I have this little book called A History of the Hugo, Nebula and International Fantasy Awards. It takes 129 pages just to list and index all the stuff shortlisted for these awards over the last 30 years – and, at that, my edition's out of date and stops in 1979. With really outstanding SF so hard to come by, it's truly difficult to believe that very many of these hundreds on hundreds of books, short stories, etc. are really worthy of such honour ... and if something happens not to be shortlisted for the Hugo or Nebula, why, there's always the British SF Association Award, World Fantasy Award, Prix Apollo, Gandalf, Prometheus, Jupiter, Balrog, Galaxy, Ditmar, on and on until it's amazing that any book at all fails to be issued with 'Award-Winning Author' on the cover. (I myself can claim four Hugo nominations on the strength of publishing a few fanzines.) These glum reflections are provoked by the great wodges of award information released around this time of year, endless lists of names and titles which make conscientious fans burst their brains in an attempt to keep up with all the supposed masterworks of the last year.
THE HUGO AWARD shortlist has been issued by the current World Convention (Denver, Colorado, September); these are 1981 awards for 1980 work, and voting is going on even as I write. Winners will be revealed at the convention. Here's the list:
Novel: Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (Frederick Pohl), Lord Valentine's Castle (Robert Silverberg), Ringworld Engineers (Larry Niven), The Snow Queen (Joan Vinge), Wizard (John Varley).
Novella: 'All the Lies that Are my Life' (Harlan Ellison: F&SF), 'The Brave Little Toaster' (Thomas Disch: F&SF), 'Lost Dorsai' (Gordon Dickson: Destinies), 'Nightflyers' (George R.R. Martin: Analog), 'One-Wing' (George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle: Analog).
Novelette: 'The Autopsy' (Michael Shea: F&SF), 'Beatnik Bayou' (John Varley: New Voices III), 'Cloak and Staff' (Gordon Dickson: Analog), 'The Lordly Ones' (Keith Roberts: F&SF), 'Savage Planet' (Barry Longyear: Analog), The Ugly Chickens' (Howard Waldrop: Universe 10).
Short story: 'Cold Hands' (Jeff Duntemann: IASFM), 'Grotto of the Dancing Deer' (Clifford Simak: Analog), 'Guardian' (Jess Duntemann: (IASFM), 'Our Lady of the Sauropods' (Robert Silverberg: Omni), 'Spidersong' (Susan Petrey: F&SF).
Non-Fiction: Cosmos (Carl Sagan), DiFate's Catalog of SF Hardware (Vincent DiFate & Ian Summers), Dream Makers (Charles Platt), In Joy Still Felt (Isaac Asimov), Warhoon 28 (Walter Willis, ed. Richard Bergeron).
Pro Editor: James Baen, Terry Carr, Ed Ferman, Stanley Schmidt, George Scithers.
Pro Artist: Vincent DiFate, Stephen Fabian, Paul Lehr, Don Maitz, Michael Whelan.
Fanzine: File 770, Locus, SF Chronicle, SF Review, Starship.
Fanwriter: Richard Geis, Mike Glyer, Arthur Hlavaty, Dave Langford, Susan Wood.
Fanartist: Alexis Gilliland, Joan Hanke-Woods, Victoria Poyser, Bill Rotsler, Stu Shiffman.
Dramatic: Cosmos, The Empire Strikes Back, Flash Gordon, The Lathe of Heaven, The Martian Chronicles.
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo, but voted for on the same ballot): Kevin Christensen, Diane Duane, Robert L Forward, Susan Petrey, Robert Stallman, Somtow Sucharitkul.
After that lot you are permitted to go and lie down for a bit.... The Hugo shortlist is worked out in quite a simple way: all convention members can send in their preferences, and the five most-nominated items in each category go onto the final ballot. One problem arises when a Really Good Book comes out in hardcover only, while several Not So Good books make it into paperback before the voting deadline: more people can read and nominate the lesser works, and the goodie doesn't reach the shortlist. Thus, simply because it's conducted by democratic vote, this 'literary' award is heavily influenced by a book's cost, distribution, packaging and so on. Worldcon committees bend the rules from time to time when it suits them: thus Ringworld Engineers appeared in a limited edition in 1979 but was ruled eligible for these 1980 awards so as to give people more time to read and vote for it. No other book published late in 1979 was given this treatment, but of course Larry Niven's a really famous and nice person, and we can't allow unfortunate accidents of publication date to affect his Hugo chances as they affect those of the proles. Again, Superman II was released in Australia (and South Africa, I think) in 1980 but is being held over for next year's Hugos because it's a huge American film and Americans must have the chance to see it and vote for it ... yet a book published in Australia (or Britain) one year and in America the next year would not be ruled eligible by the time Americans had been able to read it.
One suggested solution to award problems is to await the 'judgment of history' – to conduct voting when all the hype has died down, say three to five years after first publication. Most authors and publishers regard this notion with the loathing they normally reserve for booksellers: there's so much more money in being able to slap Hugo Nominee/Winner on a book early in its career, when it still has the momentum of the first big sales push. (And fans shrewdly suspect that those few shorter works still remembered after five years wouldn't be enough to fill out the final ballot – which would never do, would it?) As it is, the judgment of history gets distorted by the awards themselves: the 'Hugo Winner' tag means virtually guaranteed reprinting until the Sun goes nova, even if no voter actually thought the book in question to be the year's best. Yes, that can and does happen: the 'Australian ballot' Hugo voting means that a popular second choice can easily triumph. If all the first-place votes are split between books A and B while C gets all the second-place votes, then C will win. Don't scorn the Hugos too much, but do take them with a medium sized pinch of salt.
THE NEBULA AWARDS work differently. Members of the SF Writers of America send in recommendations over the year, and a newsletter is issued showing which works have been recommended and by whom. The opportunities for toadying, mutual backscratching and general logrolling are obvious; and authors without time to read the current crop yet wishing to make a recommendation (Why? I'll come to that) can so easily be tempted to throw their weight behind whatever's being pushed by their friends. The SFWA address list is available, at a price, and publishers often send free copies of favoured books to all members – or sometimes just to those members who often make recommendations, which of course gives an incentive to do so (all those free books for resale!). The five most-recommended works in each category go onto a final ballot, and secret voting then takes place. This year's winners:
Novel: Timescape by Gregory Benford. Novella: 'The Unicorn Tapestry' by Suzy McKee Charnas. Novelette: 'The Ugly Chickens' by Howard Waldrop. Short Story: 'Grotto of the Dancing Deer' by Clifford Simak. Grand Master award: Fritz Leiber.
Whether or not this reflects the true opinion of SFWA is a moot point: some members, such as myself, never received ballot forms despite numerous complaints. Meanwhile, our very own Ian Watson is now SFWA's British representative; this may console him slightly for the recent Helmdon council election, which – as official Labour candidate – he lost by 927 votes to 1860. ("The mob chose Barabbas," Ian told our reporter.)
THE BRITISH SF ASSOCIATION AWARD covers work published in Britain last year; nominations are sent in by members, while every member of the BSFA and the British Eastercon has a vote on the final ballot. The BSFA Chairman will hit me if I make snide comments about this award, so I won't ... except to note that the (often sensible) recommendations in BSFA magazines have a great effect on the final shortlist. Winners this year were –
Novel: Timescape. Short fiction: 'The Brave Little Toaster'. Media: Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2nd radio series). Artist: Peter Jones.
It's strange that Timescape has won two of these three awards, yet isn't even shortlisted for the Hugo. It was only available in a fairly expensive edition: does this mean that US authors and British fans are better off than the US fans who make up most of the Hugo voters? That said US fans haven't heard about public libraries? That Timescape is a rarefied and difficult work which simple American fans can't follow, but which appeals to the devious, Jesuitical minds of authors and Britons? Your guess is as good as mine. Certainly British Hugo nominees are rare: this year there's just Keith Roberts (who had to publish in an American magazine),Charles Platt (who's sold out and lives in America), Walt Willis (whose works are collected in the superb 615-page fanzine Warhoon 28, published in America) and whatsisname....
Snippets: 'Carl Sagan,' I wrote last time (it was omitted for reasons of space), 'has collected a $2,000,000 advance for his SF novel Contact: all he has to do now is write it.' The book's since been delivered, and there are hints of trouble: we connoisseurs of libel law can place no credence in such rumours as that the thing was in fact ghostwritten by one Anne Druyan, who supplied the mysticism in the series Cosmos, or that several rumoured writers including Heinlein and Spinrad are rumoured to have been drawn into the lawsuit which base rumour-mongers hint is on the way. Quoth Brian Aldiss: 'Any man who gets paid $2m for a novel deserves to be in trouble.' ... Isaac Asimov has contracted to write a fourth Foundation novel for a rather more modest advance of £50,000+.... The 33rd British Easter Convention will be held next year in the Metropole Hotel, Brighton: SAE for details to CHANNELCON, 4 Fletcher Road, Chiswick, London, W4 5AY.... Famous British author Chris Priest has married US author Lisa Tuttle.... RIP: Robert Aickman (marvellous British horror/fantasy author), Kit Pedler (of Doomwatch fame) and James H. Schmitz (one of the better exponents of colourful space opera).... L. Ron Hubbard has a 'massive' SF novel due out within the year, and has scripted an upcoming SF film: of course he's better known as the founder of Scientology (did you know that George Orwell wrote 'I have always thought there might be a lot of cash in starting a new religion' – in 1938!).... Ian Watson and John Brunner persuaded an audience at this year's Eastercon (Leeds) to vote on unilateral disarmament: the figures were 74 for, 30 against, 60 abstentions and the other 500 convention members somewhere else – mostly in the bar.... Brunner's Players at the Game of People has won a bronze 'Porgie Award' in the USA.... More news, more despicable scandal and (no doubt) more awards in the next earth-shattering award-losing column from ...
DAVID LANGFORD