Month: January 2021

Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews The Evidence by Christopher Priest

LocEditor 0 Comments

The Evidence, Christopher Priest (UK: Gollancz 978-1473231375, £20, 320pp, hardcover) October 2020

I think we can all agree that 2020 was a pretty horrible year. Nonetheless, I am not willing to write it off entirely, if only because it gave us new books by both M. John Harrison and Christopher Priest. These two British writers both began their extraordinary careers in 1966. That’s fifty-four years ago, folks! The fact ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe and Adrienne Martini Review The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

locusmag 0 Comments ,

The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey (Tor 978-1-250-17466-6, $24.99, 256pp, hc) February 2021.

Clones don’t seem quite as popular these days as they were back in the 1970s and ’80s, when we were treated on a fairly regular basis to stories about celebrity clones, spare-parts clones, hazardous-duty clones, doppelganger clones, identity-crisis clones, cheap-labor clones, ominous replacement clones, survivalist clones, posthu­man clones, tabula-rasa clones, and, inevitably, murder-mystery clones. Sarah Gailey touches ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Liz Bourke Reviews Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

locusmag 2 Comments

Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell (Tor 978-1-250-75883-5, $24.99, 432pp, hc) February 2021.

Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit is a debut novel with an interesting history. A version of this novel was first published online, where I encountered (and enjoyed) it as “The Course of Honour” on Archive Of Our Own (in the Original Works category). Winter’s Orbit as published by Tor Books is different in some respects from “The Course of ...Read More

Read more
News Obituaries 

Kathleen Ann Goonan (1952-2021)

locusmag 0 Comments

Author Kathleen Ann Goonan, 68, died January 28, 2021. She was born May 14, 1952 in Cincinnati OH and at age eight moved to Hawaii for two years while her father worked for the Navy, after which the family moved to Washington DC. She got a degree in English from Virginia Tech in 1975, and earned her Association Montessori International Certification in 1976. She taught school for 13 years, ten ...Read More

Read more
Announcements Awards News 

Atwood Gibson Prize

locusmag 0 Comments

The Writers’ Trust of Canada has renamed its literary prize in honor of Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson, who helped found the organization in 1976. The Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, for “the best Canadian novel or short story collection of the year,” comes with a C$60,000 prize, an increase of C$10,000 over the previous years. Finalists each receive C$5,000. This year’s winner will be announced November 3, 2021, ...Read More

Read more
Awards News 

2021 Branford Boase Award Longlist

locusmag 0 Comments

The longlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award has been announced and includes several titles of genre interest:

  • The Infinite, Patience Agbabi (Canongate)
  • Tiger Heart, Penny Chrimes (Orion)
  • The Good Hawk, Joseph Elliott (Walker)
  • A Clock of Stars: The Shadow Moth, Francesca Gibbons (HarperCollins)
  • Orla and the Serpent’s Curse, C.J. Haslam (Walker)
  • Witch, Finbar Hawkins (Head of Zeus)
  • The Wild Way Home, Sophie
...Read More Read more
Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews Eartheater by Dolores Reyes

locusmag 0 Comments

Eartheater, Dolores Reyes (HarperVia 978-0062987730, $24.99, 224pp, hc) November 2020.

Eartheater (translated by Julia Sanches) is a strong debut from Dolores Reyes, the second Argentine author I’m reviewing this month. The novel is set in an impoverished barrio in present-day Argentina, told from the perspective of a young woman (she’s never named) burdened with visions of the lost and murdered. On the day her mother is laid to rest, ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Karen Burnham Reviews Creative Surgery by Clelia Farris

locusmag 0 Comments

Creative Surgery, Clelia Farris (Rosarium Pub­lishing) September 2020.

Creative Surgery is Italian author Clelia Far­ris‘s debut collection (with translations by Rachel Cordasco and Jennifer Delare), and it’s a great start. The first story, “A Day to Remember” is an extended meditation on living in a world that feels much smaller when circumscribed by cli­mate change. We follow an artist in a post-flood Italy as she tours ...Read More

Read more
New & Notable New Titles & Bestsellers 

New & Notable Books, January 2021

locusmag 0 Comments

Aliette de Bodard, Seven of Infinities (Subter­ranean 10/20) A scholar investigates murder in a house designed by an architect fond of puzzles in this engaging far-future SF mystery novella set in the Xuya universe. “It’s a tightly written jewel of a story, intense and full of feeling, and I recommend it highly.” [Liz Bourke]

 

Scott Edelman, Things that Never Happened (Cemetery Dance 9/20) Edelman’s latest col­lection offers 13 eerie ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Paula Guran Reviews The Best Horror of the Year Volume Twelve, Edited by Ellen Datlow

locusmag 0 Comments

The Best Horror of the Year Volume Twelve, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-973-3, $15.99, 480pp, tp) October 2020.

Ellen Datlow’s career as the doyen of “year’s best” editors began with The Year’s Best Fantasy: First Annual Col­lection in 1988 (with co-editor Terri Windling), and the series was renamed The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror with the third annual col­lection. After 21 volumes, the series ended, but Datlow ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Russell Letson Reviews The Best of Walter Jon Williams by Walter Jon Williams

locusmag 0 Comments

The Best of Walter Jon Williams, Walter Jon Williams (Subterranean 978-1645240020, $45.00, 610pp, hc). Cover by Lee Moyer. Feb­ruary 2020.

Exactly 30 years ago, this column’s lede was “Walter Jon Williams is an interest­ingly various writer….” The intervening decades have given me no reason to alter that opinion, variations on which I have been re­peating just about every time I write about a Williams title. So why should I ...Read More

Read more
Awards News 

Roffey Wins Costa Book of the Year Award

locusmag 0 Comments

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey (Peepal Tree) has won the £30,000 2020 Costa Book of the Year award.

The Costa Book Awards recognize “some of the most enjoyable books of the year, written by authors based in the UK and Ireland.” Each winner in the five individual categories receives £5,000. The Costa Book of the Year was selected from the category winners and announced in an online ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Best of Elizabeth Hand by Elizabeth Hand

locusmag 0 Comments

The Best of Elizabeth Hand, Elizabeth Hand (Subterranean 978-1-64524-005-1, $45.00, 560pp, hc) February 2021.

I’ve always distrusted the notion of “comfort reading,” especially as it applies to our little corner of the swamp. After all, the very idea of horror fiction involves discomfort, and SF characteristically challenges our sense of the stability of everything from nations to our bod­ies to the planet itself. I suppose fantasy does leave room ...Read More

Read more
Awards News 

Bova, Caine, and Sheffield Receive Solstice Awards

locusmag 0 Comments

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) has announced Ben Bova, Rachel Caine, and Jarvis Sheffield as recipients of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award “for distinguished contributions to the science fiction and fantasy community.”

The Solstice Award, created in 2008 and given at the discretion of the SFWA president with the majority approval of the Board of Directors, is for individuals, living or dead, who have had “a ...Read More

Read more
Awards News 

2021 SF Notable Lists

locusmag 0 Comments

The Core Committee Recognizing Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced the selections for its 2021 Notable Lists.

Hal Clement Notable Young Adult Books List

  • Crownchasers, Rebecca Coffindaffer (HarperTeen)
  • The Sound of Stars, Alechia Dow (Inkyard)
  • Malice, Pintip Dunn (Entangled)
  • Girl of Flesh and Metal, Alicia Ellis (Figmented Ink)
  • Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of
...Read More Read more
Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Big Blind by Lavie Tidhar

locusmag 0 Comments

The Big Blind, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing 978-1-786365-98-9, £18.00, 164pp, hc) November 2020.

With its long and shady history, poker seems to have a natural affinity for fantasy writers, ranging from Edward Whittemore (Jerusalem Poker) to Tim Powers (Last Call). It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the ever-eclectic Lavie Tidhar turns his attention to it with The Big Blind, which is peppered with ...Read More

Read more
Awards News 

2021 Hugo Awards Nomination Period Open

locusmag 0 Comments

Nominations are now open for the 2021 Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. They will be presented at the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, DisCon III, to be held August 25-29, 2021 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC. Members with an attending or supporting membership for DisCon III or CoNZealand are eligible to nominate. The ...Read More

Read more
Roundtable 

Mike Chen Guest Post–“Like A Friend”

Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

“They’re friends.”

In so many of our modern stories, saying the above phrase almost feels like an insult. It’s often a dour statement, juxtaposed against how characters will do anything to make romantic relationships work, or how the power of blood family can make evil people return to a path of righteousness.

But friendship? It’s often presented as a lower-tier relationship, something given to a secondary character to help the ...Read More

Read more
Conventions News 

2021 Octavia E. Butler Society Conference Waives Fees

locusmag 0 Comments

The Octavia E. Butler Society has announced that, in honor of International Women’s Day, they are waiving all fees for their 2021 conference “The Confluence: Octavia E. Butler at the Intersection of Cultural Critique and Climate Collapse”. The conference will be held online March 6-7, 2021, hosted by St. Catherine University in St. Paul MN.

For more information, including the program schedule and registration link, see the Octavia E. Butler ...Read More

Read more
Awards News 

2020 NBCC Awards Finalists

locusmag 0 Comments

Finalists for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards have been announced, including titles and authors of genre interest.

Fiction

  • Inside Story, Martin Amis (Knopf)
  • If I Had Two Wings, Randall Kenan (Norton)
  • Memorial, Bryan Washington (Riverhead)

Nonfiction

  • Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future, James Shapiro (Penguin)

Criticism

  • Stranger Faces, Namwali Serpell (Transit)

Autobiography

  • The
...Read More Read more
Awards News 

2021 Edgar Awards Nominations

locusmag 0 Comments

Several authors and works of genre interest are on the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) 2021 Edgar Awards list of nominees.

Best Critical/Biographical

  • Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock, Christina Lane (Chicago Review)
  • Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery & Fiction, Erin E. MacDonald (McFarland)

Best Short Story

  • “Fearless”, Walter Mosley (California Schemin’) [Ineligible]

Best Juvenile

  • Ikenga, Nnedi Okorafor
...Read More Read more
Awards News 

2021 ALA Awards

locusmag 0 Comments

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the results of the Youth Media Awards during their Midwinter Meeting held online January 22-26, 2021.

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller (Random House), is the 2021 John Newbery Medal winner, “for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.” We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly, illustrated by Erin Entrada Kelly & Celia Krampien (Greenwillow) and A Wish in the Dark

...Read More Read more
Reviews Short Fiction 

Karen Burnham Reviews Short Fiction: Samovar, Tor.com, and Strange Horizons

locusmag 0 Comments

Samovar 7/20 Tor.com 8/26, 9/16, 9/23, 10/14/20 Strange Horizons 9/20

In July Strange Horizon‘s sister publication dedi­cated to translations, Samovar, published a duet of stories. “The Curtain Falls, The Show Must End” by Julie Nováková (translated from Czech by the author) is a historical drama set at the eve of WWII. Two backstage workers in a theater in Prague conjure up ghosts, which proceed to haunt and torment ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews Inscape by Louise Carey

LocEditor 0 Comments

Inscape, Louise Carey (UK: Gollancz 978-1473232747, £14.9920, 432pp, trade paperback) January 2021

Some genetically talented, culturally nurturing families produce writers across multiple generations, or multiple sibling iterations in the same clade. Famous literary lineages are almost too numerous to name. John le Carré and Nick Harkaway. Stephen King and progeny. Nathaniel and Julian Hawthorne. The McCaffreys. Peter and Emma Straub. The Powys clan; the LaFarge clan. And on and ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Gabino Iglesias Reviews Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

locusmag 0 Comments

Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing 978-1-250-76702-8, $19.99, 192pp, hc) October 2020. Cover by Henry Sene Yee.

P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout is a wildly imaginative, superbly written narrative about friendship, magic, and fighting racism that occupies a strange interstitial space between historical fiction, fantasy, and body hor­ror. It is also a smart reimagining of history that pushes current racial tensions to the forefront and forces readers to ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews 

Liz Bourke Reviews Doors of Sleep by Tim Pratt

locusmag 0 Comments

Doors of Sleep, Tim Pratt (Angry Robot 978-0-857-66874-5, $14.99, 272pp, tp) January 2021.

Tim Pratt’s last trilogy from Angry Ro­bot, the Axiom (The Wrong Stars, The Dreaming Stars, and The Forbidden Stars), was precisely the kind of space opera romp guaranteed to delight me. Fast paced, and with a rag-tag crew of heroes and a selection of batshit weird dangers, it drove an appealing course ...Read More

Read more
Bram Stoker Awards
Awards News 

2020 Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot

locusmag 0 Comments

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the preliminary ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards:

Superior Achievement in a Novel

  • The Boatman’s Daughter, Andy Davidson (MCD x FSG Originals)
  • What Hell May Come, Rex Hurst (Crystal Lake)
  • The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones (Gallery/Saga)
  • The Deep, Alma Katsu (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
  • Devil’s Creek, Todd Keisling (Silver Shamrock)
  • Lake of Darkness, Scott Kenemore
...Read More Read more
Announcements News Publishing 

Naver Acquires Wattpad

locusmag 0 Comments

Canadian multi-platform entertainment company Wattpad announced on January 21, 2021 acquisition of Wattpad and WEBTOON™ by South Korean company Naver for “an estimated USD $600 million.” According to the announcement:

The acquisition will allow Wattpad to continue to accelerate its international growth and success. The company will remain headquartered in Canada under the continued leadership of founders Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen.

Wattpad and WEBTOON™ collectively have an audience of ...Read More

Read more
Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020, Edited by Diana Gabaldon & John Joseph Adams

locusmag 0 Comments

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020, Diana Gabaldon & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner 978-1328613103, $16.99, 432pp, tp) November 2020.

It’s always seemed to me that John Joseph Ad­ams’s Best American Science Fiction and Fan­tasy series, now in its sixth volume, has served a somewhat different if equally important purpose than the more traditional year’s best volumes which have been a staple of SF publishing for more ...Read More

Read more
Announcements News 

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

locusmag 1 Comment

The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction (HDSF), “a comprehensive free online historical dictionary of science fiction terms,” has been announced. Edited by Jesse Sheidlower, the HDSF is an outgrowth of the Science Fiction Citations Project, crowdsourced by the Oxford English Dictionary.

As a historical dictionary, the HDSF includes not only a definition of each term, but also quotations from works of science fiction which illustrate how each term is used, ...Read More

Read more