Best All-TIme SF Novellas Prior to 1990
In 1998 and 1999, Locus’s annual poll included several categories of Best All-time Science Fiction and Fantasy (restricting the results to works published prior to 1990). On October 13 I listed the Best SF Novel, so here are the results for Best All-Time Novella. Happy reading!
1 / Vintage Season / C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner
2 / The Time Machine / H. G. Wells
3 / The Persistence of Vision / John Varley
4 / A Boy and His Dog / Harlan Ellison
5 / The Man Who Sold the Moon / Robert A. Heinlein
6 / Houston, Houston, Do You Read? / James Tiptree Jr /
6* / Who Goes There? / John W. Campbell
8 / The Last of the Winnebagos / Connie Willis
9 / By His Bootstraps / Robert A. Heinlein
10 / The Fifth Head of Cerberus / Gene Wolfe
11 / Enemy Mine / Barry B. Longyear
12 / The Dead Past / Isaac Asimov
13 / The Big Front Yard / Clifford D. Simak
14 / He Who Shapes / Roger Zelazny
15 / The Mountains of Mourning / Lois McMaster Bujold
16 / Home is the Hangman / Roger Zelazny
17 / The Moon Moth / Jack Vance
18 / R&R / Lucius Shepard
19 / The Word for World Is Forest / Ursula K. Le Guin
20 / Behold the Man / Michael Moorcock
21 / Weyr Search / Anne McCaffrey
22 / Born with the Dead / Robert Silverberg
23 / Green Mars / Kim Stanley Robinson
24 / Ill Met in Lankhmar / Fritz Leiber
25 / The Last Castle / Jack Vance
26 / Eye for Eye / Orson Scott Card
27 / PRESS ENTER[] / John Varley
28 / Seven American Nights / Gene Wolfe
29 / The Dragon Masters / Jack Vance
30 / A Planet Named Shayol / Cordwainer Smith
31 / The Death of Doctor Island / Gene Wolfe
32 / Nerves / Lester del Rey
33 / A Song for Lya / George R. R. Martin
34 / The Call of Cthulhu / H. P. Lovecraft
34* / Dragonrider / Anne McCaffrey
34* / Hardfought / Greg Bear
34* / The Queen of Air and Darkness / Poul Anderson
38 / Surface Tension / James Blish
39 / Nightwings / Robert Silverberg
40 / The Brave Little Toaster / Thomas M. Disch
40* / Soldier, Ask Not / Gordon R. Dickson
42 / The Gold at the Starbow's End / Frederik Pohl
43 / Cascade Point / Timothy Zahn
My favorite novellas did not fare too well on the above list: “The Persistence of Vision” was the highest finisher at #3, while “The Last Castle” was #25, “Nightwings” was #39, and “We, In Some Strange Power’s Employ, Move On a Rigorous Line,” by Samuel Delany, “The Girl Who Was Plugged In,” by James Tiptree, Jr., and “Her Habiline Husband,” by Michael Bishop did not place at all. *sigh*
1 / Vintage Season / C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner
2 / The Time Machine / H. G. Wells
3 / The Persistence of Vision / John Varley
4 / A Boy and His Dog / Harlan Ellison
5 / The Man Who Sold the Moon / Robert A. Heinlein
6 / Houston, Houston, Do You Read? / James Tiptree Jr /
6* / Who Goes There? / John W. Campbell
8 / The Last of the Winnebagos / Connie Willis
9 / By His Bootstraps / Robert A. Heinlein
10 / The Fifth Head of Cerberus / Gene Wolfe
11 / Enemy Mine / Barry B. Longyear
12 / The Dead Past / Isaac Asimov
13 / The Big Front Yard / Clifford D. Simak
14 / He Who Shapes / Roger Zelazny
15 / The Mountains of Mourning / Lois McMaster Bujold
16 / Home is the Hangman / Roger Zelazny
17 / The Moon Moth / Jack Vance
18 / R&R / Lucius Shepard
19 / The Word for World Is Forest / Ursula K. Le Guin
20 / Behold the Man / Michael Moorcock
21 / Weyr Search / Anne McCaffrey
22 / Born with the Dead / Robert Silverberg
23 / Green Mars / Kim Stanley Robinson
24 / Ill Met in Lankhmar / Fritz Leiber
25 / The Last Castle / Jack Vance
26 / Eye for Eye / Orson Scott Card
27 / PRESS ENTER[] / John Varley
28 / Seven American Nights / Gene Wolfe
29 / The Dragon Masters / Jack Vance
30 / A Planet Named Shayol / Cordwainer Smith
31 / The Death of Doctor Island / Gene Wolfe
32 / Nerves / Lester del Rey
33 / A Song for Lya / George R. R. Martin
34 / The Call of Cthulhu / H. P. Lovecraft
34* / Dragonrider / Anne McCaffrey
34* / Hardfought / Greg Bear
34* / The Queen of Air and Darkness / Poul Anderson
38 / Surface Tension / James Blish
39 / Nightwings / Robert Silverberg
40 / The Brave Little Toaster / Thomas M. Disch
40* / Soldier, Ask Not / Gordon R. Dickson
42 / The Gold at the Starbow's End / Frederik Pohl
43 / Cascade Point / Timothy Zahn
My favorite novellas did not fare too well on the above list: “The Persistence of Vision” was the highest finisher at #3, while “The Last Castle” was #25, “Nightwings” was #39, and “We, In Some Strange Power’s Employ, Move On a Rigorous Line,” by Samuel Delany, “The Girl Who Was Plugged In,” by James Tiptree, Jr., and “Her Habiline Husband,” by Michael Bishop did not place at all. *sigh*
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