The Plan

Because I'm hoping to find the best science fiction novels ever written, it makes sense to look at the books that have been honored by the genre's awards each year. Since there might be years of feast and years of famine both creatively and objectively, it's probably worth considering not only the award winners but also the nominees.

The Awards

I did some research online (hooray for Wikipedia!), and identified seven major international awards that are bestowed on worthy science fiction novels annually:

• Hugo Award - given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year; nominees and winners are chosen by members of the annual Worldcon
• Nebula Award - given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years
• Locus Award - presented to the winner of Locus Magazine's annual readers' poll of the year's best science fiction novels
  
• Arthur C. Clarke Award - given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year; the winner is chosen by a panel of judges from the British Science Fiction Association, the Science Fiction Foundation and a third organization, currently SF Crowsnest.
• BSFA Award - presented to the year's best science fiction novel by the British Science Fiction Association based on a vote of members
• John W. Campbell Memorial Award - awarded to the year's best science fiction novel by a jury of experts in the field, including authors, editors, and scholars
  
• Philip K. Dick Award - awarded to the best original science fiction paperback published each year in the US; sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society

To get the full picture, I have to decide whether to include the winners of all of these awards or just a few of them. At first glance, there's one that I can omit without much thought. Paperbacks only?--see 'ya Philip K. Dick Award. After more consideration, I've decided to omit the two British awards (since I'm looking at this from a purely American standpoint--my own); BSFA & Arthur C. Clarke Awards are off of the list. Lastly, I'm striking the John W. Campbell Award, as it's awarded by a small jury of experts rather than a large pool of readers, and doesn't fit in well with the other three.

The Books

Last year, I read 74 books. Of those 74, 53 fell into the broad range of science fiction/fantasy. Although I don't know how many books I've read in any other year of my life, I'd guess that last year was only a little below average. After compiling a list of all of the Hugo, Nebula, & Locus SF winners, eliminating duplicates, and accounting for an award that went to a trilogy instead of a single book, I have a list of 100 books. Hm. Call it 1.25 years of reading... I don't think I'll include the nominees after all.

To my surprise, there are only 29 books on my list that I'm sure I've already read, and only a few that I've read within the last several years. I plan to re-read each of these during the project as well, just so I can fit them into the "big picture" of science fiction as it has evolved over the years.

The Method

I've decided to read the books from oldest to newest by award year (mostly because I just finished reading the first book on the list); a few books were honored retroactively to books published before the Hugo existed, and I'll read these as I reach them as awarded. Availability might change my plans slightly, although I have the benefit of a librarian (not-so-secret master of the universe) who claims the ability to find nearly any book anywhere. So far he's lived up to his claim, although this project might put his skills to the test.

Next post: Thoughts on The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester