Locus Bestsellers, September 2020
The Locus Bestsellers for September include top titles The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin, Dune by Frank Herbert, The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer, and Star Wars: Queen’s Peril by E.K. Johnston.
| HARDCOVERS | Months on list |
Last month |
|
| 1) | The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US) | 4 | 1 |
| 2) | Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing) | 2 | 2 |
| 3) | The Last Emperox, John Scalzi (Tor) | 3 | 5 |
| 4) | Shakespeare for Squirrels, Christopher Moore (Morrow) | 2 | 3 |
| 5) | The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (Tor) | 3 | 5 |
| 6) | House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury US) | 3 | 4 |
| 7) | Spy, Spy Again, Mercedes Lackey (DAW) | 1 | – |
| 8) | The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix (Quirk) | 2 | – |
| 9) | The Angel of the Crows, Katherine Addison (Tor) | 1 | – |
| 10) | Devolution, Max Brooks (Del Rey) | 1 | – |
| PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Dune, Frank Herbert (Ace) | 41 | 1 |
| 2) | Eye Spy, Mercedes Lackey (DAW) | 1 | – |
| 3) | Foundation, Isaac Asimov (Bantam) | 1 | – |
| *) | The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) | 36 | – |
| 5) | Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert (Ace) | 1 | – |
| 6) | Imaginary Numbers, Seanan McGuire (DAW) | 3 | – |
| 7) | The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) | 77 | 1 |
| 8) | 1984, George Orwell (Signet) | 9 | – |
| *) | To Clear Away the Shadows, David Drake (Baen) | 1 | – |
| 10) | Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 8 | 5 |
| TRADE PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | The Oppenheimer Alternative, Robert J. Sawyer (Caezik) | 2 | 5 |
| 2) | The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US) | 42 | 1 |
| 3) | The Tower of Swallows, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit) | 3 | – |
| 4) | Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler (Grand Central) | 3 | – |
| 5) | This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga) | 3 | – |
| 6) | The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook) | 2 | 2 |
| 7) | Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster) | 57 | – |
| *) | Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 3 | – |
| *) | The Lady of the Lake, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 2 | – |
| 10) | Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James (Riverhead) | 2 | – |
| *) | The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 8 | – |
| MEDIA & GAMING RELATED | |||
| 1) | Star Wars: Queen’s Peril, E.K. Johnston (Lucasfilm) | 1 | – |
| *) | Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason, Timothy Zahn (Del Rey) | 7 | 1 |
Coronavirus Edition: During June, many of our bookstores were allowed to re-open with some restrictions, however most continued selling books online, by mail order, and via curbside pick-up.
On the hardcover list, June’s leaders were a repeat of May’s with The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin and Network Effect by Martha Wells in first and second place, respectively. The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected In Water, a new standalone by Zen Cho (Tor.com Publishing), is our new runner-up. We had 34 nominated titles, down from last month’s 47.
Dune by Frank Herbert continued to dominate the paperback list, with almost twice as many votes as our second place finisher, Mercedes Lackey’s Eye Spy. Our new runner-up was Charles E. Gannon’s Marque of Caine (Baen), the fifth book in the Caine Riordan series. There were 47 titles nominated, up from 44 last month.
In a close race, The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer claimed first place on the trade paperback list, dethroning N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, which took second. There were no new runners-up. We had 48 titles nominated, up from 47 last month.
On our media and gaming related books list only two books received enough votes to be listed, Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason and Star Wars: Queen’s Peril by E.K. Johnston, which tied for first place. The rest of the votes scattered among various other titles. There were no new runners-up. We had 12 nominated titles, down from last month’s 17.
Compiled with data from Bakka-Phoenix Books (Canada), Borderlands (CA), McNally Robinson (Two in Canada), Mysterious Galaxy (CA), Toadstool (NH), White Dwarf (Canada).
Data period: June 2020.
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 September 2020 issue of Locus.
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