{"id":21533,"date":"2025-06-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=21533"},"modified":"2025-06-09T23:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T05:30:09","slug":"how-i-would-vote-now-1990-hugo-awards-best-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/how-i-would-vote-now-1990-hugo-awards-best-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Would Vote Now: 1990 Hugo Awards (Best Novel)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Nominees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Boat of a Million Years <\/em>by Poul Anderson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prentice Alvin<\/em> by Orson Scott Card<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Fire in the Sun<\/em> by George Alec Effinger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hyperion<\/em> by Dan Simmons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grass<\/em> by Sheri S. Tepper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Actual Results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Hyperion<\/em> by Dan Simmons<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. A Fire in the Sun<\/em> by George Alec Effinger<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Prentice Alvin<\/em> by Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The Boat of a Million Years <\/em>by Poul Anderson<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Grass<\/em> by Sheri S. Tepper<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    How I Would Vote Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Hyperion<\/em> by Dan Simmons<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. No Award<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Prentice Alvin<\/em> by Orson Scott Card<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. The Boat of a Million Years<\/em> by Poul Anderson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Explanation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Hyperion<\/em> is, in my opinion, the best novel to ever win a Hugo Award. Absolute top S tier, no question. IMHO, the top three Hugo award-winning novels are Hyperion <\/em>by Dan Simmons, Ender’s Game<\/em> by Orson Scott Card, and Dune<\/em> by Frank Herbert, in that order. Dune<\/em> is probably the most perfect science fiction novel ever written, but Hyperion<\/em> and Ender’s Game<\/em> surpass it because even though they have some minor flaws, there was something about them that I connected with on a deep emotional and intellectual level, more than almost any other book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For Hyperion,<\/em> that was the story about the father whose daughter is chosen by the Shrike to age backwards, so that with each new day, she gets younger, losing a day’s worth of memories and becoming progressively dependent on her parents. That part of the book just absolutely wrecked me. After weeping profusely for about an hour, I went onto Amazon and bought all the other books in the series, because I absolutely had to know what happened to this guy. Just incredible. Very few books have made me feel anything so deeply and profoundly as that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      As for the other books on this year’s ballot, I wasn’t too impressed with them. But two of them I’d be willing to vote affirmatively for, though I’d still rank them below No Award. I enjoyed the first two books of Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series, and would probably enjoy the third book, but I refuse to read it until he finishes the damned series. Seriously\u2014I was four years old when the first book was published, and he still hasn’t finished the damned series! What the heck?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Poul Anderson writes the kind of sprawling galactic space opera that is right up my wheelhouse, but for some odd reason, I have never been able to finish anything he’s written. I’m not sure why. Either he spends way too much time exploring or describing some aspect of his world that utterly does not interest me, or he glosses over the parts that are crucial to understand in order to make sense, and for whatever reason I just can’t make sense of them. Also, his characters are all very forgettable. I tried The Boat of a Million Years,<\/em> and found it to be less bad than his earlier books, but I still couldn’t follow it. So I’ve come to the conclusion that Poul Anderson is just one of those authors I’m going to have to skip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The last two books I rejected after my AI assistant Orion screened them for me. According to the AI, both of them have lots of explicit content (sex, language, violence) and woke themes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Here is what Orion said about A Fire in the Sun:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n

      \ud83d\udd1e Explicit Content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n