The inaugural event in the new ephemera reading series took place on November 6, 2019 at Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto, Canada, featuring Madeline Ashby, Rati Mehrotra, and Kelly Robson, as well as a drag performance by Titus Androgynous and Henrietta VIII. Readings will be held on the first Wednesday of each month and are hosted by PodCastle co-editor Jen R. Albert & fantasy author KT Bryski. Funding is provided ...Read More

Europa SF, the “Pan-European Speculative Fiction Portal,” announced that it will shut down effective December 20, 2019 after seven years of providing English-language news and information covering European fandom. In a Facebook announcement, they cited hosting costs and portal maintenance as the main reasons, and are asking for anyone interested in taking over the portal and domain name to contact them.

[via File770. Edited 12/19/2019 to add the following:]

Cristian ...Read More

Audible.com has announced their Best of 2019 lists, selected by their editorial team. Titles of genre interest include:

The Guardian announced its list of best science fiction and fantasy books in 2019, selected by Adam Roberts: ...Read More

The China Science Fiction Research Institute was jointly established by Sichuan University, the Sichuan Association for Science and Technology, and Science Fiction World magazine with “the aim of supporting the development of the sci-fi industry and related literary and artistic endeavours,” and was announced during the fifth China Science Fiction Conference in Chengdu, China. Chengdu is currently supporting a bid to host the 2023 Worldcon.

The institute will also publish ...Read More

The Financial Times has released its Books of the Year 2019 lists, selected by “FT commentators, critics and guests.” The Best Books of 2019: Science Fiction were chosen by James Lovegrove:

While you are here, please take a ...Read More

The New York Times is changing up its bestseller lists again. They’re bringing back the mass-market paperback list (dropped in 2017) on a monthly basis, and run­ning a new monthly combined list for “graphic books” including fiction, non-fiction, and manga for children and adults. Middle-grade and young-adult paperback bestsellers will also be listed monthly, after being discontinued in 2017. The lists are coming back “due to continued reader interest and ...Read More

Andy Duncan has stepped down as SFWA Member at Large because the position “deserves to be held by someone who can devote much more time and energy to the job than I can.” He will continue “serving the organization in other capacities” and remains “commit­ted to the mission of SFWA.” He is replaced by James Beamon, one of the runners-up in the elec­tion.

While you are here, please take a ...Read More

Kirkus has announced its selections for Best Fiction of 2019, including titles and authors of genre interest in several categories:

Jim Freund’s venerable SF radio call-in show Hour of the Wolf has gone off the air after nearly 50 years. The show aired on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York, but on October 8, 2019, the station’s owner Pacifica Across America canceled all local programming and replaced it with shows from other stations due to “financial losses.” The closure came without warning, and station employees and volunteers vowed to take ...Read More

Stephen & Tabitha King have received city council approval to rezone their Bangor ME home as a non-profit, with plans to turn it into a museum. Stephen King’s personal archives, previously housed at the University of Maine, will be moved to the home and made available to scholars and other visitors by appointment. A house next door, also owned by the Kings, will accommodate up to five writers-in-residence at a ...Read More

LaShawn M. Wanak is the new editor of GigaNotoSaurus, taking over from Elora Gatts. As previously announced, Gatts had assumed the role in December of 2018.

Wanak is a book reviewer for Lightspeed and served as an associate editor at PodCastle from 2013 to 2015. She says,

I know it’s been a while since GigaNotoSaurus has published a new story. Therefore, I’ll be closing submissions this Friday, August 9, 2019, ...Read More

Jesmyn Ward will give this year’s annual Eudora Welty Lecture, celebrating “creative origins in the spirit of Welty’s treasured One Writer’s Beginnings.” The event is sponsored by the Eudora Welty Foundation and will be held October 16, 2019 at the Folger Theatre in Washington DC.

For more information, see the Folger website.

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

In January 2019, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America announced that their mini­mum payment rate for professional short fiction markets (“the SFWA pro rate”) would increase to eight cents per word on September 1, 2019, and that rate has now gone into effect. Only stories sold at 8¢/word or above can qualify authors for membership in SFWA, though writers applying for membership qualify on the basis of the ...Read More