Features – Locus Online

Michael Blumlein: Love & Space

June 17, 2019June 4, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Interviews

Michael John Blumlein was born June 28, 1948 in San Francisco CA. He attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco and has worked as a practicing MD and member of the faculty at UCSF for decades.

His first SF story, “Tissue Ablation and Variant Regeneration: A Case Report”(1984) appeared in Interzone. Other notable stories include World Fantasy Award finalist “The Brains of Rats”(1986), Stoker Award finalist “Bestseller”(1990), ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: SF in SF

June 14, 2019May 23, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

An SF in SF reading was held on April 28, 2019 at the American Bookbinders Museum with Peter S. Beagle and Jaymee Goh performing, with guest moderator Cliff Winnig. The event included readings from each author’s work, a Q&A with the audience, and was podcasted by SomaFM. Proceeds from the reading went to the American Bookbinders Museum.

This story and more like it in the June 2019 issue of Locus. ...Read More

Commentary Features Kameron Hurley Slider

Kameron Hurley: The Singular Cure for Burnout

June 10, 2019May 29, 2019 locusmag 2 Comments Commentary, Kameron Hurley

We live in a hustle culture. Trying to manage a living with a singular regular job is increasingly difficult. To freelancers and other working class folks, this isn’t news. As the middle class shrinks, the working class grows, and so does the working class hustle.

There’s an expectation that we all have side hustles. How are we monetizing our hobbies, our passions? Do you pick up odd jobs? Have you ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: Madle Still Going Strong

June 7, 2019May 23, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

Curt Phillips recently visited writer and fan Robert A. “Bob” Madle, “First Fandom founder, WW II veteran, and science fiction’s master bookseller.” Madle turns 99 on June 2, and Phillips reports he is still selling rare books and magazines and “doing very well… active, sharp as a tack, and still loving science fiction and fandom as much as ever…. He was there at fandom’s beginnings and he’s with us still.” ...Read More

Features Slider Spotlight

Spotlight on: Sarah Gailey

June 1, 2019May 28, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Spotlight

Your first novel Magic for Liars is forthcoming from Tor in June (exciting!) and combines detective story and magic school tropes. Tell us a bit about the book. What appeals to you about those particular tropes? Did working with both create extra challenges or just give you more elements to play with?

Magic for Liars follows Ivy Gamble, P.I., as she investigates the murder of a faculty member at a ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: Galactic Philadelphia

May 24, 2019May 7, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

The April Galactic Philadelphia reading was held April 2, 2019 at their new venue, the Free Library of Philadelphia (Central Branch), with Paul Levinson and Sarah Beth Durst performing. Co-curators Sally Wiener Grotta & Lawrence M. Schoen were in attendance, along with Dena Heilik, head of the fiction department at the library.

This story and more like it in the May 2019 issue of Locus.

While you are here, please ...Read More

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Ilana C. Myer: Troubadour Magic

May 20, 2019April 30, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Interviews

Ilana C. Myer was born Ilana Chaya Teitelbaum on January 19, 1981 in Queens NY, and moved to Israel with her family when she was 12 years old. She came back to the US to study English at Queens College in New York while working as a receptionist, administrative assistant, and executive assistant. She later returned to Israel, where she started a journalism career and co-founded Middle East environment blog ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: Rainforest Writers Village

May 17, 2019May 7, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

The annual Rainforest Writers Village retreat, hosted by Patrick Swenson and Fairwood Press, was held at Lake Quinault WA in three sessions: Feb 20-24, Feb 27-March 3, and March 6-10, 2019. For more: <www.rainforestwriters.com>.

This report and more like it in the May 2019 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 ...Read More

Roundtable

Seanan McGuire Guest Post–“Not a Prison”

May 13, 2019June 17, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

What’s a genre, anyway? Some have very firm, rigid rules, and deviation is so easy that it’s easier to say what isn’t part of the genre than what is. The dictionary definition states that genres have socially agreed upon conventions, developed over time (this is why, for example, the goalposts of science fiction and urban fantasy are forever moving).

Well, we know when something isn’t part of a genre. HEA (short for “happily ...Read More

Features Interviews

G. Willow Wilson: Taking Flight

May 13, 2019June 17, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Interviews

Gwendolyn Willow Wilson was born August 31, 1982 in Longbranch NJ and grew up in Colorado. She attended Boston University, where she studied history with a focus on the Middle East. After graduation, she taught at an English-language school in Cairo for a semester, then began working there as a journalist, writing primarily about the Middle East. Her journalism has appeared in Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, and ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: Parallel Lit

May 10, 2019May 7, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

Meg Elison hosted the launch of Parallel Lit, her new East Bay reading series, April 12, 2019 at Paulista in Oakland CA. Authors Rebecca Gomez-Farrell, Tim Pratt, Caroline Ratajski, and Juliette Wade read from their work before being interviewed by Elison and taking audience questions.

This story and more like it in the May 2019 issue of Locus.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with ...Read More

Commentary Cory Doctorow Features

Cory Doctorow: Steering with the Windshield Wipers

May 6, 2019June 3, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Commentary, Cory Doctorow

Take off your glasses for a sec (you’re a Locus reader, so I’m guessing that you, like me, are currently wearing prescription eyewear) and have a look at the manufacturer’s name on the temples. Specifically, check to see if they were made by Armani, Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Chanel, Coach, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Oakley, Oliver Peoples, Persol, Polo Ralph Lauren, Ray-Ban, Tiffany, Valentino, Vogue, or Versace. If so, ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: Bastard Legion

April 26, 2019March 26, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

Bastard Legion, a band formed in honor of Gavin Smith’s series of the same name, recorded a song inspired by the novels, “The Hangman’s Daughter”, with a video here: <www.gavingsmith.com/the-bastard-legion>.

This and more like it in the April 2019 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 and site ...Read More

Features Spotlight

Spotlight on: David Baldacci

April 19, 2019March 26, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Spotlight

DAVID BALDACCI published his first novel, Absolute Power, in 1996. The feature film adaptation followed, with Clint Eastwood as its director and star. Baldacci has published 37 novels for adults; all have been national and international bestsellers, and several have been adapted for film and television. His novels are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 130 million worldwide sales. Baldacci has also ...Read More

Roundtable

Jack Skillingstead Guest Post–“Crisis Points”

April 17, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

Your life, whether you know it or not, has been shaped by crisis points. They come in all shapes and sizes, from personal life decisions—whether to divorce, who you choose to trust in a dangerous situation, what seat you pick when you purchase tickets on a flight you didn’t know would crash—to geopolitical events with staggering consequences. You can also think of crisis points as pivot points, a moment or ...Read More

Features Interviews

Sarah Beth Durst: Love the Journey

April 15, 2019May 20, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Interviews

Sarah Beth Durst was born Sarah Beth Angelini on May 23, 1974, in Northboro MA. She attended Princeton University, graduating in 1996 with a degree in English with a concentration in theater and dance. She lived in England with her husband-to-be for a year, then returned to Massachusetts, and eventually settled in Stony Brook NY.

Durst writes fantasy for adults, young adults, and children. Her debut novel, middle-grade Into the ...Read More

Roundtable

Taran Matharu Guest Post–“Creating the World of a New Book Series”

April 15, 2019April 29, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

My name is Taran Matharu, and I am the New York Times bestselling author of the Summoner series, a high fantasy saga that has sold over a million copies.

The Chosen (Contender #1) is my first foray into science fiction, combining my passion for history, palaeontology, unsolved mysteries and outer space. Here’s the blurb:

Throughout history, people have vanished with no explanation. A group of teenagers are about to discover ...Read More

Features

SF in India: Report of the 17th Indian Science Fiction Conference

April 12, 2019March 26, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

The 17th Indian Science Fiction Conference was held December 15-16, 2018 at Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The conference was organized by the Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies in Bangalore in collaboration with Indian Science Writers Association, Ayodhya and MCIIE, IIT, Benaras at Indian Institute of Technology.

The theme of the conference was “Technology and Science Fiction”. Presentations dealt with myth and technology in the post-colonial era, ...Read More

Features Interviews

Jasper Fforde: Narrative Dare

April 8, 2019May 13, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Interviews

JASPER FFORDE was born January 11, 1961 in London. After graduating from Dartington Hall School, he worked in the film industry as a focus puller and cinematographer for nearly 20 years before becoming a novelist. His bestselling novels are “a joyful blend of Comedy-SF-thriller-Crime-Satire,” and his fans gather every May in Swindon, England for the annual “Fforde Ffiesta” celebrating his work.

Debut novel The Eyre Affair, a comic fantasy ...Read More

Roundtable

Brenda Cooper and Joey Eschrich Guest Post–“From Guilt To Hope: Why We Write Climate Fiction”

April 8, 2019April 17, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

In the shadow of several years of climate chaos, from devastating hurricanes and unforeseen droughts to migrant crises, climate fiction is experiencing a surge of popularity in speculative and other literature. There is an emerging global consciousness that climate change is present and urgent, and that it affects all of us even if its impacts vary wildly depending on who and where you are.

Climate fiction often depicts people who ...Read More

Commentary Features Kameron Hurley

Kameron Hurley: The Future Is Intrinsically Hopeful

April 1, 2019May 7, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Commentary, Kameron Hurley

I recently finished the first draft of a long-overdue fantasy novel called The Broken Heavens, last in a trilogy. Instead of celebrating, however, I found myself filled with post-post weariness. Endings are bittersweet, and this one was especially so. While I began writing this series in earnest about ten years ago, the kernel of its idea – a world where the invaders were alternate versions of the protagonists – ...Read More

Commentary Features

SF Crossing the Gulf—In Conversation with Nathan Ballingrud

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments Podcast, Roundtable, SF Crossing the Gulf

Episode 24a: In conversation with Nathan Ballingrud: “The Good Husband”

In a follow up to our previous podcast, we had the very great pleasure of chatting with the lovely Nathan Ballingrud, author of “The Good Husband”, about the themes and inspiration for his story about a marriage gone awry, and his new works (both film and text) in 2019. Best to read “The Good Husband” first or, if you must ...Read More

Commentary Features

SF Crossing the Gulf—Transformative Horror

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments Podcast, Roundtable, SF Crossing the Gulf

Episode 24: Transformative Horror: “The Fruit of My Woman” by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith) and “The Good Husband” by Nathan Ballingrud

Ballingrud’s work is frightening, Kang’s is surreal, and both are disturbingly beautiful in their portrayal of how a person’s radical transformation can destabilize their marriage… or are they about how marriage can precipitate a radical transformation? Tune in to hear us tease out the nuances of these ...Read More

Roundtable

Ken Liu Guest Post–“Is It Possible to Learn About China by Reading Chinese Science Fiction?”

March 26, 2019March 14, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

As a child, I was first exposed to life in the West through Chinese translations of American science fiction. While I couldn’t see E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (because back then Hollywood films weren’t shown in China), I did get to read the Chinese translation of Kotzwinkle’s novelization. To this day, I have fond memories of the nigh-incomprehensible footnote explaining Dungeons & Dragons to the reader—just try imagining accomplishing this feat in ...Read More

Roundtable

Alastair Reynolds Guest Post–“The Past and Future of Time Travel”

March 19, 2019March 13, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 0 Comments

I owe a lot to Doctor Who, but not my enduring affection for the time travel story. In my formative years, the Time Lords had grounded the Doctor, the Tardis confined to a corner of the laboratory while an endless parade of monsters kept trying to invade or blow up nineteen-seventies Earth.

What did it for me—what opened my mind to the imaginative possibilities of time travel—was HG Wells. ...Read More

Features Interviews

S.A. Chakraborty: Feels Like Magic

March 18, 2019May 6, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Interviews

SHANNON CHAKRABORTY was born December 7, 1985 in New Jersey. She studied international relations and Middle Eastern history at American University before moving to Brooklyn to work in a medical office. While working in healthcare, she joined the Brooklyn Speculative Fictions Writers group and began developing her craft with early stories set in the world that would become the Daevabad trilogy, an epic political fantasy inspired by medieval Islamic history. ...Read More

Roundtable

Cinda Williams Chima Guest Post–“Can a Pantser Find Success Writing Series Fantasy?”

March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 Alvaro Zinos-Amaro 3 Comments

“Writing a novel is as if you are going off on a journey across a valley. The valley is full of mist, but you can see the top of a tree here and the top of another tree over there. And with any luck you can see the other side of the valley. But you cannot see down into the mist. Nevertheless, you head for the first tree.” — Terry ...Read More

Commentary Features

Horror Round-Up 2018 by Ellen Datlow

March 15, 2019March 16, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Ellen Datlow

As usual, I mostly read short horror fiction, but among the novels I read I found several good ones to recommend: Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman (Del Rey) is a weird, deeply dark western about the eponymous woman, who has suffered from a condition since childhood – she periodically falls into a deep coma-like state during which she appears dead. Only a few people know, and one – her husband ...Read More

Commentary Features

Firsts and Lasts by Graham Sleight

March 13, 2019February 14, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments Graham Sleight

As ever, the exercise of trying to infer grand themes from a year’s books (or, more exactly, a year’s reading) is a bit of a lottery. If nothing else, writing and publishing lead-times mean that very few books were a direct verdict on the year in which they were published. But I’d note two themes that struck me. Firstly, it felt like a year when there were more than the ...Read More

Commentary Features

African SFF 2018 by Geoff Ryman

March 11, 2019February 14, 2019 locusmag 1 Comment Geoff Ryman

Calendar year 2018 was dominated by the overwhelming success of the movie Black Panther, which drew a whole new audience to cinemas in cities like Nairobi and Lagos. It inspired a sugar-rush of love, a hastily retitled Nollywood rip off, and a small mini-backlash from those who rewrote Wakanda’s history to make it more credibly African. Elsewhere in film, the Nigerian short Hello Rain, adapted by CJ Obasi ...Read More

Features Interviews

Leigh Bardugo: Radical Balance

March 11, 2019April 15, 2019 locusmag 1 Comment Interviews

LEIGH BARDUGO was born April 6, 1975 in Jerusalem, Israel, and grew up in Southern California. She attended Yale University, graduating with an English degree in 1997, and worked various jobs, including as a copywriter, journalist, and make-up and special effects artist.

Her debut YA novel Shadow and Bone, an epic fantasy, appeared in 2012, and began the Shadow and Bone trilogy that continued with Siege and Storm (2013) ...Read More

Features

Photo Story: Finch for the Stage

March 9, 2019February 25, 2019 locusmag 0 Comments

“The Old Man and C” by Sheila Finch (1989) has been adapted as a stage play by Jason Trucco & David Jager, with a musical score by Carlos Alomar, and debuted in “semi-public” performances on February 10-13, 2019 in New York.

This story and more like it in the March 2019 issue of Locus.

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

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