Hugo Award
Best Novel
2008 The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Set in a parallel past where the Jewish state has been built in Alaska instead of Israel, alcoholic detective Meyer Landsman investigates the mysterious death of an addict chess player, and discovers evidence of an American conspiracy that resulted in the plane crash death of his younger sister. His investigation is complicated by the involvement of his ex-wife, the chief of police, and also the upcoming expiration of the Alaskan Settlement Act after which the Jewish community will have to find a new home. Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon continues to prove his keen ability to blend genre fiction with literature, and his exhilarating imagination is on full dizzying display. THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION won the 2008 Nebula Prize and Hugo Prize for Best Novel.
Novel
1955 They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton1956 Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein
This novel, in which an out-of-work actor is signed on to travel to Mars and impersonate a kidnapped politician, won Heinlein his first Hugo Award in 1956.
1958 The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
A science fiction tour de force, this novel--which takes place inside of one room--introduces the Changewar series, a complex collection of stories about an intergalactic war fought across the battlefield of time. It is an expanded version of the 1958 Hugo Award-winning novel.
1959 A Case of Conscience by William Atheling
A priest and scientist, Father Ruiz-Sanchez, visits a remote planet where his faith in both science and religion are sorely tested by the inhabitants of the planet, who are incapable of notions of faith. Winner of the 1959 Hugo Award.
1960 Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
In a world of the future, a young man undergoes brutal military training after graduating from high school. Then an alien fleet invades Earth, and the young trooper must put his training to the test in a galactic-scale war.
1961 A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
Six hundred years after a 20th-century holocaust, the Catholic Order of Leibowitz must preserve surviving holy relics as well as their organization--both of which have become synonymous with the survival of humanity. Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
1962 Stranger in a Strange Land/30th Anniversary, Uncut Version by Robert A. Heinlein
This 1961 novel, considered to be one of Heinlein's definitive works, was the first science fiction book ever to make the bestseller lists. Valentine Michael Smith, a human child raised on Mars, returns to Earth with psychic powers and a strongly alien outlook. After some difficulties in understanding and acclimating to society, he teaches others an adaptation of Martian philosophy--including group marriage as a way of life and cannibalism as the highest form of respect for the deceased--and as a result, his followers begin to share his extraordinary mental abilities. Having founded a church in order to disseminate his teachings more freely, Mike Smith becomes its Messiah-figure, with all of the divine and dangerous consequences that entails. Heinlein was strongly right-wing himself, and the character of the libertarian Dr. Jubal Harshaw can be said to be his mouthpiece. However, this book most powerfully appealed to hippies, who embraced its idea of free love and Michael Smith's mantra of "Thou art God." Somewhat more unfortunately, Charles Manson claimed the book as one of his inspirations. Today, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND is still greatly beloved by both free spirits and hardcore science fiction fans--and is notable for having brought the word "grok" (meaning to know something at its deepest level) into vernacular English.
1963 The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick1965 The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
A new planet appears in the solar system wreaking environmental havoc. The problem is that the planet turns out to be a spaceship, piloted by cat-like aliens with have a very specific agenda.
1967 Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
This novel of revolution on the moon in 2076 won a Hugo Award and helped launch modern libertarianism.
1968 Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
In Roger Zelazny's Hugo-award winning masterpiece of speculative fantasy, a planet's population lives in utter subjugation to the ancient crew of the original colony ship, who have used a combination of advanced technology and genetic engineering to set themselves up as gods in the Hindu pantheon. Each "god" has his or her own genetically engineered superpowers, as well as access to technology that for all intents and purposes allows immortality. But Sam, once known as Siddhartha, and now called the Buddha, the Lord of Light, is attempting to break this age-old system of tyranny, fighting his fellow crewmembers on their own turf and introducing Buddhism as an alternate religion for the oppressed masses. The story veers between the magical and the technological with exhilarating ease, and Zelazny's signature talent for combining the ritualistic with the matter-of-fact has never been more apparent.
1969 Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
A massive tome envisioning Earth's metamorphosis into an overpopulated dystopian society: First World countries further usurp underdeveloped nations and eugenics is a viable thriving science is this frightening prophecy.
1970 Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Written using alternate points of view, THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS tells the story of Genly Ai, an ethnologist who arrives at the planet Gethen. There he encounters not only sub-zero temperatures, but an androgynous humanoid species whose ways perplex and intrigue him. Though not dependent on the earlier books, this is the fourth book in the Hainish series. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards in 1969, and, in 1995, was the recipient of the James Tiptree, Jr. Retrospective Award.
1971 Ringworld by Larry Niven
The first title in Niven's sequence "Tales of Known Space," introducing the "Ringworld," an object one million miles wide and 600 million miles around, which spans a faraway star.
1972 To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
In the first book of the popular and influential Riverworld series, author Farmer introduces the Riverworld--a ten-million-mile-long river, the banks of which are populated with every person who ever lived--and the main characters, Sir Richard Burton, Samuel Clemens, and Jack London, not to mention the author's customary alter ego, Peter Jarius Frigate. Winner of the 1972 Hugo Award for best novel.
1973 The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Inter-universe energy transfers have catastrophic consequences.
1990 Hyperion by Dan Simmons
The first half of the Hyperion Cantos, this epic tells the tale of seven pilgrims who travel to the planet Hyperion to visit the Time Tombs, home of the Shrike, a possibly mythic creature which some fear and others worship. Along the way, each traveler tells of how they came to be on the pilgrimage. Winner of the 1990 Hugo Award. Followed by THE FALL OF HYPERION.
1992 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
When Cordelia Naismith's husband assumes rule of the land, the unborn child she carries takes on a important role in the preservation of peace, as the land breaks out in civil war. Winner of the 1992 Hugo Award.
1993 Fire upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Two young children, survivors of a spaceship crash, are raised by aliens. Winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
1994 Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
An ecological battle is being waged on Mars as humans attempt to transform the barren planet into a lush, green, Earthlike environment. But there are those who would preserve Mars in all of its desolate beauty. Winner of the 1994 Hugo Award.
1995 Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Once again the Vorkosigan brothers struggle as Mark feels that he may have to kill his brother to truly flourish. Winner of the 1995 Hugo Award.
1996 The Diamond Age/Or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
Neo-Victorian and genius nanotechnologist John Percival Hackworth has created an interactive educational device, the Primer, for the granddaughter of one of the rich and powerful. He also has created an illicit copy of the device for his own daughter, but that copy is stolen from him and given to Nell, a child with no prospects for education or advancement. Winner of the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novel.