A.C. Wise Reviews Short Fiction: khōréō

khōréō 3.3

khōréō 3.3 includes two short stories and a nov­elette in two parts. The one I found to be most effective of the three is “The Blue Glow” by Lisa Hosokawa, which follows a failed suicide pilot as he returns home in search of his family, and finds only destruction. His journey is plagued by ghosts, but he holds onto hope that his mother and baby ...Read More

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Clay Wins 2024 GUFF

Kat Clay has won the 2024 Going Under Fan Fund (GUFF), intended to send one fan from Australasia to Glasgow 2024, the 82nd Worldcon. Ian Nichols was the other nominee. There were 81 votes counted.

The fund is currently administered in Europe by Alison Scott and in Australasia by Simon Litten.

For more information, see the GUFF website.

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Niall Harrison Reviews Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang

Jumpnauts, Hao Jingfang (trans. Ken Liu) (Saga 978-1-53442-211-7, 368pp, $18.99). March 2024.

Deep in the bowels of Hao Jingfang’s Jumpnauts, an alien guide reveals to the human protagonists that what defines civilisational progression, from their elevated perspective, is ‘‘the capacity for information exchange.’’ The development of writing, which allows information to be transmit­ted widely in space and time, was the necessary precondition to reach the ‘‘zeroth rank’’ of ...Read More

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2024 SLF Writers Grant Applications Open

Submissions for the Speculative Literature Foundation’s (SLF) Older Writers Grant are open through May 31, 2024.

The $1,000 grant is awarded to a writer who is 50 years of age or older and “just starting to work at a professional level.” The award is “to be used as each writer determines will best assist their work.” The recipient will be selected by SLF members and announced on July 15, 2024. ...Read More

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Magazines Received – April

This list covers new SF/F/H print, online, and electronic periodicals (including regularly updated websites) seen by Locus magazine, focusing on those that publish fiction or reviews and criticism. To submit titles for listing on these pages, please send to Locus Publications, 655 13th St. #100, Oakland CA 94612 or email locus@locusmag.com.

Bourbon Penn

  • Erik Secker, ed.
  • Issue No. 32, March 2024, $14.95 print/$2.99 digital/free online, three times a year, 162pp,
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2024 Tomorrow Prize Finalists and Green Feather Winner

The Omega Sci-Fi Awards has announced the finalists for its Tomorrow Prize short story competition:

  • “Our Blue Sky”, Isabel Ceballos
  • “Stardust”, Shajid Islam
  • “Pandemonium Porcellus”, Steven Ortega
  • “Goodbye, Said the Machine”, Ariel Preston
  • “My Nellhan”, Avery Watson

Honorable mentions were given to the following stories:

  • “Saving Aquarion”, Rylee Christiansen
  • “Remembered Stories”, Izzy Kellett
  • “Wake Up”, Lydia Kim
  • “Herman: The Street Merchant”, Angel Martinez
  • “Ouroboros”, Aubrey Reyes

The Tomorrow Prize is

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2024 Seiun Awards Nominees

Yanekon, the 62nd Japan Science Fiction Convention, has announced the finalists for the 2024 Seiun Awards (the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo Awards), honoring the best original and translated works published last year in Japan.

Best Translated Novel

  • Mickey 7, Edward Ashton, translated by Mayumi Otani (Hayakawa Bunko SF)
  • The Greenhouse at the End of the World, Kim Cho-yeop, translated by Kang Bang-hwa (Hayakawa Shobo)
  • Civilizations, Laurent
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2024 Writers & Illustrators of the Future

The 40th Writers of the Future Awards and 35th Illustrators of the Future Awards gala event took place on April 25, 2024 at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles CA.

The Writers of the Future Golden Pen Award went to Jack Nash for the story “Son, Spirit, Snake”, and the Illustrators of the Future Golden Brush Award went to Tyler Vail for the illustration of “Squiddy”. Each Golden Award winner ...Read More

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Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom 978-1-25076-704-2, $20.99, 224pp, hc) April 2024.

Like Chekhov’s famous gun, it seems to be an un­stated principle among writers as diverse as Rob­ert Ludlum and Octavia E. Butler that a character suffering from total amnesia in the first act is in for some world-shaking revelations by the third. The same is true of P. Djèlí Clark’s The Dead Cat Tail ...Read More

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2024 Australasian Shadows Awards Shortlist

The 2024 Australasian Shadows Awards (previously known as the Australia Shadows Awards) shortlist has been announced. The award is given by the Australasian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) for “the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.”

Novel

  • Polyphemus, Zachary Ashford (Darklit)
  • When Ghosts Call Us Home, Katya de Becerra (Page Street; Pan Macmillan)
  • The Graveyard Shift, Maria Lewis (Angry Robot;
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Jake Casella Brookins Reviews Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi

The Truth of the Aleke, Moses Ose Utomi (Tor­dotcom 978-1-2508-4905-2, $24.99, 112pp, hc) March 2023. Cover by Alyssa Winans.

Among the more fascinating things that Moses Ose Utomi seems to be doing with his Forever Desert series is looking at how worldviews change with experience. The protagonist of The Lies of the Ajungo, a young teenage boy, cut through the titular deception with a heroic self-sacrifice. Generations later, ...Read More

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Liz Bourke Reviews Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas

Cascade Failure, L.M. Sagas (Tor 978-1-25087-125-1, $17.99, 416pp, tp) March 2024.

Clearly this is the month for me to discuss debut novels. Cascade Failure is the first novel from L.M. Sagas: a science fiction adventure in the high-octane tradition. Stories set in futures ruled by soulless corporations have multiplied in recent years, perhaps as the naked greed of unfettered capitalism has grown more blatant since the de­cade-defining financial crash ...Read More

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Kaguya Sci-Fi Contest Winners

Japanese science fiction website VirtualGorillaPlus (VG+) has announced the winners of its 2021 Kaguya Sci-Fi Contest, judged by Kanata Inoue, Tatsuya Isogami, Hakka Kishitani, and Mahiro Saeki.

  • Grand Prize: “Magic Ball”, The Carrier of Violence and Ruin
  • Readers’ Prize: “The Multiverse Scavenger Hunt race, which was held in the afternoon of the Jonan Elementary School Sports Day”, Dainei Makino
  • Judge’s Special Prize: “Screams”, Noe Itokawa

Winners were chosen from 381 ...Read More

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2024 Aurora Awards Ballot

The 2024 Aurora Awards ballot for works by Canadians has been announced. The Aurora Awards are nominated by members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. The top five nominated works were selected, with additional works included when there was a tie for fifth place.

Best Novel

  • The Valkyrie, Kate Heartfield (HarperVoyager)
  • Bad Cree, Jessica Johns (HarperCollins Canada)
  • Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
  • Moon of
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Jake Casella Brookins Reviews The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey 978-1-9848-2070-9, $28.99, 432pp, hc) Feb­ruary 2023.

Robert Jackson Bennett’s previous fantasy works – The Divine Cities and Founders trilogies – were immensely and somewhat unexpectedly delightful for me. I don’t often seek out fantasy series anymore. So, when I encounter an author who writes the kind of fun, propulsive work that kept my teenage self scouring the shelves for the next ...Read More

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Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Fiyah, Flash Fiction Online, GigaNotoSaurus, and Diabolical Plots

Fiyah 1/24 Flash Fiction Online 1/24 GigaNotoSaurus 1/24 Diabolical Plots 1/24

The first Fiyah of 2024 is unthemed, but as guest editor Nelson Rolon describes, that doesn’t mean certain motifs and elements didn’t end up run­ning through most or all of the pieces – most engaged with death and what comes after. In N. Romaine White’s “D.E.I. (Death, Eternity, and Inclusion)”, a group of vampires meet to ...Read More

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2024 Windham-Campbell Prize Winners

Recipients were announced for the 2024 Windham-Campbell Prizes, including authors of genre interest. Christopher Chen was honored for drama and Kathryn Scanlan was honored for fiction.

The Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize was established in 2013 “to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns.” The prize is administered by Yale University, with a new nominating committee ...Read More

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Gabino Iglesias Reviews Clever Creatures of the Night by Samantha Mabry

Clever Creatures of the Night, Samantha Mabry (Algonquin 978-1-61620-897-4, $18.99, 240pp, hc) March 2024. Cover by Kayla E.

Samantha Mabry’s Clever Creatures of the Night is a master class in atmosphere with a literary bent and a few surprising turns up its creepy sleeve. At once a murder mystery, a postapocalyptic narrative, and a story about friendship, this novel about a missing friend and some strange young people living ...Read More

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New & Notable Books, April

 

 

Katherine Arden, The Warm Hands of Ghosts (Del Rey 2/24) A combat nurse in WWI searches for her brother, believed dead, but rumors of haunted trenches keep her looking In this historical fantasy novel of supernatural events during the war. This ‘‘hits hard as a novel of survival, horror, and the melancholia of fleeting hope…. a stunner.’’ [Colleen Mondor]

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Jackson Bennett, The ...Read More

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Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame

The Society of Illustrators has announced the 2024 inductees into its Hall of Fame. Honorees “are chosen based on their body of work and the impact it has made on the field of illustration.”

2024 Hall of Fame Laureates

  • Steve Brodner
  • Gustave Doré
  • Robert Grossman
  • Gregory Manchess
  • Yuko Shimizu
  • Virginia Frances Sterrett

The artists will be honored at the 2024 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, to be held September 26, ...Read More

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Liz Bourke Reviews Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (DAW 978-0-75641-885-4, $28.00, 320pp, hc.) April 2024.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is award-winning short fiction writer John Wiswell’s debut novel. I went in expecting good things, and I wasn’t disappointed. The most straightforward shorthand I have to describe it is: ‘‘It’s as if T. Kingfisher wrote one of her fantasy romance novels from the point of view ...Read More

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New Climate Fiction Prize

Storytelling organization Climate Spring has announced the new Climate Fiction Prize, to “showcase novels of powerful literary merit and to solidify, grow and expand fiction that engages with the climate crisis.” The prize will be launched at this year’s Hay Festival, to be held May 23 – June 2, 2024.

The award is supported by Climate Spring, and the winner will receive £10,000. The judges for the inaugural year are ...Read More

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2024 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction Winners

The winners of the O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction have been announced, honoring contemporary short stories.

Winners of genre interest include:

  • “Rain,” Colin Barrett (Granta 11/12/22)
  • “The Castle of Rose Tellin,” Kate DiCamillo (Harper’s Magazine 7/23)
  • “The Honor of Your Presence,” Dave Eggers (One Story 6/22/23)
  • “Serranos,” Francisco Gonzalez (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern 70)
  • “The Last Grownup,” Allegra Goodman (The New Yorker 2/20/23)
  • “Mobilization,” Allegra Hyde (Story 16)

To view ...Read More

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2024 Tähtifantasia Award Shortlist

The 2024 Tähtifantasia Award shortlist has been announced, presented by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society for the best Finnish fantasy book published in the previous year.

  • Kertomukset, Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Anu Partanen (Teos)
  • Babel, R.F. Kuang, translated by Helene Bützow (Teos)
  • Kellopelisydän, Vehka Kurjenmiekka (Aula & Co)
  • Tytär hämärän, piika pimeän, J.S. Meresmaa (Myllylahti)
  • Soturi sumussa, Gene Wolfe, translated by Heikki Karjalainen (Moebius)
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2024 Zsoldos Péter Award Winners

The winners of the Zsoldos Péter Award have been announced, honoring Hungarian works of speculative fiction.

Novels
  • Felfalt kozmosz [Devoured Cosmos], Markovics Botond (Agave Könyvek)
  • Kígyók országa [Country of Snakes], Rusvai Mónika (GABO Könyvkiadó)

Short Stories

  • “Az erdő szíve” [“The Heart of the Forest”], Gaura Ágnes (Az év magyar science fiction és fantasynovellái 2023)

Best Translated Novel

  • Bábel [Babel], R.F. Kuang, translated by Vivien Horváth
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Diamond Dagger Winners

Authors James Lee Burke and Lynda La Plante are joint winners of the 2024 Diamond Dagger Award, presented by the Crime Writers’ Association. Burke is the author of In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (2011), among other works of genre interest.

The award is the highest honor offered by the group, and “recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a ...Read More

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Niall Harrison Reviews The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

The Mars House, Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury US 978-1639732333, 480pp, $29.99, hc). March 2024.

If, a century from now, there are enough readers and enough academic presses to warrant reprint­ing early 21st-century Anglophone science fiction, editors in search of candidates might do worse than considering Natasha Pulley’s The Mars House for their list. In its style, its intellectual interests, and the strengths and weaknesses of its execution, Pulley’s sixth novel ...Read More

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2023 LA Times Book Prize Winners

The Los Angeles Times has announced winners for their 44th annual Book Prizes.

Works of genre interest include The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (Saga), which received the Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction Award, Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park (Random House), which received the Fiction Award, and Gone Wolf by Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends) in Young Adult Literature. Jane Smiley received the 2023 Robert Kirsch Award for ...Read More

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2024 Hugo Awards Voting Open

Glasgow 2024, the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, has announced that voting is open for the 2024 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

All members of Glasgow 2024 are eligible to vote, including Attending Adult, Young Adult, Teen Members, Online Attending Members, and WSFS Members. The ballots must be received by July 20, 2024 at 08:17 p.m. GMT.

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Ray Garton (1962-2024)

Author Ray Garton, 61, died April 21, 2024, just weeks after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Garton was the author of nearly 70 books, most horror.

Ray Garton, Jr. was born December 2, 1962 in Redding CA, and grew up in Anderson CA with his adopted parents. He worked at Pinnacle Books in New York City in the 1980s.

Garton’s debut novel, Seductions, appeared in 1984. Other ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Fair Folk by Su Bristow and The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

The Fair Folk, Su Bristow (Europa Editions 979-8-889-66012-5, $18.00, tpb, 464pp) January 2024.

In her gorgeous new historical fantasy, The Fair Folk, author Su Bristow crafts the story of a particularly complex interaction between mortals and faeries. Opening in 1959, the novel follows the shifting relationship between then-eight-year-old Felicity and Elfrida, the apparent queen of a long-established fairy group ensconced in the woods near her home. At first, the ...Read More

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Lee & Low Diversity Report

Lee & Low publishers have released their latest diversity survey, documenting ‘‘incremental’’ changes in the demographics of the publishing industry in North America. ‘‘We know institutional change takes time to bear fruit, which is why revisiting the survey every few years is so vital.’’ The survey reached out to executives and staff at 200 com­panies, including trade and academic presses, literary agencies, and review publications, and received over 8,600 responses. ...Read More

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