On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, Dawn L. Anderson wrote:
> Neil Rest wrote:
> >
> > was Re: Wonder Woman (was Re: Are we talking about Feminist SF?)
> >
> > Has anyone else read _Courtship Rite_ by Don Kingsbury? It had the sad
> > distinction of being on the Hugo ballot against Asimov, Clarke and
> > Bradbury, or some such combination.
>
> Neil,
>
Almost right: the nominees in 1983 were:
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (Doubleday)
The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh (DAW)
2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke (Del Rey)
Friday by Robert Heinlein (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston)
Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury (Timescape)
Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe (Timescape)
And Asimov won it. Now, admittedly it is a strong year, but in my view the
Asimov and the Clarke were the weakest; the Wolfe, Asimov and Clarke are
all middle volumes in a series (though I suppose we did not know that of
the Clarke at the time), and the Cherryh, Kingsbury and Heinlein are the
strongest stand-alone novels. And of the three (though I am a great
Cherryh and Heinlein fan), I am not sure that the Kingsbury isn't the
best.
I wonder if fans had known that FRIDAY was to be Heinlein's last good
book, it wouldn't have won on a sympathy vote?
And, incidentally, given that we are on FEMINISTSF, what do feminists
today make of FRIDAY? It's the only one of the six with a female
protagonist, I think.
Edward James
..............................................................................
Professor Edward James, Dept of History, Faculty of Letters and Social
Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, READING RG6 6AA, UK
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/~lhsjamse/home.htm
Editor: FOUNDATION: THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION
Joint Editor: EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE
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