The Saturn Game

"The Saturn Game"
"The Saturn Game"
Short story by Poul Anderson
	cover art by Vincent Di Fate
Genre(s)	Science fiction
Publication
Publisher	Analog
Publication date	2 February 1981

"The Saturn Game" is a science fiction novella by American writer Poul Anderson, originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in February 1981.

Plot summary[edit]

Imaginative roleplaying provides relief for some of the crew on the long, dull trip to Saturn. However, their imaginary world becomes hazardously confused with the real one when a team begins the exploration of Iapetus, one of Saturn's moons.

Reception[edit]

"The Saturn Game" won the 1981 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1982 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Sources, references, external links, quotations[edit]

The Saturn Game title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

This article about a science fiction short story (or stories) published in the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

v t e Hugo Award for Best Novella
Retro Hugos	Who Goes There? by Don A. Stuart (1939) If This Goes On— by Robert A. Heinlein (1941) Waldo by Robert A. Heinlein (1943) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1944) Killdozer! by Theodore Sturgeon (1945) Animal Farm by George Orwell (1946) The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein (1951) A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1954)
1968–1980	Riders of the Purple Wage by Philip José Farmer /Weyr Search by Anne McCaffrey (1968) Nightwings by Robert Silverberg (1969) Ship of Shadows by Fritz Leiber (1970) Ill Met in Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (1971) The Queen of Air and Darkness by Poul Anderson (1972) The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973) The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr. (1974) A Song for Lya by George R. R. Martin (1975) Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny (1976) By Any Other Name by Spider Robinson / Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr. (1977) Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson (1978) The Persistence of Vision by John Varley (1979) Enemy Mine by Barry B. Longyear (1980)
1981–1990	Lost Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson (1981) The Saturn Game by Poul Anderson (1982) Souls by Joanna Russ (1983) Cascade Point by Timothy Zahn (1984) Press Enter by John Varley (1985) 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai by Roger Zelazny (1986) Gilgamesh in the Outback by Robert Silverberg (1987) Eye for Eye by Orson Scott Card (1988) The Last of the Winnebagos by Connie Willis (1989) The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1990)
1991–2000	The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman (1991) Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress (1992) Barnacle Bill the Spacer by Lucius Shepard (1993) Down in the Bottomlands by Harry Turtledove (1994) Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick (1995) The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele (1996) Blood of the Dragon by George R. R. Martin (1997) ...Where Angels Fear to Tread by Allen Steele (1998) Oceanic by Greg Egan (1999) The Winds of Marble Arch by Connie Willis (2000)
2001–2010	The Ultimate Earth by Jack Williamson (2001) Fast Times at Fairmont High by Vernor Vinge (2002) Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2003) The Cookie Monster by Vernor Vinge (2004) The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross (2005) Inside Job by Connie Willis (2006) A Billion Eves by Robert Reed (2007) All Seated on the Ground by Connie Willis (2008) The Erdmann Nexus by Nancy Kress (2009) Palimpsest by Charles Stross (2010)
2011–2020	The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (2011) The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson (2012) The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (2013) Equoid by Charles Stross (2014) (No award given) (2015) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (2016) Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2017) All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2018) Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (2019) This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2020)
2021–present	The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (2021) A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (2022) Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire (2023)

v t e Nebula Award for Best Novella
1966–1980	The Saliva Tree by Brian W. Aldiss and He Who Shapes by Roger Zelazny (1966) The Last Castle by Jack Vance (1967) Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock (1968) Dragonrider by Anne McCaffrey (1969) A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison (1970) Ill Met in Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (1971) The Missing Man by Katherine Maclean (1972) A Meeting with Medusa by Arthur C. Clarke (1973) The Death of Doctor Island by Gene Wolfe (1974) Born with the Dead by Robert Silverberg (1975) Home Is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny (1976) Houston, Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr. (1977) Stardance by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson (1978) The Persistence of Vision by John Varley (1979) Enemy Mine by Barry B. Longyear (1980)
1981–2000	Unicorn Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (1981) The Saturn Game by Poul Anderson (1982) Another Orphan by John Kessel (1983) Hardfought by Greg Bear (1984) Press Enter by John Varley (1985) Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg (1986) R&R by Lucius Shepard (1987) The Blind Geometer by Kim Stanley Robinson (1988) The Last of the Winnebagos by Connie Willis (1989) The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1990) The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman (1991) Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress (1992) City of Truth by James Morrow (1993) The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady (1994) Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick (1995) Last Summer at Mars Hill by Elizabeth Hand (1996) Da Vinci Rising by Jack Dann (1997) Abandon in Place by Jerry Oltion (1998) Reading the Bones by Sheila Finch (1999) Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang (2000)
2001–2020	Goddesses by Linda Nagata (2001) The Ultimate Earth by Jack Williamson (2002) Bronte's Egg by Richard Chwedyk (2003) Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2004) The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams (2005) Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link (2006) Burn by James Patrick Kelly (2007) Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress (2008) The Spacetime Pool by Catherine Asaro (2009) The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker (2010) The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's Window by Rachel Swirsky (2011) The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson (2012) After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (2013) The Weight of the Sunrise by Vylar Kaftan (2014) Yesterday's Kin by Nancy Kress (2015) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (2016) Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (2017) All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2018) The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard (2019) This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2020)
2021–present	Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (2021) And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed (2022) Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk (2023)