# All Time Best Hugo Award Winner **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839 "2017-02-02T18:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/1 "2017-02-02T18:43:35Z")
Inspired by the [Newberry Medal](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=818080) thread, which of the [Hugo Award winners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel) do you think is the best? One choice only. Bonus points if you’ve actually read “They’d Rather Be Right.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/2 "2017-02-02T18:57:22Z")
My record is a little better for the Hugos than the Newberrys–I’ve read 27 of the winners. Out of those, the toughest choice is between _A Fire Upon the Deep_ and _Hyperion_. Taken as a stand-alone, I’ll have to go with AFUtD. (But if taken overall, I’d go with the Hyperion Cantos.) ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/3 "2017-02-02T19:34:30Z")
A tough choice, but I’ll go with _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/4 "2017-02-02T19:41:32Z")
I’ve read 25. Much as I love _To Say Nothing Of The Dog_, and my daughter would vote for _American Gods_ my vote has to go for Frank Herbert’s _Dune_, and ignore all its sequels. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/5 "2017-02-02T19:57:40Z")
I just recently re-read _Stand on Zanzibar_, and to be honest it hasn’t aged well at all. But it’s one of my favorite books, so I have to go with it. Otherwise I would have chosen _Canticle for Liebowitz_. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/6 "2017-02-02T20:02:55Z")
I’ve read _They’d Rather Be Right_. I don’t know if the legend that it only won because there were only a few hundred people at the convention and the publisher ordered pizza (or burgers or whatever) to bribe them to vote for Clifton’s drek is true or not…but I’d rather believe it true. Lord, what a bad book. Although it’s not quite the worst. The worst is Leiber’s _The Wanderer_. I can only assume he was stoned when he wrote it. And that the voters were stoned when they voted for it. Leiber has written many, MANY brilliant works. This wasn’t one of them. It’s hard to pick a single favorite as there’s so many good ones, but I’d probably pick Vinge’s _A Fire Upon The Deep_ if I were forced to. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/7 "2017-02-02T20:17:22Z")
How about the other Hugo categories, not just best novel? Again with the disclaimers that I haven’t read them all and some choices may be tossups, for SS I’ll go with _Kirinyaga_, for novella I’ll go with _Palimpsest_ (with _All Seated on the Ground_ as close competition), and for novelette I’ll go with _Sandkings_. [URL=“[Palimpsest (novella) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest_%28novella%29)”] ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/8 "2017-02-02T20:27:54Z")
Boy, I must have missed something about The Graveyard Book. I didn’t think it was that good. (It got the Newberry Award also). I haven’t read many of these, but I’d probably pick Flowers for Algernon regardless. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/9 "2017-02-02T20:41:06Z")
I’d go with _The Demolished Man_ by Alfred Bester. (I might have hummed and hawed over the decision if, as I thought, Jack Vance’s _The Last Castle_ had been on the list but I see that won the Hugo for best novelette rather than novel. I think I still would have plumped for Bester though.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/10 "2017-02-02T20:45:56Z")
It’s a toss-up between **Downbelow Station** , **Ringworld** and **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.** Anybody who knows me in the least knows my vote goes to **TMiaHM**. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/11 "2017-02-02T20:49:27Z")
Starship Troopers. Several others tied for second. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/12 "2017-02-02T20:49:52Z")
I’m going to call it a tie between _Doomsday Book_ and _American Gods_. Despite the odd clunker or two, there is some real fine reading on that list. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/13 "2017-02-02T20:50:18Z")
Not read all that many, but 1982 seems to have been a fine vintage - Gene Wolfe’s ‘_The Claw of the conciliator_’ and John Crowley’s ‘_Little Big_’. Fucking hell. You could probably make a decent argument for _Little Big_ being hands down the best as it seems to be somewhat on its own - there don’t seem to be many Hugo-winning books of that blatant quality [although I could easily be missing some] so it doesn’t have a lot of competition. Other standout titles are in more crowded sub-genres where there’ll be lots of disagreement on who is top dog. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/14 "2017-02-02T21:06:51Z")
I’m not sure what I’d pick for second place, but #1 is _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/15 "2017-02-02T21:19:50Z")
Lots of great books there, but I have to go with Zelazny’s _Lord of Light_ as my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/16 "2017-02-02T21:20:10Z")
Although I love those good ol Heinleins, including Stranger, which I submit is ridiculous on its face but which had an enormous effect on high school me, I vote for The Forever War. Really love that book, can read it over and over. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/17 "2017-02-02T21:29:06Z")
As for me, I’d think about _Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang_, but I think I’d have to go with _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/18 "2017-02-02T21:40:39Z")
Picking one is way too hard, but if forced to I’d say “Moon is a harsh mistress”. Maybe picking one per decade… ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/19 "2017-02-02T22:20:31Z")
I guess my sentimental favorite would be “Lord of Light”. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/20 "2017-02-02T22:29:38Z")
Best? The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Favorite? probably To Say Nothing of the Dog. I’ve read about 25 of the winners. EDIT: Ooooh I missed Double Star on first perusal. That may be my favorite, but TMiaHM is still the best IMO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839.md?page=2)