“What are the most award-winning Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 1977?” 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 1977, let’s set the scene for those awards by taking a look at what else was happening that year:

1977

Voyager probes launched. First crystallographic X-ray structure of a virus. Smallpox Eradicated. First Full DNA Genome of a living being published. Snow falls in Miami. Jimmy Carer is sworn in as President of the United States. Carter pardons Vietnam draft evaders. London’s International Times declares that “Punk is dead”. Rings of Uranus discovered. Seattle Mariners play first ever game of baseball. Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater Opens first location in California. George Willig climbs South Tower of World Trade Center. Space Mountain Opens at Disneyland. First Apple II series computers go on sale. Spain has first democratic election in 41 years. Ethio-Somali War begins. NYC Blackout lasts for 25 hours. Libyan-Egyptian war begins. Carter signs US Department of Energy legislation. The Big Ear receives radio signal from deep space. First surface ship reaches the North Pole. US launches Voyager 2 spacecraft. Voyager 1 is launched. Food Stamp Program begins. Lynyrd Skynyrd members die in plane crash. Last natural smallpox case is discovered in Somalia, considered the date of eradication. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay official is elected. Deaths – Joan Crawford, Elvis, Vladimir Nabokov, Groucho Marx, Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin. Popular entertainment released – Star Wars: A New Hope, Roots, Slapshot, The Love Boat, Chips, Annie Hall, Eraserhead, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Capricorn One, The Hobbit. Non-SFF books released – The Amityville Horror, Terms of endearment, The Plague Dogs, etc.

And now, on to the list…

The Top Science Fiction & Fantasy Books Of 1977

21 .) Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

The desert planet of Arrakis has begun to grow green and lush. The life-giving spice is abundant. The nine-year-old royal twins, possesing their father’s supernatural powers, are being groomed as Messiahs. But there are those who think the Imperium does not need messiahs.

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20 .) The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson

Through no fault of his own, the once human Jim Eckert had become a dragon. Unfortunately, his beloved Angie had remained human. But in this magical land anything could happen. To make matter worse, Angie had been taken prisoner by an evil dragon and was held captive in the impenetrable Loathly Tower. So in this land where humans were edible and beasts were magical–where spells worked and logic didn’t–Jim Eckert had a big, strange problem

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19 .) Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman

n the far future, the accidental scientific breakthrough known as the Levant-Meyer Translation changes everything. Suddenly people can leap instantaneously across the universe, albeit temporarily, enabling teams of Tamers to explore far-flung worlds and prepare them for possible human habitation. But one expedition doesn’t make it back alive.

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18 .) The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck

These enduring tales of loyalty and betrayal in the time of Camelot flicker with the wonder and magic of an era past but not forgotten. Steinbeck’s retelling will capture the attention and imagination of legions of Steinbeck fans, including those who love Arthurian romances, as well as countless readers of science fiction and fantasy literature.

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17 .) Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner

Out of the blackness of an almost-forgotten past, the cruel cult of Sataki has come to life again. Orted Ak-Ceddi, a daring outlaw, is its prophet. He draws thousands of converts to his Dark Crusade—a design to destroy mankind. His bloody cohorts conquer Shapeli, but they are defeated when they drive to vanquish the southern kingdoms. Kane is the man who can command the conquest. But Kane intends no final victory for the forces of Darkness.

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16 .) A World Out of Time by Larry Niven

After 200 years in cryosleep, Jaybee Corbell awakens to find that his mind has been downloaded to another body and he’s in servitude to a harsh future State. After his escape via a spaceship, he traverses such vast distances–with accompanying time dilations–that he returns to Earth 3 million years later to discover a world wholly alien to the one he’d left.

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15 .) Inferno by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

After being thrown out the window of his luxury apartment, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier wakes to find himself at the gates of hell. Feeling he’s landed in a great opportunity for a book, he attempts to follow Dante’s road map. Determined to meet Satan himself, Carpentier treks through the Nine Layers of Hell led by Benito Mussolini, and encounters countless mental and physical tortures. As he struggles to escape, he’s taken through new, puzzling, and outlandish versions of sin–recast for the present day

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14 .) Islands by Marta Randall

She will never be one of them. When the immortality treatments failed, she knew her destiny would not be as glorious and carefree as the immortals. The immortals rebuilt the Earth after the great floods, but she is not one of them, and she doesn’t seem fit to live anywhere amongst them. When she finds refuge aboard the ship Ilium and begins ocean floor navigation, an adventure immortals would envy, she discovers a secret place. But she knows if she can unlock the power that the immortals lost on an island buried far beneath the land, the world and the immortals’ future will never be the same again

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13 .) The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock

The eternal champion fleeing through slate hills barren of even the promise of life, Elric and his blade Stormbringer find a dark ship at the edge of a black sea: and thus begins a voyage that will challenge all the champions Time can summon, and more

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12 .) The Doll Who Ate His Mother by Ramsey Campbell

A freak automobile accident leaves Clare’s brother, Rob, dead and someone has stolen his right arm, and her investigation into the bizarre event leads Clare into a realm of untold horrors

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11 .) Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Richard Cowper

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10 .) The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny

Returning to Shadow Earth to investigate a threat against his life, Corwin discovers that the Jewel of Judgment has been stolen by his traitorous brother, Brand, who plans to use the enigmatic gem to reshape the universe. Reissue.

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9 .) Triton by Samuel R. Delany

The novel examines how Triton’s freedoms and customs are perceived by the main characters, particularly Bron Helstrom, a young man who has previously worked on Mars as a male prostitute. The society of Mars is far harsher than that of Triton, and it has evidently influenced Bron’s personality. He is self-absorbed, often lacks insight about himself and others, and has great difficulty with personal relationships. Though the civilization of Triton offers everything that he could reasonably want, he is unhappy with his life, out of harmony with those around him, and continually looking for others to blame whenever things go wrong.

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8 .) The Space Machine by Christopher Priest

When a young Victorian couple inadvertently tamper with Sir William Reynolds’s latest invention, a time-space machine, they find themselves flung not only into the future but also across the void of space. Now, trapped on an alien world with a landscape of weird vegetation and overseen by giant, long-legged machines operated by gruesome octopus-like creatures, they must find a way to survive. And when they learn that the monsters are plotting an invasion of Earth, can they find a way to return home and save the planet?

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7 .) The Jonah Kit by Ian Watson

When a young Russian boy disappears from a top-secret Soviet research establishment and turns up in Tokyo, he presents a major problem for the American security officials. For the boy appears to be part of a sophisticated experiment and to have the mind of a supposedly dead astronaut imperfectly imprinted on his own. If the boy is to be believed, then the experiment has been extended to a whale.

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6 .) The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance

Here in one unforgettable volume are three of Jack Vance’s best novellas–rich adventures of humanity in crisis, showcasing Vance’s stylistic flair, creative ingenuity, wit, and storytelling skill: the Hugo-winning “The Dragon Masters,” Hugo and Nebula-winning “The Last Castle”, and that gem of science re-born, “The Miracle Workers”.

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5 .) The Alteration by Kingsley Amis

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

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4 .) Shadrach in the Furnace by Robert Silverberg

In the 21st century, a battered world is ruled by a crafty old tyrant, Genghis II Mao IV Khan. The Khan is 93 yers old, his life systems sustained by the skill of Mordecai Shadrach, a brilliant young surgeon whose chief function is to replace the Khan’s worn-out organs. Within the vast tower-complex, the most advanced equipment is dedicated to three top-priority projects, each designed to keep the Khan immortal. Most sinister of these is Project Avatar, by which the Khan’s mind and persona are to be transferred to a younger body.

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3 .) Doctor Rat by William Kotzwinkle

DOCTOR RAT is dazzlingly original, witty and insanely satiric. It is also occasionally quite beautiful. Kotzwinkle’s tale is a dizzying montage…from scenes of gross black humor in the experimental lab to idyllic glimpses of the animal kingdom. Designed to shock us into ecological awareness, Kotzwinkle’s lab experiments are hair-raising.

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2 .) Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

In the not-too-distant future, a desperate war for natural resources threatens to bring civilization to a crashing halt. Nuclear warships from around the globe begin positioning themselves as the American government works feverishly to complete a massive project to colonize Mars. Former astronaut Roger Torraway has agreed to be transformed by the latest advances in biological and cybernetic science into something new, a being that can survive the rigors of Mars before it is terraformed. Becoming Man Plus will allow him to be the linchpin in opening the new Martian frontier…but not without challenging his humanity as no man has ever been challenged before.

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1 .) Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

Now one of her most famous novels returns to print, the spellbinding story of an isolated post-holocaust community determined to preserve itself, through a perilous experiment in cloning.

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The 1977 Award Nominations & Winners

(Winners Highlighted)

Nebula Award – Best Novel

Hugo Award – Best 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

Locus Award – Best Science Fiction Novel

The Ditmar (Australian) Award – Best International Long Fiction