Locus Online

More Walls Broken, Tim Powers (Subterranean 978-1-59606-886-5, $25.00, 136pp, hc) February 2019.

One of the appealing aspects of Tim Powers’s fiction is his obvious affection for his settings, whether the 19th-century Britain of his Romantic and Victorian era novels, the Caribbean of On Stranger Tides, or the Southern California-Las Vegas axis of his Fault Lines trilogy and later novels. His relatively sparse shorter fiction hardly gives him room to dwell ...Read More

In the Vanishers’ Palace, Aliette de Bodard (JABberwocky 9781625673749, $5.99, 145pp, eb) October 2018. Cover by Kelsey Liggett.

Aliette de Bodard’s In the Vanishers’ Palace is a new short novel from an ex­tremely talented author. At approximately 145 pages (or 49,000 words), it’s technically only a little longer than a novella, but it packs an epic amount of worldbuilding and character develop­ment into that short space.

The world is a ...Read More

We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk Books 978-1683690122, $24.99, 336pp, hc) September 2018.

I first fell in love with Grady Hendrix’s critical work with his laugh-till-you-cry-recaps of each godawful episode of Under the Dome for Tor.com. Those summaries were the only reason I persevered with the show (and I still couldn’t make it to the bitter end). I was on-board for his ambitious Stephen King reread (also for Tor.com), ...Read More

Swordheart, T. Kingfisher (Argyll 978-1614504634, $24.95, 426pp, hc) November 2018.

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ursula Vernon, best known for her middle-grade Hamster Princess books, writes as T. Kingfisher when the work is more suited to adults. Swordheart, which is set in her Clocktaur War world but has nearly nothing to do with the events of Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine, is most definitely a book for grown-ups.

Not for ...Read More

F&SF 9-10/18
Galaxy’s Edge 9/18
Uncanny 9-10/18
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine 9-10/18

The September-October F&SF includes a story from the daughter of one of our greatest writers (and an F&SF regular). “Suicide Watch” by Su­san Emshwiller is a horrific near-future story in which suicides are a form of reality entertainment – the rights to witness them are sold to individuals who show up to the appointed location. The nar­rator is ...Read More

The Accidental War, Walter Jon Williams (Harper Voyager 978-0-06-246702-7, $16.99, 476pp, tp) September 2018.

When, back in 2002, I reviewed The Praxis, the first volume of Walter Jon Williams’ Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy, the lede was, “The signals on the outside of [the advance copy of] the first volume of Walter Jon Williams’s new series don’t really prepare you for what’s inside.” I can’t come up with a better lede ...Read More

Hazards of Time Travel, Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco 978-0-06-231959-3, $26.99, 336p, hc) November 2018.

The main problem with contemporary dystopian fiction, I think, is that it no longer demands any imagination. It’s not just that the US is currently being governed by the petulant brat from Jerome Bixby’s “It’s a Good Life” (or that the rest of the government is acting like the terrified adults in that story), but that ...Read More

Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Ngan (Jimmy Patterson Presents 978-0316561365, $18.99, 400pp, hc) November 2018.

In terms of worldbuilding, Natasha Ngan’s Girls of Paper and Fire works a lot better for me. Overall, it just purely works: part of that might be the sheer weight of feeling that Ngan packs into this, her third novel and fantasy debut. (And what an accomplished, explosive novel it is.)

Lei is the ...Read More

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Infinity’s End, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris) September 2018.
Infinite Fantastika, Paul Di Filippo (WordFire Press) September 2018.

Alas, Jonathan Strahan’s Infinity’s End is the final entry in his Infinity Project series. It’s a very strong book, and these volumes stand with the very best original anthol­ogy series ever in the field, series like Fred Pohl’s Star, Damon Knight’s Orbit, Robert Silverberg’s New Dimensions, and Terry Carr’s Universe. This book’s main ...Read More

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Mosh­fegh (Penguin Press 978-0525522119, $26.00, 304pp, hc) July 2018.

I’m sure if it was feasible a number of us would jump at the idea of hibernating for an entire year. Anything to avoid the ongoing horror show currently masquerading as politics. It’s certainly the plan of the unnamed protagonist in Ottessa Moshfegh’s new novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Except she isn’t ...Read More

Dublin 2019—An Irish Worldcon has announced Jim Fitzpatrick as the designer of the 2019 Hugo Award base, and Eleanor Wheeler as the designer of the 1944 Retro-Hugo Award base. Additionally, Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA) president Sara Felix will design the 2019 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book.

Dublin 2019 will be held August 15-19, 2019 at the Convention Centre Dublin in Dublin, Ireland.

While you ...Read More

The Tropic of Eternity, Tom Toner (Night Shade 978-1-59780-911-5, $26.00, 380pp, hc) August 2018.

Fans of Saga, that superlative postmodern-space-opera in graphic novel form, creat­ed by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples, had cause to mourn recently. Issue 54 brought the tragic death of a main character, and also the news that the series would go on indefinite hiatus. If I could offer any solace to these read­ers, it would ...Read More

Inkmistress, Audrey Coulthurst (Balzer & Bray 978-0-06-243328-2, $17.99, 387pp, hc) March 2018.

In its opening paragraphs, Audrey Coulthurst’s Inkmistress seems to be a story about love. The protagonist, Asra, declares her love and longing for Ina, the beautiful girl who lives in the village below, and soon, with the coming of spring, will return to her. They are aware that their relationship must remain secret – the fear engendered by ...Read More

Gregory Benford is the winner of the 2019 Robert A. Heinlein Award, given for “outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space,” recognizing his body of work, including 22 novels, more than 180 short stories, and many non-fiction articles.

The winner was chosen by a committee of SF authors chaired by Michael F. Flynn, and will receive a plaque, a sterling silver ...Read More

Future Tense 8/18
Lightspeed 10/18
Apex Magazine 8/18
Future Fire 8/18

Slate’s Future Tense short story for August, “When We Were Patched” by Deji Bryce Olukotun, finishes their series looking at the future of sport. The narrator is a particularly officious AI, and never has a character had more rationale for having a stuffy tone: this AI is an augmented refereeing as­sistant for a particularly awesome kind of extreme tennis. ...Read More

The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City will host Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, “the most extensive public display of original Tolkien material for several generations.” The exhibition includes “family photographs and memorabilia, Tolkien’s original illustrations, maps, draft manuscripts, and designs related to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion” drawn from the Tolkien archives at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Marquette University Libraries in ...Read More

Neil Gaiman will be presented with the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award at the Poets & Writers annual dinner, March 7, 2019 at 583 Park Avenue in New York NY. The award “celebrates authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.” Gaiman is being recognized “for advocating for freedom of expression worldwide and inspiring countless writers.”

For more information, see the Poets ...Read More

Larry Eisenberg, 99, died December 25, 2018 in a Lincoln MA hospice of complications from leukemia. Eisenberg published dozens of SF stories in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, beginning with “The Mynah Matter” (1962), and is best known for his sequence of humorous SF stories about Emmett Duckworth, many collected in The Best Laid Schemes (1971).  Story “What Happened to Auguste Claro?” appeared in Dangerous Visions (1967).

Lawrence Eisenberg was ...Read More

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has named William Gibson the 35th recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

SFWA president Cat Rambo said Gibson “forged a body of work that has played a major part in the coalescing of the cyberpunk movement, influencing dozens of writers of cinema, fiction, and games, among other creatives…. Gibson continues to produce taut, evocative works that reflect the ...Read More

Suspended in Dusk II, Simon Dewar, ed. (Grey Matter Press 978-1940658971, $13.95, 257pp, tp) July 2018.

It’s shocking that I can’t remember the last time I read a horror anthology. Back in the day – in my late teens and early twenties – horror anthologies were my bread and butter. Whether it was Dark Forces, Prime Evil, Splat­terpunks: Extreme Horror (volume 1 and 2), Midnight Graffiti, or Little Deaths, these ...Read More

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (Raven) has won the 2018 Costa First Novel award.

The Costa Book Awards recognizes “some of the most enjoyable books of the year, written by authors based in the UK and Ireland.” Each winner in the five individual categories receives £5,000. The Costa Book of the Year, an award accompanied by a £30,000 prize, will be selected from the category winners ...Read More

The Washington Science Fiction Association is now accepting nominations of “works published for the first time in the English language in 2018” for its Small Press Award, given annually to an outstanding story of “imaginative literature” (17,500 words or fewer) published in the small press. Authors and small-press publishers are among those eligible to nominate, and need not be members of WSFA. Finalists are selected “by a committee of five ...Read More

Dublin 2019 — An Irish Worldcon has announced the “Fantastic Dublin Fund” to increase diversity among fans and program participants. Donated funds and memberships will go towards helping Irish fans of limited financial means, the Irish Traveller community, people of color via Con-or-Bust, program participants from marginalized communities, and participants of color.

The 77th Worldcon will be held August 15-19, 2019 at the Convention Centre Dublin in Dublin, Ireland. For ...Read More