Big Dumb Object had a recent entry examining the percentage of award-winning science fiction novels he’d read. In my particular case, because I suck, the percentages are:
BSFA Award Winners 8%
Hugo Award Winners 16%
Nebula Award Winners 12%
Arthur C. Clarke Award Winners A whopping 0%. I haven’t even heard of some of these.
What are your percentages?
4 responses to “How Much Award-Winning SF Have You Read?”
There’s some really amazing books that are Clarke winners.
Air, The Sparrow, Fairyland and Vurt, for example, are all modern classics (and all quite different).
Ooh. I’m going back to that site when I have more time!
BSFA Award Winners 40%
Hugo Award Winners 75%
Nebula Award Winners 65%
Winners of the Arthur C Clarke Award 14%
I should note that I included as read – the books I started, thought they sucked, and threw against the wall!
1. Hugo Award Winners 78% complete
2. Nebula Award Winners 65% complete
3. BSFA Award Winners (Novel) 59% complete
4. Winners of the Arthur C Clarke Award for
science fiction 52% complete
The Hugo percentage is about where I figured it would be, and the same for Nebulas. I honestly figured the BSFA number would be higher, and I had no idea about the Clarke percentage before going through the titles. I counted RAINBOWS END because I’m finishing it up now. For some reason I had thought that the BSFA awards were for UK writers only. I don’t know why I thought this, but I did. I noticed that Wolfe and Simmons had both won BSFAs.
In reference to James’ comment, I truly believe that FAIRYLAND is McAuley’s best novel, despite the number and ambitious scope of his other works. He very good at the thriller hybrid format he’s currently enamored with, but FAIRYLAND was a dark gem.