Spotlight on Anne Perry of Arcadia

You’re the publishing director for the SF/F imprint at Quercus in the UK (formerly known as Jo Fletcher Books). We understand you’re relaunching with a new vision and name. Tell us about it.

I was very lucky when I started at Quercus; Jo Fletcher Books was 11 years old and well-established, and had a reputation for being particularly strong in epic fantasy, having launched authors like Sebastien de Castell, Peter ...Read More

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Spotlight on Manzi Jackson

Manzi Jackson is a contemporary visual Artist based in Kigali, Rwanda.

He dabbles in surrealist and magi­cal concepts, displayed in his ability to portray the full magical breadth of his subjects with breathtaking, colorful technique.

He’s currently focusing on a body of portrait and figurative works depicting dreamy energy that draws us into a rich and vibrant realm.

His use of flower-draped muses in astronaut suits are characterized in a ...Read More

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Spotlight on Winona Nelson

Artist/writer Winona Nelson was born in 1983 and grew up in Duluth MN. She has drawn all her life and began painting digitally as a teenager. She studied classical real­ism and art for the entertainment industry at the Safehouse Atelier in San Francisco.

Winona is a queer, Two Spirit Indigenous per­son, and her fine art often focuses on the stories and history of her tribe, the Ojibwe of Minnesota, and ...Read More

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Spotlight on: The Sunday Morning Transport

Tell us about your project. When was it founded, and who’s involved in run­ning it?

The Sunday Morning Transport was founded in August 2021, and we published our first story in January 2023. Julian Yap is editor in chief, Fran Wilde is managing editor, and our copyediting, proofreading, and social media team is Kaitlin Severini (our copyeditor), Ryan T. Jenkins (copy­edits and proofing), Delia Davis (year one proof­reader) and Christine ...Read More

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Things Short Stories Did and Didn’t Teach Me About Writing and Selling Novels by José Pablo Iriarte

When I give presentations to aspiring writers – particularly presentations on writing and selling short stories – I’m always careful to emphasize that short stories are no longer the apprenticeship into the novel world that they once were. I know plenty of folks who have sold science fiction and fantasy novels without ever having bothered with shorts.

That said, short fiction did kind of func­tion as a proving and learning ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Omenana

Tell us about your magazine, Omenana. When was it founded, and who’s on the publishing team? What is your mission?

Omenana was cofounded in 2014 by Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu (AKA Mazi Nwonwu) and Chinelo Onwualu. Presently, Omenana’s publishing team comprises Mazi Nwonwu, managing editor; Iquo DianaAbasi, editor; Godson Okeiyi, graphic artist; Sunny Efemena, illustrator; and Chinaza, editorial assistant.

Omenana’s mission is to develop the writing and reading of speculative ...Read More

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Writing Short Stories in the Margins by A.T. Greenblatt

I have always loved short stories. I don’t remember a time when I ‘‘discovered’’ them. For me, there was nothing to find. They were always there; in school textbooks, homework assignments, in the anthologies I would randomly pick off the shelf at the library. There was never any question either of what I would start writ­ing when I decided to learn story craft. In those early days, reaching the end ...Read More

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Spotlight on: khōréō

Tell us about your magazine, khōréō. When was it founded, and who’s on the publishing team? What is your mission?

In 2020, khōréō was founded with a specific-yet-broad mission: publishing speculative fiction by immigrant and diaspora writers. Our team currently relies on volunteers, with the idea that many hands make light work; on the editorial side, we have Aleksandra Hill as the founder, outgoing editor-in-chief, and publisher; Zhui Ning Chang ...Read More

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Spotlight on The Best of World SF

Lavie Tidhar was born and raised on a kib­butz in Israel. He has traveled extensively since he was a teenager, living in South Africa, the UK, Laos, and the small island nation of Vanuatu.

Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009), The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012), and The Apex Book of World SF 3 ...Read More

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Spotlight on Lauren Raye Snow

Lauren Raye Snow is an award-winning artist and illustrator from San Antonio, Texas, whose work explores uncanny, ambivalent visions, both dreadful and cathartic. She has art directed four Nebula Conferences, painted queer saints and monsters, and most recently has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award. Her work has been featured in Apex Magazine, Mermaids Monthly, New Gothic Review, and Infected By Art – but the really juicy stuff is ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Yume Kitasei

Yume Kitasei is a debut writer of speculative fiction. She is half-Japanese and half-American and grew up in a space between two cultures—the same space where her stories reside. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Baltimore Review. Visit her online at yumekitasei.com.

Tell us about your new novel, The Deep Sky — the world where it takes place, and the characters who ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Liz Kerin

LIZ KERIN is an author, playwright, screenwriter, and graduate of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is also the author of The Phantom Forest (2019). She lives in Southern California.

Tell us about your new novel, Night’s Edge — the world where it takes place, and the characters who live in that world.

Night’s Edge takes place in a ...Read More

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Spotlight on Eli John

Eli John is an illustrator working from a studio in the Pendle Forest, Witch Country, UK. This melancholy landscape is a worthy setting as John works predominantly within the horror genre, inspired by supernatural and weird fiction, ghost stories and gothic literature, creating dark visions of sublime beauty and unsettling psy­chological landscapes. He has worked for renowned publisher’s worldwide, illustrating work by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James, ...Read More

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Spotlight on Ed Binkley

Ed Binkley has created fantasy artwork for three decades. He received the First Place Grand Prize in Infected by Art Volume 10 as well as the Body of Work award. His work is published in numerous issues of Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art where he won Gold and Silver awards, and he was a finalist in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Award competition in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. ...Read More

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Spotlight on: RR Haywood

RR Haywood is a caffeine-befuddled, dog-owning, beard-keeping Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Amazon, and Audible multiple bestselling author with over two million books sold worldwide. He lives in England on the Isle of Wight with his German Shepherd dogs, (and two Herring gulls called Oscar and Veronica that come for breakfast every morning).

 

 

Hello to the famous Locus Mag and all your gorgeous readers! My name is Rich. ...Read More

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Spotlight On Eli Minaya

Eli Minaya is an illustrator and fine artist based in Virginia. His early creative journey began as a graffiti artist, which over time transformed into a career as an illustrator in publishing and gaming; with clients such as Tor Books and Amazon Publishing, as well as fantasy art with clients such as Wizards of the Coast and Image Comics. In his studio, he pushes the boundaries of collage art in ...Read More

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Spotlight on About the Authors TV, with Jake Brown

Locus will be premiering the Kim Stanley Robinson episode for About the Authors TV on the Locus YouTube channel, this Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific. Check it out!

 

Tell us about your web video series About the Authors TV. How did it come about, and what inspired you to launch it?

I consider it a lightning bolt from beyond. Like so many authors, I was stranded at home over ...Read More

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Spotlight on the Portolan Project

Tell us about the Portolan Project. What’s the mission?

The Portolan Project’s mission is to provide creative writing and literature educational re­sources to speculative fiction writers and read­ers, especially those facing barriers to access.

We interview authors and other experts in the field on aspects of writing craft, post the interviews on our site and YouTube channel, and then use excerpts from the interviews to create free writing lessons (our ...Read More

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Spotlight on adrienne maree brown

Author and editor adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public through her multigenre writing, her music, and her podcasts. Informed by 25 years of move­ment facilitation, somatics, Octavia E. Butler scholarship and her work as a doula, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activ­ism, Radical Imagination, and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transforma­tion. She is the author/editor of seven published texts and the founder of the Emergent ...Read More

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Spotlight on Author: Khan Wong

Khan Wong is the author of the poetry chapbooks Wounded Apollo (Hozomeen Press, 1991), the dream of ameri­ca (strangefever, 2001), The Imperfection of Holy Days (Web del Sol, 2002) and ecology (No­emi Press, 2003). His debut novel, The Circus Infinite, was published by Angry Robot Books in 2022. He has worked in the non-profit arts, played cello in an earnest folk-rock duo, been an internationally known hula ...Read More

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Spotlight on Artist: Geneva Bowers

Geneva Bowers is a self-taught illustrator based in Western North Carolina. She loves manipulating color and adding whimsy with a touch of realism and calm to her art. Her website is <www.genevab.com>.

 

Tell us a bit about your Cloud Goddesses and Planettes series, and any other personal projects like HoverGirls that you’d like to discuss!

The Cloud Goddesses were a random series started several years ago! It was just a ...Read More

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Spotlight on N.E. Davenport

Nia “N.E.” Davenport is the science fiction/fantasy author of The Blood Gift duology. She’s also a member of the Hugo Award-nominated FIYAHCON team, in which she helped organize the SFF convention’s programming. She attended the University of Southern California and studied Biological Sciences and Theatre. She has an MA in Secondary Education. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys vacationing with her family, skiing, and being a huge foodie. You can ...Read More

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Spotlight on The Korshak Collection

The Korshak Collection: Illustrations of Imaginative Literature spans 135 years of illustration history and includes artwork by pioneering European and American artists in the field of imaginative illustration. Thoughtfully compiled to include iconic artwork by renowned fantasy illustrators alongside lesser-known but equally influential contem­porary illustrators, the collection serves as an educational resource highlighting the evolu­tion of fantasy illustration from the Golden Age through the late-20th century. Selections of paintings, drawings, ...Read More

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Spotlight on Author: Craig Laurance Gidney

Craig Laurance Gidney is the author of Sea, Swallow Me & Other Sto­ries; Skin Deep Magic: Stories; Be­reft (a YA novella), and A Spectral Hue (a novel). He has been a Lambda Literary Finalist three times, was a Carl Brandon Parallax Award Finalist, and won the inaugural Joseph S Pul­ver Sr Award for Weird Fiction. The Nectar of Nightmares is his most recent collection. He lives in Washington ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Hiron Ennes

HIRON ENNES is a writer, musician, and student of medicine based in the Pacific Northwest. Their areas of interest include infectious disease, pathology, and anticapitalist healthcare reform. When they’re not hunched over a microscope or word document they can be found playing in the snow or playing the harp (though usually not at the same time). They’re queer in every sense of the word, and they really want to pet ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Kerstin Hall

KERSTIN HALL‘s short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons and Fireside Magazine, and she is the author of the novellas The Border Keeper and Second Spear. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

Q: Tell us about your new book, Second Spear—the world where it takes place, and the characters who live there.

Second Spear is a direct sequel to my fantasy novella, The Border Keeper, and picks ...Read More

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Spotlight on: R.R. Virdi

R.R. VIRDI is a two-time Dragon Award finalist and a Nebula Award finalist. He is the author of two urban fantasy series, The Grave Report, and The Books of Winter. He was born and raised in Northern Virginia and is a first generation Indian-American with all the baggage that comes with. He’s offended a long list of incalculable ancestors by choosing to drop out of college and not pursue one ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Sunyi Dean

Tell us about your debut novel, The Book Eaters — the world where it takes place, and the characters who live in that world.

The Book Eaters is set in an alternate 2000s Britain, where book-consuming creatures live in gothic manors at the fringes of modern human society. The main character is a single mother on the run from her book eater family, with her mind-eating child in tow, and ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Victoria Aveyard

VICTORIA AVEYARD is an author and screenwriter, born and raised in a small town in Western Massachusetts. She has a BFA in Writing for Film & Television from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling series, Red Queen, and #1 New York Times bestsellers Realm Breaker and Blade Breaker.

For readers who haven’t ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Foz Meadows

Tell us about your newest novel, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance: the world where it takes place, and the characters who inhabit that world.

The protagonists of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, Velasin and Caethari, are noblemen from neighbouring but very different countries. In Ralia, Vel has had to conceal his queerness, whereas in Tithena, Cae has grown up in a culture of acceptance. When Vel is offered a diplomatic ...Read More

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Spotlight on Artist Alyssa Winans

ALYSSA WINANS is an illustrator, animator, and game artist working in the SF Bay area. She grew up outside Chicago, and spent much of her childhood reading and writing stories with friends. Her illustrations tend towards the surreal and fantastical, and have been used for T-shirts, posters, hats, and book covers. When not drawing, Winans spends her free time making desserts, gardening, playing games, and perusing cookbooks from the library. ...Read More

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Spotlight on: Steven Kotler

Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of ten bestsellers (out of thirteen books total), including The Art of ImpossibleThe Future Is Faster Than You ThinkStealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance ...Read More

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