Barrayar showed up on the short list of three major awards, and won two of them:

1992 Hugo Award --- WINNER
Also nominated:
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge

1992 Locus Award --- WINNER
Also nominated:
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

1991 Nebula Award --- NOMINATED
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (WINNER)
Orbital Resonance by John Barnes
Bone Dance by Emma Bull
Synners by Pat Cadigan
The Difference Engine by Bruce Sterling & William Gibson
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Have you read any of the other books on these lists? How do you think Barrayar stacks up - Would you say it deserved the two awards it won?

Of the 1992 Hugo/Locus - I've read All the Weyrs of Pern and I own/need to read The Summer Queen. None of the others have crossed my reading radar yet.

For the 1991 Nebula, I've heard of The Difference Engine but not read it.

Comparing Barrayar to All the Weyrs of Pern, I'd have to say that Barrayar was the better effort.

This beat "Stations of the Tide"? I am taken aback. Surprised. Mildly appalled, if that's possible.

Stations of the Tide won the Nebula for that year over Barrayar, which was nominated and short-listed. But Barrayar won the Hugo.

I've read All the Weyrs of Pern and Xenocide, but none of the others. I'd say Barrayar deserved to win over those 2 above, but I can't comment on any of the others. I own The Summer Queen, but I haven't read it yet. I loved Winter Queen, so I'm glad to see SQ was nominated for awards, that must mean it's just as good as WQ.

Ron wrote: "This beat "Stations of the Tide"? I am taken aback. Surprised. Mildly appalled, if that's possible."

I'll have to agree. I've not read Barrayar yet, and I am looking forward to it, but this is an impressive list of books to beat!

I have read The Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge. It's a long book with original premise and well worked out ideas, involving a star based culture reliant on a substance produced (and with that production manipulated) by a less technological culture. It has many layers and levels, is well written, and all in all, an impressive book.

I've also read Bone Dance A Fantasy for Technophiles by Emma Bull. Another sharply original idea, mixing possession and technology. Emma always has provocative books, they are always well done, and she never stays in the same arena, twice.

I am familiar with all the other writers' work in the award lists. Choosing between them would be, largely, a matter of taste.

It might be noted that the Hugo and the Locus awards are by popular vote - Hugos are voted on by the membership of Worldcon, the Locus awards, by the subscribers to Locus Magazine, a news magazine for the field of SF, and that the Nebulas are a peer vote, done by active membership a writer's organization.

The fact that all 3 lists meshed on so many levels is quite significant.

Hugos generally favor a more accessible idea premise. But I'd best be careful, as someone more knowledgeable will probably trounce this post with an exception.

The late Charles Brown, who edited Locus, used to claim his magazine's vote usually forecast the Hugo. Which indicated, to me, that the membership of the Worldcon who actively voted, also subscribed to Locus.

A pretty healthy number of pro writers, also inclined to be members of SFWA (which runs the Nebulas) also would attend Worldcon, since SFWA's annual meeting occurs at that venue. But the reader/fanbase attendance vastly outnumbers them; the question is better asked, who voted. Locus used to run down and publish the actual vote numbers - quite small, compared to the membership. Hugos also run by the Australian Ballot, so votes cast in ranked order can cause a 'second place' title to best one with higher first rank counts.

More info than you probably EVER wanted to know - but it may add a facet to your discussion.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I hate to confess it, but I've only read one book out of all the other nominations on those lists (The Difference Engine) so I couldn't really compare Barrayar. I own a copy of The Summer Queen but haven't read it yet. I barely remember The Snow Queen and feel like I should re-read that first, but there's just never time...

LOL - it seems like someone should nominate The Summer Queen for one of our regular monthly discussion since at least 3 of us seem to own the book but haven't read it yet. I'm with Stefan, though, I think I should re-read The Winter Queen first, or at least do a quick skim through it...

Guess thats why there's different books I rated the Stations of the Tide my lowest rating.

The only book I've read on those lists is All The Weyrs of Pern. I would definitely rank Barrayar above it. Although I don't know if it was better than the other nominees I thought Barrayar was a respectable award winner - it combined good writing, good characterisation, an interesting plot and some solid SF world-building and I think it is one of the better books in the Vorkoskigan series. I thought some of the other Vorkoskigan books to win awards weren't quite so deserving, but I guess I'll save that discussion until later.