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42-546: The first two parts were published separately as "The Postman" (1982) and "Cyclops" (1984). In 1997, a film adaptation of the novel was released starring Kevin Costner and Will Patton . Despite the post-apocalyptic scenario and several action sequences, the book is largely about civilization and its symbols. Each of the three sections deals with a different symbol. The first is the Postman himself, Gordon Krantz, who takes

84-584: A Native American who is a former member of an airborne regiment of the U.S. military. The Umpqua people have developed a warrior culture similar to Native Americans of the Old West and are bitter enemies of the Holnists; they have defeated the Holnists at every turn but until the Postman's arrival, they were not inclined to help the "weak" townsfolk of the Willamette Valley against the Holnists. At

126-461: A carrier from California, and he redoubles his efforts to find the postman. The postman and Abby, closely followed by young carriers Eddie, Ponytail, and Billy, travel to Bridge City. When Bethlehem's scouts catch up, the mayor helps the postman escape on a cable car and urges him to find others willing to resist Bethlehem. Before he leaves, he and Abby reciprocate their feelings and fall in love. The postman rallies his mounted followers to war, meeting

168-580: A ceremony unveiling a bronze statue by territorial waters in St. Rose, Oregon, in tribute to her father, who has recently died (1973–2043). Her speech, along with the fact that all the attendees are wearing modern clothing and using technology, reveal that the postman and his mail carriers' actions have helped rebuild the United States. On his personal website, author David Brin reveals that while studios were bidding for The Postman , his wife decided during

210-512: A community, Corvallis, Oregon , which is led by Cyclops, who is apparently a sentient artificial intelligence created at Oregon State University which survived the cataclysm. In reality, however, the machine ceased functioning during a battle, and a group of scientists maintain the pretense of its working to try to keep hope, order, and knowledge alive. The scientists also claim to use Cyclops' advice and predictions to solicit contributions of food from citizens, an approach that Gordon compares to

252-504: A failed yet well-meant effort at a parable, being "goofy", "pretentious", and "way too long", yet "good-hearted". He criticized Costner's putting himself in the lead role, arguing that such roles should be cast against type and that Costner had played too many similar roles in past films. On Siskel & Ebert , Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs down", and Siskel sarcastically called it "Dances with Myself" (in reference to Costner's film Dances with Wolves ) while referring to

294-532: A goofy good time if it weren't so fatally self-serious." Metacritic gives the film a score of 29 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. In The New York Times , Stephen Holden criticized the movie for its "bogus sentimentality" and "mawkish jingoism". In the Chicago Sun-Times , Roger Ebert described The Postman as

336-420: A huge impact on human civilization and erased most technology. Like the book, the film follows the story of a nomadic drifter (Costner) who stumbles across the uniform of a United States Postal Service mail carrier, and unwittingly inspires hope through an empty promise of a "Restored United States of America" and starts his path to become a national hero. Released on Christmas 1997 by Warner Bros. , The Postman

378-414: A lion, but Idaho arrives and forces nomad and the other recruit to fight to the death. Idaho kills the other recruit, but before he can shoot the nomad he is killed by the lion, allowing the nomad to escape by jumping into the river. He takes refuge in a long-deceased postman's mail vehicle, burning letters and putting on the postman's coat to stay warm. With the postman's uniform and mail bag, he arrives in

420-430: A long-abandoned postal van, he finds a sack of mail and a postal uniform. He wears the uniform and takes the mail to a nearby community to barter for food and shelter. His initial claims to be a real postman start not because of a deliberate fraud (at least initially) but because people are desperate to believe in him and his claim that he represents the "Restored United States". Later, in the second section, he encounters

462-414: A quasi-society and inadvertently spreading hope. Bethlehem continues to hunt and capture postal carriers, all of whom are executed and displayed publicly. Feeling responsible, the postman orders the service to disband and writes a letter to the militia revealing the truth. However, Bethlehem learns to his dismay that the postman's example has spread farther than he could have anticipated when his men capture

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504-454: A screening of Field of Dreams that Kevin Costner should portray the title character. Brin agreed that the emotions evoked by Field of Dreams matched the message he intended to deliver with his novel. A decade later, after learning Costner would be cast as the lead, Brin said he was "thrilled". Costner discarded the old screenplay (in which the moral message of the novel had been reversed) and hired screenwriter Brian Helgeland ; Brin says

546-490: A very humble guy who's nothing but a liar [laughs]—delivers mail and burns half of it just to stay alive. So, I like the movie. In 2023, Rolling Stone cited The Postman as one of the fifty worst decisions in film history. Hugo Award for Best Novella The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during

588-514: A violent, misogynistic, and militaristic society. Holn was executed sometime before the events in the novel, but in the time following what should have been a brief period of civil disorder, Holn's followers' attacks prevented the United States from recovering from the war and the plagues that followed. As the story comes to a climax, the Postman allies with a tough tribal group made up of descendants of ranchers, loggers and Native Americans from Southwestern Oregon's Umpqua Valley region who are led by

630-550: A world without rules", the intended moral of The Postman is that "if we lost our civilization, we'd all come to realize how much we missed it, and would realize what a miracle it is simply to get your mail every day." The Postman was filmed in Metaline Falls and Fidalgo Island in Washington; central Oregon; and southern Arizona around Amado and Nogales. Metaline Falls is the location for the community of Pineview in

672-521: Is his privilege to challenge due to once having been a member of the Holnists, Bethlehem agrees to the fight. The postman wins the brutal fight, but spares Bethlehem's life to maintain morale. Bethlehem tries to shoot the postman in the back with his revolver, but is shot dead by Colonel Getty. Getty then surrenders his rifle, and the rest of the Holnists follow his lead. Thirty years later, the postman's grown daughter Hope, accompanied by other public figures and servicemen (including postal workers), speaks at

714-457: Is referred to as Shakespeare by Bethlehem, is threatened daily by Captain Idaho, a bigoted underling of Bethlehem's, who tells the nomad about Colonel Getty, Bethlehem's second-in-command, and how Getty once challenged him for the right to lead. Bethlehem won the fight, and then mutilated Getty by cutting out his tongue and castrating him. The nomad and another recruit are sent across a bridge to kill

756-481: The Delphi Oracle . Eventually, in the third section, as the Postman joins forces with Cyclops's scientists in a war against an influx of "hypersurvivalist militia", the Postman begins to find that the hypersurvivalists are being pressed from Oregon's Rogue River area to the south as well. The hypersurvivalists are more commonly referred to as Holnists, after their founder, Nathan Holn, an author who championed

798-444: The Holnists across a field. Not wanting any more carnage, the postman instead challenges Bethlehem to a personal hand-to-hand duel with their troops as witnesses. Bethlehem says only Holnist members may challenge for leadership. The postman then reveals his figure 8 brand and recites King Henry V 's speech prior to the siege of Harfleur , prompting Bethlehem to recognize the postman as the one he called Shakespeare. Acknowledging that it

840-465: The United States and Canada and $ 30 million worldwide. The film was subsequently released on VHS and DVD on June 9, 1998 and on Blu-ray Disc on September 8, 2009. The Postman was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A massive miscalculation in self-mythologizing by director and star Kevin Costner, The Postman would make for

882-459: The author of a novella written in a language other than English: Alex Woodend, in 2024, for translations of two works from Chinese. Connie Willis has received the most Hugos for Best Novella at four out of eight nominations. Willis and Charles Stross at three out of four nominations, and Robert A. Heinlein at three out of six nominations for Retro Hugos, are the only authors to have won more than twice. Seanan McGuire has earned nine nominations,

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924-517: The award; those with a grey background are the nominees on the short-list. If the novella was originally published in a book with other stories rather than by itself or in a magazine, the book title is included after the publisher's name.   *    Winners and joint winners   +    No winner selected Beginning with the 1996 Worldcon , the World Science Fiction Society created

966-521: The ballot of six nominations is performed roughly in April through July, subject to change depending on when that year's Worldcon is held. Prior to 2017, the final ballot was five works; it was changed that year to six, with each initial nominator limited to five nominations. Worldcons are generally held near the start of September, and are held in a different city around the world each year. Members are permitted to vote "no award", if they feel that none of

1008-440: The bronze statue scene. Costner defended the film: I always thought it was a really good movie! I always thought I probably started it wrong. I should have said something like "once upon a time". Because it was just like a modern-day fairy tale—it wraps itself up with a storybook ending with the statue. You know, I thought it was a pretty funny movie set against the idea of a Superman—somebody stepping up. But in this case, it's

1050-512: The end of the novel, the Postman discovers the Holnists have another organized enemy to the South, identified only by the symbol they rally behind: the Bear Flag . The final scenes of the novel give the impression that the groups (symbols) may come together in an effort to revive civilization. Another message of the plot deals with the backstory of the post-apocalyptic world: specifically, that it

1092-405: The film. Despite the film performing disastrously at two test screenings, Costner refused Warner Bros. ' appeals that he edit it from its three-hour running time. The film was a notable failure at the box office. The first four days after opening brought in only $ 5.3 million on 2,207 screens in the United States and Canada. Produced on an estimated $ 80 million budget, it grossed $ 17 million in

1134-451: The lead role. The screenplay was written by Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland , based on David Brin 's 1985 book of the same name . The film also features Will Patton , Larenz Tate , Olivia Williams , James Russo , and Tom Petty . It is set in a post-apocalyptic and neo-Western version of the disestablished United States in the then near-future year of 2013, 16-plus years after unspecified apocalyptic events, followed by plagues, left

1176-570: The making, and then by a muddle of battle, murder and enhanced super-guerillas, all a bit of a needless distraction, but never mind. It's nicely written, sometimes moving, and ends as it should. Well worth reading." Both of the initial parts were nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novella . The completed novel won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel , both for 1986. It

1218-440: The most of any author; Robert Silverberg has earned eight, Nancy Kress seven, and Heinlein, George R. R. Martin , Kim Stanley Robinson , and Lucius Shepard six, the only authors besides Willis to get more than five. Robinson has the highest number of nominations without winning. Hugo Award nominees and winners are chosen by the supporting and attending members of the annual World Science Fiction Convention , or Worldcon, and

1260-532: The nominees is deserving of the award that year, and in the case that "no award" takes the majority the Hugo is not given in that category. This happened in the Best Novella category in 2015. In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novella was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a yellow background have won

1302-527: The postman leaves for the town of Benning, he carries a pile of mail left at the post office door by the townspeople. During a raid of Pineview, General Bethlehem learns of the postman's tales of a restored government in Minneapolis and becomes afraid of losing power if word spreads. He has the post office burned to the ground, kills Michael, abducts Abby, and raids Benning looking for the postman. The postman surrenders, but Abby saves him from execution, and

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1344-592: The presentation evening constitutes its central event. The selection process is defined in the World Science Fiction Society Constitution as instant-runoff voting with six nominees, except in the case of a tie. These novellas on the ballot are the six most-nominated by members that year, with no limit on the number of stories that can be nominated. Initial nominations are made by members in January through March, while voting on

1386-438: The previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between 17,500 and 40,000 words; awards are also given out in the short story , novelette and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction " and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". The Hugo Award for Best Novella has been awarded annually since 1968. In addition to

1428-558: The regular Hugo Awards, beginning in 1996 Retrospective Hugo Awards, or "Retro Hugos", have been available to be awarded for years 50, 75, or 100 years prior in which no awards were given. Retro Hugos may only be awarded for years after 1939 in which no awards were originally given. To date, Retro Hugo awards have been given for novellas for 1939, 1941, 1943–1946, 1951, and 1954. During the 65 nomination years, 189 authors have had works nominated; 47 of these have won, including coauthors and Retro Hugos. One translator has been noted along with

1470-504: The scattered communities of the Utah flatlands, trading performances of long-forgotten Shakespearean plays for food and water. At one town, the nomad is forced at gunpoint into the ranks of the Holnists, a neo-feudalist militia, and is branded on his shoulder with their symbol, a figure 8. The Holnists, under their leader, General Bethlehem, are the de facto authority in the area, collecting tribute and recruits from local towns. The nomad, who

1512-510: The settlement of Pineview claiming to be from the newly-restored U.S. government. He convinces Pineview's leader, Sheriff Briscoe, to let him in by showing a letter addressed to elderly villager Irene March. The postman inspires a teenager named Ford Lincoln Mercury, who asks to be sworn in as a member of the postal service and even helps him to reactivate the long abandoned post office in the town. The postman also meets spouses Abby and Michael, fulfilling their clinical request to impregnate her. When

1554-406: The two escape into the surrounding mountains. A pregnant Abby and an injured postman ride out the winter in an abandoned cabin. When spring arrives, they leave and run into a girl, who claims to be a postal carrier. She reveals that Mercury has kept the postal service alive by recruiting other carriers and building more post offices. They have established communications with other settlements, creating

1596-679: The two of them "rescued the 'soul' of the central character" and reverted the story's message to one of hope. Costner supposedly passed on the lead role in Air Force One to work on The Postman . In an interview with Metro before filming began, Brin expressed his hope that The Postman would have the "pro-community feel" of Field of Dreams instead of the Mad Max feel of Costner's other post-apocalyptic film Waterworld . Brin said that, unlike typical post-apocalyptic movies that satisfy "little-boy wish fantasies about running amok in

1638-500: The uniform solely for warmth after he loses almost everything to bandits. He wanders amongst small communities performing scenes from William Shakespeare plays in return for food and shelter. Originally a drama student at the University of Minnesota , he traveled west to Oregon in the aftermath of the worldwide chaos that resulted from several EMPs , the destruction of major cities, and the release of bioweapons . Taking shelter in

1680-486: Was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel for 1986. Brin has suggested that he wrote The Postman as a rebuke to the celebrations of mayhem in the many derivative post-apocalyptic fictions that appeared in the wake of the popular Mad Max movies. The Postman (film) The Postman is a 1997 American epic post-apocalyptic adventure film produced and directed by Kevin Costner , who plays

1722-437: Was not the electronics-destroying EMPs , the destruction of major cities, or the release of various bio-engineered plagues that completely destroyed society, but rather it was the Holnists, who preyed on humanitarian workers and attacked communities during this difficult period. Dave Langford reviewed The Postman for White Dwarf #83, and stated that "The story is complicated by Krantz's intersection with another myth in

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1764-427: Was panned by critics, who criticized the performances, screenplay, direction, and long runtime. Costner's decision to cast himself in the film was criticized. The film grossed $ 30 million worldwide against a budget of $ 80 million. It was nominated for three Saturn Awards and won all five of its Golden Raspberry Award nominations, including Worst Picture . In a post-apocalyptic world in 2013, an unnamed nomad wanders

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