“What are the most award-winning Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 1978?” We looked at all the large SFF book awards given, aggregating and ranking the books that appeared so we could answer that very question!

A note on our grading system: We give 5 points for every nomination a book received and an additional 5 points for each win. These values are purely arbitrary, easy to add up, numbers. For more info on our super scientific grading system visit our Info page. For a full list of the awards and award winners can be found below our rankings at the bottom of the page.

Before we take a look at the top Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 1978, let’s set the scene for those awards by taking a look at what else was happening that year:

1978

First In-vitro fertilization baby born. US Senate proceedings broadcast on radio for first time. Great Blizzard of 1978 kills 70 . Ted Bundy captured. Charlie Chaplins remains are stolen. Larry Flynt shot and paralyzed. First radio episode of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is broadcast. Somalia and Ethiopia sign truce. Birth of modern primetime soap opera with “Dallas”. Son of Sam Killer sentenced. Pluto satellite Charon, is discovered. Argentina over Netherlands to Win World Cup. LGBT rainbow flag flies for first time at San Fran Gay Freedom Day Parade. Solomon Islands become independent from the UK. Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt. Pope Paul VI dies, Pope John Paul I becomes 263rd pope, Pope John Paul I dies 33 days later, Pope John Paul II becomes 264th pope.Susan B. Anthony Dollar minted. Carter signs bill allowing Home brewing of beer in United States. Congressman Leo J. Ryan assassinated by Peoples Temple. Jim Jones leads Peoples Temple cult in mass murder-suicide Jonestown incident claiming over 900 lives including 270 children. Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone Assassinated. Cleveland becomes first major city to go into default since the Great Depression. John Wayne Gacy arrested. Artificial Insulin is invented. Space Invaders arcade game introduced. Additional Deaths- Hubert Humphrey, Keith Moon, Norman Rockwell, Ed Wood. Popular entertainment released – Battlestar Galactica, The Deer Hunter, Grease, Superman, Animal House, Halloween, Dallas, Taxi, Dawn of the Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, WKRP in Cincinnati, Star Wars Holiday Special.

And now, on to the list…

The Top Science Fiction & Fantasy Books Of 1978

25 .) A Dream of Wessex by Christopher Priest

The western democracies are disintegrating, scarred by violence and gripped with fear of terrorist attacks. Trying to find solutions to today’s problems, Julia Stretton and other specialists at the Wessex Project have created a virtual reality projection of a utopian future where all current issues have been resolved – how did they achieve it? But on entering Wessex, they lose all memory of their ‘real’ lives outside, and as they move back and forth the lines between dream and reality become obscured. When Julia’s ex-lover, the sadistic Paul Mason, joins the project, he has a sinister plan to take the Wessex projection to a new and terrifying level

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24 .) Cirque by Terry Carr

Millennia in the future, Earth has become a backwater planet, ignored by others in the galaxy. Its one jewel is Cirque – the city on the Abyss, a city of love and harmony, with inspiring religious rites. But in the Abyss there lives the Beast, formed from the castoff hates of the Cirquians: a beast whose body is refuse, whose mind is black as sin. Feeble weapons are no match for the Beast

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23 .) Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin

A whisperjewel has summoned Dirk t’Larien to Worlorn, and a love he thinks he lost. But Worlorn isn’t the world Dirk imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight. Gwen needs Dirk’s protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and it’s becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. In this dangerous triangle, one is hurtling toward escape, another toward revenge, and the last toward a brutal, untimely demise

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22 .) In the Hall of the Martian Kings by John Varley

an award-winning 1978 collection of science fiction stories by John Varley

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21 .) Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival–a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known

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20 .) Michaelmas by Algis Budrys

One of the world’s wealthiest and most influential men, journalist Laurent Michaelmas lives in a penthouse overlooking New York City’s Central Park with his superintelligent computer, Domino. He attained his fame and power after hacking into the worldwide computer network. He then went on to use his unique gifts to create a version of the UN that would ensure global peace. In short, he and Domino secretly run the world. But now he has reason for concern. A Swiss doctor has cured an astronaut believed to have vaporized in a shuttle explosion during an expedition to the outer planets of the solar system. Suspecting that something extraterrestrial is behind this miraculous recovery, Michaelmas uses his immense influence to launch an international investigation. Are there really aliens in their midst? Is the resurrection of a dead man an attempt to cancel history and destroy the world’s precarious balance of power?

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19 .) Moonstar Odyssey by David Gerrold

A tale of a world where children must choose the gender they are to become, and one child’s decision may decide her world’s fate. Nominated for the Nebula Award

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18 .) Roadside Picnic and Tale of the Troika by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the Zone and the thriving black market in the alien products. Even the nature of his daughter has been determined by the Zone. And it is for her that Red makes his last, tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile depths.

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17 .) Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper

The Dark is rising in its last and greatest bid to control the world. And Will Stanton — last-born of the immortal Old Ones, dedicated to keeping the world free — must join forces with this ageless master Merriman and Bran, the Welsh boy whose destiny ties him to the Light. Drawn in with them are the three Drew children, who are mortal, but have their own vital part in the story. These six fight fear and death in the darkly brooding Welsh hills, in a quest through time and space that touches the most ancient myths of the British Isles, and that brings Susan Cooper’s masterful sequence of novels to a satysfying close

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16 .) Sword of Demon by Richard A. Lupoff

Through realms of oriental splender and superhuman conflict, a beautiful woman warrior and a fierce man-god journey to challenge a being more awesome than the gods for a magical sword that holds the power of death . . . and the key to enlightenment. ‘A sensuous, exotic odyssey through demon-haunted seas of swordplay, sorcery, conflict, and passion

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15 .) The Forbidden Tower by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Forbidden Tower is a fantasy novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley in her Darkover series. It was originally published by DAW Books in 1977. It is the sequel to The Spell Sword and is followed by The Bloody Sun

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14 .) The Hour of the Oxrun by Charles L. Grant

The Hour of the Oxrun Dead was a breakthrough novel for Charles L. Grant. It was the first of many books dealing with Oxrun Station, his invented, cursed locale that is probably only surpassed by Lovecraft’s Arkham and King’s Castle Rock in the minds of horror fans

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13 .) The House of Compassionate Sharers by Michael Bishop

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12 .) The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley

The invaders came in 2050…They did not kill anyone outright. hey said they came on behalf of the intelligent species of Earth—dolphins and whales. The Invaders quietly destroyed every evidence of technology, then peacefully departed, leaving behind plowed ground and sprouting seeds. In the next two years, ten billion humans starved to death. The remnants of humanity that survived relocated to the moon and other planets. But they are not alone in their struggle—someone or something, somewhere in deep space, is sending them advanced scientific data via the Ophiuchi Hotline. And by the twenty-fifth century, the technological gifts from the Hotline—especially its biological and medical solutions—have created a world unlike any ever known or imagined

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11 .) The Shining by Stephen King

Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old

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10 .) The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Long ago, the wars of the ancient Evil ruined the world. In peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knows little of such troubles. But the supposedly dead Warlock Lord is plotting to destroy everything in his wake. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness is the Sword of Shannara, which can be used only by a true heir of Shannara. On Shea, last of the bloodline, rests the hope of all the races

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9 .) A Heritage of Stars by Clifford D. Simak

More than a thousand years have passed since humankind intentionally destroyed its treacherous technology, choosing to revert back to a primitive tribal state. In this society the rusting brain cases of long-inert robots are considered trophies, and the scant knowledge that has survived is doled out to an inquisitive few in monastery-like “universities.” It is at one such center of learning that young Tom Cushing first reads of the legendary “Place of Going to the Stars,” rumored to exist on a high butte somewhere in the western part of the land. Driven by enthusiasm and an insatiable need to track the myth to its source, Tom sets out on an amazing trek across what was once called “America,” teaming up with a witch, the world’s last remaining robot, and other odd companions. But all the astonishing discoveries and dangers they encounter along the way will pale before the revelations that await them at journey’s end

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8 .) I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein

As startling and provocative as his famous Stranger in a Strange Land, here is Heinlein’s awesome masterpiece about a man supremely talented, immensely old and obscenely wealthy who discovers that money can buy everything. Even a new life in the body of a beautiful young woman

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7 .) In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford

A classic novel of man’s future and fate

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6 .) The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever Holt by Steven R. Donaldson

He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet he was tempted to believe, to fight for the Land, to be the reincarnation of its greatest hero

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5 .) Time Storm by Gordon R. Dickson

A time storm has devastated the Earth, and only a small fraction of humankind remains. From the rubble, three survivors form an unlikely alliance: a young man, a young woman, and a leopard

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4 .) A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

Bob Arctor is a junkie and a drug dealer, both using and selling the mind-altering Substance D. Fred is a law enforcement agent, tasked with bringing Bob down. It sounds like a standard case. The only problem is that Bob and Fred are the same person. Substance D doesn’t just alter the mind, it splits it in two, and neither side knows what the other is doing or that it even exists. Now, both sides are growing increasingly paranoid as Bob tries to evade Fred while Fred tries to evade his suspicious bosses

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3 .) Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber

Our Lady of Darkness introduces San Francisco horror writer Franz Westen. While studying his beloved city through binoculars from his apartment window, he is astonished to see a mysterious figure waving at him from a hilltop two miles away. He walks to Corona Heights and looks back at his building, to discover the figure waving at him from his apartment window–and to find himself caught in a century-spanning curse that may have destroyed Clark Ashton Smith and Jack London

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2 .) The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien

The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Fëanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Fëanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy

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1 .) Gateway by Frederik Pohl

Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe…and on reaches of unimaginable horror. When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is…in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!

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The 1978 Award Nominations & Winners

(Winners Highlighted)

Nebula Award – Best Novel

Hugo Award – Best Novel

Locus Award – Best Science Fiction Novel

Locus Award – Best Fantasy Novel

BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) – Best Novel

Jupiter Award – Best Novel

The World Fantasy Award – Best Novel

Seiun (Japanese) Award – Best Translated Novel

John W. Campbell Memorial Award – Best Science Fiction Novel

The Ditmar (Australian) Award – Best International Long Fiction