Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

It's time to make our annual choices for a book you are Anticipating and one you're Dreading. This is an open nomination, you can choose from any shelf. The only exclusions are books we've read, some mid-series books and the last five years' nominees.

Note that these choices can sometimes be long books, but just keep in mind that our August & September books are very long and might spill over into October.

My anticipating is the book I nominated several times - Earth Earth. About the dreaded one I should think a bit

Anticipating: Drowning Towers by George Turner (also known as: The Sea and Summer), 1989 Nebula nominee. I had two ideas, but I chose the shorter one because of the long books in August & September.

Dreading: Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick, 2003 Hugo & Nebula nominee. Dreading it because it feels like an Jurassic Park-style thriller bestseller, rather than a pure SF book. That said, I've read a few pages of it and I think it will go fast.

Anticipating: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

Dreading: Virtual Light by William Gibson

It is interesting to see what dreads people :)

Anticipating: Hyperion

Dreading: Job: A Comedy of Justice (Late Heinlein… I may well find it unreadable.)

Stephen wrote: "Dreading: Job: A Comedy of Justice (Late Heinlein… I may well find it unreadable.)"

I've read it and despite being a RAH's fan, yes, it is way weaker

I’m anticipating Piranesi, which among other things, is a short book. I really admired Clarke’s much-lengthier Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

I’m dreading The Goblin Emperor, which I fear will be yet another pretentious modern fantasy novel.

I like The Goblin Emperor very much; it didn’t strike me as pretentious.

Anthony wrote: "I’m anticipating Piranesi, which among other things, is a short book. I really admired Clarke’s much-lengthier Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell."

Sorry to say, but Piranesi isn't eligible since it was a H/N nominee within the last five years. We hold those books out as a way of pushing older books, which might never be read otherwise, then we have a monthly theme for "New Releases", where you can nominate from those five years. That theme was just used for September, with New York 2140 being chosen.

Oleksandr wrote: "It is interesting to see what dreads people :)"

Hyperion.

I read it a long time ago, and while I want to re-read it as a precursor to the rest of the series, it is quite daunting.

I know of Hyperion as a famous sf novel that won awards and spawned a series. I haven’t read it or the sequels. I liked Dan Simmons’s The Terror and tried a couple of his later books (Drood and The Abominable), neither of which was as good, imo.

I've read the translation of Hyperion like 25 years ago and was very impressed by it. The rest of the series are fine but not as strong plus the first is made of separate stories Chaucer style

I loved Hyperion and I haven't read the rest of the series; would like to. I'd prefer to select it as a series.

Dan Simmons….very versatile, SF, fantasy, horror, even a detective novel. Song of Kali was his first release, I think, and pretty darn creepy. Loved The Terror too, but Carrion Comfort was outstanding horror. He’s got a vampire series, one book of which I read. I read Hyperion before any of these though, so I don’t recall it well enough to go on in the series.

I reread Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion earlier this year, and liked them even more the second time. I also read The Terror earlier this year and Drood a couple years ago and enjoyed both very much. He is a phenomenal writer, but his books are not for everyone as they tend to be long, detailed, and with complicated plots. Allan, I'm glad you mentioned Carrion Comfort because it reminded me that I've wanted to read that for a while, as well as The Abominable.

Hyperion is in my plans for this year in any case.

I don't know if I am anticipating or dreading this, really, but it is short and apparently written by a great writer, so We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves anticipating . . .

As for dreading, there are a bunch of those, but if I nominate one, I might have to read it, The books for August and September are bad enough. I will go with whatever nominees you guys put up.

anticipating: lightbringer
dreading: anything over 800 pages

also Hyperion is so so good. is he misogynistic possibly, a little bigoted maybe but you can't deny the priest and father/daughter storylines

Lightbringer doesnt ring a bell... who's the author on that one?

pierce brown

it's already out just not sure when I'll have time to read it

Rebecca wrote: "anticipating: lightbringer
dreading: anything over 800 pages"

Not familiar with Lightbringer. At any rate, it's not a Hugo/Nebula nominee, so not eligible. My intro may have been confusing, saying anything goes, but I meant anything within the H/N list.

So far, we have:

Anticipating
Earth Earth by David Brin
Drowning Towers by George Turner
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

Dreading
Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick
Virtual Light by William Gibson
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

I'll wait over the weekend for any more adds & post the poll on Monday.

Polls are up!

Anticipating
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Dreading
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Thanks, Allan!

Well Hyperion is the runaway winner for anticipating.
It looks like Virtual Light is going to win for dreading -- that surprised me, I definitely thought Goblin Emperor would be the choice.

It's interesting that this fall the group is selecting the first books of longer series (Hyperion, Doomsday Book) that haven't been winning series polls. Hopefully we'll tackle the series in a challenge soon.

That’s interesting… I have read and enjoyed Gibson’s last 3 novels but I don’t know what to expect from these ‘90s books. (still just partway through The Differrnce Engine.)

Oops, the polls had already closed when I wrote my last comment, so Virtual Light and Hyperion are 100% the October choices.