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18-522: Farewell Horizontal is a science fiction novel by American writer K. W. Jeter , published in 1989. It came in second for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1990, and was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1991. The novel deals with themes of information access, security, and reliability. In an interview, Jeter stated that he originally intended Farewell Horizontal to be

36-471: A "graffex" ( graphic designer ) on the exterior surface of the building trying to make a living as a freelancer, selling content to Ask & Receive, an information repository and apparent monopoly . Axxter discovers a location where the exterior of the building has been blown out by an explosion and the interior rooms are full of corpses. He attributes this to bogeymen called the Dead Centers that live in

54-411: A large gas bag growing out of its back so it can float in the atmosphere around the building) Axxter ends up on the far side of Cylinder. Axxter hatches a plan to travel through the center of the building back home, and to report on his odyssey as a form of entertainment for residents of Cylinder. Along the way Axxter meets and is aided by a hacker who can move between bodies stashed in different parts of

72-700: The Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas until 2019. It was the novel counterpart of the Theodore Sturgeon Award for best short story, awarded at the same conference by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust. The award was named in honor of John W. Campbell (1910–1971), whose science fiction writing and role as editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact made him one of

90-661: The World SF International Organization for Professionals. With her husband Frederik Pohl , Hull edited the international anthology Tales from the Planet Earth . She was editor of the 2010 anthology, Gateways: Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl . In 1993, Hull was regional judge for the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing. In 1996, Hull, a former president of

108-425: The building, and a Dead Center who teaches Axxter about an alternate information source to Ask & Receive. Axxter learns that the destruction of the site that he discovered at the start of the novel was not done by the Dead Centers, but instead by a collaboration between the two most powerful warrior tribes on the building, enabled by doctored information from Ask & Receive. Axxter broadcasts this information to

126-607: The conference and the award. Both the conference and the award were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The Center for the Study of Science Fiction itself was taken over by the English department of the University of Kansas in 2022, which subsequently ended the conference and award. During the 47 years the award was active, 183 authors had works nominated; 47 of these authors won. In two years, 1976 and 1994,

144-461: The entire building, leading to the collapse of the dominant power structure of Cylinder. John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel , or Campbell Memorial Award, was an annual award presented to the author of the best science fiction novel published in English in the preceding calendar year. It was given by several organizations from 1973 to 1979 and then by

162-413: The first of a trilogy, and that he used some of the material for the planned sequel in his 1991 novel Madlands . The novel takes place inside and on the exterior of a megastructural cylindrical building called Cylinder, which one character says "violates at least a dozen laws of physics." It is not explained how this building can exist, or why it was built or by whom. The novel begins with Ny Axxter,

180-483: The most influential editors in the early history of science fiction. The award was established in 1973 by writers and critics Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss "as a way of continuing his efforts to encourage writers to produce their best possible work." Locus magazine listed it as one of the "major awards" of written science fiction. The winning novel was selected by a panel of science fiction experts, intended to be "small enough to discuss among its members all of

198-434: The most nominations without winning at nine, followed by Sheri S. Tepper at six, James K. Morrow at five, and William Gibson , Ken MacLeod , Charles Stross , and Peter Watts at four. In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to

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216-466: The nominated novels". Among members of the panel have been Gregory Benford , Paul A. Carter, James Gunn , Elizabeth Anne Hull , Christopher McKitterick , Farah Mendlesohn , Pamela Sargent , and Tom Shippey . In 2008 Mendlesohn was replaced with Paul Kincaid , in 2009 Carter left the panel while Paul Di Filippo and Sheila Finch joined, and Lisa Yaszek replaced Di Filippo in 2016. Nominations were submitted by publishers and jurors, and collated by

234-594: The panel into a list of finalists to be voted on. The minimum eligible length that a work may be is not formally defined by the center. The winner was selected by May of each year, and was for a number of years presented during the Campbell Conference awards banquet in Lawrence as part of the centerpiece of the conference along with the Sturgeon Award. The award was given at this conference since 1979; prior to then it

252-572: The panel selected none of the nominees as a winner, while in 1974, 2002, 2009, and 2012 the panel selected two winners rather than one. Frederik Pohl and Joan Slonczewski each won twice, the only authors to do so, out of four and two nominations, respectively. Kim Stanley Robinson and Paul J. McAuley won once out of seven nominations, and Jack McDevitt , Ian McDonald , Adam Roberts , and Robert J. Sawyer won once out of five nominations, while Nancy Kress , Bruce Sterling , and Robert Charles Wilson won once out of four nominations. Greg Bear had

270-401: The sealed off center sections of Cylinder. Axxter gets a job working for one of the warrior tribes that inhabit the exterior of the building, redesigning their graphical branding identity. But the big reveal is hacked, apparently by the company that previously designed the tribe's graphics, embarrassing the tribe and leading to Axxter fleeing for his life. Aided by a gas angel (a humanoid with

288-644: The writer's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist. Entries with a gray background and a plus sign (+) indicate a year where no novel was selected as the winner.   *    Winners   +    No winner selected Elizabeth Anne Hull Hull was born in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania , and educated at Illinois State University (1954–55); City Colleges of Chicago (A.A., 1965); Northwestern University and Loyola University (M.A., 1970, Ph.D., 1975). Hull

306-672: Was a member of the faculty at William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, where she was a professor of English for over 30 years. She served as president of the Science Fiction Research Association and editor of its newsletter. SFRA awarded her the Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service in 1997, and she was a member of the panel for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel since 1986. For over ten years, she served as North American secretary for

324-470: Was awarded at various locations around the world, starting at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. Winners were invited to attend the ceremony. James Gunn had maintained a trophy which records all of the winners on engraved plaques affixed to the sides, and since 2004 winners received a smaller personalized trophy as well. In 2019, McKitterick (the award's chair) announced plans to rename both

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