Winners

by Poul Anderson

Hugo Award winning stories tell of a political coup, an encounter with star travellers, a murder and its revenge, a kidnapped child, and a computer-controlled society

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

299 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1981

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a unique book because it's a single-author collection of short fiction that won the Hugo Award for the best story of the year of that length. The Hugos are awarded annually as voted on by the fans, the membership of the World SF Convention. No Truce with Kings from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction won for best novella of 1963, The Longest Voyage from Analog magazine was the best novelette of 1960, The Sharing of Flesh from Galaxy magazine won best novelette in 1968, The Queen of Air and Darkness from (the special Poul Anderson issue of!) F & SF won for best novella in 1971, and Goat Song, also from F & SF, won best novelette in 1972. They're all fine stories... my favorites are The Longest Voyage and The Queen of Air and Darkness. Anderson won one other Hugo for short fiction before this volume appeared, Hunter's Moon (part of Harlan Ellison's Medea project) from Analog in 1979, and I don't know why it wasn't included. (Another of Anderson's novellas from Analog, The Saturn Game, won in 1982, after this volume was printed.) The cover has "Collectors' Edition" printed on the bottom, but I think there was only the one edition. The cover is by Michael Whelan... (the guy in the Gandalf hat looks to me a lot more like Michael Whelan than Poul Anderson) ... This is a superior collection that lives up to the title.
(Added note: You know how mass market paperbacks used to have lists and order forms on the last couple of pages? Books that the publisher thought you might buy because they're similar to the one you're holding? Well, when I was putting Winners back on the shelf after cataloguing it, I happened to notice that the last page has a boxed banner on the top of the page that says: "More Bestselling Humor from Pinnacle/Tor," and the books offered are BEETLE BAILEY #1: POTATO PANCAKES and HENNY YOUNGMAN'S 500 ALL-TIME GREATEST ONE-LINERS. Uh...the Anderson book is anything but funny. You couldn't have picked two less likely titles to go with Winners.)

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 to 4.5 stars. I have not read all the stories in this collection so this review/rating applies only to the stories listed below (I will update periodically as I read more of the stories).

"The Longest Voyage" by Poul Anderson (4.0 to 4.5 stars): Excellent novelette about explorers on a far away world that come across a visitor from the stars. Great ending!! Hugo Award winner for Best Novelette.

The Sharing of Flesh (4.0 to 4.5 stars): Really good novelette dealing with a lost Earth colony with an unusual custom. Hugo Award winner for Best Novelette.

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poul Anderson has won enough Hugo Awards for short fiction to fill a book, and this is it. The short fiction is these -

"No Truce with Kings" - 1964 Hugo short fiction
"The Longest Voyage" - 1961 Hugo short fiction
"The Sharing of Flesh" - 1969 Hugo novelette
"The Queen of Air and Darkness" -1972 Hugo novella
"Goat Song" - 1973 Hugo novelette

I had read a couple of them before, but not all. Having them together like this allowed me to see some of the recurring concepts, character types, and themes that Poul Anderson uses. As you might expect, they are outstanding stories. I enjoyed all of them, except possibly "Goat Song" where I didn't really understand why things were happening the way they did. Perhaps if I were more familiar with the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice...

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite Poul Anderson book is the Merman's Children. Maybe I measure his other stuff against it. Or maybe I'm getting grumpy in my old age. But while I enjoyed the stories, I confess I skimmed. Any experience is a combination of the raw material and who you are at the time, of course. I still like Poul Anderson. Particularly liked the Queen of Air and Darkness. And Goat Song is an interesting take on techno god and satan myth.

[Gfec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have extended version with two more stories. ( Hunter´s moon and saturn game )