On occasion, usually on the occasion of Hugo nominations being released, I feel like a bad science fiction reader. When awards are given out, it just underscores that there is this whole legacy of science fiction that I'm not completely aware of. I do read classic science fiction, but only as my fancy and recommendations have taken me. I'm an avid Asimov fan, but I can't say I've ever read a Heinlein novel. And that, my friends, is abysmal.
To rectify this problem, I am embarking on a reading journey. I want to read every novel that has won a Hugo Award or a Nebula Award. And I'm going to blog about it here.
My plan is to read them all in order. So we'll start with when the Hugo Award was established in 1953, and we won't hit Nebula Awards until 10ish books later in 1965. (The Hugo skipped some years). My plan is to read and blog about one novel every two weeks. I think that's a nice pace, not too unreasonable. I hope some of you might join in and read with me!
Some of the books on the list I've already read; it's hard to be a SF/F fan and not have read a few award winners, but I won't post about them until we get to the appropriate year. I want to read the books in order, so I can see the progression of SF overtime and how the definition of award winning SF changes over time.
The posts I write won't necessarily be reviews, though some may be. The posts may just be discussions based on the book, about the ideas presented in the book, or occasionally whether I felt a book was worth the award. Some of the posts may be spoiler-y, and I will of course mark them appropriately.
So first up is The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. It's the 1953 Hugo Award winner. If you do want to read along, this is a book you need to pick up in used bookstores or via Amazon's other sellers. There are no new copies to be found.
Two weeks later we'll be reading They'd Rather Be Right (also known as The Forever Machine) by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley. This is another one you'll have to get used, alas.
On each post I'll be sure to mention which book is next and also how you can get a hold of it. I hope some of you can join me on this journey into SF history!