Hugo Award Winners: Novels

• Best Novella
  
• Best Novelette
  
• Best Short Story
  
• Best Related Work
  
• Best Graphic Story*
  
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
  
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
  
• Best Editor Long Form
  
• Best Editor Short Form
  
• Best Professional Artist
  
• Best Semiprozine
  
• Best Fanzine
  
• Best Fan Writer
  
• Best Fan Artist

Connie Willis's novels Blackout and All Clear were published separately (February 2010 and October 2010, respectively) but are being considered as one novel for purposes of the Hugo Award. This may work in her favor since the two books won't be competing against each other as well as the other nominees. These are not short novels; Blackout is 512 pages and All Clear is 656 pages. They are Willis's first novels since 2001's Passage.

Blackout/All Clear won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel presented at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards weekend in Washington, DC on May 21, 2011. On August 20, Willis repeated her Nebula success by winning the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Willis returns to the world of the 2060 Oxford University time travelers first introduced in the story "Fire Watch" in 1982 and later the subject of her award-winning novel The Doomsday Book. The travelers return again to London during the Blitz in World War II. Merope Ward handles a measles outbreak during the children's evacuation, while Polly Churchill struggles with her role as a London shopgirl. The time travelers aren't supposed to be able to change history, but it appears Michael Davies's actions at Dunkirk may do just that.

Buy now from Amazon.co.uk
Connie Willis's page on Amazon.com

Buy now from Amazon.com

The three time travelers introduced in Blackout find themselves trapped in London as Hitler's bombers attack nightly. As they try to survive and find a way home, Mr. Dunworthy, their supervisor in 2060's Oxford University, along with Colin, his 17-year-old assistant, face the fact that the actions of the travelers have affected the outcome of the war. They must also search through history in an attempt to bring the travelers home.



Buy now from Amazon.co.uk
Connie Willis's page on Amazon.com

Buy now from Amazon.com

In the first new novel in her popular series since 2002's Diplomatic Immunity, Miles Vorkosigan has traveled to the planet Kibou-daini for a cryogenics conference. Five days after his arrival, he narrowly escapes a kidnapping attempt. Drugged, confused and alone, he is taken in by a man whose mother was a leader in cryogenics reform before being declared insane and involuntarily frozen. Miles investigates the cryo cartels and finds evidence of a sneaky plot.

Buy now on Amazon.co.uk
Lois McMaster Bujold's page on Amazon.com

Buy now from Amazon.com

Set in Istanbul in the near future five years after Turkey joins the European Union, McDonald's tale follows six people during the week following a suicide bombing in which only the bomber died. They discover conspiracies, long-dormant memories and legends.

Once again McDonald has combined his flair for characterization and setting in a tale of adventure, intrigue and a combination of science fiction and mysticism.

Buy now from Amazon.co.uk
Ian McDonald's page on Amazon.com

Buy now from Amazon.com

Social media and zombies are combined in a tale set in a postapocalyptic 2039. A presidential candidate invites twin bloggers Georgia and Sean and their colleague Buffy to cover his campaign. At a campaign event, zombies attack, killing the candidate's daughter. The trio find themselves tangling with the Centers for Disease Control, a scheming VP candidate and conspirators after more than just the White House. Critics have praised Grant for breaking away from the usual shuffling horde of standard zombie fare and crafting an original and detailed world.

Buy now from Amazon.co.uk
Mira Grant's page on Amazon.com
Seanan McGuire's page on Amazon.com

Buy now from Amazon.com

A month after her mother's murder, Yeine of the barbarian homeland of Darr is summoned to the capital city of Sky by her grandfather, the king and patriarch of her mother's Arameri clan. She is pitted against two cousins as a potential heir to the throne. She's determined to succeed and finds allies among her relatives and some gods who are forced to be servants to humans after losing an ancient battle. The novel is Book I of The Inheritance Trilogy.



Buy now from Amazon.co.uk
N. K. Jemisin's Amazon.com page

Buy now from Amazon.com

In the dystopic post-oil era, Bangkok is beset by rising sea levels and out-of-control genetic mutation. Emiko, the windup girl, is a product of Japanese genetic engineering who triggers a civil war. The novel follows the lives of several disparate characters, each struggling to achieve his or her own triumphs. Even the good people have their dark sides and vice versa.

The Windup Girl also won the 2010 Nebula Award and the 2010 John W. Campbell Award.

Order from Amazon.co.uk
Paolo Bacigalupi on Amazon.com

Buy now from Amazon.com

Inspector Tyador Borlu is a cop in the rundown metropollis of Beszel on the eastern edge of Eastern Europe. He's charged with solving the murder of Mahalia Geary, and this takes him between Beszel and the boomtown of Ul Qoma. Geary believed there was a third city, Orciny, hiding in the blind spots between Beszel and Ul Qoma, where someone may be plotting a revolution that will upset the two cities' delicate balance.

In 2010, The City & the City won the World Fantasy Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award and won third place for the John W. Campbell Award.

Order from Amazon.co.uk
China Miéville's page on Amazon.com

Order from Amazon.com

The novel opens with a scary scene: A family is stabbed to death by "a man named Jack," but an 18-month-old slips away to a nearby graveyard. There he's adopted by the ghostly residents and named Nobody ("Bod"). Bod learns from his otherworldly mentors which include Mistress Owens, and ancient Roman, an opinionated young witch, a hack poet, and his guardian Silas, who is neither living nor dead.

Gaiman got the idea for the book in 1985 when he observed his then-two-year-old son pedaling his tricycle in a graveyard across the street from his home. He combined this with inspiration from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" and wrote the chapters as short stories, some of which have analogs in Kipling's book.

The novel won the 2009 Newberry Medal from the American Library Association. It also won the 2009 Locus Poll Award for Young Adult Novel and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk

Publishers Weekly calls the book "a murder-mystery speculative-history Jewish-identity noir chess thriller." Chabon takes the idea Franklin D. Roosevelt actually proposed on the eve of World War II: a temporary Jewish homeland on the Alaska panhandle, and brings it into a present in which Israel never got established. Two million Jews, displaced by the war, end up in Sitka, where they are known as the "frozen Chosen." There's murder, intrigue, Orthodox black-hat gangs and crime-lord rabbis in this book with a film noir feel.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union also won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was on the British Science Fiction Association Awards shortlist for Best Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Michael Chabon on Amazon.com

In the year 2025, Robert Gu is a poet and recovering Alzheimer's patient. He's in remedial classes at a local high school in San Diego and becomes involved in a protest against the destruction of the University of California-San Diego library, which has been made obsolete by online data banks. He becomes a pawn of international conspirators out to unleash a deadly biological virus. It's a tale set in a fascinating and well-constructed near future.

Nominated for the Prometheus Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Vernor Vinge on Amazon.com

Wilson packs a lot into Spin. It's an SF thriller, a coming of age story, love story, and an ecological and apocalyptic warning. Ten-year-old Tyler Dupree watches the stars go out one night. As he grows into young manhood, scientists, including Tyler's friend Jason, learn that aliens have surrounded Earth with a field that makes one of its days last for 100 million years outside the field. This gives the scientists of Earth forty years, as measured inside the field, to save humanity before the sun dies. Wilson not only presents wonders of biological, astrophysical, and medical science, he also proves very adept at deep and convincing characterization.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Robert Charles Wilson on Amazon.com

In Clarke's first novel, Mr. Norrell is one of the last practitioners of English magic in 1808, the age of Napoleon. Jonathan Strange, a natural at magic who has never studied formally, is at first resented by the fusty, reclusive Mr. Norrell. But Norrell agrees to take on Strange as his pupil. While at first they work together to defeat Napoleon, at one time using a fleet of English ships conjured out of rainwater to blockade French ports, they separate and their impasse nearly undoes everything Mr. Norrell has achieved. As reviewer Regina Marler remarks, it's a "sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust."

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell also won the World Fantasy Award for Best novel in 2005. It was nominated for the 2004 Whitbread First Novel Award and Guardian First Book Award and longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.com
Susanna Clarke on Amazon.com

This is a sequel to Bujold's fantasy novel The Curse of Chalion, a 2002 Hugo Award nominee. In a land ruled by Five Gods "just around some strange corner of perception," Dowager Royina Ista Dy Baocia has been freed of a curse of madness and sets out on a pilgrimage. It becomes a more dangerous journey than she ever imagined as she defends both Chalion and her soul from destruction.

Paladin of Souls also won the Locus Poll Award for Best Fantasy Novel and the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2004.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Lois McMaster Bujold on Amazon.com

Hominids is the first book of the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy that examines two species of people. In a parallel universe, Neanderthals became the dominant branch of humanity, developing levels of science and culture that compares with those of humans, only with radical differences in some areas. Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal scientist, passes through the barrier between his world and the world of homo sapiens. He is recognized as a Neanderthal at first, and later, as communication improves, as a scientist. Meanwhile, Ponter's partner and Ponter's daughter, on their side of the barrier, struggle to find out what happened to Ponter and keep his partner from being convicted of murder.

Hominids was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Aurora Award, the Seiun Award and the Spectrum Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Robert J. Sawyer on Amazon.com

Shadow Moon, released from prison a few days early when his wife is killed in a car crash, meets Mr. Wednesday on the flight home. Mr. Wednesday is actually the old Norse god Odin, who is traveling around American to round up his quietly retired fellow gods to do battle against the modern upstart gods of the Internet, credit cards, television and the like.

American Gods also won the Nebula Award, the SFX Magazine Award and Bram Stoker awards, all for Best Novel. It was nominated for the 2002 British Science Fiction Association Award, the World Fantasy Award, the International Horror Guild Award and the Mythopoeic Award. It won the 2004 Geffen Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Neil Gaiman on Amazon.com

The fourth book of the Harry Potter series is darker than its predecessors. Harry is 14, and is picked for the first Triwizard Tournament, which replaces the traditional inter-house Quidditch Cup match. Voldemort is after Harry, and uses the tournament to that end. Wonders and delights still abound, and new characters such as young reporter Rita Skeeter are introduced. At the close, Rowling leaves several plotlines open for the fifth installment. The awarding of the Hugo to a children's fantasy caused some controversy as apparently many Worldcon members who usually don't vote and weren't familiar with the other nominees cast votes for Harry Potter.

Other awards were the Bram Stoker Award, Superior Achievement in a Work for Young Readers (2000 - nomination) and the Locus Poll Award, Best Fantasy Novel 2001 - 18th place)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
J. K. Rowling on Amazon.com

This novel is set in the same universe as Vinge's 1993 Hugo Award winning A Fire Upon the Deep, only it's 30,000 years earlier. The spiderlike natives of Arachna periodically hibernate when their variable sun cools. As they emerge, two fleets of starships with humans aboard arrive, one a fleet of merchants, the other slavers. Both fleets are crippled in a battle, and the tyrants win. Both the spiders on the surface and the humans in the sky battle to free themselves from tyranny. Vinge amply demonstrates his abilities to create detailed cultures on a grand scale.

A Deepness in the Sky was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1999. It won the Prometheus Award for best libertarian science fiction and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2000.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Vernor Vinge on Amazon.com

If the title of this novel rings a bell, it may be because it's the subtitle of Jerome K. Jerome's comic tale of a cruise on the Thames in Victorian England, Three Men in a Boat. Ned Henry, from Oxford University's time travel research unit in 2057 (the same project featured in Doomsday Book, Willis' 1993 Hugo and Nebula winner) is on a mission to retrieve the bishop's bird stump. The what? Don't worry, it's part of the fun that for hundreds of pages readers are left wondering just what it is. Meanwhile, the characters try to understand Victorian culture, find romance, prevent the changing of the course of history, and even encounter three men in a boat, to say nothing of the dog.

The book also received a 1999 Nebula Award nomination, and first place in the 1999 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Ordere from Amazon.co.uk
Connie Willis on Amazon.com

Although it's not a sequel to Haldeman's Hugo- and Nebula-winning Forever War, it does share some similarities. Professor Julian Class spends time each month wired to a "soldierboy" which allows wars to be fought remotely. The US is engaged in a war in the third world. Along with his mentor Dr. Amelia Harding, he discovers there's a project out by Jupiter that could destroy the universe. Also, he learns that the linking technology used in the soldierboys can be used to turn people into pacifists if they stay linked with others for two weeks. Those seeking to end war forever try to stay one jump ahead of assassins and people who think we should all go out not with a whimper, but a bang - a Big Bang.

Forever Peace also won the 1998 John W. Campbell Award, the 1999 Nebula Award and placed third for the 1998 Locus Poll Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Joe Haldeman on Amazon.com

In the conclusion to his award-winning Mars trilogy, Robinson shows us a habitable planet, ripe for immigration from over-stressed Earth. With new propulsion units, the outer solar system becomes available for colonization, and even interstellar travel is possible. Robinson continues his brilliant extrapolations and speculations as old enemies reconcile and humanity comes of age.

Blue Mars also was nominated for the British Science Fiction award in 1996, the James Tiptree, Jr. award for gender-bending SF in 1996 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997. It won second place for the John W. Campbell Award in 1997. It wond first place in the 1997 Locus Poll Awards for Best SF Novel and was nominated for the Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel in 1997.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Kim Stanley Robinson on Amazon.com

A cultured nanotech engineer in a neo-Victorian society forges a copy of a nanotech-enhanced primer intended for the daughter of a lord, intending to give it to his own daughter. But he gets mugged, and the mugger gives it to his sister, who learns from it, grows and matures, and ends up changing the course of humanity.

The Diamond Age won the 1996 Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel and first place for the 1996 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. It also received the following nominations:
1995 - HOMer Award, Novel
1996 - Prometheus Award, Best Libertarian SF Novel
1996 - John W. Campbell Award, Second Place
1996 - Arthur C. Clarke Award, Shortlist
1997 - Nebula Award, Novel

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Neal Stephenson on Amazon.com

Miles Vorkosigan, Bujold's undersized and deformed protagonist tried to help out his clone brother, who's gotten into a jam in Jackson's Whole. But he's injured, gets placed in cryogenic suspension, then gets lost in an intergalactic limbo. The author's "carefully crafted prose, logical working out of even minor plot points, and inimitable wit [are] all very much in evidence (Booklist). The Chicago Sun-Times called Mirror Dance her "best book to date."

In 1995 Mirror Dance won first place in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF novel and was a preliminary nominee for the Nebula Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Lois McMaster Bujold on Amazon.com

The books in Robinson's Mars trilogy, of which this is the second, are scientifically and sociologically detailed. In this book, we follow the underground network formed in Red Mars as the planet undergoes the terraforming process, and Mars declares its independence from a troubled and decaying Earth.

Green Mars won the 1994 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and was nominated for the 1993 British Science Fiction Award for Best SF novel, the 1994 Science Fiction Crhonical Award for Best Novel and the 1995 Nebula Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Kim Stanley Robinson on Amazon.com

This tale of mid-21st-century time travelers from Oxford University is a good deal more serious than her later Hugo winner involving the same project. Kivrin, a history student is to be sent back to 1320, but due to an epidemic, a technician lands her in 1348, at the outset of the Black Plague. As the story of Kivrin and those searching for her through time progresses, the many human concerns, hopes, and fears of the medieval and modern characters weave together toward a dark and deep conclusion.

Doomsday Book also won the 1993 Nebula Award, first place in the 1993 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and was nominated for the 1992 British Science Fiction Award for SF Novel, the 1993 Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Novel, the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 1993 Mythopeoiic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Connie Willis on Amazon.com

Vinge creates a complex universe of zones, with Earth in the Slow Zone, where faster than light travel is not possible, further out is the Beyond, where FTL travel is possible, and even further out is the Transcend, inhabited by the godlike "Powers." When a human colony in the Beyond releases an ancient power called the Blight, humans flee, and a group with a secret that might destroy the Blight is stranded on a low-tech world. Vinge combines the razzle-dazzle of old space opera with modern thoughtfulness and brings everything to a suitably mind-boggling climax.

A Fire Upon the Deep also won the 1993 Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel and third place for the 1993 John W. Campbell Award. It was nominated for the 1993 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel (4th Place) and the 1993 Nebula Award, Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Vernor Vinge on Amazon.com

This book completes a story arc begun in Shards of Honor, where Captain Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, on opposite sides of a war, join forces to get off an unexplored planet. They fall in love, and Cordelia arrives on Barrayar, expecting to lead a quiet life. But a poison gas attack and palace coup put an end to that. Her unborn son is transferred to a uterine replicator, while Cordelia flees to the mountains with Gregor, her five-year-old son. She leads a daring commando attack to free her unborn son (later known as Miles) that turns into a fatal blow for the rebellion.

Barrayar also won the 1991 HOMer Award for SF Novel and first place in the 1992 Locus Poll Award for Best SF novel. It was nominated for the 1992 Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel and the 1992 Nebula Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Lois McMaster Bujold on Amazon.com

Miles Vorkosign graduates from Barrayaran Military Academy and is assigned as meteorologist at an arctic training camp with a trigger-happy base commander, where he narrowly averts a massacre. He next goes undercover to investigate a military buildup near a wormhole nexus. His mission turns into a rescue operation when the emperor disappears. As if that weren't enough, he still has to watch his back as the training camp's commander seeks revenge.

The Vor Game was nominated for the 1990 HOMer Award for SF Novel, the 1991 Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Novel, and placed 4th in the 1991 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Lois McMaster Bujold on Amazon.com

The first of a two-book epic, Hyperion tells six tales of a group of pilgrims headed toward an encounter with the Shrike while the entire Galaxy is on the eve of Armageddon.

Hyperion won first place in the 1990 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and was nominated for the 1990 British Science Fiction Award for SF Novel, the 1990 Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel, the 1992 Arthur C. Claarke Award and took 10th place in 1998 in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Dan Simmons on Amazon.com

In a world where humans can be cloned and genetic manipulation creates different classes of humans, a brilliant geneticist is killed, then cloned. The clone is raised to be as much like her predecessor as possible, yet she attempts to chart a different fate. This is a complex story with complex issues, but Cherryh's storytelling abilities keep things moving along.

Other awards for Cyteen: British Science Fiction Award, SF Novel (1989 - nomination), Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel (1989 - winner), Locus Poll Award, Best SF Novel (1989 - 1st place), Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (1998 - 38th place)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
C. J. Cherryh on Amazon.com

This is the third book of Brin's first Uplift trilogy, following Sundiver and 1984 Hugo winner Startide Rising. Billions of years ago, a race called the Progenitors learned to use genetic engineering to give intelligence to non-intelligent species. The process of Uplift has resulted in races that serve their patron race until they in turn uplift another. But humans became intelligent on their own, and Uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees. This offends the aliens, who plan an attack on humankind. The fate of Earth and the Five Galaxies hangs in the balance as space armadas clash.

The Uplift War place first in the 1988 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and was nominated for the 1988 Nebula Award and the 1988 Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian SF Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
David Brin on Amazon.com

This is the second book of Card's series about Ender Wiggin, who thinks it was a mistake to destroy an alien civilization and becomes "Speaker for the Dead." When a new intelligent race is discovered, Ender sees an opportunity to atone for his earlier actions. We see the action unfold from the viewpoints of several humans, a computer, a lone survivor of the destroyed race, and the new aliens.

In 1987, Speaker for the Dead won the Nebula Award, the Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Novel, first place in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and third place for the John W. Campbell Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Orson Scott Card on Amazon.com

The Earth has been attacked by aliens twice, and the world government is breeding military geniuses to insure victory in the next encounter with the "buggers." Ender Wiggin is a standout among the geniuses, trained in military games which force him to take violent actions, when his inner nature desires a kinder and gentler existence. He knows time is running out. Will he be ready for the ultimate battle?

In 1986, Ender's Game won the Nebula Award and the Science Fiction Chronicle Award. It also placed second in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. In 1998 it placed ninth in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Orson Scott Card on Amazon.com

Gibson invented the term "cyberpunk" and this is the book that started it all, and the first to win the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick awards in the same year. Case was at home in the virtual reality of cyberspace, and offering his considerable talents to the highest bidder. When he double-crosses the wrong people, they catch up with him and burn the talent out of him. Then he gets a second chance and a cure, but of course, it comes with a price. Sex, drugs, murder, and mayhem are only a few of the things encountered as Gibson examines where our rush into high-tech may be taking us.

Other awards for Neuromancer: Nebula Award, Novel (1985 - winner), Philip K. Dick Award, Winner (1985 - winner), Science Fiction Chronicle Award, Novel (1985 - winner), Ditmar Award, Best International Long Fiction (1985 - winner), British Science Fiction Award, SF Novel (1984 - nomination), Aurora Award, Best Work (1985 - nomination), John W. Campbell Award, Third Place (1985 - nomination), Locus Poll Award, Best First Novel (1985 - 2nd place), Locus Poll Award, Best SF Novel (1985 - 8th place), Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (1998 - 15th place)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
William Gibson on Amazon.com

In the second book of Brin's first Uplift trilogy, the dolphin-piloted exploration vessel Streaker has crashed on the water world Kithrup. The dolphins and humans on board are carrying the secret of the fate of the Progenitors, the legendary First Race who seeded intelligence among the stars. The crew battles an armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard this information.

Startide Rising won the 1984 Nebula Award and placed first in the 1984 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. It was nominated for the 1983 and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award and placed 16th in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
David Brin on Amazon.com

Nearly thirty years had elapsed since the publication of the third book of the Foundation trilogy, which was given a one-time Hugo award in 1965 for best all-time series. At the end of the war between the First and Second Foundations, the First returns to Hari Seldon's plan. While two Foundation exiles set out to find the mythical Earth, there appears to be something or someone outside the Foundation manipulating events.

Foundation's Edge placed first in the 1983 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and was nominated for the 1982 Science Fiction Chronical Award for Best Novel and the 1983 Nebula Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Isaac Asimov on Amazon.com

This is the first of Cherryh's books dealing with the Union and the Alliance. The Union rebelled against Earth. The story is set toward the end of the war and centers around a space station in orbit around Pell's World in the Tau Ceti system. Those aboard the station refer to the world as "Downbelow" and their home as "Downbelow Station." Due to the war, the station becomes crowded with refugees. The independent Fleet gets involved, along with agents of the fascistic Union. It's a broad and complicated story but Cherryh holds it together well.

Downbelow Station placed third in the 1982 for the Locus Poll Award, Best SF Novel, placed 41st in the 1987 Locus Poll Award fro All-Time Best SF Novel and placed 25th in the 1998 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
C. J. Cherryh on Amazon.com

This novel takes its title from, and is loosely based upon, Hans Christian Anderson's tale. Tiamat is a watery world, that undergoes a Change every 150 years. The Snow Queen plots to extend her rule beyond the Change. That's only one of the conspiracies at work as Moon, a clone of the Snow Queen, becomes aware of the greater universe and tries to ensure her place in it. It's an involving story set in a richly imagined universe.

The Snow Queen won first place in the 1981 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and also received 1981 nominations for the Nebula Award, the Balrog Award, Novel and the Ditmar Award, Best International Long Fiction.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Joan D. Vinge on Amazon.com

Vannemar Morgan wants to link Earth to space with a space elevator, using cable suspended from a large body in geosynchronous orbit. He has determined the only site for the base is atop a sacred mountain in the country Taprobane, which is roughly Sri Lanka, although Clarke had to move it south to the Equator. A sabotaged attempt to lower a cable ends up setting up conditions that lead to the monks in the monastery on the mountain to give permission for anchoring the cable there. And spurring on development of the tower, an unmanned alien craft passes through the solar system.

The Fountains of Paradise also won the 1980 Nebula Award. It was nominated for the 1979 British Science Fiction Award for SF Novel and placed third in the 1980 Locus Poll Award fro Best SF Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Arthur C. Clarke on Amazon.com

In a post-apocalyptic world, healers use snakes, suitably drugged, in place of hypodermic needles. An alien species, the dreamsnake, is used for its analgesic and anesthetic effects. When a healer loses her dreamsnake, she must go on a journey to find a replacement. Chapter 1 of this book first appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact in October 1973 titled "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand."

Dreamsnake was nominated for the 1979 Ditmar Award, Best International Long Fiction and won the 1979 Nebula Award, placed first in the 1979 Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel and in 1995 won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Classics.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Vonda N. McIntyre on Amazon.com

This is the first book of the four-volume Heechee saga. The Heechee, a long vanished race, left behind the Gateway with nearly a thousand small starships. Once people figure out how to operate them, they travel to the pre-programmed destinations, which may or may not be useful. Robinette "Bob" Broadhead travels to the Gateway and makes three journeys. He becomes fantastically rich after the third because he is the only survivor, although the other crewmembers may not be dead yet.

In 1978, Gateway also won Nebula Award, the John W. Campbell Award, and placed first in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. In 1979 it won the Apollo Award (Prix Apollo). Also in 1978 it was nominated for the Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fictioon. In 1987 it placed eighth in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel. In 1998 it placed 11th in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Frederik Pohl on Amazon.com

Hailed as the best novel about cloning to date in 1976, the book is about the Sumner family of the Shenandoah Valley. When massive environmental changes and diseases attributed to pollution cause the collapse of civilization, the Sumners are prepared and set up an isolated community. But sterility strikes, and they turn to cloning for survival. Each generation becomes weaker both physically and mentally. The plan was for cloning to keep the family going until the sterility wore off and sexual reproduction could resume, but the clones have other ideas.

1n 1977, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang placed first in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award and the John W. Campbell Award.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Kate Wilhelm on Amazon.com

William Mandella, a physics student, is drafted and sent off to fight the alien Taurans. Because of the relativistic effects of space travel, when he returns after a year by his time, 27 years have passed on Earth. Unable to adjust, he re-enlists and finds himself fighting battle after battle as the centuries pass on Earth.

In 1976 The Forever War won the Nebula Award, the Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction and first place in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. In 1975 it placed eighth in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. in 1987 it placed 18th in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel and was nominated for the Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel. In 1998 it placed 12th in the Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.com
Joe Haldeman on Amazon.com

The fifth novel in LeGuin's Hainish series, the book is set chronologically earlier than the others, at the time of the invention of the ansible, a device for instant communications over interstellar distances. The setting is the two inhabitable worlds around Tau Ceti, Urras and Annares. Urras has several governments, with the two largest being rivals much like the United States and the Soviet Union. Annares, a moon of Urras, had been settled 200 years before by anarcho-syndicalists in order to forestall a revolution on Annares. Shevek, a physicist on Annares, encounters obstacles in his research and travels to Urras. The novel covers his struggles on both worlds.

In 1975 The Dispossessed won the Nebula Award and first place in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. Other Locus Poll Awards are: 1975 - 13th place for All-Time Best Novel, 1987 - 17th place for All-Time Best SF Novel and 1998 - 19th place for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990. It was nominated for the Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel annually from 1983 to 1987 and 1989 to 1991, finally winning in 1993. Ms. Le Guin is one of only two women to have won a Prometheus Award since its start in 1979. (The other woman was half of a husband/wife team.)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Ursula K. Le Guin on Amazon.com

Rama is a huge extraterrestrial craft making a passage through the solar system. A team of astronauts is sent to investigate the craft. Inside the hollow cylinder, they attempt to understand its mysteries, such as, where are the Ramans and why have they come?

Rendezvous With Rama won the 1973 British Science Fiction Award for SF Novel, and in 1974 won the John W. Campbell Award, the Nebula Award and placed first in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. It also placed in several Locus Poll Awards: 1975 - 20th place, All-Time Best Novel; 1987 - 25th place for All-Time Best SF Novel; 1998 - 36th place for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.com
Arthur C. Clarke on Amazon.com

In 2100, the invention of the Inter-Universe Electron Pump has made abundant and cheap energy possible, but its use threatens the rate of hydrogen fusion in the Sun, which could lead to a huge explosion that would destroy Earth. An outcast scientist from Earth, a rebellious alien from a dying planet in a parallel universe, and a human intuitionist from the lunar colony know of this, and race to get others to believe and prevent the disaster.

In 1973 The Gods Themselves won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction, and first place in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. In 1998 it placed 52nd for the Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Isaac Asimov on Amazon.com

This is the beginning of the Riverworld saga. People who die on Earth find life after death on Riverworld. After English adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton awakens on Riverworld he gathers other adventurers. Together they construct a boat and go on a journey to reach the headwaters, thought to be millions of miles away. Burton is encouraged in his quest by a Mysterious Stranger, a member of the race that constructed the Riverworld. Burton and his fellow adventurers must reach the headwaters and stop an experiment that could result in the end of humanity.

In 1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go was nominated for the Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction and placed second in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. It placed 17th in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best Novel in 1975 and 27th in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
The linked book is an omnibus edition which includes The Fabulous Riverboat.
Philip José Farmer on Amazon.com

Two-hundred-year-old Luis Wu, bored and seeking a challenge, is recruited by Nessus, of the puppeteer race that has abandoned a vast commercial empire to flee the explosion of the galactic core, which won't affect Known Space for another 20,000 years. Also recruited are the Kzin known as Speaker-to-Animals, and Teela Brown, a young woman of no known talents except she has all the luck anyone could ever use. Together they head out to explore the Ringworld, a million-mile-wide loop around a star with a diameter equal to Earth's orbit around the sun. They didn't count on the crash landing.

In 1971 Ringworld won the Nebula Award for Best Novel and first place in the Locus Poll Award for Best SF Novel. It won the Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction in 1972. For Locus Poll Awards it placed 12th in 1975 for All-Time Best Novel, ninth in 1987 for All-Time Best SF Novel and 25th in 1998 for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.com
Larry Niven on Amazon.com

Genly Ai's mission to Winter is to bring that world back into the fold of galactic civilization. He realizes there is a broad gulf between his civilization and that of Winter, where people can be of no gender or both. LeGuin is inventive and delicate in exploring her creation, her characters, and the philosophical issues that arise.

In 1970 The Left Hand of Darkness won the Nebula Award and was nominated for the Ditmar Award for Best International Long Fiction. In 1975 it placed third in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best Novel. In 1987 it placed second in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF novel. In 1995 it won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award in the Retroactive category and in 1998 placed third in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Ursula K. Le Guin on Amazon.com

This novel takes trends current in the late 1960s and extrapolates them into the future when the population has grown to where, if everyone was given a one- by two-foot space, the entire population could do what the title suggests. It's still in our future as of 2011. Overpopulation is only one of the problems, along with intelligent computers, politics by assassination, warped ethics, and so on. In this crazed world, Donald Hogan is a spy who doesn't realize that he himself is programmed for death.
In 1969 Stand on Zanzibar won the British Science Fiction Awardfor Best SF Novel and was nominated for the Nebula Award. In 1973 it won the Apollo Award (Prix Apollo). Locus Poll Awards are: All-Time Best Novel, 11th place in 1975; All-Time Best SF novel, 16th place in 1987 and All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990, 20th place in 1998.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
John Brunner on Amazon.com

On a colony world, the crew of a starship have become mechanically enhanced gods of the Hindu pantheon, ruling over the descendants of the ship's passengers. Thanks to mind transfer into cloned bodies, they are immortal tyrants. Then a retired god introduces Buddhism, allies with the planet's native "demons," and does battle against tyranny.

In 1968 Lord of Light was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Locus Poll Awards are for All-Time Best Novel, 10th place in 1975; All-Time Best SF Novel, 11th place in 1987 and All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990, 14th place in 1998.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Roger Zelazny on Amazon.com

TANSTAAFL, or "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," became a popular phrase among science fiction readers, writers, and libertarians through this book. It's a tale of revolution on the former penal colony of Luna. A computer technician, a young woman agitator, and an elderly academic become the revolution's leaders. They are joined, secretly, by Mike, the computer that controls the colony and has become sentient, a fact known only to the small group of leaders.

Serialization of this novel was in 1965 and 1966, so it was eligible to be nominated in both years. In 1967 it was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. In the Locus Poll Awards, it placed eighth for All-Time Best Novel in 1975, fourth for All-Time Best SF Novel in 1987 and second for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 in 1998. It won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel in 1983.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Robert A. Heinlein on Amazon.com

The desert planet Arrakis is the only source of the spice Melange, which is necessary for interstellar travel and gives users psychic powers and longevity. This makes the planet the focus for a power struggle in an interstellar empire. When the emperor takes control of the planet from House Harkonnen to House Atreides, the Harkonnens resort to treachery to hold on to power and get Duke Paul Atriedes cast out into the desert. Paul links up with the desert-dwelling Fremen, who become the basis for his army in the fight to regain power.

In 1966 Dune won the Nebula Award for Best Novel. It won three Locus Poll Awards: 1975 for All-Time Best Novel, 1987 for All-Time Best SF Novel and 1998, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Frank Herbert on Amazon.com

This was Zelazny's first published novel, serialized as ...And Call Me Conrad, his preferred title, then published as a book as This Immortal. In the aftermath of a nuclear war, Earth has a population of 4 million and is overrun with mutated lifeforms. The planet is under the control of the alien Vegans. Conrad Nomikos is given the task of escorting a Vegan around Earth, a task he'd rather not do. He becomes the reluctant protector of the Vegan when attempts are made on the alien's life. He knows it's important to protect the alien, he's just not sure why.

In 1967 the novel was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Roger Zelazny on Amazon.com

The Wanderer is an artificial world that appears out of hyperspace, dwarfing and threatening the Moon. Its appearance causes chaos on Earth, but one man sees it differently, as a tale of alien domination and human submission.





Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Fritz Leiber on Amazon.com

Enoch Wallace is a Civil War veteran, still alive and relatively youthful 100 years after the war. He's been made keeper of an intergalactic way station, his home in rural Wisconsin. Beings from all over the galaxy pass through with their tales. His neighbors don't ask questions, which is just as well, because humanity is considered psychologically and sociologically unfit for inclusion amongst the galaxy's races. Then a CIA agent shows up, asking questions about Wallace.

In 1987 Way Station placed 25th in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF and 31st in the 1998 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Clifford D. Simak on Amazon.com

In an alternate vision of the United States in 1962, the country lost World War II and is occupied by Germany and Japan. Slavery is legal, the few Jews left are in hiding. The novel follows six Americans in storylines that are at least partially interconnected. The Man in the High Castle became a model for future history stories that followed it.

Since winning the Hugo, The Man in the High Castle placed 22nd in the 1975 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best Novel, was a preliminary nominee for the 1984 Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel, placed 14th in the 198 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel and placed 18th in the 1998 Locus Poll Award foor All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Philip K. Dick on Amazon.com

This is Heinlein's most widely-known novel, read by a generation of children of the '60s. Michael Valentine Smith was born on Mars and is the only survivor of the first expedition to the red planet. He was raised by an ancient Martian civilization. When he is brought to Earth, he knows nothing of humanity's ways and mores. As the only survivor of the expedition, he is considered the owner of Mars and is fabulously wealthy. He sets up his own church to spread his ideas, but ultimately meets the fate of most messiahs.

Stranger in a Strange Land has also won the following awards and nominations since winning the Hugo Award:
1975 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best Novel (4th place)
1987 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel 5th place)
1987 Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel (winner)
1990 SFBC Award, The Science Fiction Book Club's Book of the Year Award (nomination)
1991 Locus Poll Award, Best SF Novel (6th place)
1998 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (5th place)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Robert A. Heinlein on Amazon.com

After a nuclear war, mankind has regressed to a new dark age. In the future Catholic Church, a 20th century engineer, Leibowitz, is canonized and venerated by the monks of an abbey in Utah. The story unfolds over 700 years as civilization rises again, only to face the same problems that led to its downfall in the first place.

A Canticle for Leibowitz placed 5th in the 1975 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best Novel, 7th place in the 1987 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel and 7th place in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Walter M. Miller, Jr. on Amazon.com

The novel tells the story of Juan Rico, who enlists in Federal Service, and rises to the rank of lieutenant. Told largely in flashback, it is thought of as a platform for Heinlein's controversial political views. The exposition of those views is more prevalent than actual combat. It also marks Heinlein's transition from his juvenile novels (although Podkayne of Mars was published later).

# 1975 - Starship Troopers placed 22nd in the Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best Novel, 21st in the 1987 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel and 24th in the 1998 Locus Poll Award for All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Robert A. Heinlein on Amazon.com

The people of the planet Lithia have no literature or fine arts, don't understand "recreation," and are free of the sins of greed, lust, envy and other vices of mankind. Their society is just about perfect. They don't have religion, either, which poses a problem for a Jesuit priest, who is also a scientist, who wonders, is God necessary in a moral society? He suspects The Adversary is at work here, and wonders what role a young Lithian raised on Earth will play.

Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best Novel (1975 - 28th place)
British Science Fiction Award, BSFA Fiftieth Anniversary Award: Best Novel of 1958 (2007 - Nomination)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
James Blish on Amazon.com

Leiber's Change War series is about time-traveling opponents locked in an endless war that often alters the course of history. In this novel, doctors, wounded soldiers, and entertainers are trapped in a room known as the Place, outside of space and time. It has been described as "possibly the ultimate locked room whodunit."

British Science Fiction Association Fiftieth Anniversary Award: Best Novel of 1958 (2007 - Nomination)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Fritz Lieber on Amazon.com

Out-of-work actor Lorenzo Smythe gets shanghaied to Mars, where he takes on the most challenging role of his career - impersonating a missing leader, the most loved and most threatened human on the planet. If he succeeds, there will be peace with the Martians and union with a democratic inter-world empire. If he fails, or the Martians expose him, it could mean a quick death. Even if he avoids that, if the missing man never reappears, he could have the role for life.

Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel (1987 - 44th place)
Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (1998 - 41st place)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Robert A. Heinlein on Amazon.com

The edition published by Carroll and Graf includes a section titled "Crazy Joey," which includes two two previously published stories, "Crazy Joey" and Hide! Hide! Witch!," and the section "Bossy," which was the originally published novel serialized in Astounding Science Fiction in 1954. The book, which is more concerned with ideas than characters, tells of a machine, Bossy, built to replace humans in piloting vehicles.

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Mark Clifton on Amazon.com

In Bester's future world, murder has been obsolete for 70 years. Society is policed by benign telepaths, who sweep the minds of people and prevent crimes before they can happen. But a desperate businessman, about to lose his company to a rival, is driven to desperate measure. He comes up with the perfect plan, and bribes a telepath to cover his tracks.

International Fantasy Award, Fiction (1954 - Nomination)
Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best Novel (1975 - 14th place)
Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel (1987 - 18th place)
Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (1998 - 22nd place)

Order from Amazon.com
Order from Amazon.co.uk
Alfred Bester on Amazon.com

     Amazon's wildly popular ebook reader can store up to 3,500 books and documents, enough for years of reading. Its e-ink technology allows you to read anywhere there's enough light to read a printed book. Unlike with laptops and iPads, even bright sunlight won't wash out the screen. The Kindle is available in white and graphite.

     The WiFi model will connect anywhere there's a WiFi hotspot. If you have wireless Internet in your home, you can connect to Amazon to get the latest best-sellers, many of your favorite author's books and more.

Kindle Wi-Fi from Amazon.com

Kindle Wi-Fi from Amazon.co.uk

     The Kindle 3G model will connect with Amazon just about anywhere there's cell phone connectivity, making it a better choice if you do not have WiFi in your home or if you travel a lot. 3G access is available in over 100 countries and territories. Amazon pays for your Kindle 3G connection time.

Kindle 3G rom Amazon.com

Kindle 3G from Amazon.co.uk

     The Kindle DX gives you all the features of the Kindle 3G plus a much larger screen. Its auto-rotation feature allows you to turn the screen sideways for a wider view of documents and web pages.

Kindle DX from Amazon.com

International customers (including the UK) - please click on the link above and then click on the link in the "Live Outside the U.S.?" box.

Join Squidoo and create your own lenses. They're free and you might even make some money at it through affiliate marketing. Lenses are web pages, but the Squidoo folks call them lenses because the pages focus in on topics. Everyone's an expert on something. Music, humor, books, travel, food, wine, collectibles, sports, movies, photography -- anything that interests you probably interests someone else. Ready to start? CLICK HERE