Locus Online

Egypt + 100, Ahmed Naji ed. (Comma Press 9781912697700, 160pp, £9.99, tp) July 2024.

From the point of view of a science fiction reviewer, Egypt + 100 marks an interesting development in Comma Press’s “Futures Past” series of SWANA-focused anthologies: it is the first in the series to emerge from an ac­tive and substantial science fiction tradition. In the introduction to Iraq + 100, Hassan Blassim lamented the ...Read More

New Adventures in Space Opera, Jonathan Stra­han, ed. (Tachyon 978-1-61696-420-7, $18.95, 336pp, tp) August 2024.

Dating back more than 80 years, space opera is almost certainly the longest-running term in con­tinuous use for a particular kind of SF – though we’ll probably never finish arguing over whether it’s a mode, a subgenre, a theme, or (in the eyes of some) a mistake. In 2003, Locus ran a special issue ...Read More

A Song to Drown Rivers, Ann Liang (St. Martin’s Press 978-1-25028-946-9, $32.00, 336pp, hc) October 2024.

Inspired by ancient Chinese legends, A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang is an intrigu­ing historical fantasy novel that tempers the logic of trope-driven storytelling with a mature understanding of the futility of war. As a folkloric retelling of the tragic story of Xi Shi, one of the ‘‘Four Great Beauties’’ of ...Read More

Sinophagia, Xueting C. Ni, ed. (Solaris 978-1-83786-117-0, $16.99, 496pp, tp) September 2024.

Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror is a carefully curated anthology of contemporary Chinese horror. It’s a cultural fest that arrives with triggers warnings of corpses, childhood trauma, self-harm, torture, graphic violence, domestic violence, strangulation and, strangely, coercion/gaslighting – not commonly associated with hor­ror, but typical of psychological abuse.

Translated and edited by Xueting C. Ni, Sino­phagia: A ...Read More

Lightspeed 6/24 Worlds of Possibility 6/24 Reactor 6/5/24

Lightspeed ushers in June with Oyedotun Damilola Muees’s “Warning Notes from an An­nihilator Machine”, which is framed as a series of messages from said Annihilator Machine to Tijani Damilare (known online as Teejay_009) concerning the approved destruction of Earth. Despite the dire message, ANM-722 actually wants to help Tijani, providing information that might help avoid the approaching mechanical apocalypse at ...Read More

Another week of the top SF, fantasy, and horror releases on our YouTube channel! Come by and give it a watch so you can keep up to date on all these fantastic new books! We really do appreciate when you show us your support by liking and subscribing! And if you’d like to find the titles, we have them all up at our Bookshop.org page: Bookshop.org/shop/locusmag!

Clarkesworld 6/24

“Twenty-Four Hours” by H.H. Pak starts off the June issue of Clarkesworld on a high note. The story is beautiful and heartbreaking as a mother spends a final twenty-four hours with a programmed version of her recently deceased daughter in an effort to gain closure. The story does a wonderful job of portraying grief in its various stages and capturing the feeling of wanting to spend just a ...Read More

Track Changes, Abigail Nussbaum (Briardene 978-1-73856-170-4, £15.00, 448pp, tp) August 2024.

In March, Abigail Nussbaum, on her blog Asking the Wrong Questions, reviewed Francis Spuf­ford’s Cahokia Jazz, one of my favourite novels of 2024. It’s a review that encapsulates everything magnificent about Nussbaum, a well-deserved Hugo winner. First, there’s the sheer artistry, the way the review is crafted like a mystery (fitting for a noirish novel), raising questions ...Read More

Incidents Around the House, Josh Malerman (Del Rey 978-0-59372-312-8, $28.00, 384pp, hc) June 2024.

After so many great novels – Bird Box, Goblin, Black Mad Wheel, Daphne – perhaps the most impressive thing about Josh Malerman is that he seems to be getting better with each new novel. That’s certainly the case with Incidents Around the House, which is the author’s fastest, sharpest, creepiest novel to ...Read More

The Nota Bene Prize has announced its shortlist for 2024, including the following works of genre interest.

• Disturbance, Jenna Clake (Norton)
• Chrysalis, Anna Metcalfe (Random House)
• The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (Zando)

The Nota Bene Prize honors “thought-provoking, accessible and relatable reads that engage diverse topics.” The Prize is run by marketing agency Agile Ideas. The winner receives £1,500.

While you are here, please take a moment ...Read More

In the newly released Summer 2024 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, publisher Gordon van Gelder explains that “Ongoing production problems have led us to skip the Spring issue and to switch to a quarterly schedule.”

He apologized to “disappointed readers” and assured subscribers that they would not be shorted any issues. “Thank you for bearing with us during this rough stretch.”

The magazine, edited by Sheree ...Read More