Author: locusmag

Books Reviews 

Amy Goldschlager Reviews The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

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The Queens of Innis Lear, Tessa Gratton; Kate Reading, narrator (Macmillan Audio, $39.99, digital, 26.5 hr., unabridged) March 2018.

This magic-infused retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear aims to add backstory and depth to the tragedy, and even rewrite the fates of some of the favorite characters. When Queen Dalat died, her two elder daughters blamed their father King Lear for her demise, and King Lear intensified his study in star ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Colleen Mondor Reviews The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton

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The Price Guide to the Occult, Leslye Walton (Candlewick Press 978-0-7636-9110-3, $18.99, 288pp, hc) March 2018.

The Price Guide to the Occult begins with the story of an island in the Pacific Northwest and the small group of mostly male settlers who arrived there in the mid-1840s. In this prologue, author Leslye Walton sets up the long dark tale of the Blackburn women and the generational burdens inflicted upon them ...Read More

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Locus 691, August 2018
Issues 

Issue 691 Table of Contents, August 2018

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The August issue features interviews with Martha Wells and Curtis Chen; appreciations for Harlan Ellison; obituaries for Eugene E. Olson and Clive King; a column by Kameron Hurley; the World Fantasy Award Finalists; the winners of the Campbell, Sturgeon, Clarke, Shirley Jackson, Gemmell, and Prometheus awards; convention reports from the Locus Awards Weekend and Readercon 29; reports on international SF in Scotland and China; and reviews of short fiction and ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Amy Goldschlager Reviews The Coincidence Makers by Yoav Blum

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The Coincidence Makers, Yoav Blum; Ira Moskowitz, translator; Fred Berman, narrator (Macmillan Audio, $20.99, digital download, 8 hr., unabridged) March 2018.

Guy, Emily, and Eric are Coincidence Makers; they receive assignments in sealed envelopes to set up chains of seemingly accidental events with profound effects. A synching of traffic lights here, a spilled coffee there, can irrevocably lead to two people “unexpectedly” encountering each other, or a buttoned-up number cruncher ...Read More

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Awards News 

2018 James White Award Shortlist

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The James White Award Short Story competition has announced this year’s shortlist:

  • “A Sip of Pombe”, Gustavo Bondoni
  • “Imago”, Matthew Eeles
  • “The Big I Am”, E.M. Faulds
  • “My Fault”, Sarah Palmer
  • “Ms. Höffern Stays Abreast of the News”, Sarah Pauling
  • “Two Worlds Apart”, Dustin Blair Steinacker

The James White Award is open to previously unpublished stories between 1,000 and 6,000 words in length by non-professional authors. The winner will receive ...Read More

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Awards News 

2017 Sidewise Awards Nominees

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The nominees for the 2017 Sidewise Awards for Alternate History have been announced.

Long Form
  • The Berlin Project, Gregory Benford (Saga)
  • A Time of Need, Brent Harris (Insomnia)
  • All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai (Dutton)
  • The Clash of Eagles Trilogy: Clash of Eagles, Eagle in Exile, Eagle and Empire, Alan Smale (Del Rey)
  • Once There Was a Way, Bryce Zabel (Diversion)

Short Form

  • “N’oublions Jamais”, Tom Anderson & Bruno Lombardi
...Read More
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Awards News 

Lampkin Wins Munsey Award

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Freelance writer/editor and publication designer William Lampkin is the winner of the 2018 Munsey Award, presented annually by PulpFest “to an individual or institution that has worked for the betterment of the pulp community.” Nominees are selected by the general pulp community, and the winner is selected by a vote of past Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Awards winners.

Lampkin received a fine art print by David Saunders as his award, ...Read More

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Awards News 

2018 Sunburst Awards Shortlist

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The shortlists for the 2018 Sunburst Awards for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic have been announced:

Adult Fiction

  • The Bone Mother, David Demchuk (ChiZine)
  • American War, Omar El Akkad (Knopf)
  • Sputnik’s Children, Terri Favro (ECW)
  • Jade City, Fonda Lee (Little, Brown)
  • Son of a Trickster, Eden Robinson (Knopf Canada)

Young Adult Fiction

  • The Painting, Charis Cotter (Tundra)
  • The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline (Dancing Cat)
  • Exo, Fonda Lee (Scholastic)
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Commentary Roundtable 

SF Crossing the Gulf — A Wrinkle in Time: The book, the movie

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When a dearly loved but challenging book becomes a movie, where do you set your expectations? Karen and Karen discuss the alchemy of transmuting text to screen and the choices that must be made if the story is to not merely translate, but flourish. We also talk about how much the book meant to us growing up, and our belief that Ava DuVernay has given us a film that will ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Carolyn Cushman Reviews The Case of the Deadly Doppelgänger by Lucy Banks

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Lucy Banks, The Case of the Deadly Doppelgänger (Amberjack 978-1-944995-47-8, $14.99, 328pp, tp) February 2018.

A woman wakes in the night to see a copy of herself and die – and all her husband vaguely remembers in the morning is “She’s been fetched.” Turns out she’s not the only victim and, even as the officials publicly play down any supernatural elements, they’re looking for help. This is the second book ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Katharine Coldiron Reviews Echoes of Understorey by Thoraiya Dyer

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Echoes of Understorey, Thoraiya Dyer (Tor 978-0-7653-8595-6, $16.99, 350pp, pb) February 2018.

Readers who enjoyed the first book in Thoraiya Dyer’s Titan’s Forest series will probably enjoy the sequel, Echoes of Understorey. The two books have in common a breathtakingly complex world, magic and ability tied to animal and natural realms, a powerful and self-sabotaging female protagonist, and potent political and racial allegories. Readers who found Crossroads of Canopy a ...Read More

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Awards News 

Hosein Wins 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize

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“Passage” by Kevin Jared Hosein is the overall winner of the £5,000 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English, announced during a ceremony on July 25, 2018 at the Centre for Visual Arts and Research in Nicosia, Cyprus. Hosein was earlier announced as the regional winner for the Caribbean, for which he was awarded £2,500. Sarah Hall, chair of this year’s judges, ...Read More

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Books Reviews 

Amy Goldschlager Reviews Beneath the Sugar Sky Audiobook by Seanan McGuire

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Beneath the Sugar Sky, Seanan McGuire; Michelle Dockrey, narrator (Macmillan Audio 978-1427293794, $28.99, CD, 4.25 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) January 2018.

One day, a young woman tumbles out of the sky, falling into the lake near Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, a refuge for children who found portals to other worlds where they had fantastic adventures and then eventually (and usually unhappily) returned home. Rini ...Read More

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Awards News 

2018 World Fantasy Award Finalists

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The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2017 has been announced. The awards will be presented November 4, 2018 during the 2018 World Fantasy Convention (WFC) to be held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore MD.

The Lifetime Achievement Awards, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field, will go to Charles de Lint and Elizabeth Wollheim.

The World Fantasy Awards ...Read More

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Locus science fiction review Red Clocks Leni Zumas
Books Reviews 

Ian Mond Reviews Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

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Red Clocks, Leni Zumas (Little, Brown and Company 978-0316434812, $26.00, 368pp, hc) January 2018.

Given that both novels deal with reproductive rights under a repressive regime, it’s not surprising that critics would compare Leni Zumas’s Red Clocks with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The key difference is that while Atwood’s classic is a dystopia where a Christian theocracy has established control, Zumas’s novel is set in the here and now. ...Read More

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Awards News 

2018 Man Booker Longlist

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The 13-title longlist for the Man Booker Prize includes several titles of genre interest:

  • Everything Under, Daisy Johnson (Jonathan Cape)
  • The Water Cure, Sophie Mackintosh (Hamish Hamilton)
  • The Overstory, Richard Powers (William Heinemann)

The award, which includes a £50,000 prize, is presented annually to the best original novel in the English language by a living author. This year’s judges are Kwame Anthony Appiah (chair), Val McDermid, Leo Robson, Jacqueline Rose, ...Read More

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Books Reviews Short Fiction 

Amy Goldschlager Reviews Mad Hatters and March Hares Audiobook, Edited by Ellen Datlow

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Mad Hatters and March Hares: All-New Stories from the World of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Ellen Datlow, ed.; C.S.E. Cooney & Eric Michael Summerer, narrators (Tantor Audio 978-1-5414-1327-6, $42.99, 10 CDs, 12.5 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) December 2017.

It is an interesting experience to listen to an anthology inspired by two so intensely visual books. Both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass ...Read More

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Awards News 

2018 ESFS Awards Winners

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The European Science Fiction Society (ESFS) Hall of Fame Awards, Achievement Awards, and Chrysalis Awards winners have been announced, along with the names of the nominating countries:

European Grand Master:

  • Gérard Klein (France)

Hall of Fame Awards:

Best Author

  • WINNER: Anna Starobinets (Russia)
  • Andreas Brandhorst (Germany)
  • Marc Elsberg (Austria)
  • Clelia Farris (Italy)
  • Laurent Genefort (France)
  • Derek Landy (Ireland)
  • Serhiy Zhadan (Ukraine)

Best Artist

  • WINNER: Milivoj Ćeran (Croatia)
  • Igor Baranko (Ukraine)
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Awards News 

2018 Seiun Awards Winners

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The 57th Japan Science Fiction Convention has announced the 2018 Seiun Awards winners (the Japanese equivalent to the Hugo Awards), honoring the best original and translated works published last year in Japan. The winners for translated works follow.

Best Translated Novel

  • WINNER: Sleeping Giants, Sylvain Neuvel, translated by Chiori Sada (Tokyo Sogensha)
  • The History of Soviet Fantastika, Roman Arbitman, translated by Hiroaki Umemura (Kyōwakoku)
  • The Adjacent, Christopher Priest, translated by
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Awards News 

2018 Mythopoeic Award Winners

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The Mythopoeic Society announced the 2018 Mythopoeic Awards winners at Mythcon 49, held July 20-23, 2018 at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta GA.

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature

  • WINNER: Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, John Crowley (Saga)
  • The Rules of Magic, Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster)
  • Snow City, G.A. Kathryns (Sycamore Sky)
  • Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing)
  • The Changeling, Victor LaValle
...Read More
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Films 

Take a Bao: Josh Pearce and Arley Sorg Discuss Incredibles 2

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Before we can talk about Incredibles 2 we have to talk about Bao. This is the first Pixar short film directed by a woman, Chinese Canadian filmmaker Domee Shi. It centers on a Chinese mother with a case of empty nest syndrome. She gets a second chance at motherhood when one of the dumplings she makes comes to life as a baby boy.

Josh: Is that the official description? That’s ...Read More

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Awards News 

2018 Eisner Awards

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The 2018 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 20, 2018. Winners of SF/F interest include:

Best Single Issue/One-Shot

  • Hellboy: Krampusnacht, Mike Mignola & Adam Hughes (Dark Horse)

Best Continuing Series

  • Monstress, Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda (Image)

Best Limited Series

  • Black Panther: World of Wakanda, Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates & Alitha E. Martinez (Marvel)

Best New Series

  • Black Bolt, Saladin Ahmed
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Awards News 

2018 Scribe Award Winners

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The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers (IAMTW) announced the winners for the 2018 Scribe Awards, honoring excellence in licensed tie-in writing. Winners of genre interest follow.

Original Speculative

  • WINNER: The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase, Greg Cox (Tor)
  • Halo: Legacy of Onyx, Matt Forbeck (Gallery)
  • Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad, Christie Golden (Century)
  • Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours, David Mack (Pocket)
  • Supernatural: The Usual Sacrifices, Yvonne Navarro
...Read More
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Books Reviews 

Russell Letson reviews The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

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The Freeze-Frame Revolution, Peter Watts (Tachyon Publications 978-1-61696-252-4, $14.95, 190pp, tp) June 2018. Cover by Elizabeth Story.

Whether it’s a novella or a short novel (it’s the latter, by a margin of a thousand words, per a note in the author’s Acknowledgments), Peter Watts’s The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a remarkably compressed and elliptical tale. It belongs to a series that began with the Hugo-winning novelette “The Island” (2009) and continued, ...Read More

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Announcements News 

Great American Read

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The Public Broadcasting Service is holding “The Great American Read,” encouraging members of the public to vote from a list of 100 “most-loved” books and series, as selected through a demographically representative nationwide survey in the US. Voting is open through October 18, 2018, and you can vote more than once. PBS is airing eight-episode series The Great American Read, with the winner to be announced in the finale episode. ...Read More

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News Publishing 

Authors Victimized by Embezzler

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Author Chuck Palahniuk and other clients of literary agency Donadio & Olson have collectively lost millions, victims of a long-running embezzlement scheme allegedly run by agency accountant Darin Webb. Webb reportedly confessed to embezzling at least $3.4 million in author advances and royalties from the agency since January 2011. Webb apparently gave a videotaped interview in March 2018 admitting to the theft, saying his reports “contained false and fraudulent representations ...Read More

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Features 

Photo Story: Galactic Philadelphia Reading Series

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Peng Shepherd and Michael R. Underwood read on June 12, 2018 at the Galactic Philadelphia reading series, sponsored by SFWA and curated by Sally Wiener Grotta and Lawrence M. Schoen.

This photo story and more like it in the July 2018 issue of Locus.

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

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Awards News 

2018 RITA and Golden Heart Awards Winners

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The RITA and Golden Heart Awards were presented by the Romance Writers of America at their annual convention in Denver CO on July 19, 2018. The RITA is presented for best novel, and the Golden Heart is a contest for the best novel by an unpublished novelist. Winners of genre interest follow.

RITA for Paranormal Romance:

  • Hunt the Darkness, Stephanie Rowe (Self-published)

RITA for Young Adult Romance:

  • Seize Today, Pintip
...Read More
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Reviews Short Fiction 

Rich Horton Reviews Short Fiction: F&SF, Clarkesworld, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies

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F&SF 5-6/18
Clarkesworld 4/18
Beneath Ceaseless Skies 4/12/18, 4/26/18

In the May-June F&SF my preferred sto­ries were from relatively new voices. Pip Coen‘s first stories appeared last year, and Brian Trent has only been publishing a bit longer. Coen’s “Inquisitive” is the tale of the life of a decidedly non-neurotypical young woman, Saffi Kenyon, and her school career, in which her blunt inquisitiveness puts her on the path to entry ...Read More

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Awards News 

Purcell Wins Thumping Good Read Award

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The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (Raven)  won the 2018 WHSmith Thumping Good Read Award, which has been relaunched after a 15 year hiatus. The winner of the £10,000 prize was decided by combined voting from the public and award judges Peter James and Jojo Moyes.

Established in 1992 by WHSmith booksellers, the Thumping Good Read Award celebrates “the most popular books of the year” and was last awarded in ...Read More

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