di Fate
Steve Fabian
Frank Kelly Freas
Michael Whelan

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown

Other Nominees:
Don-O-Saur edited by Don C. Thompson
Janus edited by Janice Bogstad and Jeanne Gomoll
Maya edited by Rob Jackson
Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Richard E. Geis

Other Nominees:
Charles Brown
Don D'Ammassa
Don C. Thompson
Susan Wood

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Phil Foglio

Other Nominees:
Grant Canfield
Alexis Gilliland
Jeanne Gomoll
Jim Shull

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Orson Scott Card

Other Nominees:
Jack L. Chalker
Stephen R. Donaldson
Elizabeth A. Lynn
Bruce Sterling

What Are the Hugo Awards?

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1978 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Sir Francis Drake Hotel, San Francisco, California.

Comments: Despite the fact that for organizational purposes I have the Nebula Award bestowed on Star Wars listed as an award for Dramatic Presentation, it is not. The award given to the movie was actually a Special Award, created specifically to honor Star Wars, and for which no other nominees were considered. After dabbling in honoring filmed or spoken science fiction for a couple of years, the SFWA stopped doing so, and this Special Award for Star Wars was the last award given by the SFWA to honor this type of artistic endeavor until 1992 when the SFWA bestowed the Ray Bradbury Award on Terminator 2. But the Ray Bradbury Award is not actually a Nebula Award, and the next time a Nebula Award for Dramatic Presentation was handed out was in 2000, when it was bestowed upon The Sixth Sense.

Best Novel

Winner:
Gateway by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Cirque by Terry Carr
In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford
Moonstar Odyssey by David Gerrold
Sword of the Demon by Richard A. Lupoff

Best Novella

Winner:

Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson

Other Nominees:
Aztecs by Vonda N. McIntyre

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon

Other Nominees:
The Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Other Lost Songs by Carter Scholz
Particle Theory by Edward Bryant
A Rite of Spring by Fritz Leiber
The Stone City by George R.R. Martin

Best Short Story

Winner:
Jeffty Is Five by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:
Air Raid by Herb Boehm
Camera Obscura by Thomas F. Monteleone
The Hibakusha Gallery by Edward Bryant
Tin Woodman by Dennis R. Bailey and Dave Bischoff

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:

Star Wars [technically a Special Award]

Other Nominees:

None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1977
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1977 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: One interesting thing about looking back at genre fiction awards is that you can see how some winners and nominees have aged well, and how others have not. For the field of 1977 Campbell Award nominees, the enduring appeal of the work seems to have an inverse relationship to its finishing order. Kate Wilhelm's Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang remains a well-regarded landmark in science fiction, Frederik Pohl's Man Plus is still somewhat notable and read on occasion, and Kingley Amis' The Alteration languishes in relative obscurity. This is not a comment on the quality of the novels, just how well they have endured in the eyes of fans.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Alteration by Kingsley Amis

Second Place:

Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

Third Place:
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
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1977 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: 1977 seems to have been the year for Best of collections. This year saw the publication of The Best of John W. Campbell, The Best of Damon Knight, The Best of Frederic Brown, The Best of Poul Anderson, The Best of Robert Silverberg, The Best of C.M. Kornbluth, and The Best of Jack Vance. If you were a science fiction fan in 1977 and wanted to peruse the best short fiction produced by any of these authors, this was your year to celebrate.

The other notable developments in the 1977 Locus Awards is the elimination of the Best Associational Item category, and the merger of Best Hardback Publisher and Best Paperback Publisher into the single category of Best Publisher. The Associational Item category had appeared for the first time in 1976, and there is no indication why the category was dropped. It seems to me to be almost inexplicable that such a category would be eliminated when it seems clear that many books that fit into it were being published, but it would return in 1979. The merger of the two publisher categories, on the other hand, was a good idea. The distinction between "Best Paperback Publisher" and "Best Hardback Publisher" is one that I am certain is important in industry circles, but is probably almost irrelevant to the concerns of the bulk of the Locus voters.

Best Novel
Winner:
1.   Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Other Nominees:
2.   Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman
3.   Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
4.   Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
5.   A World Out of Time by Larry Niven
6.   Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg
7.   Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
8.   Millennium by Ben Bova
9.   The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny
10. Brothers of Earth by C.J. Cherryh
11. The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley
12. Maske: Thaery by Jack Vance
13. Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
14. Triton by Samuel R. Delany
15. The Clewiston Test by Kate Wilhelm
16. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
17. Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
18. The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson
19. Cloned Lives by Pamela Sargent
20. The End of All Songs by Michael Moorcock
21. Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland
22. Time of the Fourth Horseman by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Samurai and the Willows by Michael Bishop

Other Nominees:

2.   Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper

3.   Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.
4.   The Anvil of Jove by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund
5.   The Eyeflash Miracles by Gene Wolfe
6.   Weather War by William E. Cochrane
7.   Media Man by Joan D. Vinge
8.   Birthdays by Fred Saberhagen
9.   By Any Other Name by Spider Robinson
10. The Greenhouse Effect by andrew j. offutt
11. A Thrust of Greatness by Stanley Schmidt
12. Plutonium by Arsen Darnay
13. The Crystal Ship by Joan D. Vinge

Best Novelette
Winner:

1.   The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
2.   The Diary of the Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin
3.   Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance by John Varley
4.   The Phantom of Kansas by John Varley
5.   The Hertford Manuscript by Richard Cowper
6.   The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats by James Tiptree, Jr.
7.   Custer's Last Jump by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
8.   Meathouse Man by George R.R. Martin
9.   Bagatelle by John Varley
10. Overdrawn at the Memory Bank by John Varley
11. Woman Waiting by Lisa Tuttle

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Tricentennial by Joe Haldeman

Other Nominees:

2.   I See You by Damon Knight (reviewed in TV: 2000)

3.   Custom Fitting by James White
4.   The Death of Princes by Fritz Leiber
5.   A Crowd of Shadows by Charles L. Grant
6.   Seeing by Harlan Ellison
7.   Paradise Beach by Richard Cowper
8.   This Tower of Ashes by George R.R. Martin
9.   Mary Margaret Road-Grader by Howard Waldrop
10. Appearance of Life by Brian W. Aldiss
11. From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet by Harlan Ellison
12. The Never Ending Western Movie by Robert Sheckley
13. Stone Circle by Lisa Tuttle
14. An Infinite Summer by Christopher Priest
15. Con Artist by P.J. Plauger

Best Author Collection
Winner:
1.   A Song for Lya and Other Stories by George R.R. Martin

Other Nominees:
2.   Star Light, Star Bright by Alfred Bester
3.   The Worlds of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber
4.   The Light Fantastic by Alfred Bester
5.   The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
6.   The Best of Damon Knight by Damon Knight
7.   The Best of Robert Silverberg by Robert Silverberg
8.   The Best of Jack Vance by Jack Vance
9.   Alyx by Joanna Russ
10. Capricorn Games by Robert Silverberg
11. The Best of C.M. Kornbluth by Cyril M. Kornbluth, edited by Frederik Pohl
12. The Best of John W. Campbell by John W. Campbell, Jr., edited by Lester del Rey
13. The Best of Poul Anderson by Poul Anderson
14. The Best of Fredric Brown by Fredric Brown, edited by Robert Bloch
15. The Custodians and Other Stories by Richard Cowper

Best Anthology
Winner:
1.   The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 edited by Terry Carr

Other Nominees:
2.   Stellar #2 edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey
3.   Future Power edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
4.   Universe 6 edited by Terry Carr
5.   Orbit 18 edited by Damon Knight
6.   New Dimensions 6 edited by Robert Silverberg

7.   The 1976 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

8.   The Crystal Ship edited by Robert Silverberg
9.   Science Fiction Discoveries edited by Carol Pohl and Frederik Pohl
10. Nebula Award Stories 11 edited by Ursula K. Le Guin
11. Frights edited by Kirby McCauley
12. Andromeda 1 edited by Peter Weston
13. More Women of Wonder edited by Pamela Sargent
14. Aurora: Beyond Equality edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and Susan Anderson
15. Analog Annual edited by Ben Bova
16. Bio-futures edited by Pamela Sargent

Best Magazine
Winner:
1. Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Edward L. Ferman

Other Nominees:
2. Analog edited by Ben Bova
3. Galaxy edited by James Baen
4. Amazing Stories edited by Ted White
5. Fantastic edited by Ted White
6. Universe edited by Terry Carr
7. Galileo edited by Charles G. Ryan
8. Orbit edited by Damon Knight
9. New Dimensions edited by Robert Silverberg

Best Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown

Other Nominees:
2.   Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis
3.   Algol edited by Andrew Porter
4.   Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers
5.   Delap's F&SF Review edited by Richard Delap
6.   SF Commentary edited by Bruce Gillespie
7.   Whispers edited by Stuart David Schiff
8.   Mythologies edited by Don D'Ammassa
9.   Don-O-Saur edited by Don Thompson
10. Scintillation edited by Carl Bennett
11. Rune edited by Fred Haskell
12. Karass edited by Linda Bushyater
13. Maya edited by Rob Jackson

Best Critic
Winner:
1.   Spider Robinson

Other Nominees:
2.   Lester del Rey
3.   Algis Budrys
4.   Richard E. Geis
5.   Richard Lupoff
6.   Charles N. Brown
7.   Baird Searles
8.   Richard Delap
9.   Joanna Russ
10. Susan Wood
11. Fred Patten
12. Darrell Schweitzer

Best Publisher
Winner:
1.   Ballantine

Other Nominees:
2.   DAW
3.   Science Fiction Book Club
4.   Doubleday
5.   Ace
6.   Berkley/Putnam
7.   Harper & Row
8.   Pocket
9.   Bantam
10. St. Martin's
11. Pyramid
12. Avon

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Rick Sternbach

Other Nominees:
2.   Steve Fabian
3.   Frank Kelly Freas
4.   Vincent Di Fate
5.   George Barr
6.   Tim Kirk
7.   Frank Frazetta
8.   Jack Gaughan
9.   John Schoenherr
10. Boris Vallejo
11. Michael Whelan
12. Darrell Sweet
13. Mike Hinge
14. Richard Corben
15. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
16. The Brothers Hildebrandt
17. Jeff Jones

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
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1977 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, Los Angeles, California.

Comments: One way that a new award can build up credibility quickly is by handing awards to established artists, and hoping that some of their gravitas will adhere to the award itself. And the World Fantasy Award seems to have been constructed at least in part to try to accomplish this via the inclusion of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which gave the judges the opportunity to honor some prominent writers right off the bat. This year the award went to Ray Bradbury, who followed Fritz Lieber winning it in 1976, and Robert Bloch in 1975. And as a result, the World Fantasy Award was able to claim these titanic figures as its own from the award's very earliest years.

What the World Fantasy Awards really couldn't claim at this point in time was women authors. Despite Patricia McKillip winning the first World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for her book The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, the awards had otherwise completely ignored the female half of the human race. Through 1975, 1976, and 1977, the only other female nominee for a World Fantasy Award was Shelley Torgeson, who was nominated (and won) this year for the Special Award, Professional, but she had to share that award with her husband Roy. And there really is no excuse for ignoring the contributions of female authors in 1977, as they had produced many significant works of fantasy fiction in the year, such as Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire, Susan Cooper's Silver on the Tree, and Andre Norton's Trey of Swords. There was simply no justification for overlooking women this way, and the fact that the World Fantasy Awards did so is a travesty.

Best Novel

Winner:
Doctor Rat by William Kotzwinkle

Other Nominees:
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck
Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner
The Doll Who Ate His Mother by Ramsey Campbell
The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
There's a Long, Long Trail A-Winding by Russell Kirk

Other Nominees:
The Companion by Ramsey Campbell
Dark Wings by Fritz Leiber
It Only Comes Out at Night by Dennis Etchison
Two Suns Setting by Karl Edward Wagner
What Is Life? by Robert Sheckley

Best Anthology or Collection

Winner:
Frights edited by Kirby McCauley

Other Nominees:
Cinnabar by Edward Bryant
Flashing Swords #3: Warriors and Wizards edited by Lin Carter
The Height of the Scream by Ramsey Campbell
Long After Midnight by Ray Bradbury
Superhorror edited by Ramsey Campbell

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Ray Bradbury

Other Nominees:
Jorge Luis Borges
L. Sprague de Camp
Frank Belknap Long
H. Warner Munn
E. Hoffmann Price
Manly Wade Wellman

Best Artist

Winner:
Roger Dean

Other Nominees:
George Barr
Steve Fabian
Tim Kirk
Michael Whelan

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Shelley Torgeson and Roy Torgeson

Other Nominees:
Arkham House
Ballantine Books
DAW
Edward L. Ferman

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Stuart David Schiff

Other Nominees:
Jonathan Bacon
Arnie Fenner
Nils Hardin
Gary Hoppenstand
Harry O. Morris, Jr.

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1977 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: SunCon in Miami Beach, Florida.

Comments: The most notable fact about Kate Wilhelm's Best Hugo award for her novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is not just that she won, but that she beat out old stalwarts like Frank Herbert, Frederik Pohl, and Robert Silverberg while doing so. In the eight years since Anne McCaffrey became the first woman to win a Hugo Award, the boys club of science fiction has made some progress including women. It isn't huge progress, but it is a decent start.

Once again, while the writing awards were on the whole unsurprising, and each award went to deserving winners, the Best Dramatic Presentation Award provided this year with its, for lack of a better word, drama. For the fourth time the award went to "No Winner", which seems like something of a shock after the modest quality of the winners over the previous couple of years. Surely if movies like A Boy and His Dog and Sleeper could garner a victory in this category, either Logan's Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth, or even Carrie was worthy of a Hugo statute. This was also the last year before the sea change in science fiction film making that took place when Star Wars was released, and it would have been nice to have one final "classic" style science fiction film win a Hugo.

Best Novel

Winner:
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Other Finalists:
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman
Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:

(tie) By Any Other Name by Spider Robinson

(tie) Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.

Other Finalists:
Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper
The Samurai and the Willows by Michael Bishop

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Other Finalists:
The Diary of the Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin
Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance by John Varley
The Phantom of Kansas by John Varley

Best Short Story

Winner:

Tricentennial by Joe Haldeman

Other Finalists:
A Crowd of Shadows by Charles L. Grant
Custom Fitting by James White
I See You by Damon Knight (reviewed in TV: 2000)

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
No Winner

Other Finalists:
Carrie
Futureworld
Logan's Run
The Man Who Fell to Earth

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Ben Bova

Other Finalists:
Jim Baen
Terry Carr
Edward L. Ferman
Ted White

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Rick Sternbach

Other Finalists:
George Barr
Vincent Di Fate
Steve Fabian

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Other Finalists:
Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown
Mythologies edited by Don D'Ammassa
Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers
The Spanish Inquisition edited by Suzanne Tompkins and Jerry Kaufman

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

(tie) Richard E. Geis

(tie) Susan Wood

Other Finalists:
Don D'Ammassa
Mike Glicksohn
Don C. Thompson

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Phil Foglio

Other Finalists:
Grant Canfield
Tim Kirk
Bill Rotsler
Jim Shull

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
C.J. Cherryh

Other Finalists:
Jack L. Chalker
M.A. Foster
Carter Scholz

What Are the Hugo Awards?

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1977 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: New York City, New York.

Comments: The 1977 Nebula Awards turned out to be a mostly negative affair. The most obvious negative took place in the Dramatic Presentation category, where "No Award" won out over Logan's Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Harlan Ellison's recording of himself reading some of his works. For "No Award" to win out even over Harlan Ellison is a major upset, and an indication that something was definitely awry in the voting this year.

The second negative event associated with this year's Nebula Awards took place in the Best Novelette category when Ursula K. Le Guin withdrew The Diary of the Rose from consideration to protest the withdrawal of an offer of membership that the SFWA had made to Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem. Apparently some SFWA members had earlier protested the offer, on the grounds that Lem had been highly critical of American science fiction authors, and Le Guin was dismayed that mere personal animosity would be given that sort of power. I tend to agree with Le Guin. Lem may have been a curmudgeon who thought that American science fiction was juvenile and jingoistic, but that's no reason not to offer a science fiction writer with his clearly undeniable talent membership in your science fiction writers' organization.

Best Novel

Winner:
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

Other Nominees:
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Islands by Marta Randall
Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg
Triton by Samuel R. Delany
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Best Novella

Winner:

Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree, Jr.

Other Nominees:
The Eyeflash Miracles by Gene Wolfe
Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper
The Samurai and the Willows by Michael Bishop

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
Custer's Last Jump by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
His Hour Upon the Stage by Grant Carrington
In the Bowl by John Varley
The Diary of the Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin [nomination withdrawn]

Best Short Story

Winner:
A Crowd of Shadows by Charles L. Grant

Other Nominees:
Back to the Stone Age by Jake Saunders
Breath's a Ware That Will Not Keep by Thomas F. Monteleone
Mary Margaret Road-Grader by Howard Waldrop
Stone Circle by Lisa Tuttle
Tricentennial by Joe Haldeman

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:

No Award

Other Nominees:

Harlan! Harlan Ellison Reads Harlan Ellison (recording) by Harlan Ellison

Logan's Run screenplay by David Zelag Goodman; based on the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson

The Man Who Fell to Earth screenplay by Paul Mayersberg; based on the novel by Walter Tevis

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1976 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet in Lawrence, Kansas.

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

Winner:

No Award

Second Place:

The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg

Third Place:
Orbitsville by Bob Shaw

Retrospective Prize

Winner:
The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
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1976 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown

Comments: In 1976 the Best Adult Fantasy Literature Award category vanished from the slate of Mythopoeic Awards. I'm not sure why the category disappeared this year, but it was merely a harbinger of things to come as the Mythopoeic Awards would vanish entirely for the next several years. Despite my best efforts to figure out why the Mythopoeic Society took these steps and eliminated first their fantasy literature award, and then their scholarship award as well, I have found nothing that provides clarity on these issues.

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:

(tie) C.S. Lewis, An Annotated Checklist of Writings About Him and His Works by Joe R. Christopher and Joan K. Olstling

(tie) Charles W.S.Williams, A Checklist by Lois Glenn
(tie) Tolkien Criticism by Richard C. West

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
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1976 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: In 1976 the Best Original Anthology and Best Reprint Anthology categories were eliminated and merged into a single Best Anthology category, a decision that I think was a good one. From a publishing perspective there is certainly a distinction to be made between an anthology that is comprised of original material and an anthology comprised of material that had previously been published elsewhere, but from a reader's perspective, the distinction matters almost not at all, and in many cases was probably confusing.

This year also saw the creation of a new category, which was listed at the time as Best Associational Item, but lines up with the later-created category of Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work, which is how I have listed it here. Essentially, this category recognizes books that are about science fiction and fantasy, but aren't themselves works of science fiction or fantasy.

Best Novel
Winner:
1.   The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Other Nominees:
2.   The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner
3.   The Computer Connection (aka The Indian Giver) by Alfred Bester
4.   The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg
5.   Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
6.   Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
7.   The Heritage of Hastur by Marion Zimmer Bradley
8.   Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny
9.   Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith
10. The Female Man by Joanna Russ
11. Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny
12. Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
13. Showboat World by Jack Vance
14. A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire by Michael Bishop
15. The Exile Waiting by Vonda N. McIntyre
16. Blake's Progress by Ray Nelson
17. Warriors of Dawn by M.A. Foster
18. Lifeboat by Gordon R. Dickson and Harry Harrison
19. Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
20. The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee
21. Missing Man by Katherine MacLean

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   The Storms of Windhaven by Lisa Tuttle and George R.R. Martin

Other Nominees:

2.   Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny

3.   The Borderland of Sol by Larry Niven
4.   The Silent Eyes of Time by Algis Budrys
5.   ARM by Larry Niven
6.   The Custodians by Richard Cowper
7.   A Momentary Taste of Being by James Tiptree, Jr.
8.   Allegiances by Michael Bishop
9.   Silhouette by Gene Wolfe
10. Mother and Child by Joan D. Vinge
11. Ancient Shadows by Michael Moorcock
12. Sharking Down by Edward Bryant

Best Novelette
Winner:

1.   The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
2.   Down to a Sunless Sea by Cordwainer Smith
3.   And Seven Times Never Kill Man by George R.R. Martin

4.   Retrograde Summer by John Varley (reviewed in Fantasy & Science Fiction: Volume 116, Nos. 6 & 7 (June/July 2009)

5.   A Galaxy Called Rome by Barry N. Malzberg
6.   '. . . for a single yesterday' by George R.R. Martin
7.   In the Bowl by John Varley
8.   Sandsnake Hunter by Gordon Eklund
9.   The Black Hole Passes by John Varley
10. Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman by Avram Davidson
11. Cambridge 1:58 A.M. by Gregory Benford
12. San Diego Lightfoot Sue by Tom Reamy
13. The Venging by Greg Bear
14. End Game by Joe Haldeman
15. Blooded on Arachne by Michael Bishop

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   Croatoan by Harlan Ellison

Other Nominees:

2.   The Mother Trip by Frederik Pohl

3.   Child of All Ages by P.J. Plauger
4.   Sail the Tide of Mourning by Richard Lupoff
5.   Doing Lennon by Gregory Benford
6.   Sierra Maestra by Norman Spinrad
7.   Rogue Tomato by Michael Bishop
8.   Anniversary Project by Joe Haldeman
9.   Beyond Grayworld by Gregory Benford
10. Find the Lady by Nicholas Fisk
11. Catch That Zeppelin! by Fritz Leiber
12. All the Charms of Sycorax by Alan Brennert
13. Clay Suburb by Robert Young
14. Shatterday by Harlan Ellison

Best Single Author Collection
Winner:
1.   The Wind's Twelve Quarters by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
2.   The Best of Cordwainer Smith by Cordwainer Smith, edited by J.J. Pierce
3.   Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison
4.   Tales of Known Space by Larry Niven
5.   Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr.
6.   The Best of Henry Kuttner by Henry Kuttner
7.   The Best of C.L. Moore by C.L. Moore, edited by Lester del Rey
8.   The Early del Rey by Lester del Rey
9.   The Infinity Box by Kate Wilhelm
10. The Second Book of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber
11. The Feast of St. Dionysus by Robert Silverberg
12. No Direction Home by Norman Spinrad
13. Buy Jupiter and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
14. The Best of Frederik Pohl by Frederik Pohl, edited by Lester del Rey

Best Anthology
Winner:
1.   Epoch edited by Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg

Other Nominees:
2.   The Best Science Fiction of the Year #4 edited by Terry Carr
3.   Final Stage edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg
4.   New Dimensions 5 edited by Robert Silverberg
5.   The New Atlantis edited by Robert Silverberg
6.   The Best from Orbit Volumes 1-10 edited by Damon Knight

7.   The 1975 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

8.   The Best of Planet Stories #1 edited by Leigh Brackett
9.   Nebula Award Stories Ten edited by James E. Gunn
10. Women of Wonder edited by Pamela Sargent
11. Orbit 16 edited by Damon Knight
12. Science Fiction of the Thirties edited by Damon Knight

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work
Winner:
1.   Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction by James E. Gunn

Other Nominees:
2.   SF Art by Brian W. Aldiss
3.   The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta by Frank Frazetta
4.   Lovecraft: A Biography by L. Sprague de Camp
5.   Hell's Cartographers edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison

6.   Science Fiction Handbook, Revised by L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp

7.   Fantastic SF Art 1926 - 1954 by Lester del Rey
8.   Lovecraft at Last by Willis Conover
9.   Philip K. Dick: Electric Shepherd by Bruce Gillespie
10. Structural Fabulation by Robert S. Scholes
11. The Science Fiction Book: An Illustrated History by Franz Rottensteiner
12. The Science Fiction Book Review Index by Hal Hall

Best Magazine
Winner:
1. Fantasy & Science Fiction

Other Nominees:
2. Analog
3. Galaxy
4. Amazing Stories
5. Fantastic
6. New Dimensions

Best Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Locus

Other Nominees:
2.   Science Fiction Review
3.   Algol
4.   Outworlds
5.   Khatru
6.   Yandro
7.   Whispers
8.   Delap's F&SF Review
9.   Don-O-Saur
10. Notes from the Chemistry Dept.
11. Knights
12. Starling
13. SF Commentary

Best Critic
Winner:
1.   Richard Geis

Other Nominees:
2.   Lester del Rey
3.   Algis Budrys
4.   Richard Lupoff
5.   Spider Robinson
6.   Joanna Russ
7.   Susan Wood
8.   Richard Delap
9.   Charles Brown
10. Baird Searles
11. Theodore Sturgeon
12. Don D'Ammassa

Best Hardback Publisher
Winner:
1. Science Fiction Book Club

Other Nominees:
2. Doubleday
3. Harper & Row
4. Putnam/Berkley
5. Donald M. Grant

Best Paperback Publisher
Winner:
1. Ballantine

Other Nominees:
2. DAW
3. Berkley
4. Ace
5. Avon
6. Bantam
7. Pyramid

Best Artist
Winner:
1.   Rick Sternbach

Other Nominees:
2.   Steve Fabian
3.   Frank Kelly Freas
4.   Tim Kirk
5.   Vincent Di Fate
6.   George Barr
7.   John Schoenherr
8.   Jack Gaughan
9.   Frank Frazetta
10. Darrell Sweet
11. James Shull
12. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
13. William Rotsler
14. Mike Hinge
15. Wendy Pini
16. Jeff Jones
17. Grant Canfield
18. Alicia Austin
19. David Hardy

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
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