Book Review: The Super Hugos, Presented by Isaac Asimov
The Super Hugos by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This collection was an outstanding tour of some of the very best science fiction of all time. If you can lay your hands on this book, if you’re a science fiction fan, you really must read it.
I have reviewed most of the individual stories. The links below will take you to my reviews:
Featured Stories:
Sandkings
by George R.R. Martin – Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge and the Big Fun in a Little Package Novella Challenge. This story won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards for Best Novelette (1979 and 1980). This is an outstanding story about the dangers of hubris and cruelty that is the height of science fiction cleverness. If you’ve got GRRM pegged as strictly a fantasy writer, think again: and note that the signs of greatness were recognized back in 1980. 5 stars
The Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov
Enemy Mine by Barry B. Longyear
The Big Front Yard by Clifford D. Simak
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison
Neutron Star
by Larry Niven – An excellent story about relativity, tides, and the effects of gravity. 5 stars. Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes – Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge and the Big Fun in a Little Package Novella Challenge. This story won the 1959 Hugo for Best Novella. I’ve read this classic science fiction before. This was the original novella that was eventually expanded into the novel Flowers for Algernon, which was also excellent. I remember reading this in grade school, and it stuck with me clearly enough that I remembered almost everything about it. The novel also won a Hugo in 1967 for Best Novel, and a Nebula in 1966. I’m not sure the novelization adds anything, but it doesn’t take anything away either. I think this is exactly what science fiction is all about. 5 stars.
In a nutshell: brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Go read it! Why are you still here?
