2020 Locus Recommended Reading List

Welcome to the annual Locus Recommended Reading List!

Published in Locus magazine’s February 2021 issue, the list is a consensus by the Locus editors, columnists, outside reviewers, and other professionals and critics of genre fiction and non-fiction — editor-in-chief Liza Groen Trombi; reviews editor Jonathan Strahan; Locus reviewers Liz Bourke, Alex Brown, Karen Burnham, Katharine Coldiron, Paul Di Filippo, Amy Goldschlager, Paula Guran, Rich Horton, Maya James, John Langan, Russell Letson, Adrienne Martini, Ian Mond, Colleen Mondor, Tim Pratt, Elsa Sjunneson, Gary K. Wolfe, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro; Bob Blough; critics and authors Gwenda Bond, James Bradley, Niall Harrison, Paul Kincaid, Cheryl Morgan, Adam Roberts, and Graham Sleight. Art books were compiled with help from Arnie Fenner, Karen Haber, and senior editor Francesca Myman. Short fiction recommendations had input from editors and reviewers Rachel S. Cordasco, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Vanessa Fogg, Maria Haskins, Charles Payseur, Nisi Shawl, TG Shenoy, Sheree Renée Thomas, Sean Wallace, and Alison Wise, plus our own reviewers. Locus thanks all involved for their time and their expertise. Essays by many of these contributors, highlighting and discussing their particular favorite books and stories, are also published in the February issue, along with the Magazine Summary and Book Summary for 2020.

We looked at over 900 titles between short and long fiction. The final list comprises our best recommendations for your consideration. There will be titles you loved that do not appear here; any one of the recommending group would have built a distinct list, but this is the aggregate, compiled with great affection for the field.

You can let us know what your favorites were by voting in the 2021 Poll & Survey. The Poll decides the winners of the Locus Awards, presented in June 2021 at the Locus Awards Weekend, and is open to all to vote on. The Survey helps us be a better magazine. Thank you for participating!

NOVELS – SCIENCE FICTION

NOVELS – FANTASY

NOVELS – HORROR

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

FIRST NOVELS

COLLECTIONS

ANTHOLOGIES

NON-FICTION

ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOKS

NOVELLAS

NOVELETTES

SHORT STORIES

This list appears in the February 2021 issue of Locus. Thank you for reporting any typos or broken links to locus@locusmag.com. Vote now for your favorites at the Locus Poll & Survey!

[Corrections: Mike Allen was listed as Mike Ashley incorrectly on The Sinister Quartet. We Ride Upon Sticks was moved from YA to Fantasy.]


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3 thoughts on “2020 Locus Recommended Reading List

  • February 1, 2021 at 11:16 am
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    Was The Cerulean Sea not eligible somehow ?
    I am very surprised it is not mentioned in your list

    Reply
  • February 3, 2021 at 12:04 pm
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    Corrections note says that Over the Woodward Wall was moved to Fantasy from YA, but it is still listed only under YA here.

    Reply
    • February 5, 2021 at 10:51 am
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      Yep, it was moved after we were sent a note, and then we checked with the author, and now it has been moved back to YA. Thanks for the note! We’ve corrected the edit.

      Reply

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