Locus Online

Dead Flip, Sara Farizan (Algonquin 978-1-64375-080-4, $17.99, 272pp, hc) August 2022. Cover by Colin Verdi.

The premise for Sara Farizan’s latest novel Dead Flip is right up my alley. Set in 1987, it’s about 12-year-old Sam who is kidnapped by a ‘‘supernatural pinball machine’’ and then returns, without aging a day, five years later. The vast gulf between 12 and 17 is perfect fodder for conflict and the mystery ...Read More

Escape Pod 8/18/22, 9/8/22 Strange Horizons 8/15/22, 8/22/22, 8/29/22, 9/5/22, 9/12/22 Diabolical Plots 9/22

The mixture of humor and horror continues in August’s Escape Pod with Douglas DiCicco’s “Laser Squid Goes House Hunting”. As the title implies, the infamous Laser Squid, terror from the deep, is looking for a place where she can raise a new generation, and it’s up to the story’s narrator as her realtor ...Read More

The Pallbearers Club, Paul Tremblay (William Morrow 978-0-06306-991-6, $27.99, 288pp, hc) July 2022.

Paul Tremblay continues his well-deserved suc­cess with his latest, The Pallbearers Club. This time out he adds some interesting twists. The novel is presented as a manuscript with notations, comments, and additions by another hand, that of a woman named (at least in the manuscript) Mercy Brown. Although it is supposed to be a novel, ...Read More

Life Ceremony, Sayaka Murata (Grove Press 978-0-80215-958-8, $25.00, 256pp, hc) July 2022.

In the title story of Sayaka Murata’s collec­tion Life Ceremony, one of the characters observes that “normal is a type of madness… it’s just that the only madness society allows is called normal.” It’s a sentiment that encapsulates the driving force of Murata’s fiction: a recognition that “normality” is subjective, that acceptable behaviour is a generational ...Read More

Clarkesworld 9/22 Samovar 7/22 Slate Future Tense 6/22, 7/22, 8/22

In September, Clarkesworld leads off with a sweet story from Fiona Moore, “The Slow Deaths of Automobiles”. The narrator is writing the story to their one-time partner, ad­dressed as “you” throughout. They start off as a couple in high school, but the narrator goes away to college and the partner remains, caring for an old, sentient car ...Read More

Here are a few words from Wole Talabi… You can get a Tuckerization (BE IMMORTALIZED) by Talabi in an upcoming work, plus the 2022 Locus e-bundle as a thank you for your contribution to our fundraiser.

Wole Talabi is a SF writer, editor, and engineer from Nigeria. You can find out more about him and his work at https://wtalabi.wordpress.com/ or follow him at @wtalabi.

A message from Garth Nix, one of our board members, a fantastic author, and one of the nicest guys around! Please check out the cool donor swag like tees and mugs, the author chat story crits, and all the goodies we are giving out as part of the fundraiser at https://igg.me/at/locusmag.com!

Applications for Clarion’s six-week summer workshop are open now through March 1, 2023.

The workshop will be held June 25 – August 5, 2023 in San Diego CA, and the instructors are Andy Duncan, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Tochi Onyebuchi, Anjali Sachdeva, and Rae Carson & Charles Coleman Finlay. Jac Jemc is faculty director.

The application fee is $55 until February 15. From February 16 to March 1, the fee is ...Read More

The 48th World Fantasy Convention was held as a hybrid event November 3-6, 2022, with the Hyatt Regency hosting the in-person portion in New Orleans, that destination Louisiana city so renowned for its cuisine, music, and atmosphere. Guests of honor were Ginjer Buchanan, Victor LaValle, and Jo Walton, with Iris Compiet as artist guest of honor, Andrei Codrescu and Brandon O’Brien as special guests, Nisi Shawl as featured guest, plus ...Read More

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, Xiran Jay Zhao (McElderry Books 978-1-6659-0070-6, $17.99, 352pp, hc) May 2022. Cover by Velinxi.

According to the acknowledgements, Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor was born of author Xiran Jay Zhao’s “obsession with Chinese history, sci-fi concepts, and shonen-anime-esque adventure stories” which combine into “one bonkers book.” If any of those things appeal to you, especially adventure, then you are going to love ...Read More

The 12-title longlist for the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize includes titles and authors of genre interest, such as The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland (Harper), The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land by Omer Friedlander (John Murray/Hodder), The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft (Fitzcarraldo Editions), and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Chatto/Penguin Random House). The award gives £4,000 “to the ...Read More

We know you like to know what is coming out! We’re going to tell you all about this week in SF, fantasy, and horror, in under 10 minutes. Check it out, and please subscribe to our channel! Thanks!

Greetings from beyond the paywall! We have been posting new content monthly on our Patreon Archive Feed – scans of vintage Locus and audio clips from author interviews and more – and wanted to share a little of what that feed looks like by making some of our earlier posts public. Check out this post featuring a letter from Arthur C. Clarke.

In addition to all the benefits of lower ...Read More

Diana M. Pho has joined Erewhon Books as executive editor, according to a press release sent out today. Pho said:

I’ve had the joy of witnessing Erewhon since its launch by the intrepid Liz Gorinsky. It’s a true dream come true to join an ambitious house with a beautifully growing list and Sarah Guan’s keen publishing vision. Working with writers to create great stories has been my lifelong passion. I ...Read More

The editors of The New York Times Book Review selected their ten best books of the year, including titles of genre interest, such as The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (Scribner), Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (Harper), and The Furrows by Namwali Serpell (Hogarth).

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a ...Read More

Zooscape 8/22 Anathema: Spec from the Margins 8/22 Black Cat Weekly 8/13/22

Zooscape’s August issue continues the mission of showcasing furry speculative fiction, and pulls no emotional punches with its opening story, “The Best Way to Pro­cure Breakfast” by Dana Vickerson. In it, a cat named Pho is hard at work trying to get his human to stick to the script of feeding him. Something is wrong, ...Read More

More than 150 literary agents have signed an open letter to the leadership of HarperCollins, in support of the HarperCollins Union strike. They have vowed not to submit work until the strike is resolved. It reads:

We, the undersigned literary agents, are writing to express our support for the HCP Union, now on strike since November 10. We and our clients have benefited greatly from the passion and expertise of ...Read More

The World We Make, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit 978-0-31650-989-3, $30.00, 368pp, hc) November 2022.

The term “urban fantasy” has undergone so many permutations over the past few decades, from modest subgenre to block­buster market segment, that it’s probably the name of an energy drink by now. (Don’t tell me if it is.) At the same time, it’s easy to overlook the tradition of fantasies that are actually and intensely urban ...Read More

The Future is Female! Vol 2: the 1970s: More Classic Science Fiction by Women, Lisa Yaszek, ed. (Library of America 978-1-59853-732-1, $27.95, 450 pp, hc) October 2022.

I scraped into the 1970s with just a couple of months to spare and, although I’ve done a fair amount of reading from the time, I’m not going to claim any expertise in assessing what is the best, or even what is ...Read More

The New York Public Library has announced its lists of the best books of 2022 in various categories, including 75 Best Books for Adults, 50 Best Books for Teens, and 135 Best Books for Kids. There are also lists of the top 10 for each category.

The Adult category includes genre titles, such as The Change by Kirsten Miller (Morrow) and Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom), with T. Kingfisher’s Nettle ...Read More

de Bodard, Aliette: The Red Scholar’s Wake

(JAB Books 978-1-399-60138-2, $15.00, 315pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, November 24, 2022)

SF novel about a lesbian tech scavenger in a marriage of convenience with a sentient pirate spaceship.

Clare, Gwendolyn: In the City of Time

(Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends 978-1-250-23074-4, $20.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, November 29, 2022)

Young-adult time-travel novel, the first in the eponymous duology, set in the world of Ink, ...Read More

Anybody Home?, Michael J. Seidlinger (CLASH Books 978-1-95590-409-4, $18.95, 234pp, tp) August 2022.

Writing a novel using second person is tricky. Writing a creepy, bizarre novel in which the use of second person pulls the reader into a dark, violent world where laws are broken and people die is much harder. Michal J. Seidlinger pulls off the latter brilliantly in Any­body Home?, and readers actually end up enjoy­ing ...Read More

Ulrika O’Brien is the winner of the 2022 Rotsler Award for “long-time wonder-working with graphic art in amateur publications of the science fiction community.” The award was announced during Loscon 48, held November 25-27, 2022 at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel in Los Angeles CA.

The award is sponsored by the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests (SCIFI), and includes an honorarium of $300. The Rotsler judges this year ...Read More

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has named Robin McKinley the 39th recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.

SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy said,

I read McKinley’s Deerskin in my late-twenties and it turned my world upside-down…. From there I went on to read everything McKinley has written. With every story, each book, she haunts, delights, and enlightens me. Naming an author who’s been such ...Read More

Author and illustrator Marcus Sedgwick, 54, died unexpectedly in France on November 17, 2022. He wrote more than 40 books, most for children and teens, including many of genre interest.

Born April 8, 1968 in Preston, Kent, England, Sedgwick worked as a bookseller and for a small children’s publisher before becoming a full-time writer.

He wrote several series, including the Dead Days sequence, the Cudweed trilogy, the Raven Mysteries, and ...Read More