# 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:** 4
**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 6, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/61 "2017-02-06T17:56:05Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The problem with that theory is that besides the Hugo, _Doomsday Book_ also won the Nebula, the writers award, and the fan-based Locus Award, and the Ignotus Award, the Italia Award, and the Kurt Lasswell Award, for works published in Spain, Italy and Germany respectively, and the fantasy-based Mythopoeic Award and came in second in the Science Fiction Chronicle Readers Poll, as well as being shortlisted for the juried Arthur C. Clarke award, for books published in the U.K., and the fan British SF Association Awards. Never mind the fact that there are no “judges” for the Hugos (other than the voting members themselves.) ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/62 "2017-02-07T04:07:33Z")
1. Dune 2. Hyperion 3. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. There hasn’t been much discussion about “Hyperion” in the thread. For those who studied Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, “Hyperion” was a bit of a thrill. A very motley crew on a pilgrimage, with hidden secrets between them, all telling their tales. There is a sense of hidden inevitability that they are all there. I liked the Mars books. They struck me as eminently believable. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/63 "2017-02-07T05:51:53Z")
**Lords of Light** ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/64 "2017-02-08T03:41:49Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > **Lords of Light** [nitpick]Lord, singular.[/nitpick] Yeah, _Lord of Light_ knocked me over when I first read it. And _Hyperion_ was a titanic achievement. There really are a lot of good books on the list. Along with the clunkers. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/65 "2017-02-08T17:56:15Z")
My gosh, that’s a hard one to decide. But the winner is, _The Dispossessed_. In particular for a passage from it that I will never forget. > [@From Memory](#): > > “But Shevek - you are denying brotherhood.” > > “No, I’m not. I am saying where it begins. It begins in shared pain.” > > “And where does it end?” > > “I don’t know. I don’t know yet.” I will be a better person for the rest of my life, because I read that book. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/66 "2017-02-08T18:03:59Z")
**The Moon is a Harsh Mistress** is my favorite to read. The best written book on the list is probably **The Yiddish Policeman’s Union**. ---
**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 8, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/67 "2017-02-08T23:33:25Z")
> [@](#): > > The best written book on the list is probably The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I will say, that when they got to the part about the cows, I sort of jumped and said “Whoa, are they really going there!?”. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/68 "2017-02-09T00:16:30Z")
I’ve read 25. My favorite is Dune. Runners up are Gateway, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Ancillary Justice. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/69 "2017-02-09T03:23:41Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > My gosh, that’s a hard one to decide. > > But the winner is, _The Dispossessed_. In particular for a passage from it that I will never forget. I will be a better person for the rest of my life, because I read that book. > > Regards, > Shodan I am both astonished and delighted that you chose this as well. The things that bridge us… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/70 "2017-02-09T04:31:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I am both astonished and delighted that you chose this as well. The things that bridge us… I have to admit I’ve always preferred _The Left Hand of Darkness_, possibly because I wasn’t politically or philosophically mature enough to appreciate \*The Dispossessed \*when I read it. Ursula Le Guin is as wonderful in person as she is a writer, you’ll be glad to know. She was one of the teachers at the Clarion workshop when I attended and everybody instantly fell in love with her. She so liked a surrealistic little story I wrote in response to an exercise she assigned that she gave it to her agent to place in a publication, my first professional sale. Believe me, that’s rare behavior in the f&sf world. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/71 "2017-02-09T04:44:42Z")
> **[Hugo Award for Best Novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel)** > > The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,000 words or more; awards are also given out in the short story, novelette, and novella categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction", and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". > The Hugo ... Sheesh. How could I forget _Neuromancer_. ---
**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 9, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/72 "2017-02-09T11:58:05Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > Sheesh. How could I forget _Neuromancer_. Maybe the chip in your head is full? (It is funny how “hundreds of megabytes” [used to sound like a lot](http://wintermute10.tripod.com/Gibson.htm).) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/73 "2017-02-09T17:43:45Z")
Wow - quite a list! I see I’ve read 48 of the nominees (not counting 7 from the Retro list), and 22 of the winners. Some lifetime favorites of mine - I could reread any of these just about any time: _Starship Troopers Glory Road Dune The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress The Mote In God’s Eye The Forever War Mindbridge 2010: Odyssey Two The Robots of Dawn Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Old Man’s War Zoe’s Tale Redshirts Childhood’s End_ If I absolutely, positively had to pick just one of the Hugo winners, though, it would be… _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell._ Never understood all the love for _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. Total meh for me. > [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#): > > …I vote for The Forever War. Really love that book, can read it over and over. Yes! Be sure to check out “A Separate War,” a short story Haldeman wrote in which he tells us what Marygay was doing during William’s last mission. An excellent addendum to the novel. > [@Catamount](#): > > …How did \*\*Redshirts \*\*get on this list? It’s a funny, well-written, meta take on _Star Trek_. No reason it shouldn’t be there. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > …The ballots are counted in what’s called (for no reason anyone can articulate) an “Australian Ballot.”… > **[Secret ballot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot#Australia_and_New_Zealand)** > > The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy. > Secret ballots are used in conjunction with various voting systems. The most basic form of a secret ballot utilizes paper ballots upon which each voter marks their choices. With... ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/74 "2017-02-10T00:21:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Never understood all the love for _A Canticle for Leibowitz_. Total meh for me. I always preferred the original short story, “A Canticle for Leibowitz” that he wrote for F&SF in 1955 (IIRC). It eventually became the first part of the novel. To me, writers who excel at short stories should stick with that medium; turning them into novels simply ruins something exquisite. (I have much the same opinion about the relative merits of the short story version of “Flowers For Algernon” compared to the novel.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/75 "2017-02-10T05:04:58Z")
_Ender’s Game_ was also a short story before it was stretched into a novel. I’ve read both and prefer the novel. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/76 "2017-02-10T05:56:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Maybe the chip in your head is full? > > (It is funny how “hundreds of megabytes” [used to sound like a lot](http://wintermute10.tripod.com/Gibson.htm).) Faulty modem connection, perhaps. 🙂 Good to see Heinlein getting so much love in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/77 "2017-02-10T16:15:46Z")
Some excellent books which didn’t make it to the Hugo finals, but IMHO should have: _Icerigger_ by Alan Dean Foster (1974) - Humans struggle to survive on a frozen world and befriend the aggressive race which lives there _All My Sins Remembered_ by Joe Haldeman (1977) - A spy for an interstellar republic, reindoctrinated for each mission, begins to lose his sense of identity _Elleander Morning_ by Jerry Yulsman (1984) - A minor starving artist named Hitler is killed in 1913 Vienna, and the world is changed forever _Tuf Voyaging_ by George R.R. Martin (1986) - Brilliant sf/environmentalism satire _Watchmen_ by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins (1987) - Ambitious, engrossing, multigenerational superhero graphic novel _Fatherland_ by Robert Harris (1992) - Alt-hist murder myster set in 1964 Nazi Berlin _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ by Audrey Niffenegger (2003) - Tragic romance about… well, you know… ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/78 "2017-02-11T17:14:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _Ender’s Game_ was also a short story before it was stretched into a novel. I’ve read both and prefer the novel. One of the few times I agree that the novel was better. But, then, that author is well-known for writing excellent novels to begin with. 🙂 ---
**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 11, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/79 "2017-02-11T17:43:45Z")
I’d go so far as to say that the short story is the natural format for science fiction in general. Not that there aren’t good SF novels, of course, but in general, the genre is best-suited to the short story. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839/80 "2017-02-11T18:34:49Z")
I think I’ve read 27 of them, but I’m not sure about several. I read through the list to see if I could pick out a single one, or even just a small set of them. I gave up. I’ve read too much. I can no longer pick just a few best ones. A lot of them are very good, and I don’t want to distinguish between them anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-best-hugo-award-winner/778839.md?page=5)