Short sci-fi books: 14 award-winning reads you can finish in a weekend
Short does not mean slight. These novels and novellas were all recognized by major awards, and you can finish most of them in a weekend, some in an evening. Page counts are from English print editions and vary by edition.
If you read just one: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, because it is short, gorgeous and unlike anything else, and it won all three of the big awards it was up for.
An evening’s read (under 200 pages)
1. All Systems Red
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2018) ·
A security android that hacked its own controls would rather watch TV than protect its humans. Funny, fast and the start of the Murderbot series.
2. Binti
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards; finalist for the Locus Award (2016) ·
A young Himba woman leaves home to attend a galactic university, and her ship is attacked on the way. A coming-of-age story with a striking alien encounter.
3. The Lifecycle of Software Objects
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (2011) ·
Two people spend years raising digital creatures as the software platforms around them change. A quiet, thoughtful story about what we owe to the minds we make.
4. A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (2022) ·
A tea monk travels the countryside and meets a robot curious about what people need. Gentle and hopeful.
5. The Word for World is Forest
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (1973) ·
Human colonists exploit a forest planet and its peaceful people until the people strike back. Angry, urgent and still relevant.
6. Annihilation
Won the Nebula Award (2015) ·
Four women enter Area X, a coastline where nature has turned strange. Eerie, hypnotic and short.
Good to know: Mysterious by design; not every question is answered.
7. Babel-17
Won the Nebula Award; finalist for the Hugo Award (1967) ·
A poet and linguist is asked to decode a language used in enemy attacks, and discovers the language itself is a weapon.
A weekend read (200 to 300 pages)
8. This Is How You Lose the Time War
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2020) ·
Two agents on opposite sides of a war across time begin leaving each other letters. Lyrical, clever and romantic.
9. The Demolished Man
Won the Hugo Award (1953) ·
How do you get away with murder when the police can read minds? A crime story with a telepathic twist.
Good to know: An early 1950s book, with the attitudes of its time.
10. Flowers for Algernon
Won the Nebula Award; finalist for the Hugo Award (1967) ·
A man’s intelligence is raised by an experiment, told through his own progress reports. Simple to read and deeply moving.
11. The Forever War
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1976) ·
A soldier fights an interstellar war in which every trip home means decades have passed on Earth. A war story written by a Vietnam veteran.
12. Rendezvous with Rama
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1974) ·
A crew explores a vast alien cylinder passing through the solar system. Pure wonder and discovery.
13. The Left Hand of Darkness
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (1970) ·
An envoy on an icy world whose people have no fixed sex. Politics, friendship and a journey across the ice.
14. Ringworld
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1971) ·
An unlikely team explores an artificial ring around a distant star, big enough to hold millions of Earths.
Good to know: Fun ideas; some of the attitudes have dated.
How we chose
Every book in this guide won or was a finalist for at least one of the Hugo, Nebula, Locus or Arthur C. Clarke awards. Each book page lists its full award history with sources. Page counts come from English print editions and vary by edition. 14 books in all.