The American Library Association (ALA) announced the winners of the Youth Media Awards during their LibLearnX conference, at a ceremony held Monday, January 27 in Phoenix AZ. Winners included several works and authors of genre interest.
The Alex Awards honor books for adults that “have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.” This year, at least four adult books of genre interest appeared on the complete list of ...Read More
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The Clarion West writers’ workshop has announced a new scholarship for “trans, two-spirit, nonbinary, and other gender-expansive authors.” The Sea Star scholarship, funded by an anonymous donor, will cover full annual tuition (currently $3200) for one qualifying student per year. Clarion states:
Trans, two-spirit, nonbinary, and other gender expansive authors who continue to change and inform the landscape of speculative fiction for the better. We know that trans writers are ...Read More
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The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has announced the longlist for the 2024 NBCC awards for books “published in English (including translations) in the United States.” Authors and titles of genre interest include:
Criticism
Fiction
FairyLoot and Transworld Publishers have announced a new fantasy imprint, to launch in fall 2025. FairyLoot is a fantasy book subscription box company specializing in illustrated and deluxe editions, and Transworld is a division of Penguin Random House UK, one of the UK’s “Big Four.”
The new imprint’s name and logo will be revealed at the London Book Fair in March 2025.
The Bookseller reports:
The fantasy imprint will discover ...Read More
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Andy Cox and Richard Wagner, who worked together on Black Static and Interzone, announced the launch of a new horror magazine, Remains. The quarterly magazine will feature all-new horror fiction, columns, and features; stories will be illustrated by Wagner, who has contributed cover and interior art for Black Static and more.
From a Facebook post via Livia Llewellyn, Cox announced:
REMAINS. 100 colour pages of new horror fiction. Smells nice. ...Read More
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The longlist for the 2025 International Dylan Thomas Prize has been announced and includes several works of genre interest amongst the twelve selected.
The annual Dylan Thomas prize, in partnership with Swansea University, awards £20,000 “to the best published or produced literary work in the
Ellen Datlow is accepting submissions for her 17th Best Horror of the Year anthology, to be published by Night Shade Books and covering material appearing in 2025.
I am looking for stories and poetry from all branches of horror: supernatural, uncanny, sf horror, psychological, dark crime, terror tales, or anything else that might qualify.
This is an all reprint anthology, so I’ll only consider material published in 2025. Deadline ...Read More
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Terese Svoboda, Shiva Kumar, Austin Grossman, and Grady Hendrix read at the Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn NY on November 19, 2024 as part of the Brooklyn Books & Booze Reading series, hosted by Randee Dawn
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 going, and would ...Read More
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The Audio Publishers Association (APA) has announced the finalists for the 2025 Audie Awards, “recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.” Finalists of genre interest are listed below; narrators are listed in alphabetical order.
Science Fiction
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the preliminary ballot for the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards.
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Several authors and works of genre interest are among the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) 2025 Edgar Awards nominees.
Best Novel
Best First Novel
Best Critical/Biographical
Best Short Story
The National Book Foundation, together with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, announced the selected books for the 2025 Science + Literature program. The 2025 fiction selection is science fiction novel The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel (Riverhead), along with two other selections in non-fiction and poetry.
The Science + Literature program, supported by a grant from the Sloan Foundation, identifies three books across fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, that “deepen readers’ ...Read More
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Author and longtime Locus editor Laurel Amberdine, 54, died January 21, 2025 of cancer.
Born 1970, Amberdine was a devout Catholic who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and later lived in the Bay Area and Portland OR. She joined Locus in 2015, where she worked as an assistant editor and web editor; she was instrumental in revamping Locusmag.com and keeping it up and running. She was also an ...Read More
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Author Howard Andrew Jones, 56, died January 16, 2025. He was diagnosed with brain cancer (multifocal glioblastoma) in September 2024.
Jones was born in Terre Haute IN. He worked as a TV cameraman, recycling consultant, editor of technical books, and writing instructor at the University of Southern Indiana. In addition to writing, he ran a small family farm in Indiana.
He began publishing with historical fantasy novel The Desert of ...Read More
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Laura Lippman and John Sandford have been named the 2025 Mystery Writers of America (MWA) Grand Masters. Lippman said,
It was a little humbling how many cliches rushed into my brain when I found out I was to be named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America. Things like ‘This is a dream come true!’ and ‘I can’t believe this is happening!’ were, alas, my initial responses. […] I ...Read More
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Sean Markey has announced the relaunch of Fantasy Magazine, with the first issue scheduled to publish June 1, 2025. Fantasy will be joining sibling magazine The Deadlands under the Psychopomp publishing umbrella. Sean has named Arley Sorg and Shingai Njeri Kagunda as co-Editors-in-Chief.
Fantasy Magazine will publish original short fiction, flash fiction, and poetry on a quarterly basis. Subscriptions will be available to support the magazine, which will also provide ...Read More
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The 2025 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award contest will open from January 20 through April 30, 2025. The contest is for short stories of no more than 8,000 words that depict adventure in any fantasy subgenre. Baen wants
Adventure fantasy with heroes you want to root for. Warriors either modern or medieval, who solve problems with their wits or with their weapons—and we have nothing against dragons, elves, dwarves, castles under ...Read More
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MARK W. TIEDEMANN is now represented by Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency.
ESPAÑA SHERIFF is the winner of the 2024 Rotsler Award for “long-time wonder-working with graphic art in amateur publications of the science fiction community,’’ announced during Loscon 50, held November 29 – December 1, 2024 at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel in Los Angeles CA. The award was established in 1998 by the ...Read More
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The 71-title longlist for the Dublin Literary Award has been announced. Titles and authors of genre interest follow.
Seattle Worldcon 2025 is hosting a short story writing contest, with submissions closing January 20, 2025.
The story contest has separate categories for adult and young adult writers.
The winners in each category will be recognized at the convention, receive free memberships to [Worldcon], and have their stories published in an upcoming anthology by Grim Oak Press. Stories must draw inspiration from our Worldcon theme: Building Yesterday’s Future – For
In August 2024 we reported on allegations of sexual misconduct against author Neil Gaiman, and followed up regarding further accusations in September.
Journalist Lila Shapiro reported extensively on the allegations and Gaiman’s history in a cover story for New York magazine, “There Is No Safe Word”, published January 13, 2025 (contains content that readers may find disturbing, including graphic allegations of sexual assault). Her article revisits those allegations in detail, ...Read More
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There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr. (Mariner) is among the three finalists for The Story Prize 2025, “honoring the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction.”
Finalists are selected by Larry Dark, director of the Prize, and Founder Julie Lindsey. From these finalists, a winner is selected by “three independent judges.” This year, judges were Elliott Holt, writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and bookseller Lucy ...Read More
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Diamond Comic Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US court in January 2025. They have secured $41 million in financing from JP Morgan Chase bank to “fund post-petition operating expenses and ensure adequate working capital to meet its obligations to associates and suppliers.” A letter to distributors from president Chuck Parker says,
I’m writing to share one of the most challenging messages of my career.
Earlier today, Diamond made ...Read More
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Four category winners have been announced for the Nero Book Awards for 2024 titles. Of genre interest are Lost in the Garden by Adam S. Lesie (Dead Ink) and The Twelve by Liz Hyder, illustrated by Tom De Freston (Pushkin).
The Awards are run by Caffè Nero, and have four categories: Children’s Fiction, Debut Fiction, Fiction and Non-Fiction. The winners receive £5,000.
From these four winners, one book will be ...Read More
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The 2025 Philip K. Dick Award finalists have been announced:
The award is presented annually to a distinguished work
Grist, the online environmental magazine, has announced three winners for their Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors Short Story Contest. The contest asks authors to imagine “the future we want — futures in which climate solutions flourish and we all thrive.”
The winners are:
Lee Murray is among those appointed by King Charles III as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in recognition of her “services to literature, particularly speculative literature.” ONZM officers will be presented with ONZM insignia at an investiture to be held at New Zealand’s Government House later in the year. The complete ONZM list celebrates 30 people for their contributions to New Zealand across various cultural, ...Read More
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The Washington Science Fiction Association is now accepting nominations of works “published for the first time in the English language” in 2024 for its Small Press Award, given annually to an outstanding story of “imaginative literature” (17,500 words or fewer) published in the small press. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2025 at 11:59pm ET.
Authors and small-press publishers are among those eligible to nominate, and need not be ...Read More
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Author Andrew Pyper, 56, died January 3, 2025 at home in Toronto, Canada of cancer. Pyper published 14 novels, many thrillers with speculative elements.
Andrew Derek Pyper was born January 4, 1968 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. He graduated from McGill University with an English degree, and went to law school at the University of Toronto. Though he passed the Bar in 1996, he never practiced law, instead becoming a full-time ...Read More
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The judges for the 2025 World Fantasy Awards have been empaneled.
The judges will read and consider eligible materials from 2024 between now (January 6, 2025) and June 1, 2025. To be considered for awards, all materials must be received by all five judges and Peter Dennis Pautz by June 1, 2025. “If… something is received on May 31 the judges may well have only one day to read it ...Read More
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Wizard’s Tower Press has announced the new Wiz Duo novella series, edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall, to launch in early 2025. Each volume “will contain two novella-length stories from different writers.” The first two books include stories by David Gullen and Ben Wright, and Juliet Kemp and E.M. Faulds. Their novellas were first acquired by the now-defunct Grimbold Books. Publisher Cheryl Morgan said:
While I love reading novellas, ...Read More
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