Customer Reviews

Hugo Winners

All the short fiction award-winning stories from the years 1955-61. Some years, separate awards were given for short story and novelette; in others only one short fiction award was handed out. And there was one year, 1957, in which NO such prizes were presented!

CONTENTS:
1955
NOVELETTE: The Darfsteller [Walter M. Miller Jr.]
SHORT STORY: Allamagoosa [Eric Frank Russell]
1956
NOVELETTE: Exploration Team [Murray Leinster]
SHORT STORY: The Star [Arthur C. Clarke]
1958
SHORT STORY: Or All The Seas With Oysters [Avram Davidson]
1959
NOVELETTE: The Big Front Yard [Clifford D. Simak]
SHORT STORY: The Hell-Bound Train [Robert Bloch]
1960
NOVELETTE: Flowers For Algernon [Daniel Keyes]
1961
NOVELETTE: The Longest Voyage [Poul Anderson]

I have never attended a World Science Fiction Convention in my life. But in my youth, I used to follow the awards the way some people followed the World Series. The Hugo Awards began with the 11th Convention in 1953 at Philedelphia. This volumn of Hugo winners edited by Isaac Asimov covers the awards from 1953 through 1961. There is a bit of inconsistency from one year to the next. During two years, 1953 and 1957, no awards were given for short fiction at all. During some years, awards were given for "best novelette" and "best short story." During other years, awards were given only to a single short story. No awards were given for "best novella" at this time.
There are a total of nine stories in this book: The Darfstellar," by Walter M Miller, Jr.; "Allamagoosa," by Eric Frank Russell; "Exploration Team," by Murray Leinster; "The Star," by Arthur C. Clarke; "Or All the Seas With Oysters," by Avram Davidson; "The Big Front Yard," by Clifford D. Simak; "The Hell-Bound Train," by Robert Bloch; "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes; and "The Longest Voyage," by Poul Anderson. All of the stories are very good. There isn't a clunker in the lot. But it seems to me that only three are straight-out classics-- the Miller, the Clarke, and the Keyes. The first takes a fairly old theme-- the conflict between man and machine-- and deepens it with a subtle character portrait. The Clarke story might appear to be a one-punch story with a trick ending on a first reading; but in fact, it is a much more complex work. There is a very good reason why it has been reprinted in many short story anthologies over and over again. And the Daniel Keyes tale has an emotional richness rare in science fiction even today.
I would rank the Davidson, the Simak, and the Anderson stories as almost in the same league... but not quite. Each of these writers wrote stories that were somewhat better than these entries. The Russell, Bloch, and Leinster tales are honest pieces of craftsmanship. They are worth your attention, but they don't quite dazzle.

Perhaps it might be appropriate to close with a few observations about the original magazine publications of the stories. _Astounding/Analog_ had the most frequent winners, a total of five stories. One story ("Or All the Seas with Oysters") came from _Galaxy_, one ("The Star") came from _Infinity_, and two ("The Hell-Bound Train" and "Flowers for Algernon") came from _Fantasy and Science Fiction_. The _ASF_ winners tended to cluster the most in the early fifties. As the decade went on, there were more winners from other magazines.

As most readers know, the Nebula Awards are given by the Science Fiction Writers of America. In this respect, they are analogous to the Academy Awards. The Hugo Awards are elected by popular vote. You don't have to be a professional author to vote. Based on the stories in this first volumn of Hugo winners, it would seem that science fiction fans made some pretty good choices over the years.