Locus Bestsellers, December 2018
The Locus Bestsellers for December include top titles The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkien, Dune by Frank Herbert, Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, and Timeless by R.A. Salvatore.
| HARDCOVERS | Months on list |
Last month |
|
| 1) | The Fall of Gondolin, J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) | 2 | 5 |
| 2) | Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey) | 3 | 1 |
| 3) | Ball Lightning, Cixin Liu (Tor) | 2 | 8 |
| 4) | Night and Silence, Seanan McGuire (DAW) | 1 | – |
| 5) | Hollywood Dead, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager US) | 1 | – |
| 6) | Magic Triumphs, Ilona Andrews (Ace) | 2 | 9 |
| 7) | Salvation, Peter F. Hamilton (Del Rey) | 1 | – |
| *) | Vengeful, V.E. Schwab (Tor) | 1 | – |
| 9) | Brief Cases, Jim Butcher (Ace) | 4 | 2 |
| *) | Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing) | 2 | 4 |
| PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Dune, Frank Herbert (Ace) | 21 | 2 |
| 2) | The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 6 | 7 |
| 3) | The Dreaming Stars, Tim Pratt (Angry Robot US) | 1 | – |
| 4) | The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) | 60 | 6 |
| 5) | The Brightest Fell, Seanan McGuire (DAW) | 1 | – |
| *) | The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 3 | – |
| 7) | To Guard Against the Dark, Julie E. Czerneda (DAW) | 1 | – |
| 8) | The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (Ace) | 6 | 8 |
| 9) | Hawk, Steven Brust (Tor) | 1 | – |
| 10) | 1984, George Orwell (Signet) | 8 | – |
| TRADE PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Kings of the Wyld, Nicholas Eames (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| 2) | The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US) | 22 | 1 |
| 3) | Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster) | 50 | 5 |
| 4) | Bloody Rose, Nicholas Eames (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| 5) | Irontown Blues, John Varley (Ace) | 1 | – |
| 6) | Autonomous, Annalee Newitz (Tor) | 1 | – |
| 7) | The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu (Tor) | 25 | 3 |
| 8) | Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler (Warner) | 2 | 6 |
| 9) | Artemis, Andy Weir (Broadway) | 3 | 2 |
| *) | Graveyard Mind, Chadwick Ginther (ChiZine) | 1 | – |
| MEDIA & GAMING RELATED | |||
| 1) | Timeless, R.A. Salvatore (Harper Voyager US) | 1 | – |
| 2) | Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances, Timothy Zahn (Del Rey) | 2 | – |
| 3) | Star Wars: Thrawn, Timothy Zahn (Del Rey) | 12 | 1 |
On the hardcover list, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Gondolin took first place by a wide margin, pushing last month’s winner, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, into second. Target Rich Environment, a short story collection by Larry Correia (Baen) was the new runner-up. We had 43 nominated titles, down from 47 last month.
In a close race on the paperback list, perennial favorite Dune by Frank Herbert took first place over Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings. The new runner-up was Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves (Orbit US), the first book in the long-running Witcher series. There were 51 titles nominated, down from last month’s 57.
In another upset, Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, the first book in The Band series, barely edged out N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season for first place on the trade paperback list. Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall (Ace), a stand-alone space opera, was the new runner-up. We had 64 titles nominated, down from 70 last month.
In media and gaming related books, R.A. Salvatore returns to first place with Timeless, another entry in the Forgotten Realms series. Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn moved into second. There were no new runners-up. We had 20 titles nominated, up from last month’s 19.
Compiled with data from Bakka-Phoenix Books (Canada), Barnes & Noble (USA), Borderlands (CA), McNally Robinson (2 in Canada), Mysterious Galaxy (CA), Toadstool (NH), Uncle Hugo’s (MN), White Dwarf (Canada).
Data period: September 2018
Note: book titles and covers on this page link to IndieBound, a network of independent booksellers, such as those that contribute to this list.
From the December 2018 issue of Locus.
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