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Dune. Neuromancer. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Three-Body Problem. What do all of these have in common? Each of these transformative works of fiction earned the sci-fi/fantasy genre’s most prestigious award: the Hugo for Best Novel. If you’re into any of these franchises, you should consider checking out other Hugo winners next, starting with this list.
The Hugo Award for Best Novel is the genre equivalent of a Pulitzer. It’s a reputation-making, career-defining achievement. First awarded in 1953, Hugo has been the brass ring fantasy and science fiction authors reach for when they sit down to write for 86 years now.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the best Hugo winners that haven’t crossed over to mainstream pop culture yet, which should absolutely pop up on your “To Read” list this summer.
“A Canticle For Leibowitz”
Written By Walter M. Miller Jr.; Won The 1961 Hugo Award
Do you like post-apocalyptic fiction, like the Fallout franchise? Well, A Canticle For Leibowitz is one of the foundational texts of the genre. Author Walter M. Miller Jr. was part of the first generation of Nuclear Age authors grappling with the previously unfathomable idea that humanity now possessed the power to wipe itself out with just the push of a button.
That’s the basis of Leibowitz. The book’s namesake, Isaac Leibowitz, survives a 20th-century nuclear war. In the ugly aftermath of Armageddon, many other survivors go into an anti-intellectual frenzy, rejecting science and technology completely. Not Leibowitz, though. Recognizing what’s at stake, Leibowitz founds a religious order dedicated to preserving books and other sources of human knowledge.
And that’s all just backstory. The meat of A Canticle For Leibowitz takes place hundreds of years later: in the 26th century, the 32nd century, and the 38th century. All that time, as human society once more builds itself up from the rubble, the “Albertian Order of Saint Leibowitz” continues and expands its mission. We won’t spoil where it goes from there, but let’s just say A Canticle For Leibowitz’ final section will have you on the edge of your seat as you read, as much as any action movie.
“The Left Hand Of Darkness”
Ursula K. Le Guin; Won The 1970 Hugo Award
The Left Hand of Darkness was one of two Ursula K. Le Guin books to win the Hugo; she’s one of twelve authors to do so, alongside contemporaries like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Le Guin is one of the GOATs when it comes to worldbuilding and interconnectivity. Left Hand is the fourth book in the “Hainish Cycle,” a sprawling saga Le Guin expanded off and on for most of her career.
The Hainish Cycle, including Left Hand of Darkness, focuses on an interstellar human civilization that is so fully-realized, so deeply thought through, that it actually feels alien. In the best possible way. This allowed Ursula K. Le Guin to tackle very urgent real-world topics like gender and sexuality in a way that was far ahead of her time.
Le Guin also won the Hugo Award for Best Novella, a completely different category, in 1973 for “The Word for World Is Forrest,” which is also part of the Hainish Cycle. Just to reiterate what an incredible run the author was on in the late 1960s through the 1970s.
We won’t give too much away about Left Hand’s plot, but if you like being completely immersed in a fictional world, Le Guin’s work is for you. In fact, generations of sci-fi and fantasy authors owe a debt to Le Guin for showing what these genres were truly capable of. If you like George R.R. Martin, or Terry Pratchett, or any ambitious modern storyteller, there is a bound to be at least a trace of Le Guin’s influence in their books.
“The Dispossessed”
Written By Ursula K. Le Guin; Won The 1975 Hugo Award
We mentioned before that Ursula K. Le Guin won two Hugo Awards for Best Novel. The Dispossessed earned her the second 1974, five years after she was awarded her first. And rightfully so. It’s even more ambitious, more spectacular, and more fun to read than Left Hand of Darkness. In the book, Le Guin continues to develop the mythology and the world of the Hainish Cycle.
Chronologically, The Dispossessed is actually the first book in the Cycle. Meaning it’s often the one modern readers start with. Take note, prospective readers: Le Guin’s work is complex. Like an unfamiliar alien world itself, it takes some time to acclimate to. Once you do, though, it is extremely rewarding. On an entertainment level, but also a philosophical level.
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Ursula K. Le Guin’s novels are as packed with ideas as they are adventures. The Dispossessed is alternatively described as an anarchist novel, a utopian novel, a feminist novel, and more. And all of these things are present in the book. It’s as much a commentary on our world as it is a complete invention of a new, foreign one, which is what makes it so remarkable even 60+ years later.
“Startide Rising”
Written By David Brin; Won The 1984 Hugo Award
Now, let’s turn our attention to another two-time Hugo winner. David Brin’s second novel, Startide Rising, garnered him his first W. The book is the middle part of a trilogy set in the “Uplift Universe,” named after Brin’s coolest sci-fi idea. His fictional galaxy is marked by a social hierarchy, in which powerful “patron” civilizations “uplift” species to sentience. In exchange, these “client races” serve their patrons for tens of thousands of years before earning full independence.
The first Uplift novel, Sundiver, introduced the idea that humanity threw a wrench into this cosmic tradition by achieving sentience without a patron. Further, they figured out how uplift other races themselves, gifting intelligence to chimps and dolphins. Startide Rising capitalizes on this lore by focusing on a spaceship crewed by a mix of dolphins and humans. Yes, seriously.
Outside of the Uplift Universe, David Brin is arguably best known for his post-apocalyptic novel The Postman, which was adapted into a notorious Kevin Costner box-office bomb. Ironically, The Postman was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1986, but lost to Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
When the ship finds evidence of the mythical “Progenitors,” the galaxy’s first sentience race, it puts a huge target on their backs. And fins. How this plot unfolds is up to you to find out by reading Startide Rising, but the novel is very much about the journey rather than the destination. That is, the fun of reading Startide Rising is in how Brin handles his human and non-human characters alike.
“The Uplift War”
Written By David Brin; Won The 1988 Hugo Award
David Brin repeated his Hugo victory in 1988 with The Uplift War, which completed his first Uplift Universe trilogy. The book follows the events of Startide Rising, but it’s not a direct sequel. Instead, the events of the previous novel inform the plot of Uplift War, but it features an entirely different set of characters, a new setting, and its own self-contained conflict.
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Read in sequence, Uplift War definitely feels like a culmination. It is the book Brin had to write Sundiver and Startide Rising just to get to. It is more ambitious and more dialed-in. It’s the work of a totally confident author at the top of his game. This time, there is more of a focus on “neo-chimpanzees” as one of Earth’s three uplifted races.
Uplift War also capitalizes more fully on the tensions between Earth and the wider universe that have been building to a boiling point in the previous novels. When an alien race occupies an Earth colony world, the complicated politics of uplift are pushed to the forefront, and it makes for a must-read 1980s sci-fi staple.
“Rainbows End”
Written By Verner Vinge; Won The 2007 Hugo Award
We mentioned earlier that twelve authors have won the Hugo twice. The shortlist of 3x winners is even more exclusive. Verner Vinge is one of only three writers to pull off this feat. Vinge won the 1993 and 2000 prizes for his juggernaut space opera novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Rainbows End earned him his third Hugo.
Verner Vinge’s work is marked by his prescient view of technology. In addition to his literary career, Vinge was also an academic, who actually helped develop the idea of a “technological singularity” from a non-fiction perspective. This concept is key to Rainbows End, which is a marvelous meditation on humanity’s increasing dependence on tech.
The other 3-time Hugo winners are N.K. Jemisin and Connie Willis. In fact, Vinge and Willis actually shared the 1993 Hugo, with A Fire Upon the Deep and Willis’ Doomsday Book splitting the vote. Only two authors have won 4x Hugo Awards: Robert A. Heinlein and Lois McMaster Bujold.
And not just dependence, but increasing symbiosis with. To a degree, Vinge presents a cautiously optimistic view of advanced technology, but he’s also well aware of its dire potential for misuse and abuse. 20 years after its release, real-world technology has caught up to Rainbows End in many ways, but we haven’t made much progress with the associated ethical questions that Vinge ponders, making the book as relevant as ever.
“The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”
Written By Michael Chabon; Won The 2008 Hugo Award
Michael Chabon only has one Hugo to his name, but his win still solidified his position in literary history, because it made him the only author in history to win both a Hugo Award for Best Novel and a Pulitzer Prize for Best Novel. Chabon’s alternate history The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is similarly an alt-history, but its divergences from reality are far greater, which is why it is considered more of a sci-fi novel. Still, it has all the literary scope and grandeur of its predecessor, and in fact showcases Chabon’s greater control of form and style.
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The Yiddish Policemen’s Union also has shades of neo-noir. It’s a murder mystery, and as the title suggests, its focal characters are police officers in “Sitka,” a Jewish city in Alaska. Overall, Michael Chabon’s prose in the book is captivating, his themes are pressing, and his ability to teach history by showing what else could have happened makes him an all-time alternate history author.
“The City & The City”
Written By China Miéville; Co-Winner Of The 2010 Hugo Award
Similar to Yiddish Policemen’s Union, China Miéville The City & The City blends the detective genre with sci-fi/fantasy. It’s a police procedural set in a world that is a bit magical, a bit surreal, and all in all, mysterious enough to captivate readers and compel them to keep reading until the novel is ready to reveal its secrets.
The City & The City’s biggest sci-fi trick, hinted at in the title, is that its set in two cities that share the same physical location. As if this scenario wasn’t impossible enough, the citizens of both cities are responsible for not seeing or acknowledging the other city, or its inhabitants. That becomes tricky when a murder victim from one of the cities is discovered in the other.
Sounds wild, doesn’t it? What’s truly wild is how The City & The City lives up to its premise. The action and plot of the book are propulsive, and ultimately satisfying. We wouldn’t dare give anything else away, but there’s one thing we can say for sure. If you like Dune, or Neuromancer, or even the Harry Potter books, these are all novels you should 100% check out next.
We want to hear from you, readers. Did we make you want to check out any of these award-winning novels? What other Hugo winners should we cover?
- Created by
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Frank Herbert
- Cast
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Kyle MacLachlan, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgård, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista
- Movie(s)
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Dune, Dune, Dune: Part Two, Dune: Part Three
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https://screenrant.com/award-winning-science-fiction-novels-every-fan-needs-read/
Ambrose Tardive
Almontather Rassoul
