Coverage · decade
The 1980s
Not every book published in the 1980s: the 115 that were shortlisted for, or won, Best Novel at the British Science Fiction Award, Hugo Award, Nebula Award or Arthur C. Clarke Award. For the Arthur C. Clarke Award, mostly winners: its shortlists are largely unrecorded.
By year of publication
- Beyond the Blue Event Horizon — Frederik Pohl (1980)
- Lord Valentine's Castle — Robert Silverberg (1980)
- Mockingbird — Walter Tevis (1980)
- Molly Zero — Keith Roberts (1980)
- Riddley Walker — Russell Hoban (1980)
- The Orphan — Robert Stallman (1980)
- The Shadow of the Torturer — Gene Wolfe (1980)
- The Snow Queen — Joan D. Vinge (1980)
- The Vampire Tapestry — Suzy McKee Charnas (1980)
- Timescape — Gregory Benford (1980)
- Wizard — John Varley (1980)
- Downbelow Station — C. J. Cherryh (1981)
- Hello America — J. G. Ballard (1981)
- Little, Big — John Crowley (1981)
- Project Pope — Clifford D. Simak (1981)
- Radix — A. A. Attanasio (1981)
- The Affirmation — Christopher Priest (1981)
- The Claw of the Conciliator — Gene Wolfe (1981)
- The Divine Invasion — Philip K. Dick (1981)
- The Many-Colored Land — Julian May (1981)
- Where Time Winds Blow — Robert Holdstock (1981)
- 2010: Odyssey Two — Arthur C. Clarke (1982)
- Cat Karina — Michael G. Coney (1982)
- Courtship Rite — Donald Kingsbury (1982)
- Foundation's Edge — Isaac Asimov (1982)
- Friday — Robert A. Heinlein (1982)
- Helliconia Spring — Brian W. Aldiss (1982)
- No Enemy But Time — Michael Bishop (1982)
- The Pride of Chanur — C. J. Cherryh (1982)
- The Sword of the Lictor — Gene Wolfe (1982)
- The Transmigration of Timothy Archer — Philip K. Dick (1982)
- Against Infinity — Gregory Benford (1983)
- Golden Witchbreed — Mary Gentle (1983)
- Helliconia Summer — Brian W. Aldiss (1983)
- Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden — Jack Vance (1983)
- Millennium — John Varley (1983)
- Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern — Anne McCaffrey (1983)
- Startide Rising — David Brin (1983)
- Tea with the Black Dragon — R. A. MacAvoy (1983)
- The Anubis Gates — Tim Powers (1983)
- The Citadel of the Autarch — Gene Wolfe (1983)
- The Robots of Dawn — Isaac Asimov (1983)
- The Void Captain's Tale — Norman Spinrad (1983)
- Tik-Tok — John Sladek (1983)
- Emergence — David R. Palmer (1984)
- Empire of the Sun — J. G. Ballard (1984)
- Free Live Free — Gene Wolfe (1984)
- Frontera — Lewis Shiner (1984)
- Job: A Comedy of Justice — Robert A. Heinlein (1984)
- Mythago Wood — Robert Holdstock (1984)
- Neuromancer — William Gibson (1984)
- Nights at the Circus — Angela Carter (1984)
- The Glamour — Christopher Priest (1984)
- The Integral Trees — Larry Niven (1984)
- The Man Who Melted — Jack Dann (1984)
- The Peace War — Vernor Vinge (1984)
- The Wild Shore — Kim Stanley Robinson (1984)
- Blood Music — Greg Bear (1985)
- Cuckoo's Egg — C. J. Cherryh (1985)
- Dinner at Deviant's Palace — Tim Powers (1985)
- Ender's Game — Orson Scott Card (1985)
- Footfall — Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven (1985)
- Helliconia Winter — Brian W. Aldiss (1985)
- Kiteworld — Keith Roberts (1985)
- Schismatrix — Bruce Sterling (1985)
- The Handmaid's Tale — Margaret Atwood (1985)
- The Postman — David Brin (1985)
- The Remaking of Sigmund Freud — Barry N. Malzberg (1985)
- The Warrior Who Carried Life — Geoff Ryman (1985)
- Black Genesis — L. Ron Hubbard (1986)
- Count Zero — William Gibson (1986)
- Marooned in Realtime — Vernor Vinge (1986)
- Queen of the States — Josephine Saxton (1986)
- Soldier of the Mist — Gene Wolfe (1986)
- Speaker for the Dead — Orson Scott Card (1986)
- The Falling Woman — Pat Murphy (1986)
- The Journal of Nicholas the American — Leigh Kennedy (1986)
- The Ragged Astronauts — Bob Shaw (1986)
- This Is the Way the World Ends — James Morrow (1986)
- A Mask for the General — Lisa Goldstein (1987)
- Fiasko — Stanisław Lem (1987)
- Great Sky River — Gregory Benford (1987)
- Gráinne — Keith Roberts (1987)
- Rumors of Spring — Richard Grant (1987)
- Seventh Son — Orson Scott Card (1987)
- The Forge of God — Greg Bear (1987)
- The Sea and Summer — George Turner (1987)
- The Uplift War — David Brin (1987)
- The Urth of the New Sun — Gene Wolfe (1987)
- Vergil in Averno — Avram Davidson (1987)
- When Gravity Fails — George Alec Effinger (1987)
- Cyteen — C. J. Cherryh (1988)
- Deserted Cities of the Heart — Lewis Shiner (1988)
- Desolation Road — Ian McDonald (1988)
- Falling Free — Lois McMaster Bujold (1988)
- Islands in the Net — Bruce Sterling (1988)
- Ivory — Mike Resnick (1988)
- Lavondyss — Robert Holdstock (1988)
- Mona Lisa Overdrive — William Gibson (1988)
- Red Prophet — Orson Scott Card (1988)
- Sister Light, Sister Dark — Jane Yolen (1988)
- The Empire of Fear — Brian Stableford (1988)
- The Gold Coast — Kim Stanley Robinson (1988)
- The Healer's War — Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1988)
- Unquenchable Fire — Rachel Pollack (1988)
- A Child Across the Sky — Jonathan Carroll (1989)
- A Fire in the Sun — George Alec Effinger (1989)
- Good News from Outer Space — John Kessel (1989)
- Grass — Sheri S. Tepper (1989)
- Hyperion — Dan Simmons (1989)
- Prentice Alvin — Orson Scott Card (1989)
- Pyramids — Terry Pratchett (1989)
- The Boat of a Million Years — Poul Anderson (1989)
- The Child Garden — Geoff Ryman (1989)
- White Jenna — Jane Yolen (1989)