Many years back (9 years) when I really got into sci-fi I decided to use the Hugo Award for Best Novel list as a way to find interesting authors and read the classics. I’ve done pretty well! I’ve read 3/3 of the Retrospectively Awarded Hugos (Retro) and 40/55 of the true Hugo Winners (i.e. those awarded a year after publication and thus not considered “classics” only through the lens of posterity as the Retros are). What’s most revealing is my interest in science fiction written from the mid-50s to the late 70s — this is reflected by my 24 straight Hugo Award winning reads from 1956-1979 (a few ties are in there — hence the unequal years).
I highly recommend looking at this list (besides the last 10 years which have been pretty slim pickings in my opinion, I mean, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?!?!?!?!) to discover new authors if you’re new to the genre.
AND…
Very few people know that Roger Zelazny’s weird, mythology inspired romp The Immortal (1969) TIED with Frank Herbert’s epic Dune!
…OR about
two-time winner Fritz Leiber. His novel The Big Time is infrequently read (a bunch of interesting people in a weird room with a nuclear bomb — has the feel of a one act play). For me, I’ve discovered that I need to read Mark Clifton and Frank Riley’s They’d Rather Be Right… I haven’t even heard of the authors until I cobbled together this list…. Oh, and one parting sentence, the worst novel awarded the Hugo that I’ve read has to be Philip José Farmer’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go — perhaps the dismal sequels ruined it for me — I’ve never understood the appeal of that ramshackle novel…..
(BOLD = I’ve read)
The Retro Hugos
1946 (awarded 1996) – The Mule, Isaac Asimov
1951 (awarded 2001) – Farmer in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
1954 (awarded 2004) – Fahrenheit 451
The Hugo Award for Best Novel
1953 The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
1955 They’d Rather Be Right, Mark Clifton and Frank Riley
1956 Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
1958 The Big Time, Fritz Leiber
1959 A Case of Conscience, James Blish
1960 Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
1961 A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
1962 Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
1963 The Man in a High Castle, Philip K. Dick
1964 Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
1965 The Wanderer, Fritz Leiber
1966 (tie) Dune, Frank Herbert
1966 (tie) … And Call be Conrad (aka. This Immortal), Roger Zelazny
1967 The Moon is Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
1968 The Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
1969 Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
1970 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
1971 Ringworld, Larry Niven
1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer
1973 The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
1974 Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
1975 The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
1976 The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
1977 Where Late the Sweet Birds Sand, Kate Wilhelm
1978 Gateway, Frederik Pohl
1979 The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke
1980 The Snow Queen, Joan D. Vinge
1981 Downbelow Station, C. J. Cherryh
1983 Foundation’s Edge, Isaac Asimov
1984 Startide Rising, David Brin
1985 Neuromancer, William Gibson
1986 Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
1987 Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
1988 The Uplift War, David Brin
1989 Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
1990 Hyperion, Dan Simmons
1991 The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold
1992 Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold
1993 (tie) A Fire Upon the Deep
1993 (tie) Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
1994 Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
1995 The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
1996 Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
1998 Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman
1999 To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
2000 A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge
2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling
2002 American Gods, Neil Gaiman (GAVE UP ON THIS ONE)
2003 Hominids, Robert J. Sawyer
2004 Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
2005 Jonathan Strange Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
2006 Spin, Robert Charles Wilson
2007 Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge
2008 The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Michael Chabon
2009 The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
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.
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(suggestions about which are the best of the remaining novels would be GREATLY appreciated)
.
(thoughts?)
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 
I loved Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. I thought it was well written with good characters and a fantastic story and set-up. It does good job of placing the story in a frame of reality so that it feels fairly plausible. There’s a sequel out called Axis that is good, but not nearly at the level of Spin.
I’m impressed that you read most of these already! I’ve had similar aspirations, but have only gotten through about 5-6 so far.
I also read Graveyard Book before it won and while good, I didn’t think it was anything too special.
Now I desperately want to find They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley — one of the only 50s/60s/70s Hugo Novels I’m missing!
Well, I read sci-fi frequently to decompress from reading/writing/grading/soon to be teaching medieval history all day (PhD student at the moment)….
But yes, I’ve often considered picking up Spin. I just have some poorly rationalized problems with new Hard Sci-Fi…
Wasn’t Graveyard Book a young adult novel?
I tried to read American Gods (the 2002 winner) a few years back — but had to quit…
I’m not big on new sci-fi myself, but Spin exceeded all my expectations. It does starts off a bit slow, if you decide to try it.
Yeah, Graveyard Book is young adult. I wouldn’t classify it as sci-fi at all though. It’s more of a strange sort of ghost tale.
Slow is fine…. My favorite sci-fi novel is Stand on Zanzibar which is 600 plus pages (late 1960s — so shockingly long for its time) and has very little plot…
I’m not sure why they would give the award to a young adult book — I thought they wanted to be a serious award — hmm… maybe the other choices that year were awful.
I don’t know…like you mentioned in the post they gave it to Harry Potter one year, and there had to have been a better sci-fi novel than that.
I’ll have to check out Stand on Zanzibar. Man, you got me all fired up to get back to reading classic sci-fi. Thanks!
Good! Classic sci-fi is the best — all the ideas that crop up later are there incubating.
Of the Hugo list – I recommend a mixture of famous and not so well known: This Immortal – Roger Zelazny, A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller Jr, Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula Le Guin, The Big Time — Leiber, and The Forever War – Haldeman.
I’ll post the Nebula list tomorrow (maybe)… and eventually the Hugo and Nebula Nominees which didn’t end up winning
I can recommend the Lois McMaster Bujold ones (though I haven’t read The Vor Game). I really liked American Gods, actually, but possibly more because I love the idea of old gods existing in a modern world: parts of it reminded me of Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Fionavar Tapestry, though.
What are Cherryh’s books like?
Ela
Cherryh’s books are quite dry, with limited narrators, with TONS of politics and political machinations. I’m not sure I recommend her work — they are overly long (which is fine) but the drawn out political maneuvering never has much payoff — I always get the feel that people are paranoid in her works for the sake of being paranoid….
I really enjoyed (I wrote a review for it on this site) Merchanter’s Luck (although it didn’t win a Hugo). If you read anything of hers, read Downbelow Station — if you enjoy it, read Merchanters luck and Cyteen (which is way too long).
Thanks for your recommendation!
In terms of female authors, I enjoy Ursula Le Guin (The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness) 100 fold over Cherryh…