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.

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1978

Book Award Reviews     Home

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?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
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Book Award Reviews     Home

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

Go to previous year's nominees: 1976
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Book Award Reviews     Home

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
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977

Book Award Reviews     Home

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
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1981

Book Award Reviews     Home

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
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977

Book Award Reviews     Home

1976 World Fantasy Award Nominees

Location: World Fantasy Convention, New York, New York.

Comments: Although 1976 was only the second year for the World Fantasy Awards, one can already see the awards maturing, with full slates of nominees in every category except Best Novel, where there were only two total nominees. Fritz Leiber did very well in the awards, winning an award for his short story Belsen Express along with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

However, the pervasive racism and sexism of the era is also readily apparent as not a single woman or non-white was nominated in any of the categories.Although the white boys club of science fiction was slowly breaking up by the mid-1970s, in the fantasy world, the lily white sausage commandos that dominated fantasy fiction were much slower to release their death grip on the genre.

Best Novel

Winner:
Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson

Other Nominees:
Salem's Lot by Stephen King

Best Short Fiction

Winner:
Belsen Express by Fritz Leiber

Other Nominees:
The Barrow Troll by David Drake
Born of the Winds by Brian Lumley
The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign by Manly Wade Wellman

Best Collection

Winner:
The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson

Other Nominees:
Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison
The Early Long by Frank Belknap Long
Far Lands, Other Days by E. Hoffmann Price

Lifetime Achievement

Winner:
Fritz Leiber

Other Nominees:
Ray Bradbury
Frank Belknap Long
Manly Wade Wellman

Best Artist

Winner:
Frank Frazetta

Other Nominees:
George Barr
Steve Fabian
Edward Gorey
Tim Kirk

Special Award, Professional

Winner:
Donald M. Grant

Other Nominees:
Willis Conover
L. Sprague de Camp
Arkham House
Frank Belknap Long
Donald A. Wollheim

Special Award, Non-Professional

Winner:
Karl Edward Wagner, David Drake, and James Groce

Other Nominees:
Gerry de la Ree
Harry O. Morris, Jr.
George Scithers
Roy A. Squires
Robert Weinberg

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977

Book Award Reviews     Home

1976 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: MidAmeriCon in Kansas City, Missouri.

Comments: In 1976 Joe Haldeman's Forever War, the "response" to Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Although Haldeman asserts that he didn't intend his book to be a counter to Heinlein's seminal novel, many fans regarded it as such. Many of those same fans expected some sort of fracas between the two authors. They were to be sadly disappointed. According to Spider Robinson, Heinlein said The Forever War "may be the best future war story I've ever read". So much for Hugo Award controversies over the 1976 Best Novel winner.

In the Best Dramatic Presentation category, however, there was a controversy, and it focused on Harlan Ellison. The film version of A Boy and His Dog won the Hugo Award in that category, and as usual, the award was presented to the director and screenwriter of the film. Ellison objected to being left out on the grounds that he had written the original short novella the movie was based upon, and raised such a fuss that the Hugo committee decided to give in and recognize him. Unfortunately, they didn't have any extra Hugo statues, but they did have an extra base, so they handed Ellison the base, which he now jokingly refers to as his "half-Hugo".

Best Novel

Winner:
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Other Finalists:
The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester
Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:

Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny

Other Finalists:
ARM by Larry Niven
The Custodians by Richard Cowper
The Silent Eyes of Time by Algis Budrys
The Storms of Windhaven by Lisa Tuttle and George R.R. Martin

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Borderland of Sol by Larry Niven

Other Finalists:
And Seven Times Never Kill Man by George R.R. Martin
The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin
San Diego Lightfoot Sue by Tom Reamy
Tinker by Jerry Pournelle

Best Short Story

Winner:

Catch That Zeppelin! by Fritz Leiber

Other Finalists:
Child of All Ages by P.J. Plauger
Croatoan by Harlan Ellison
Doing Lennon by Gregory Benford
Rogue Tomato by Michael Bishop
Sail the Tide of Mourning by Richard Lupoff

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:
A Boy and His Dog

Other Finalists:
The Capture (slide show by Phil Foglio, written and narrated by Robert Asprin)
Dark Star
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Rollerball

Best Professional Editor

Winner:
Ben Bova

Other Finalists:
Jim Baen
Edward L. Ferman
Robert Silverberg
Ted White

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Frank Kelly Freas

Other Finalists:
George Barr
Vincent Di Fate
Steve Fabian
Rick Sternbach

Best Fanzine

Winner:

Locus edited by Charles Brown and Dena Brown

Other Finalists:
Algol edited by Andrew Porter
Don-O-Saur edited by Don C. Thompson
Outworlds edited by Bill Bowers
Science Fiction Review edited by Richard E. Geis

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Richard E. Geis

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

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Tim Kirk

Other Finalists:
Grant Canfield
Phil Foglio
Bill Rotsler
Jim Shull

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Tom Reamy

Other Finalists:
Arsen Darnay
M.A. Foster
John Varley
Joan D. Vinge

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977

Book Award Reviews     Home

1976 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California.

Comments: The three nominee limitation that had been used in the 1975 Nebula Awards was dropping in 1976, leading to much larger lists of nominees this year. The most interesting winner was Joe Haldeman's The Forever War, which was seen by many as a retort to Robert A. Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers. Though many people have tried to gin up a controversy between the two authors, Heinlein and Haldeman appear to have held no animosity towards one another - my best guess is that each felt the others' novel served a different purpose than their own.

The other interesting winner was Young Frankenstein, which won in the Dramatic Presentation category. It's win, by itself, is not particularly noteworthy. It is a funny send up of classic horror movies, and was a worthy winner. But following on after Sleeper won in 1975, Young Frankenstein's win means that two comedic pieces won the Nebula Award in two consecutive years. Science fiction gets something of a rap as a genre in which comedy is not appreciated, but this seems to me to contradict that notion.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Other Nominees:
Autumn Angels by Arthur Byron Cover
The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee
The Computer Connection (serial title The Indian Giver) by Alfred Bester
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny
The Embedding by Ian Watson
The Exile Waiting by Vonda N. McIntyre
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire by Michael Bishop
Guernica Night by Barry N. Malzberg
The Heritage of Hastur by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson
Missing Man by Katherine MacLean
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
The Stochastic Man by Robert Silverberg

Best Novella

Winner:

Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny

Other Nominees:
A Momentary Taste of Being by James Tiptree, Jr.
The Storms of Windhaven by Lisa Tuttle and George R.R. Martin
Sunrise West by William K. Carlson

Best Novelette

Winner:

San Diego Lightfoot Sue by Tom Reamy

Other Nominees:
The Bleeding Man by Craig Strete
Blooded on Arachne by Michael Bishop
The Custodians by Richard Cowper
The Dybbuk Dolls by Jack Dann
The Final Fighting of Fion Mac Cumhail by Randall Garrett
A Galaxy Called Rome by Barry N. Malzberg
The New Atlantis by Ursula K. Le Guin
Polly Charms, the Sleeping Woman by Avram Davidson

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

The Warlord of Saturn's Moons by Eleanor Arnason

Best Short Story

Winner:
Catch That Zeppelin! by Fritz Leiber

Other Nominees:
Attachment by Phyllis Eisenstein
Child of All Ages by P.J. Plauger
Doing Lennon by Gregory Benford
Find the Lady by Nicholas Fisk
Growing Up in Edge City by Frederik Pohl
Sail the Tide of Mourning by Richard Lupoff
A Scraping at the Bones by Algis Budrys
Shatterday by Harlan Ellison
Time Deer by Craig Strete
Utopia of a Tired Man by Jorge Luis Borges
White Creatures by Gregory Benford
White Wolf Calling by Charles L. Grant

Best Dramatic Presentation

Winner:

Young Frankenstein screenplay by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder; based on the novel by Mary Shelley

Other Nominees:

A Boy and His Dog screenplay by L.Q. Jones; based on the work by Harlan Ellison

Dark Star by John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon
Rollerball by William Harrison

Go to previous year's nominees: 1975
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1977

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1975 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: 1975 was a good year for Ursula K. Le Guin, as she earned two Locus Award wins and two further nominations. It was also the year that the Locus Awards shook up their categories a bit, adding the Best Novelette category, and splitting the single author collections off on its own, to create three "collections of short fiction" categories: Best Single Author Collection, Best Original Anthology, and Best Reprint Anthology. And keeping with this theme, three of the series that gained nominations in the Original Anthology category - Orbit, New Dimensions, and Universe - also scored nominations in the Best Magazine category.

Best Novel
Winner:
1.   The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:
2.   The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
3.   Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
4.   The Godwhale by T.J. Bass
5.   The Unsleeping Eye by D.G. Compton
6.   The Inverted World by Christopher Priest
7.   Fire Time by Poul Anderson
8.   The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
9.   The Dream Millennium by James White
10. The Twilight of Briareus by Richard Cowper
11. The Company of Glory by Edgar Pangborn
12. The Domains of Koryphon by Jack Vance
13. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip
14. How Are the Mighty Fallen by Thomas Burnett Swann
15. Total Eclipse by John Brunner
16. The Destruction of the Temple by Barry N. Malzberg
17. Star Gate by Tak Hallus
18. Star Rider by Doris Piserchia
19. A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson
20. Prince of Annwn by Evangeline Walton
21. Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
22. Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster
23. A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows by Poul Anderson

Best Novella
Winner:
1.   Born with the Dead by Robert Silverberg

Other Nominees:

2.   A Song for Lya by George R.R. Martin (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2)

3.   Riding the Torch by Norman Spinrad
4.   Assault on a City by Jack Vance
5.   Strangers by Gardner Dozois
6.   The Marathon Photograph by Clifford D. Simak
7.   The Araqnid Window by Charles L. Harness
8.   On the Street of the Serpents by Michael Bishop
9.   Father by Pamela Sargent
10. Tin Soldier by Joan D. Vinge
11. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
12. Threads of Time by Gregory Benford
13. The East Coast Confinement by Arsen Darnay
14. The Kozmic Kid by Richard Snead

Best Novelette
Winner:

1.   Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W by Harlan Ellison (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2)

Other Nominees:
2.   The Pre-Persons by Philip K. Dick
3.   -That Thou Art Mindful of Him! by Isaac Asimov
4.   I'm Looking for Kadak by Harlan Ellison
5.   On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi by William Tenn
6.   Twig by Gordon R. Dickson
7.   Nix Olympica by William Walling
8.   If the Stars Are Gods by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford
9.   After the Dreamtime by Richard Lupoff
10. The Seventeen Virgins by Jack Vance
11. The Raven and the Hawk by William Rotsler
12. Getting Home by F.M. Busby
13. Whale Song by Terry Melen
14. Catman by Harlan Ellison
15. The Gift of Garigolli by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
16. Whatever Happened to Nick Neptune? by Richard Lupoff
17. A Brother to Dragons, a Companion of Owls by Kate Wilhelm
18. A Little Something for Us Tempunauts by Philip K. Dick
19. Gate-o by Don Picard
20. A Matter of Gravity by Randall Garrett
21. And Keep Us from Our Castles by Cynthia Bunn
22. Forlesen by Gene Wolfe
23. Under Siege by Robert Thurston

Best Short Story
Winner:

1.   The Day Before the Revolution by Ursula K. Le Guin

Other Nominees:

2.   The Hole Man by Larry Niven (reviewed in The Hugo Winners, Volume 3, Book 2)

3.   Schwartz Between the Galaxies by Robert Silverberg

4.   'The Author of the Acacia Seeds' and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics by Ursula K. Le Guin

5.   The Engine at Heartspring's Center by Roger Zelazny
6.   The Four-Hour Fugue by Alfred Bester
7.   Cathadonian Odyssey by Michael Bishop
8.   Enter a Pilgrim by Gordon R. Dickson
9.   Midnight by the Morphy Watch by Fritz Leiber
10. Royal Licorice by R.A. Lafferty
11. We Purchased People by Frederik Pohl
12. The Stars Below by Ursula K. Le Guin
13. Do You Know Dave Wenzel? by Fritz Leiber
14. Mysterious Doings at the Metropolitan Museum by Fritz Leiber
15. In the House of Double Minds by Robert Silverberg
16. The Mountains of Sunset, the Mountains of Dawn by Vonda N. McIntyre
17. Willowisp by Joe Pumilia
18. Enjoy, Enjoy by Frederik Pohl
19. Mute Inglorious Tam by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth

Best Single Author Collection
Winner:
1. The Best of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber

Other Nominees:
2. A Hole in Space by Larry Niven
3. The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum by Stanley G. Weinbaum
4. Approaching Oblivion by Harlan Ellison
5. The Book of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber
6. The Many Worlds of Poul Anderson by Poul Anderson
7. Case and the Dreamer by Theodore Sturgeon
8. Born with the Dead by Robert Silverberg

Best Original Anthology
Winner:
1.   Universe 4 edited by Terry Carr

Other Nominees:
2.   New Dimensions IV edited by Robert Silverberg
3.   Threads of Time edited by Robert Silverberg
4.   Orbit 14 edited by Damon Knight
5.   Stellar #1 edited by Judy-Lynn del Rey
6.   Wandering Stars edited by Jack Dann
7.   Universe 5 edited by Terry Carr
8.   Final Stage edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg
9.   2020 Vision edited by Jerry Pournelle
10. Continuum 1 edited by Roger Elwood
11. Fellowship of the Stars edited by Terry Carr
12. Continuum 2 edited by Roger Elwood
13. Science Fiction Emphasis I edited by David Gerrold
14. Orbit 13 edited by Damon Knight
15. Orbit 15 edited by Damon Knight

Best Reprint Anthology
Winner:
1.   Before the Golden Age edited by Isaac Asimov

Other Nominees:
2.   The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3 edited by Terry Carr

3.   The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: A Special 25^th Anniversary Anthology edited by Edward L. Ferman

4.   The 1974 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

5.   Nebula Award Stories Nine edited by Kate Wilhelm
6.   Alpha 5 edited by Robert Silverberg
7.   Modern Science Fiction edited by Norman Spinrad
8.   SF: Authors' Choice 4 edited by Harry Harrison
9.   Cosmic Laughter edited by Joe Haldeman

10. Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Third Annual Collection edited by Lester del Rey

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

Other Nominees:
2.   Analog edited by Ben Bova
3.   Galaxy edited by Jim Baen
4.   Amazing Stories edited by Ted White
5.   If edited by Jim Baen
6.   Vertex edited by Don Pfeil
7.   Fantastic edited by Ted White
8.   The Alien Critic edited by Dick Geis
9.   Algol edited by Andy Porter
10. Universe edited by Terry Carr
11. Orbit edited by Damon Knight
12. New Dimensions edited by Robert Silverberg

Best Fanzine
Winner:
1.   Outworlds

Other Nominees:
2.   Yandro
3.   Karass
4.   (tie) Moebius Trip/SF Echo
      (tie) SF Commentary
6.   (tie) Prehensile
      (tie) Whispers
8.   Don-O-Saur
9.   Luna
10. Riverside Quarterly
11. Ash-Wing
12. Amra
13. Notes from the Chemistry Dept.
14. Starling
15. Fantasiae
16. Title
17. Amor de Cosmos

Best Critic
Winner:
1.   P. Schuyler Miller

Other Nominees:
2.   Dick Geis
3.   Theodore Sturgeon
4.   Dick Lupoff
5.   Lester del Rey
6.   Joanna Russ
7.   Harlan Ellison
8.   Dave Hartwell
9.   Baird Searles
10. Fritz Leiber
11. Buck Coulson
12. Brian W. Aldiss
13. Charlie Brown
14. Alexei Panshin and Cory Panshin
15. Paul Walker
16. Sidney Coleman
17. Ted White
18. Cy Chauvin
19. Don D'Ammassa

Best Hardback Publisher
Winner:
1. Science Fiction Book Club

Other Nominees:
2. Doubleday
3. Harper & Row
4. Putnam
5. Random House
6. Hyperion Press
7. Advent
8. Simon & Schuster
9. Donald M. Grant

Best Paperback Publisher
Winner:
1. Ballantine

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

Best Professional Artist
Winner:
1.   Frank Kelly Freas

Other Nominees:
2.   Tim Kirk
3.   John Schoenherr
4.   Frank Frazetta
5.   Rick Sternbach
6.   Jack Gaughan
7.   Steve Fabian
8.   George Barr
9.   Jeff Jones
10. Vincent Di Fate
11. Wendy Pini
12. Dean Ellis
13. Mike Hinge
14. Alicia Austin
15. Karel Thole
16. Paul Lehr
17. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
18. Gahan Wilson
19. Ron Walotsky

Best Fan Artist
Winner:
1.   Tim Kirk

Other Nominees:
2.    Bill Rotsler
3.   Grant Canfield
4.   George Barr
5.   Alicia Austin
6.   James Shull
7.   Steve Fabian
8.   Jim McLeod
9.   Arthur Thomson
10. Helmut Pesch
11. Herb Arnold
12. Vincent Di Fate

Go to previous year's nominees: 1974
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1976

Book Award Reviews     Home

1975 Campbell Award Nominees

Location: Campbell Conference Awards Banquet in Lawrence, Kansas.

Comments: 1975 was the first year that the Campbell Awards didn't have an "odd" category, which was kind of an unusual development at this point in it's history. But other than noting the absence of a single-shot category, there's not much to say about it.

The results of the vote for Best Novel, on the other hand, leave me with something of a conundrum. While I'm a fan of Philip K. Dick, and I am always happy to see him having gotten the recognition that he clearly deserved despite commercial success always eluding him, I am somewhat disappointed that Ursula K. Le Guin didn't win. I like Philip K. Dick, and his work is always interesting, but I harbor a deep and abiding love for Le Guin's fiction, and The Dispossessed is one of her best.

Best Novel

Winner:

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

Second Place:
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Go to previous year's nominees: 1974
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1976

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1975 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown

Comments: Five years after they first appeared, the Mythopoeic Awards got around to giving their Best Adult Fantasy Award to a man, honoring Poul Anderson for his novel A Midsummer Tempest. One might be inclined to shout "misandry", but then again, all of the other genre awards being handed out in the mid-1970s were all heavily biased in favor of male authors, so the counterweight of the Mythopoeic Awards was sorely needed.

On another note, this was the last year that the Best Adult Fantasy Literature Award was handed out until 1981. The Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies was handed out in 1976, but the Fantasy Award was not. Between 1976 and 1981, no Mythopoeic Awards were bestowed. It is unclear as to why this interruption took place, the only thing I know is that it did.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson

Other Nominees:
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip
How Are the Mighty Fallen by Thomas Burnett Swann
Merlin's Ring by H. Warner Munn
Prince of Annwn by Evangeline Walton
Watership Down by Richard Adams

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:
C.S. Lewis: A Biography by Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper

Other Nominees:
None

Go to previous year's nominees: 1974
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1976

Book Award Reviews     Home