Locus Online

Apollo Weeps, Xian Mao (Aqueduct 978-1-61976-230-5, $12, 164pp, tp) January 2023.

One of the greatest strengths of Aqueduct Press’s Conversation Pieces series is that it makes a home for work that simply wouldn’t neatly fit elsewhere. It’s described as a ‘‘grand conversation’’ on feminist issues, made of ‘‘an ever-shifting, fluid mosaic’’ of science fiction voices, across time and topic, and Xian Mao’s novella, Apollo Weeps, makes for tile ...Read More

The Donut Legion, Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland 978-0-31654-068-1, $28.00, 304pp, hc) March 2023.

Author Joe R. Lansdale is one of the most entertaining storytellers working today, and he does it across a plethora of genres and styles. The Donut Legion, Lansdale’s latest, is a mystery novel wrapped in crime fiction and garnished with a dash of horror, a lot of snappy di­alogue, and enough humor to almost overshadow the ...Read More

Uncanny 3-4/23, 5-6/23 Tor.com 3/29/23, 4/26/23 Apex #137

This month, instead of covering all the stories in an issue as I usually do, I’ll only be discussing those I feel are the most notable.

My favorite stories from Uncanny #52 are ‘‘The Mausoleum’s Children’’ by Aliette de Bodard and ‘‘The Rain Remembers What the Sky Forgets’’ by Fran Wilde. In the former, Thuận Lộc, haunted ...Read More

Chlorine, Jade Song (William Morrow 978-0-06325-760-3, $27.99, 256pp, hc) March 2023.

From the moment we meet Ren Yu, the narrator and protagonist of Jade Song’s debut novel Chlorine, she leaves us in no doubt about her identity. Ren is a mermaid, though, as she’s quick to point out, nothing like those generic mermaids from movies and ‘‘G-rated fairytales, the blood and dirt in their original drafts scrubbed clean ...Read More

The Severed Thread, Leslie Vedder (Razorbill 978-0-59332-585-8, $19.99. 416pp, hc) Febru­ary 2023.

Vedder’s young-adult second world fantasy novel The Severed Thread marks the return to the ‘‘Little Red Riding Hood’’ and ‘‘Sleeping Beauty’’-inspired world she established in last year’s The Bone Spindle. In the first book, we meet our protagonists: Shane the huntsman, Fi the treasure hunter, Red the girl with dark se­crets, and Briar Rose the cursed ...Read More

Strange Horizons 3/20/23, 3/27/23, 4/3/23, 4/10/23 Cast of Wonders 3/24/23, 4/4/23, 4/13/23 Escape Pod 3/9/23, 3/16/23, 3/30/23, 4/6/23, 4/13/23

Strange Horizons closed out March strong with some excellent poetry and fiction, including Iona Datt Sharma’s aching and beautiful story ‘‘Always and Forever, Only You’’, which finds Edie living in an assisted liv­ing home, passing her days bored and lonely. Having survived her husband, Edie retains a kind ...Read More

Give us a few minutes and we’ll catch you up on the top books we know about for the week of 7/4/23! LIKE & SUBSCRIBE!

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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. Come check out this post on our Patreon with an audio clip of Kim Stanley Robinson.

In addition to ...Read More

SF writer Paul Tremblay and author Mona Awad are the named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Open AI, alleging their ChatGPT, a Large Language Model “AI” chat program, infringed on their copyrights — and those of thousands of other authors. In addition to copyright infringement, the authors allege violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and negligence.

The filing argues that thousands of books were ...Read More

Alan Arkin, 89, died June 29, 2023. Though best known as an actor and director, Arkin also wrote SF, including stories “Whiskaboom” (1955) and “People Soup” (1958) in Galaxy, “The Amazing Grandy” (2001) in F&SF, and novel The Clearing (1986).

Alan Wolf Arkin was born March 26, 1934 in Brooklyn NY, and moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was 11. He took acting classes at Los Angeles ...Read More

The Asociación Española de Fantasía, Ciencia Ficción y Terror (AEFCFT) has announced the finalists for the 2023 Ignotus Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Hugo Awards).

Finalists for the 2023 Caine Prize for African Writing, including several works of genre interest, have been announced:

The winner will be selected by ...Read More

Finalists for the Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book have been announced by Chengdu Worldcon, the 81st World Science Fiction Convention. There were 1,847 valid nominating ballots (1,843 electronic and 4 paper) received and counted from members of the 2022 and 2023 World Science Fiction Conventions for the 2023 Hugo Awards. Voting on the final ballot will open ...Read More

Into the Light, Mark Oshiro (Tor Teen 978-1-250-81225-5, $19.99, hc, 437pp) March 2023. Cover by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor.

Mark Oshiro masterfully takes on an enor­mously important topic with his com­pelling, realistic, horrific novel, Into the Light. In a narrative framed by three different timelines and told from two teen perspectives, Oshiro takes readers into the dangerous world of religious fundamentalism and conversion therapy. The primary protagonist, Manny, is ...Read More

Finalists for the tenth annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award have been announced:

Ex Marginalia: Essays from the Edges of Speculative Fiction, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House 978-1-957898-00-1, $19.95, 176pp, tp) June 2023. Cover by Ashe Samuels.

I could not look away from the startling cover of a naked, big-breasted brown woman with flowing ash hair wading, unseeing, across turquoise waters laden with flying fish. Where does one begin with Ex Marginalia, this powerfully introspective anthology of essays on writing from ...Read More

The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation (NCSFF) has announced the shortlist for the 2023 Manly Wade Wellman Award. The award recognizes “outstanding achievement in science fiction and fantasy novels written by North Carolina authors.”

The Wick, Julianna Baggott (Underland 978-1-63023-068-5, $13.99, 100pp, tp), January 2023.

Julianna Baggott’s latest novella, The Wick, is a paradox: it’s short, abbreviated even, but also expansive. It’s utterly unlike anything I’ve ever read, but also, somehow, the lovechild of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Carol Emshwiller’s The Mount. It’s experimental and literary, making full use of the usually avoided second person point of view ...Read More