Locus Magazine, Science Fiction FantasyThe February issue features an interview with Alastair Reynolds and the annual Year in Review with essays by Gary K. Wolfe, Paul Kincaid, Geoff Ryman, Gardner Dozois, and many others; the Locus Recommended Reading List; the Locus Poll and Survey ballot; a column by Kameron Hurley; and reviews of short fiction and books by Kameron Hurley, S. Jae-Jones, Ian McDonald, Ken MacLeod, and many others.

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Table of Contents

 

February 2017 • Issue 673 • Vol. 78 • No. 2
50th Year of Publication • 30-Time Hugo Winner
Cover and Interview Designs by Francesca Myman

INTERVIEW
Alastair Reynolds: Expanding Universe / 10
MAIN STORIES / 6
2017 World Fantasy Awards Judges Announced • 2016 SF&F Hall of Fame Inductees • Philip K. Dick Award Finalists • Pagan Promoted • 2017 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award Finalists • Stoker Preliminary Ballot
THE DATA FILE / 7
2017 Hugo Awards Nomination Period Open • ALA Awards • HWA Lifetime Achievement Award Committee • Name the Worldon YA Award • SFF.net Closing • Kowal Withdraws SFWA Candidacy • Fantastic Stories of the Imagination Folds • Spectrum Open for Submissions • US Bookscan Sold • Pearson to Sell PRH Stake • PRH UK Versus Unions • Awards News • Announcements • Publishing News • Bookstores News • Legal News • Financial News • Audiobooks Received
PEOPLE & PUBLISHING / 8
Notes on milestones, awards, books sold, etc., with news this issue about Dean Koontz, Kim Harrison, Louise Erdrich, Paul Tremblay, S.T. Joshi, Daryl Gregory, Elizabeth Kostova, and many others
SPECIAL FEATURES
Commentary: Kameron Hurley: If You Want to Level Up, Get Back to Basics / 23 Photo Story: SF in SF with Bisson, Holland, and Robinson / 56
2016: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
2016 Recommended Reading: Liza Groen Trombi (with Laurel Amberdine, Francesca Myman, and Tim Pratt), Gary K. Wolfe, Faren Miller, Adrienne Martini, Russell Letson, Liz Bourke, Tom Whitmore, John Langan, Rachel Swirsky, Tim Pratt, Paul Kincaid, Graham Sleight, Colleen Mondor, Gardner Dozois, Rich Horton, Amy Goldschlager, Geoff Ryman, and Carolyn Cushman / 24 2016 Recommended Reading List / 42 2016 Book Summary / 46 2016 Magazine Summary / 50
LISTINGS
Magazines Received: December / 59 Books Received: December / 60 British Books Received: November / 70 Bestsellers / 72
OBITUARIES / 80
William Peter Blatty • Richard Adams • Peter Weston • Emma Tennant • Robert Scholes • Linn Prentis • James Christensen • Larry Smith
LOCUS LETTERS / 81
EDITORIAL MATTERS / 82
Year-in-Review • And So On • Locus Poll & Survey • This Issue/Next Issue
LOCUS LOOKS AT BOOKS
Short Fiction Reviews by Gardner Dozois / 12
The Best of Ian McDonald, Ian McDonald; Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds, Alastair Reynolds; Not So Much, Said the Cat, Michael Swanwick; Amaryllis and Other Stories, Carrie Vaughn; The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin.
Short Fiction Reviews by Rich Horton / 13
Asimov’s 12/16; Analog 1-2/17; Beneath Ceaseless Skies 12/8/18; Tor.com 12/16; Persistent Visions 10/16; Wired 1/17; Penric’s Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold.
Reviews by Gary K. Wolfe / 14
The Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley; The Wall of Storms, Ken Liu; In Calabria, Peter S. Beagle.
Reviews by Faren Miller / 15
Wintersong, S. Jae-Jones; The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden; Time’s Oldest Daughter, Susan W. Lyons; Miranda and Caliban, Jacqueline Carey; SHORT TAKE: In Calabria, Peter S. Beagle.
Reviews by Russell Letson / 16
Bridging Infinity, Jonathan Strahan, ed.; The Corporation Wars: Dissidence, Ken MacLeod; The Corporation Wars: Insurgence, Ken MacLeod; Take Back the Sky, Greg Bear.
Reviews by Liz Bourke / 18
Gather Her Round, Alex Bledsoe; Empire Games, Charles Stross; Bookburners, Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty & Brian Francis Slattery.
Reviews by Adrienne Martini / 20
Pride’s Spell, Matt Wallace; Martians Abroad, Carrie Vaughn; The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaro­novitch; All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai.
Reviews by Carolyn Cushman / 21
The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden; Etched in Bone, Anne Bishop; Silence Fallen, Patricia Briggs; Firebrand, Kristen Britain; The Skill of Our Hands, Steven Brust & Skyler White; The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman; Bound, Benedict Jacka.
Reviews by Divers Hands: Colleen Mondor & Rich Horton / 22
The Left-Handed Fate, Kate Milford; The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, Karen Joy Fowler & John Joseph Adams, eds.
Terry Bisson: This Month in History / 13, 15, 19, 20

 

Magazine Issues reviewed in this issue (indicating reviewer) —

Analog January/February 2017 (Rich Horton)
Asimov’s December 2016 (Rich Horton)
Beneath Ceaseless Skies December 2016 (Rich Horton)
Persistent Visions October 2016 (Rich Horton)
Tor.com December 2016 (Rich Horton)
Wired January 2017 (Rich Horton)

Books reviewed in this issue, listed by author (indicating reviewer) —

Aaronovitch, Ben • The Hanging Tree (Adrienne Martini)
Arden, Katherine • The Bear and the Nightingale (Carolyn Cushman)
Arden, Katherine • The Bear and the Nightingale (Faren Miller)
Beagle, Peter S. • In Calabria (Faren Miller)
Beagle, Peter S. • In Calabria (Gary K. Wolfe)
Bear, Greg • Take Back the Sky (Russell Letson)
Bishop, Anne • Etched in Bone (Carolyn Cushman)
Bledsoe, Alex • Gather Her Round (Liz Bourke)
Briggs, Patricia • Silence Fallen (Carolyn Cushman)
Britain, Kristen • Firebrand (Carolyn Cushman)
Brust, Steven, & Skyler White • The Skill of Our Hands (Carolyn Cushman)
Bujold, Lois McMaster • Penric’s Mission (Rich Horton)
Carey, Jacqueline • Miranda and Caliban (Faren Miller)
Cogman, Genevieve • The Burning Page (Carolyn Cushman)
Fowler, Karen Joy, ed. • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 (Rich Horton)
Gladstone, Max • Bookburners (Liz Bourke)
Hurley, Kameron • The Stars Are Legion (Gary K. Wolfe)
Jacka, Benedict • Bound (Carolyn Cushman)
Jae-Jones, S. • Winterlong (Faren Miller)
Le Guin, Ursula K. • The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin (Gardner Dozois)
Liu, Ken • The Wall of Storms (Gary K. Wolfe)
Lyons, Susan W. • Time’s Oldest Daughter (Faren Miller)
MacLeod, Ken • The Corporation Wars: Dissidence (Russell Letson)
MacLeod, Ken • The Corporation Wars: Insurgence (Russell Letson)
Mastai, Elan • All Our Wrong Todays (Adrienne Martini)
McDonald, Ian • The Best of Ian McDonald (Gardner Dozois)
Milford, Kate • The Left-Handed Fate (Colleen Mondor)
Reynolds, Alastair, edited by Jonathan Strahan & -3- • Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds (Gardner Dozois)
Strahan, Jonathan, ed. • Bridging Infinity (Russell Letson)
Stross, Charles • Empire Games (Liz Bourke)
Swanwick, Michael • Not So Much, Said the Cat (Gardner Dozois)
Vaughn, Carrie • Amaryllis and Other Stories (Gardner Dozois)
Vaughn, Carrie • Martians Abroad (Adrienne Martini)
Wallace, Matt • Pride’s Spell (Adrienne Martini)

These reviews, and all book reviews in Locus Magazine since 1984, and special to Locus Online since 2001, are indexed here by author.