Prix Apollo Award Explained

The Prix Tour-Apollo was an annual French juried award established in 1972 by Jacques Sadoul with the assistance of Jacques Goimard. Its name was chosen in reference to the Apollo 11 rocket. The award was given to the best science fiction novel published in France during the preceding year. Awards were given for the years 1972-1990, inclusive, and usually went to a work first published in English in the US or UK. After the award ended in 1991, the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire added a category for best Foreign-Language Novel (translated into French) to continue this category of award.

Winners

Past winners of the Prix Tour-Apollo
YearTitleAuthorPublisher
1972L'Île des morts (Isle of the Dead)Roger ZelaznyOPTA
1973Tous à Zanzibar (Stand on Zanzibar)John BrunnerRobert Laffont
1974Rêve de fer (The Iron Dream)Norman SpinradOPTA
1975L'Enchâssement (The Embedding)Ian WatsonCalmann-Lévy
1976Les Ailes de la nuit (Nightwings)Robert SilverbergJ'ai lu
1977Cette chère humanité (Brave Old World)Philippe CurvalRobert Laffont
1978La Ruche d'Hellstrom (Hellstrom's Hive)Frank HerbertAlbin Michel
1979La Grande Porte (Gateway)Frederik PohlCalmann-Lévy
1980Persistance de la vision (The Persistence of Vision)Short story collection by John VarleyDenoël
1981Le Temps des genevriers (Juniper Time)Kate WilhelmDenoël
1982L'Idiot-roi (Symbiote's Crown)Scott BakerJ'ai lu
1983L'Orbe et la roueMichel JeuryRobert Laffont
1984Les Semeurs d'abîmesSerge BrussoloFleuve noir
1985La Citadelle de l'Autarque (The Citadel of the Autarch)Gene WolfeDenoël
1986La Musique du sang (Blood Music)Greg Bearla Découverte
1987Les Voies d'Anubis (The Anubis Gates)Tim PowersJ'ai lu
1988La Compagnie des glaces (The Ice Company)Georges-Jean ArnaudFleuve noir
1989Le Pays du fou rire (The Land of Laughs)Jonathan CarrollJ'ai Lu
1990ArgentineJoël HoussinDenoël

The 1988 award was for the entire series of 36 books that began with La Compagnie des glaces in 1980; the series carries the same name. The full series includes 98 books, the first 36 of which were published in the Anticipation series by Fleuve Noir in 1980-87. (Books 37-62 were published by Fleuve Noir in their own series starting in 1988.) The first book in this series is available in English and French, but (according to WorldCat) the later books in the series are available only in French.

Aside from the later books in the La Compagnie des glaces series, all but three of these winning books are available in English as well as French, and most are available in other languages as well (see the ISFDB external link for details). As of 2013-12-28, Argentine is available only in French, Les semeurs d'abimes only in French and Italian, and L'Orbe et la roue only in French and Spanish.

External links