Rank the 2006 Best Novel Hugo nominees in the order they finished in runoff voting. The five works are listed here in alphabetical order by author.
- Learning the World by Ken MacLeod [Orbit, 2005; Tor, 2005]
- A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin [Voyager, 2005; Bantam Spectra, 2005]
- Old Man’s War by John Scalzi [Tor, 2005]
- Accelerando by Charles Stross [Ace, 2005; Orbit, 2005]
- Spin by Robert Charles Wilson [Tor, 2005]
The answer appears after the jump.
I caught myself misstating to someone today that Old Man’s War had won the Hugo (it came in third) and started wondering how much the growing celebrity of some of these authors affects a person’s memory. George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows came in fifth. Figure that.
2006 Best Novel
| Winner: | Spin by Robert Charles Wilson [Tor, 2005] |
| 2 | Accelerando by Charles Stross [Ace, 2005; Orbit, 2005] |
| 3 | Old Man’s War by John Scalzi [Tor, 2005] |
| 4 | Learning the World by Ken MacLeod [Orbit, 2005; Tor, 2005] |
| 5 | A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin [Voyager, 2005; Bantam Spectra, 2005] |
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I don’t remember whether I voted that year; I’ve been inconsistent about Worldcon membership. But I would probably have put the Martin below No Award; I read it as a somewhat arbitrary slice out of a monster novel, not as a discrete work that could be compared with other discrete works. Maybe other voters also felt that way?
As a note for enraged Scalzi or Martin fans who may happen by, Spin is an amazingly good book and there is no shame in losing to it.
I remember voting Spin as my number one choice, thinking it had no chance of winning, but I really liked it. I was sitting in the audience when the Hugo was announced and it seemed there was just a moment of silence, then huge applause. Apparently a lot of people felt the same as I.