2023 Recommended Reading List
Welcome to the annual Locus Recommended Reading List!
Another spin around the ole ball of fire and we’re back to our annual Recommended Reading List for 2023! Published in Locus magazine’s February 2024 issue, the list is put together by Locus editors, columnists, outside reviewers, and other professionals and well-known critics of genre fiction and non-fiction. We looked at 1,012 titles from 2023 in short fiction and long fiction. The final recommendations are combined and trimmed to as reasonable of a list as we can manage, but it is still long. We know there will be titles you loved that do not appear here; it happens every year. As we always say, any one member of our recommending group would suggest a different exact list, but this is our combined sum of opinions, assessed with much affection and care for the field. We did not see everything out there (though we tried!) and there will be books that didn’t make it.
The Locus recommending group this year included editor in chief Liza Groen Trombi; reviews editor Jonathan Strahan; reviewers Eugen Bacon, Liz Bourke, Jake Casella Brookins, Alex Brown, Paul Di Filippo, Sean Dowie, Paula Guran, Niall Harrison, Rich Horton, Paul Kincaid, Russell Letson, Adrienne Martini, Archita Mittra, Ian Mond, Colleen Mondor, Charles Payseur, Alexandra Pierce, Tim Pratt, Adam Roberts, Wole Talabi, Gary K. Wolfe, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro; staffers Laurel Amberdine, Bob Blough, and Mark Kelly; and outside critics James Bradley, Amy Goldschlager, Cheryl Morgan, Graham Sleight, and Tom Whitmore. Input for the non-fiction section also came in from Farah Mendlesohn. The art books section had help from Arnie Fenner, Karen Haber, and senior editor Francesca Myman. Short fiction recommendations added in anthologists and reviewers John Joseph Adams, Vanessa Fogg, Maria Haskins, Allan Kaster, Nisi Shawl, Bogi Takács, and A.C. Wise. Some of the reviewers also wrote year-end wrap-ups, which will include their thoughts, plus some favorite books that didn’t make the final list — look for those in the coming weeks or in the February issue of the magazine, available in print and digital editions. Locus thanks all involved for their time and their expertise.
You can let us know what your favorites were by voting in the 2023 Poll & Survey. The Poll decides the winners of the Locus Awards, presented in June 2024, and is open to all to vote on. The Survey helps us be a better magazine. Thank you for participating!
NOVELS – SCIENCE FICTION
- Conquest, Nina Allan (Riverrun)
- The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, Samit Basu (Tordotcom)
- Creation Node, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz)
- Bridge, Lauren Beukes (Mulholland; Michael Joseph UK)
- Prophet, Sin Blaché & Helen Macdonald (Grove; Jonathan Cape)
- A Stranger in the Citadel, Tobias S. Buckell (Tachyon)
- Infinity Gate, M.R. Carey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- A Fire Born of Exile, Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz; JAB Books)
- Red Team Blues, Cory Doctorow (Tor; Ad Astra)
- Scale, Greg Egan (self-published)
- Furious Heaven, Kate Elliott (Ad Astra; Tor)
- Hospital, Han Song (Amazon Crossing)
- Titanium Noir, Nick Harkaway (Knopf; Corsair UK)
- Biography of X, Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus, Giroux; Granta UK)
- Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- The Blue, Beautiful World, Karen Lord (Del Rey; Gollancz)
- In Ascension, Martin MacInnes (Atlantic UK; Black Cat 2/24)
- The Deluge, Stephen Markley (Simon & Schuster)
- Hopeland, Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Tor)
- The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK)
- Descendant Machine, Gareth L. Powell (Titan UK)
- Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
- Him, Geoff Ryman (Angry Robot UK)
- Starter Villain, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)
- Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford (Faber & Faber; Scribner 2/24)
- Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US; Tor UK)
- The Circumference of the World, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon; PS)
- Where Peace Is Lost, Valerie Valdes (Harper Voyager US)
- System Collapse, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
- The Road to Roswell, Connie Willis (Del Rey)
NOVELS – FANTASY
- Blade of Dream, Daniel Abraham (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
- Mr. Breakfast, Jonathan Carroll (Melville House)
- The Art of Destiny, Wesley Chu (Del Rey; Daphne UK)
- The Keeper’s Six, Kate Elliott (Tordotcom)
- Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Del Rey; Orbit UK)
- The Warden, Daniel M. Ford (Tor)
- Dead Country, Max Gladstone (Tordotcom)
- A Midwinter’s Tail, Lili Hayward (Sphere)
- The Water Outlaws, S.L. Huang (Tordotcom; Solaris UK)
- The Pomegranate Gate, Ariel Kaplan (Erewhon; Solaris UK)
- Paladin’s Faith, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
- Dragonfall, L.R. Lam (DAW; Hodderscape)
- Terrace Story, Hilary Leichter (Ecco)
- Mad Sisters of Esi, Tashan Mehta (Harper Collins India)
- I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home, Lorrie Moore (Knopf; Faber & Faber)
- He Who Drowned the World, Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor; Mantle)
- The Thick and the Lean, Chana Porter (Saga; Titan UK)
- My Brother’s Keeper, Tim Powers (Baen; Ad Astra)
- City of Last Chances, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)
- House of Open Wounds, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)
- We Are the Crisis, Cadwell Turnbull (Blackstone)
- Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
- Salt on the Midnight Fire, Liz Williams (NewCon)
- After the Forest, Kell Woods (Tor; Titan UK)
NOVELS – HORROR
- Vampires of El Norte, Isabel Cañas (Berkley)
- The Reformatory, Tananarive Due (Saga; Titan UK)
- A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand (Mulholland; Sphere)
- Mothtown, Caroline Hardaker (Angry Robot UK)
- Starling House, Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK)
- How to Sell a Haunted House, Grady Hendrix (Berkley; Titan UK)
- Lamb, Matt Hill (Dead Ink UK)
- Don’t Fear the Reaper, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)
- A House with Good Bones, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK)
- Lone Women, Victor LaValle (One World)
- Silver Nitrate, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
- Pink Slime, Fernanda Trías (Scribe UK; Scribner 7/24)
- Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)
YOUNG ADULT NOVELS
- Promises Stronger Than Darkness, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan UK)
- The Making of Yolanda la Bruja, Lorraine Avila (Levine Querido)
- Damned If You Do, Alex Brown (Page Street)
- A Song of Salvation, Alechia Dow (Inkyard)
- Godly Heathens, H.E. Edgmon (Wednesday; Daphne UK)
- Where Echoes Die, Courtney Gould (Wednesday)
- Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, S. Jae-Jones (Wednesday; Titan UK)
- The Library of Broken Worlds, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Scholastic; Magpie UK)
- Spell Bound, F.T. Lukens (McElderry; Simon & Schuster UK)
- The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, Garth Nix (Tegen; Gollancz)
- Into the Light, Mark Oshiro (Tor Teen)
- Rook, William Ritter (Algonquin)
- Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross (Wednesday; Magpie UK)
- The Siren, the Song, and the Spy, Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Candlewick)
- The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, Andrew Joseph White (Peachtree Teen)
FIRST NOVELS
- The Thing in the Snow, Sean Adams (Morrow)
- Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon)
- The Splinter in the Sky, Kemi Ashing-Giwa (Saga)
- The Strange, Nathan Ballingrud (Saga; Titan UK)
- Blood Debts, Terry J. Benton-Walker (Tor Teen; Hodder & Stoughton)
- The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
- Flux, Jinwoo Chong (Melville House)
- Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves, Quinn Connor (Sourcebooks Landmark)
- Dazzling, Chikọdịlị Emelụmadụ (Wildfire; Overlook)
- A Market of Dreams and Destiny, Trip Galey (Titan UK)
- Shark Heart, Emily Habeck (Mary Sue Rucci; Jo Fletcher)
- Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou (Razorbill; Penguin UK)
- These Burning Stars, Bethany Jacobs (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- Godkiller, Hannah Kaner (Harper Voyager UK; Harper Voyager US)
- The Deep Sky, Yume Kitasei (Flatiron)
- Extended Stay, Juan Martinez (University of Arizona Press)
- The Shadow Sister, Lily Meade (Sourcebooks Fire)
- Dry Land, B. Pladek (University of Wisconsin Press)
- The Legend of Charlie Fish, Josh Rountree (Tachyon)
- The Marigold, Andrew F. Sullivan (ECW)
- Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW; Gollancz)
- Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
- Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Emma Törzs (Morrow; Century)
- Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues, H.S. Valley (Hardie Grant)
- That Self-Same Metal, Brittany N. Williams (Amulet)
COLLECTIONS
- Monstrous Alterations, Christopher Barzak (Lethe)
- The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volumes 1 & 2, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)
- The Way Home, Peter S. Beagle (Ace; Gollancz)
- Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories, Tobias S. Buckell (Apex)
- You Are My Sunshine and Other Stories, Octavia Cade (Stelliform)
- Where Rivers Go to Die, Dilman Dila (Rosarium)
- The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Tananarive Due (Akashic)
- If Wishes Were Obfuscation Codes and Other Stories, Malon Edwards (Fireside Fiction)
- The Collected Enchantments, Theodora Goss (Mythic Delirium)
- The Fortunate Isles, Lisa L. Hannett (Egaeus)
- The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories, Kij Johnson (Small Beer)
- White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link (Random House; Ad Astra)
- Ragged Maps, Ian R. MacLeod (Subterranean)
- Uranians, Theodore McCombs (Astra House)
- No One Will Come Back For Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow)
- Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, Garth Nix (Gollancz; Harper Voyager US)
- Like Smoke, Like Light, Yukimi Ogawa (Mythic Delirium)
- Jackal, Jackal, Tobi Ogundiran (Undertow)
- Skin Thief, Suzan Palumbo (Neon Hemlock)
- Under My Skin, K.J. Parker (Subterranean)
- Lost Places, Sarah Pinsker (Small Beer)
- Under the Hollywood Sign, Tom Reamy (Subterranean)
- The Wrong Girl & Other Warnings, Angela Slatter (Brain Jar)
- The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two, Michael Swanwick (Subterranean)
- The Voice That Murmurs in the Darkness, James Tiptree, Jr. (Subterranean)
- The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)
- H’ard Starts: The Early Waldrop, Howard Waldrop (Subterranean)
- The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories, Gene Wolfe (Subterranean)
- The Wolfe at the Door, Gene Wolfe (Tor)
- Jewel Box, E. Lily Yu (Erewhon)
ANTHOLOGIES
ORIGINAL
- Christmas and Other Horrors, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan UK)
- Never Whistle at Night, Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., eds. (Vintage)
- Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and Science Essays, Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law & Susan Forest, eds. (European Astrobiology Institute and Laksa Media)
- Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Random House; Picador)
- Luminescent Machinations, Rhiannon Rasmussen & dave ring, eds. (Neon Hemlock)
- New Suns 2, Nisi Shawl, ed. (Solaris UK)
- The Book of Witches, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
- Communications Breakdown: SF Stories about the Future of Connection, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (MIT Press)
- Rosalind’s Siblings, Bogi Takács, ed. (Atthis Arts)
- Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi, ed. (Android)
REPRINT
- The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 7, Neil Clarke, ed. (Night Shade)
- The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis, eds. (Caezic)
- Multiverses, Preston Grassmann, ed. (Titan UK)
- The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume 4, Paula Guran, ed. (Pyr)
- The Year’s Best Fantasy: Volume 2, Paula Guran, ed. (Pyr)
- Nordic Visions: The Best of Nordic Speculative Fiction, Margret Helgadottir, ed. (Solaris UK)
- The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 7, Allan Kaster, ed. (Infinivox)
- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)
- Infinite Constellations, Khadijah Queen & K. Ibura, eds. (FC2)
- Worlds of Possibility, Julia Rios, ed. (self-published)
- Best of British Science Fiction 2022, Donna Scott, ed. (NewCon)
- The Big Book of Cyberpunk, Jared Shurin, ed. (Vintage)
- The Best of World SF: Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Ad Astra)
NON-FICTION
- Spec Fic for Newbies, Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan (Academia Lunare)
- Follow Me: Religion in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Francesca T. Barbini, ed. (Academia Lunare)
- The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History, Jack Dann (Bloomsbury Academic)
- 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams, Kevin Jon Davies, ed. (Unbound UK)
- Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy, Dimitra Fimi & Alistair J.P. Sims, eds. (Bloomsbury Academic)
- Wish I Was Here: An Anti-Memoir, M. John Harrison (Serpent’s Tail; Saga 2024)
- All These Worlds, Niall Harrison (Briardene)
- 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered, Sadie Hartmann (Page Street Publishing)
- Realms of Imagination: Essays from the Wide Worlds of Fantasy, Tanya Kirk & Matthew Sangster, eds. (British Library Publishing)
- Space Crone, Ursula K. Le Guin (Silver)
- Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House Books)
- An Introduction to Fantasy, Matthew Sangster (Cambridge)
- Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction, Mingwei Song (Columbia University Press)
- A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, Maureen Kincaid Speller (Academia Lunare)
- Owning the Unknown: A Science Fiction Writer Explores Atheism, Agnosticism, and the Idea of God, Robert Charles Wilson (Pitchstone)
- Being Michael Swanwick, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood)
ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOKS
- The Culture: The Drawings, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- The Art of Peter Bergting, Peter Bergting (Dark Horse)
- Refuge, Bill Campbell, art by Louis Netter (Rosarium)
- Gilt, J.A.W. Cooper (Flesk)
- Local Fauna: The Art of Peter de Sève, Peter de Sève (Cernunnos)
- The Pen & Ink Drawings of Tony DiTerlizzi, Tony DiTerlizzi (self-published)
- Home to Stay! The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories, Ray Bradbury, adapted by Al Feldstein, art by Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Wallace Wood, et al. (Fantagraphics)
- Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly, Volume Three, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Spectrum Fantastic Art)
- The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta, Dian Hanson, ed., art by Frank Frazetta (Taschen)
- The Kwaidan Collection, Lafcadio Hearn, art by Kent Williams (Beehive)
- The Last Count of Monte Cristo, Ayize Jama-Everett, art by Tristan Roach (Megascope)
- Verdance, Stephanie Law (Shadowscapes)
- Voyaging, Volume One: The Plague Star, George R.R. Martin, art and adaptation by Raya Golden (Ten Speed Graphic)
- Thalamus, Volumes 1 & 2: The Art of Dave McKean, Dave McKean (Dark Horse)
- Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s, Adam Rowe (Abrams)
- Infected by Art Volume 11, Todd Spoor & Bill Cox, eds. (Dynamite)
- Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures, Kevin M. Strait & Kinshasha Holman Conwill, eds. (Smithsonian)
- Chanarack & Tabberlox, Casson Trenor, art by Stephanie Law (Shark & Siren)
NOVELLAS
- The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom)
- The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar, Indra Das (Subterranean)
- OKPsyche, Anya Johanna DeNiro (Small Beer)
- “The Tinker and the Timestream”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (Analog 3-4/23)
- A Feast for Flies, Leigh Harlen (Dancing Star)
- “Linghun”, Ai Jiang (Linghun)
- The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire; Titan UK)
- Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
- Hybrid Heart, Iori Kusano (Neon Hemlock)
- A Necessary Chaos, Brent C. Lambert (Neon Hemlock)
- Feed Them Silence, Lee Mandelo (Tordotcom)
- Rose/House, Arkady Martine (Subterranean)
- “Blade and Bone”, Paul McAuley (Asimov’s 11-12/23)
- Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire (Tor)
- Green Fuse Burning, Tiffany Morris (Stelliform)
- The Mimicking of Known Successes, Malka Older (Tordotcom)
- “To Sail Beyond the Botnet“, Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld 5/23)
- “The Ghosts of Mars”, Dominica Phetteplace (Asimov’s 11-12/23)
- After Many a Summer, Tim Powers (Subterranean)
- The Navigating Fox, Christopher Rowe (Tordotcom)
- “The Many Different Kinds of Love”, Geoff Ryman & David Jeffrey (F&SF 11-12/23)
- “On the English Approach to the Study of History“, E. Saxey (GigaNotoSaurus 10/23)
- Pluralities, Avi Silver (Atthis Arts)
- The Lies of the Ajungo, Moses Ose Utomi (Tordotcom)
- Mammoths at the Gates, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
- The Book of Gems, Fran Wilde (Tordotcom)
NOVELETTES
- “We Grew Tall and Strong by the Water”, Leah Andelsmith (Fiyah Winter ’23)
- “A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair“, Renan Bernardo (Samovar 2/23)
- “What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata”, P. Djèlí Clark (The Book of Witches)
- “Bruised-Eye Dusk“, Jonathan Louis Duckworth (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/4/23)
- “Spell for Grief and Longing”, Eboni J. Dunbar (Fiyah Spring ’23)
- “John Hollowback and the Witch”, Amal El-Mohtar (The Book of Witches)
- “Isle of Cloves”, Gregory Feeley (Exacting Clam Autumn ’23)
- “The Unpastured Sea”, Gregory Feeley (Asimov’s 9-10/23)
- “How to Travel Safely in Faerieland”, Vanessa Fogg (Fusion Fragment 1/23)
- “Where the God-Knives Tread“, A.L. Goldfuss (Lightspeed 10/23)
- “Such Is My Idea of Happiness“, David Goodman (Clarkesworld 10/23)
- I AM AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
- “The Witch Is Not the Monster”, Alaya Dawn Johnson (The Book of Witches)
- “Muna in Barish“, Isha Karki (Lightspeed 7/23)
- “The Year Without Sunshine“, Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny 11-12/23)
- “Prince Hat Underground”, Kelly Link (White Cat, Black Dog)
- “The Passing of the Dragon“, Ken Liu (Tor.com 9/13/23)
- “Planetstuck”, Sam J. Miller (Asimov’s 3-4/23)
- “At Every Door a Ghost”, Premee Mohamed (Communications Breakdown)
- “Fell Our Selves“, Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga (GigaNotoSaurus 2/23)
- “The Rainbow Bank“, Uchechukwu Nwaka (GigaNotoSaurus 8/23)
- “Tiger-boy’s Theater of Shattered Truths“, Antony Paschos (GigaNotoSaurus 9/23)
- “One Man’s Treasure“, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 1-2/23)
- “Science Facts!”, Sarah Pinsker (Lost Places: Stories)
- “Ivy, Angelica, Bay“, C.L. Polk (Tor.com 12/8/23)
- “An Ode to Stardust“, R.P. Sand (Clarkesworld 2/23)
- “What the Mountain Takes, What the Journey Offers“, Jae Steinbacher (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/26/23)
- “Saturday’s Song“, Wole Talabi (Lightspeed 5/23)
- “The Luck Thief”, Tade Thompson (The Book of Witches)
- “Six Versions of My Brother Found Under a Bridge“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9-10/23)
- “On the Fox Roads“, Nghi Vo (Tor.com 10/31/23)
- “Contracting Iris“, Peter Watts (Lightspeed 3/23)
- “Deep Blue Jump”, Dean Whitlock (Asimov’s 9-10/23)
- “SuperMAX“, Daniel H. Wilson (Uncanny 7-8/23)
- “My Neighbor Mothman”, Cynthia Zhang (Fusion Fragment 6/23)
SHORT STORIES
- “A Soul in the World“, Charlie Jane Anders (Uncanny 3-4/23)
- “There Are Only Two Chairs and the Skin Is Draped Over the Other“, Alexia Antoniou (Bourbon Penn 31)
- “Thin Ice“, Kemi Ashing-Giwa (Clarkesworld 11/23)
- “Those Hitchhiking Kids“, Darcie Little Badger (The Sunday Morning Transport 4/2/23)
- “Patsy Cline Sings Sweet Dreams to the Universe“, Beston Barnett (Strange Horizons 11/20/23)
- “The Farmer’s Wife and the Faerie Queen”, K. Tempest Bradford (New Suns 2)
- “Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride“, Christopher Caldwell (Uncanny 1-2/23)
- “All the Things I Know About Ghosts, By Ofelia, Age 10“, Isabel Cañas (The Deadlands 10/23)
- “Resurrection Highway“, A.R. Capetta (The Sunday Morning Transport 9/3/23)
- “The Four Gifts of Empress Lessa“, Myna Chang (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 10/19/23)
- “The God of Minor Troubles“, Megan Chee (Strange Horizons 5/29/23)
- “Mother’s Teeth“, E.L. Chen (The Dark 3/23)
- “Fandom for Witches“, Ruoxi Chen (Fantasy 10/23)
- “Ain’t Houses, Ain’t Names“, Nino Cipri (The Sunday Morning Transport 7/16/23)
- “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub“, P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23)
- “Disassembling Light“, Kel Coleman (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 6/29/23)
- “A Small Bloody Gift“, Naomi Day (Fiyah Winter ’23)
- “The Mausoleum’s Children“, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny 5-6/23)
- “Suppertime”, Tananarive Due (New Suns 2)
- “Memories of Memories Lost“, Mahmud El Sayed (khōréō 3.2)
- “After the Animal Flesh Beings“, Brian Evenson (Tor.com 6/21/23)
- “Brincando Charcos (Jumping Puddles)“, Ben Francisco (Strange Horizons 10/20/23)
- “Waystation City“, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 1-2/23)
- “For However Long“, Thomas Ha (khōréō 3.1)
- “Window Boy“, Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 8/23)
- “How to Stay Married to Baba Yaga“, S.M. Hallow (Baffling 4/23)
- “A Name is a Plea and a Prophecy“, Gabrielle Emem Harry (Strange Horizons 8/14/23)
- “Quantum Love“, Sylvia Heike (Flash Fiction Online 9/8/23)
- “Secondhand Music”, Aleksandra Hill (Analog 9-10/23)
- “The Uncool Hunters“, Andrew Dana Hudson (Escape Pod 6/22/23)
- “Reckless Eyeballing”, N.K. Jemisin (Out There Screaming)
- “Good Night Gracie”, Alex Jennings (New Suns 2)
- “The Sound of Children Screaming“, Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare 10/23)
- “What It Means to Be a Car“, James Patrick Kelly (Tor.com 7/26/23)
- “Day Ten Thousand“, Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld 6/23)
- “The Big Glass Box and the Boys Inside“, Isabel J. Kim (Apex 1/3/23)
- “Zeta-Epsilon“, Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld 3/23)
- “Park’s All-Night Ramyun and Snack Emporium“, Seoung Kim (Cast of Wonders 6/24/23)
- “Interstate Mohinis“, M.L. Krishnan (Diabolical Plots 6/16/23)
- “Counting Casualties“, Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com 4/26/23)
- “The Ethnomusicology of the Last Dreadnought“, Yoon Ha Lee (The Sunday Morning Transport 2/5/23)
- “Kwong’s Bath“, Angela Liu (khōréō 3.2)
- “Pinocchio Photography“, Angela Liu (Clarkesworld 3/23)
- “A Borrowing of Bones”, Karin Lowachee (New Suns 2)
- “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak“, Sam J. Miller (The Dark 7/23)
- “Discreet Services Offered for Women Ridden by Hags“, Stephanie Malia Morris (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/9/23)
- “Umeboshi“, Rebecca Nakaba (khōréō 3.2)
- “Stones“, Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld 9/23)
- “The Plant and the Purist”, Malka Older (New Suns 2)
- “In the Forest of Talking Animals“, Makena Onjerika (The Deadlands 10/23)
- “Jamais Vue”, Tochi Onyebuchi (Asimov’s 1-2/23)
- “Origin Story”, Tochi Onyebuchi (Out There Screaming)
- “There’s a Door to the Land of the Dead in the Land of the Dead“, Sarah Pinsker (The Deadlands 6/23)
- “The Succubus and the Store Clerk“, A.D. Sui (Baffling 10/23)
- “Negative Theology of the Child From ‘The King of Tars’“, Sonia Sulaiman (Fantasy 10/23)
- “The Sweet in the Empty”, Tade Thompson (F&SF 3-4/23)
- “Homewrecker“, E. Catherine Tobler (Apex 11/21/23)
- “Always Be Returning“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (The Sunday Morning Transport 8/6/23)
- “Flower, Daughter, Soil, Seed“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1/2/23)
- “Salt Water“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Tor.com 4/12/23)
- “Undog“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Strange Horizons 5/15/23)
- “A Tech Mage Comes to Visit“, Cadwell Turnbull (The Sunday Morning Transport 7/30/23)
- “Silk and Cotton and Linen and Blood”, Nghi Vo (New Suns 2)
- “An Infestation of Blue”, Wendy N. Wagner (Analog 11-12/23)
- “The Rain Remembers What the Sky Forgets“, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 5-6/23)
- “Ocasta”, Daniel H. Wilson (New Suns 2)
- “The Dark House“, A.C. Wise (Tor.com 4/15/23)
- “Bird-Girl Builds a Machine“, Hannah Yang (Clarkesworld 11/23)
- “Alphabet of Swans“, E. Lily Yu (The Sunday Morning Transport 8/27/23)
- “The River and the World Remade“, E. Lily Yu (Tor.com 3/29/23)
If you see any typos or errors, please let us know at locus@locusmag.com. Thank you!
[Edited to move Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan McGuire (Tor) to Novella from YA. Moved The Thick and the Lean, Chana Porter (Saga; Titan UK) from First Novel to Fantasy. “What It Means to Be a Car” by James Patrick Kelly to Short Story. To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose turned out to not be a debut as advertised, and so was moved from First Novel to Fantasy.]
You can see this list and all of our reviewers’ takes on the previous year in the February Locus. [cover image credit: art by Francesca Myman]
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No comics, or graphic novels, mentioned..?
Night Eaters 2: Her Little Reapers by Marjorie Liu, and Sana Takeda
BRZRKR Vol. 3 by Keanu Reeves, Ron Garney, Matt Kindt
Monica by Daniel Clowes
Let me know if you’d like a reviewer (I’m based in UK, though).
Was “Theft of Fire” by Devon Eriksen considered for First Novel? First published in November, so maybe it didn’t make it cut for 2023. If so, I’d strongly recommend you consider it for 2024. It’s an amazingly competent first novel, with a level of craftsmanship that’s rare even among more established authors. Over 200 5-star ratings on Amazon for a self-published novel? One that costs $9 for the ebook, and isn’t available on Kindle Unlimited? For a gritty science fiction novel where the math works out and the characters are memorable?
“Theft of Fire” is one of the best books published in 2023, period. I hope you can see fit to give it some love in the pages of Locus.
Thanks for the tip! Will check it out.