Book twenty-four of 2019: The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1953 Hugo Best Novel

Psychic police are now something of an SF trope, but this was apparently one of the first to use this idea, and its implementation (both in plot and typography) is still effective.

Book twenty of 2019: Foundation and Empire, by Isaac Asimov. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1946 Retro Hugo Best Novel (for The Mule, part two of this book) 📚

Very much enjoying finally reading these (and surprised that it seems I never had, or had done so so long ago that I’d forgotten).

Book seventeen of 2019: Beyond This Horizon, by Robert A. Heinlein. ⭐️⭐️ 1943 Retro Hugo Best Novel. 📚

As an exploration of boredom in a utopia and the possibilities of genetic engineering, it’s mildly interesting, but felt unfocused, oddly structured, and kind of tedious.

Book sixteen of 2019: Slan, by A.E. van Vogt. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1941 Retro Hugo Best Novel 📚

Definitely dated, esp. regarding views of women, odd extrapolation of tech (a very 40s world, but with ray guns & antigravity ships), but I’ve read far worse from this era. Fans are slans! 😏

Hugo Best Novel Reading

Update: As blog posts can be ephemeral, rather than updating this post any further, I’m going to track my progress on my michaelhans.com site instead. If you stumble across this post and are interested in seeing how I’m doing, please check over there! This post will not be updated after March 5, 2019.


I’ve decided to work my way through reading all of the Best Novel Hugo Award winners over the coming year (or however long it actually takes), and will use this page to track my progress. While I’m starting with the most recent three winners, once I’m done with those, I’ll likely go back to the beginning and read forward chronologically. I actually expect this will take more than a single year, as I will definitely be pausing to read this year’s Philip K. Dick Award nominees when they’re announced as I do every year, for several of the entries on this list I may well pause to read prior books in whatever series they come from, and sometimes I might just want to read something else entirely. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Once I’ve read an entry for this project, I’ll link the title to my brief review on Goodreads.

Key:
✓ = I read it at some point in the past, though I may not remember exactly when. I will probably be re-reading these as I go.
✅ = I’ve read it for this project.

Current progress: 7/73 (9.59%)
Overall, 27/73 (36.99%)

✓✅ 1939 (Retro) T. H. White: The Sword in the Stone (read as book one of The Once and Future King)
✅ 1941 (Retro) A. E. van Vogt: Slan
✅ 1943 (Retro) Robert A. Heinlein (as Anson MacDonald): Beyond This Horizon
✅ 1946 (Retro) Isaac Asimov: The Mule (read as part two of Foundation and Empire)
1951 (Retro) Robert A. Heinlein: Farmer in the Sky
1953 Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man
✓ 1954 (Retro) Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
1955 Mark Clifton & Frank Riley: They’d Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine)
1956 Robert A. Heinlein: Double Star
1958 Fritz Leiber: The Big Time
1959 James Blish: A Case of Conscience
✓ 1960 Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers
✓ 1961 Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz
✓ 1962 Robert A. Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land
1963 Philip K. Dick: The Man in the High Castle
1964 Clifford D. Simak: Here Gather the Stars (also known as Way Station)
1965 Fritz Leiber: The Wanderer
✓ 1966 (1) Frank Herbert: Dune
1966 (2) Roger Zelazny: …And Call Me Conrad (also known as This Immortal)
1967 Robert A. Heinlein: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
1968 Roger Zelazny: Lord of Light
1969 John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar
1970 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness
✓ 1971 Larry Niven: Ringworld
1972 Philip José Farmer: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1973 Isaac Asimov: The Gods Themselves
✓ 1974 Arthur C. Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama
1975 Ursula K. Le Guin: The Dispossessed
1976 Joe Haldeman: The Forever War
1977 Kate Wilhelm: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
1978 Frederik Pohl: Gateway
1979 Vonda N. McIntyre: Dreamsnake
1980 Arthur C. Clarke: The Fountains of Paradise
1981 Joan D. Vinge: The Snow Queen
1982 C. J. Cherryh: Downbelow Station
1983 Isaac Asimov: Foundation’s Edge
✓ 1984 David Brin: Startide Rising
✓ 1985 William Gibson: Neuromancer
✓ 1986 Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game
✓ 1987 Orson Scott Card: Speaker for the Dead
✓ 1988 David Brin: The Uplift War
1989 C. J. Cherryh: Cyteen
✓ 1990 Dan Simmons: Hyperion
1991 Lois McMaster Bujold: The Vor Game
1992 Lois McMaster Bujold: Barrayar
1993 (1) Vernor Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep
✓ 1993 (2) Connie Willis: Doomsday Book
1994 Kim Stanley Robinson: Green Mars
1995 Lois McMaster Bujold: Mirror Dance
✓ 1996 Neal Stephenson: The Diamond Age
1997 Kim Stanley Robinson: Blue Mars
1998 Joe Haldeman: Forever Peace
1999 Connie Willis: To Say Nothing of the Dog
2000 Vernor Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky
✓ 2001 J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
✓ 2002 Neil Gaiman: American Gods
2003 Robert J. Sawyer: Hominids
2004 Lois McMaster Bujold: Paladin of Souls
2005 Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2006 Robert Charles Wilson: Spin
2007 Vernor Vinge: Rainbows End
2008 Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
✓ 2009 Neil Gaiman: The Graveyard Book
2010 (1) Paolo Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
2010 (2) China Miéville: The City & the City
2011 Connie Willis: Blackout/All Clear
2012 Jo Walton: Among Others
✓ 2013 John Scalzi: Redshirts
✓ 2014 Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice
2015 Cixin Liu: The Three-Body Problem
✅ 2016 N. K. Jemisin: The Fifth Season
✅ 2017 N. K. Jemisin: The Obelisk Gate
✅ 2018 N. K. Jemisin: The Stone Sky

List of winners sourced from Wikipedia.