One of my 2009 resolutions is to re-read the Hugo-winning novels which I haven't otherwise reviewed on-line, in more or less chronological order (allowing for the gaps in my library). The first by most measures is James Blish's A Case of Conscience, published as a novel in 1958 (an expansion from a shorter piece which won a Retro-Hugo in its own ( Read more... )

4) Again, Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison

This is the famous follow-up volume to the even more famous Dangerous Visions, which I read almost exactly three years ago; an anthology of 41 stories, mainly by the leading lights of sf as it was in 1972, with vast amounts of prefatory material by editor Harlan Ellison and an afterword from ( Read more... )

2) The Best of Xero, by Pat and Dick Lupoff

This is part of my attempt to educate myself about the Hugo nominees for Best Related Book, though really it will be a travesty if the Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction doesn't win.

The Best of Xero is a compilation of articles and letters from the US science fiction fanzine Xero, which ran from ( Read more... )

6) Cities in Flight, by James Blish

The full series in a single volume, containing They Shall Have Stars, A Life For The Stars, Earthman, Come Home and The Triumph of Time (aka A Clash of Cymbals).

The first book, They Shall Have Stars, is set off from the other three by being set in the near future, on a recognisable Cold War earth; I was ( Read more... )