Year: 2022

Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Isiah Lavender III Reviews Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, & Zelda Knight

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Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fic­tion, Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, & Zelda Knight, eds. (Tordotcom 9781250833006, $27.99, 528pp, hc) November 2022. Cover by Manzi Jackson.

In Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenecho­vwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight mag­nificently produce what I see as the successor to Thomas’s groundbreaking and award-winning Dark Matter anthologies. Dark Matter: A Cen­tury of ...Read More

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News Publishing 

PRH Diversity News

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Penguin Random House has released their third yearly report on workforce demographics as part of their ongoing dedication to improving diversity, showing only modest changes from last year. For non-warehouse employees, 71% are white, 10% Asian, 9% Latino, 6% Black, and 3% bi- or multi-racial. Native Americans and native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders make up 1.08%. These numbers indicate at one percent increase in Black employees and a 2% increase ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Alexandra Pierce Reviews The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

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The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (Tordotcom 978-1-25086-050-7, $19.99, 176pp, hc) March 2023. Cover by Christine Foltzer.

Imagine a future where the Earth has gone so completely belly-up that people have moved to Jupiter. But humans being humans, they’re not prepared to accept that as the end of the old world. So they set up a university and encourage research in Classics, which focusses on under­standing Earth, its ...Read More

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Announcements News 

EW‘s Best Books of 2022

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Entertainment Weekly has released their set of the best books of 2022, “a highly subjective list of EW staff favorites”. Titles of genre interest include The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (Simon and Schuster) and Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House (Scribner).

For the full list, see EW‘s website.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on ...Read More

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International Milestones News 

Giger And Sorayama Exhibition

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NANZUKA is working with COEXIST and UCCA Lab to host “H.R. Giger X Sorayama: Approaching” from December 25, 2022 – March 24, 2023. The exhibition features 45 works from H.R. Giger and Hajime Sorayama, and is divided into “Surrealistic Explorations, Fear, and Fantasy”, “The Eve of Tomorrow, Between the Biological and the Mechanical”, and “Seeds of Pop Culture.”

The exhibition will be on view at UCCA Lab in Beijing. For ...Read More

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Announcements Awards News 

New Rhysling Award Guidelines

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The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) has announced new guidelines for the Rhysling Award. The changes include the addition of a jury, as well as a rule to prevent “double dipping”, or submitting the same work to the Dwarf Stars and Elgin Award.

The changes have gone through two rounds of membership surveys, and have been approved by SFPA’s executives. For more information, see their website.

While you ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Jake Casella Brookins Reviews The Two Doctors Górski by Isaac Fellman

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The Two Doctors Górski, Isaac Fellman (Tor­dotcom 978-1-25084-093-6, $16.99, 176pp, tp) November 2022.

It’s trite but true to say that reading is a kind of magic. Likewise, that it’s a kind of mind read­ing, and that writing characters is a fraught kind of creation. Isaac Fellman’s debut novella is a sharply-focused picture of the dangers these kinds of magic: an acerbic and atmospheric tale of power abused and survived. ...Read More

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New Titles & Bestsellers Periodicals 

Magazines Received – December

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This list covers new SF/F/H print, online, and electronic periodicals (including regularly updated websites) seen by Locus magazine, focusing on those that publish fiction or reviews and criticism. To submit titles for listing on these pages, please send to Locus Publications, 655 13th St. #100, Oakland CA 94612 or email locus@locusmag.com.

Alien Dimensions

  • Neil A. Hogan, ed.
  • Issue #23, November 2022, $12.95 print/$4.99 digital; irregular, 108pp, 15 x 23 cm.
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Books Reviews 

Caren Gussoff Sumption Reviews Glorious Fiends by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

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Glorious Fiends, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Un­derland Press 978-1-63023-066-1, $14.99, 142pp, tp), September 2022. Cover by Chris Panatier.

I’m a child of the ’80s, raised on camp, kitsch, and all that is lowbrow, and nothing can ever rinse clean what late-night broadcast televi­sion horror films (not to mention all the Anne Rice and VC Andrews I read in primary school) did to my soul (even if I wanted to). So, ...Read More

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Announcements Awards News 

SFPA Announces 2022 Grand Masters

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The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) has named Akua Lezli Hope and Mary Soon Lee as their 2022 Grand Masters.

The title is given “to an individual living at the time of selection whose body of work reflects the highest artistic goals of the SFPA, who has been actively publishing within the target genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy for a period of no fewer than 20 years, ...Read More

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Milestones News 

Obama’s Top Books of 2022

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President Barack Obama has announced a 13-title list of favorite books of 2022. Titles and authors of genre interest include:

  • The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan (Simon and Schuster)
  • The Candy House, Jennifer Egan (Scribner)
  • Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)
  • Liberation Day, George Saunders (Random House)
  • The Furrows, Namwali Serpell (Hogarth)

President Obama announced the full list via Twitter, along with

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Awards News 

Call For Jurors For A.C. Bose Grant

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The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) announced (via Twitter) a call for jurors to read applications for the A.C. Bose Grant, which awards “$1,000 to South Asian or South Asian diaspora writers developing speculative fiction.”

SLF is a non-profit arts foundation, focused on the speculative literature community. “If interested, send a brief note to grants@speculativeliterature.org with the subject line: JUROR.”

For more information on the SLF and the A.C. Bose grant, ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K.J. Parker

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Pulling the Wings Off Angels, K.J. Parker (Tor­dotcom 978-1-25083-576-5, $16.99, 144pp, tp) November 2022.

K.J. Parker may have the most distinctive voice of any contemporary fantasy writer, and certainly one of the funniest. His tales of an alternate but easily recognizable Europe sometimes re­semble heist capers, sometimes gangster sagas, sometimes comedies of errors – and sometimes they feature provocative discussions of ethics, philosophy, and religion, often disguised in the ...Read More

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Features Interviews Slider 

Saad Z. Hossain: Real Simulation

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SAAD Z. HOSSAIN was born April 22, 1979 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He studied English Lit and Commerce at the University of Virginia.

His debut novel was Baghdad Immortals (2013; as Escape from Baghdad!, 2015). Other novels include Djinn City (2017) and Cyber Mage (2021). Novella The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday (2019) was an Ignyte Award finalist and has a sequel, Kundo Wakes Up, out this year. ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Caren Gussoff Sumption Reviews A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

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A Restless Truth, Freya Marske (Tordotcom 978-1-250-78891-7, $27.99, 400pp, hc) Novem­ber 2022.

Anne Perry is better known for setting her mys­teries in the Victorian era, while Agatha Christie understood the power of an isolated location (say, a train). For the second novel in her Last Binding series, A Restless Truth, Freya Marske pulls from the best of both these masters of the whodunit: we are still in the ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews Illuminations: Stories by Alan Moore

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Illuminations: Stories, Alan Moore (Bloomsbury 978-1635578805, hardcover, 464pp, $30.00) October 2022.

Alan Moore is a sly old devil. Famed for his work in comics, his cultural commentary, and for two massive, sui generis novels (Voice of the Fire [1996] and Jerusalem [2016]), he has managed, all these years, to keep his production of short fiction on the downlow. I myself, reasonably conversant with his oeuvre, would have proclaimed, ...Read More

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New & Notable New Titles & Bestsellers 

New & Notable Books, December

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Brian Attebery, Fantasy: How it Works (Oxford UP 7/22) One of our most erudite scholars delivers a wide-ranging critical exploration of the fantasy genre, “the lie that speaks truth.” “There are enough good ideas here to set off a whole con’s worth of panel discussions… his most trenchant observations open up the field to us rather than closing it off with totalizing pronouncements.” [Gary K. Wolfe]

 

Eugen Bacon, An ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Paul Di Filippo Reviews Desert Creatures by Kay Chronister

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Desert Creatures, Kay Chronister (Erewhon 978-1645660521, hardcover, 352pp, $26.95) November 2022.

Kay Chronister’s second book, this unforgiving, unforgettable debut novel titled Desert Creatures, follows a highly acclaimed short-story collection, Thin Places, which I reviewed for Asimov’s in 2020. At that time, I said:

Her language crisp and fresh and disturbing, blending the matter-of-fact surrealism of Leena Krohn with the cold deliriums of Shirley Jackson, Kay Chronister is ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Alexandra Pierce Reviews Self-Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka

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Self-Portrait with Nothing, Aimee Pokwatka (Tordotcom 978-1-25082-084-6, $26.99, 304pp, hc) October 2022. Cover by Jaya Miceli.

The idea of a multiverse has spawned count­less explorations of what-if: what are the conse­quences of this choice over that? Is my alternative version living a better life? Can I access those alternate worlds, and what happens if I do? Until now, my favorite treatment of this trope was Jo Walton’s My Real ...Read More

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News 

Voyage to the Edge of Imagination Exhibition

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The Science Museum in London is hosting an exhibition, “Voyage to the Edge of Imagination,” from October 6, 2022 – May 4, 2023. The “interactive science fiction story” features more than 70 objects that “will uncov­er fascinating connections between significant scientific innovations and celebrated science fiction works, brought together in the UK for the first time.” The exhibit was “designed by BAFTA and Academy award-winning creative studio Framestore who have ...Read More

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Legal News Publishing 

Escape Artists to Become Nonprofit

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Escape Artists (EA) has announced that they will become a 501 (3) (c) nonprofit, effective January 1, 2023. Escape Artists produces genre podcasts Catscast, Cast of Wonders, Escape Pod, Podcastle, and Pseudopod.

Marguerite Kenner, EA’s co-owner, announced:

Since taking the helm in 2014, we’ve brought EA into the forefront of genre publications…. Two new shows joined the original trio, and we’ve been honored with major award wins and nominations including ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews Titan by Mado Nozaki

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Titan, Mado Nozaki (Airship 978-1-68579-318-0, $14.99, 496pp, tp) October 2022.

Mado Nozaki’s novel Titan (translated from Japa­nese into English by Evan Ward) is a thoughtful, eloquent meditation on the nature of work and self-fulfilment that also happens to feature giant, AI-controlled robots.

Set in 2205, the bulk of humanity no longer needs to work, with tasks both simple and com­plex performed by Titan, a hugely powerful cen­tral brain spread ...Read More

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Announcements News Publishing 

Vernacular Books To Close

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Vernacular Books, the SF/F publisher founded in 2019 by Eric M. Bosarge & J.M. McDermott, is closing.

Bosarge announced:

After three years and over a dozen titles published, we’ve decided we can no longer continue as a viable business. Kids, work, and other obligations have made continuing impossible.

Vernacular Books published work by A.M. Muffaz, Paul Jessup, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, and many more, and their site also included book reviews. ...Read More

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Awards Contests News 

Illustration of the Year Award

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There are a few days left to enter artwork into Speculative Literature Foundation’s (SLF) Illustration of the Year Award event. “This is the SLF’s first open call for Illustration of the Year, and the sixth consecutive year that it has featured an illustration.” Michelle Feng was the 2022 winner. The artist with the winning piece will receive $750 and the work “will also be used as a visual element of ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Paula Guran Reviews Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw

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Breakable Things, Cassandra Khaw (Undertow Publications 978-1-98896-437-9, $20.00, 250pp, tp) November 2022. Cover by Mario Sánchez Nevado.

Cassandra Khaw starts their superbly strange and beautiful debut collection Breakable Things with the story ‘‘Don’t Turn On the Lights,’’ a stygian twist on urban legend. It, in turn, begins:

Stories are mongrels. It don’t matter whether they were lightning-cut into stone or whis­pered over the crackle of a dying flame; no ...Read More

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News Obituaries 

Henry Morrison (1936-2022)

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Literary agent Henry Morrison, 86, died November 2, 2022. Morrison’s past clients included Samuel R. Delany, Dean Koontz, Robert Ludlum, Eric van Lustbader, David Morrell, and Roger Zelazny.

Morrison was born in New York and grew up in New Jersey. He got his start at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency before leaving to launch his own agency in his late 20s. He was active in the business for more than ...Read More

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Announcements News Workshops 

2023 Clarion West Workshop Going Virtual

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Clarion West announced via email that the 2023 Summer Workshop will be held virtually. Per the announcement:

The workshop dates are June 25 – August 5, 2023. We accept 15 students in virtual classes to keep the workload and screen time manageable for all. Tuition is $3,200, and applicants can apply to scholarships through the workshop application. Applications are open January 4 – March 1.

No changes to the instructor ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

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Into the Riverlands, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom 978-1-25085-142-0, $19.99, 112pp, hc) October 2022.

Into the Riverlands is the third of Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills series of novellas, which began with the Crawford Award-winning The Empress of Salt and Fortune and continued with When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. All fea­ture the peripatetic cleric Chih from the Singing Hills monastery, sometimes accompanied by their magical hoopoe bird Almost Brilliant. In

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Announcements News 

New York Library Top Borrows

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The New York Public Library (NYPL), the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queen’s Public Library have each released lists of their most-borrowed books of 2022.

The most borrowed book across the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island was Mat Haig’s fantasy The Midnight Library (Viking). Other titles of genre interest that ranked high in the lists include Anthony Doeer’s Cloud Cuckoo Land (Scribner), Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House (Scribner), and The ...Read More

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Conventions International News 

Petition for Chengdu to Drop Lukyanenko

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A petition has been launched on site AVAAZ.org calling on “the Board of Worldcon 2023” to “rescind the status of guest of honour from Sergei Lukyanenko….” Lukyanenko was announced as one of three guests of honor for the 81st World Science Fiction Convention scheduled to be held August 16-20, 2023 in Chengdu, China. The petition objects to Lukyanenko’s support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of this writing, the ...Read More

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New Books New Titles & Bestsellers 

New Books: 20 December 2022

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Colby, Scott: Vengeance Squad

(Outland Entertainment 978-1-954255-41-9, $17.95, 300pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, December 20, 2022)

Urban fantasy novel, fifth in the Deviant Magic series. The Talisker tower in Detroit has exploded, and a ragtag team of losers team up to find the demonic evil behind the disaster.

 

Datlow, Ellen, ed.: The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen

(Skyhorse/Night Shade Books 978-1-949102-67-3, $15.99, 432pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, ...Read More

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