Rebecca F. Kuang was born May 29, 1996 in Guangzhou, China. Her family moved to the US in 2000. She grew up in Dallas TX, and went to college at Georgetown in Washington DC, where she studied history. She took a year off as an undergrad to live in Beijing and teach debate to high school students; in her free time, she worked on her first novel. She attended the ...Read More
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WisCon 43 was held May 24-27, 2019 at the Concourse Hotel in balmy Madison WI, with Charlie Jane Anders and G. Willow Wilson as guests of honor. There were 940 full memberships sold, plus 51 teen/youth/child memberships (including many donated and assisted memberships). Programming offered 109 panels, solo presentations, and roundtables, focused on SF/F literature, diversity, feminism, disability, criticism, and more. There were 14 group readings plus GoH readings for ...Read More
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Editor Stephen Jones celebrated the publication of Best New Horror #29 (PS Publishing) – his 150th book! – at a signing in London on June 8, 2019, with contributors Kim Newman and Reggie Oliver.
This photo story and more like it in the July 2019 issue of Locus.
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Write a trilogy, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
*sigh*
I should start by saying that the Verity Fassbinder series began as a standalone short story. “Brisneyland by Night” was written at Clarion South in 2009 and caught the eye of someone who helpfully suggested it would make an excellent series if I could manage it.
Ignorance is not only bliss but also a kind of protective Teflon coating ...Read More
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Benjamin Allen H. Winters (he added the “H” after he got married; it’s the first letter of his wife’s maiden name) was born June 14, 1976 in Washington DC and grew up in Maryland. He attended Washington University in St. Louis MO. Winters played in a punk band and wrote and performed in theater before switching his focus to writing. He’s lived all over the country, and currently resides in ...Read More
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The 2019 SFWA Nebula Conference was held May 16-19 at the Warner Center Marriott Woodland Hills in sunny California for the first of two years. There were 465 warm bodies of the record-breaking 475 registered members, compared to 356 in 2018. The hotel was comfortable, with spacious mingling areas, a well-appointed bar, and eateries within a few (albeit large) blocks.
Each attendee received a logo-adorned bag stuffed with books. The ...Read More
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Several times over the 13 years that I’ve been writing this column, I’ve railed against the toxic myth that science fiction is a predictive literature, a way to know the future. Science fiction writers are not fortune tellers, and that’s obvious because no one is a (real) fortune teller, because the future is unknowable, and because the future changes based on what we do.
With that said, there are two ...Read More
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This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Hal-Con Japan, which took place at the Kawasaki International Center, April 13-14, 2019, with international guest of honor Lavie Tidhar and Japanese guest of honor Misato Hisa. Past years have included writers like Ken Liu, Ann Leckie, Hannu Rajaniemi, Joe Haldeman, and Alastair Reynolds, with the goal of broadening the science fiction community here in Japan and fostering a more inclusive approach to ...Read More
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Kaaron Warren was born July 3, 1965 in Melbourne Australia.
She began publishing SF with “White Bed” in 1993, and has since published over a hundred stories, including Aurealis Awards winners “A Positive” (1998) and “Air, Water and the Grove” (2013); Ditmar Award winners “Fresh Young Widow” (2005), “The Grinding House” (2005), and “Crisis Apparition” (2018); Stoker Award finalist “All You Can Do Is Breathe” (2011); and World Fantasy Award ...Read More
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Norwescon 42 was held April 18-21, 2019 in SeaTac WA at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport. The theme was “Never Forget Your Towel.” Guests of honor were Mary Robinette Kowal (writer), Tran Nguyen (artist), Dan Koboldt (science), and Nancy Pearl (special guest). Subterranean Press was the spotlight publisher, represented by COO and managing editor Yanni Kuznia. Neil Clarke was honored professional.
Norwescon 43 will be held April 9-12, 2020 ...Read More
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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
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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
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The fifth Bay Area Book Festival took place May 4-5, 2019 in Berkeley CA, with keynotes, interviews, and panels held on ten indoor stages. The festival also included an Outdoor Fair in Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park with over 200 exhibitors and free programming, including many events for children. Books were available for sale through various independent bookstore partners.
The festival included over 300 speakers and panelists, with ...Read More
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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
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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
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StokerCon, sponsored by the Horror Writers Association, was held at the Amway Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids MI, May 9-12, 2019. Guests of honor were Josh Boone (who was unable to attend), Kathe Koja, Josh Malerman, Robert R. McCammon, Kaaron Warren, and Stephanie M. Wytovich; Jonathan Maberry was emcee, giving a “moving opening speech” and keeping the “pace of the awards brisk.” Graham Masterton was the recipient of the Lifetime ...Read More
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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“We’re living in a time of walls,” said filmmaker Alex Rivera when introducing Sleep Dealer at the start of the 43rd Williamson Lectureship April 4-6, 2019 in Portales NM. “It’s a global obsession. How do we tell stories in such a world? In my film, I try to cross the consciousness of walls by looking at them, through them, and beyond them.”
Trans-border fantasies and nightmares were timely subjects for ...Read More
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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.
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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
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The 40th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) took place March 13-16, 2019 at the Orlando Airport Marriot Hotel, with a theme of “Politics and Conflict.” Academics, writers, publishers, editors, artists, students, independent scholars, and more participated, with about 480 people attending (up from 457 last year) and about 285 either presenting a paper or appearing on a panel (down from 306 last year). G. Willow Wilson ...Read More
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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