Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy (WSMA) in Pasadena CA announced a new science fiction writing contest named in honor of alumnus Octavia E. Butler. Last year, the school renamed its library after Butler as well. Librarian Natalie Daily said, It’s the idea of [Butler] representing a very, unique way of integrating science and the arts, and bringing that to the world and her award-winning writing. And we want to inspire our
A new Star Wars novel by Charles Soule, Light of the Jedi (Del Rey), debuts on three print lists.
Alix E. Harrow was born November 9, 1989 in Idaho and grew up in Colorado and Kentucky. She went to Berea College at age 16, graduating in 2009 with a degree in history. She worked various jobs, including as a research assistant, cashier, housekeeper, instructional designer, and migrant farmworker, before earning a master’s in history at the University of Vermont. She taught history at Eastern Kentucky University before becoming a
The Clerk, Guillermo Saccomanno (Open Letter 978-1-948-83025-6, $15.95, 138pp, tp) September 2020. Going back to the country’s independence in 1816, Argentina has been a rich source of genre and genre-adjacent fiction. Most will be aware of Jorge Luis Borges – the father of magical realism – but there’s also Silvina Ocampo, Carlos Gardini, and Angélica Gorodischer, whose 1979 mosaic novel Trafalgar was finally translated into English in 2013 thanks to
Ready Player Two, Ernest Cline (Ballantine 978-1524761332, $28.99, 384pp, hardcover) November 2020 I am not often bowled over by first novels, but I admit to being very delighted and impressed with Ernest Cline’s bestseller, Ready Player One, when it appeared nearly ten years ago. I was then a judge for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and cast my vote to ensure it got on the shortlist as one of
» Guardian: Eric Brown reviews CK McDonnnell, Derek B Miller, HM Long, Louise Carey, and Ernest Cline » NYT: The Essential Octavia Butler » WaPo: Let’s talk about fantasy and science fiction books that have fallen off the radar, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar
The late Michael Crichton’s production company, publisher, and archive, CrichtonSun, has announced a partnership with Range Media Partners to develop new TV series and an adaptation of an unpublished work. CrichtonSun president Sherri Crichton says, “We’re thrilled to have found true creative partners at Range. They share our passion of preserving the Crichton legacy and we look forward to tapping into their imaginative minds and exciting pool of talent to
Snow, Glass, Apples, Neil Gaiman & Colleen Doran (Dark Horse 978-1-50670-979-6, $17.99, unpaginated, hc) August 2019. Cover by Colleen Doran. Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover, Trina Robbins (It’s Alive 978-1-7325915-2-3, $24.99, 80pp, hc) September 2019. Cover by Trina Robbins. Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark, Ulla Thynell (Chronicle Books, 978-1-4521-7447-1, $22.95, 160pp, hc) August 2019. Cover by Ulla Thynell. Snow, Glass, Apples is a unique,
Author and publisher Storm Constantine, 64, died January 14, 2021 following a long illness. She was best known as the author of the Wraeththu series, and as the publisher of Immanion Press, founded in 2003, which published her own work and that of other authors including Tanith Lee, Michael Moorcock, and Brian Stableford. Born October 12, 1956 in Stafford, England, Constantine attended art school in the 1970s, and worked in
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) is the subject of the 33rd stamp in the Literary Arts series from the United States Postal Service. The stamp features a portrait of Le Guin and a background scene from The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) with art by Donato Giancola, and will be available later this year. “The words ‘three ounce’ on this stamp indicate its usage value. Like a Forever stamp, this
Jason Sizemore is the founder of Apex Publications, which publishes books and also produced Hugo Award finalist Apex Magazine (formerly Apex Digest) from 2005-2019, when the journal went on hiatus. The magazine has now been reborn, and Sizemore talked to us a bit about the history and future of the project. After going on hiatus in 2019, Apex is coming back. Tell us about why you shut down, and why
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, Garth Nix (Katherine Tegen Books 978-0-06-268325-0, $19.99, 416pp, hc) September 2020. In a version of 1983 London that is just a bit not-like the actual 1983 London, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father. Her mother, whose memories of Susan’s conception are fond but hazy, can provide only the vaguest of clues as to his identity, thus prompting her summertime quest. Susan’s plan to find
Some 70 years or so after the events of Wonder Woman, 1984 finds the titular hero (Gal Gadot) whiling away her time curating artifacts and impressing mortals with her beauty and charm. She seems to be keeping a low profile, at least until struggling entrepreneur Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) acquires an ancient magical device and threatens to destroy the world in his quest for ultimate power. Wonder Woman must find
Amara Hoshijo has joined Saga Press as an editor. She previously worked on science fiction titles at Soho Press including The Seep by Chana Porter, Annie and the Wolves by Andromeda Romano-Lax, and the forthcoming Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney. Saga editorial director Joe Monti said, Amara has a keen perspective and a high level of enthusiasm for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror that will be a boon to
Reconstruction, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Small Beer 978-1-618731777, $17.00, 278pp, tp) November 2020. Like a number of writers who have arrived with a splash in the last decade or two, Alaya Dawn Johnson seems to have written nearly as many novels as short stories. That’s not actually the case, of course – her website lists seven novels, and her first collection, Reconstruction, contains ten stories – but it’s probably fair to
Goldilocks, Laura Lam (Orbit 978-0-316-46286-0, $27.00, 244pp, hc) May 2020. Laura Lam’s Goldilocks opens with five women stealing a small space shuttle, one that will get them to a space station in Earth’s orbit. From there, they’ll hijack the Atalanta, a much larger ship able to travel faster than the speed of light (or so they think), which they’ll pilot to Cavendish, a “Goldilocks” planet that should support human life.
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced six recipients of its $500 diversity grants, given “to underrepresented, diverse people who have an interest in the horror writing genre, including, but not limited to writers, editors, reviewers, and library workers.” The recipients are Jacqueline Dyre, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Gabino Iglesias, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Tejaswi Priyadarshi, and Sumiko Saulson. The grants are funded in part by NoveList, LibraryReads, ARRT, and RA for All. For more
Submissions are now open for the Imagine 2200 short story contest. The theme is “Climate fiction for future ancestors.” The contest is run by Fix, Grist‘s “solutions lab,” and will be judged by authors Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Jerkins, and Kiese Laymon. They are seeking entries between 3,000 and 5,000 words “that envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress.” First prize is $3,000, second prize $2,000, and third
Pacific Storm, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island Press, 978-1937197339, $14.00, 264 pp, tp) October 2020. Linda Nagata made her reputation with far-far-future adventures featuring near-magical nanotechnology and post-human characters, but in the last few years she has also developed a strong line of closer-to-home scenarios. This day-after-tomorrow work has veered toward military SF in her Red Trilogy (2013-15) and toward the technothriller in The Last Good Man (2017), both of which
Ellen Datlow is accepting submissions for her 14th The Best Horror of the Year anthology, to be published by Night Shade Books and covering material appearing in 2021. 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 2021. Deadline
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue ascends into the top 10 on three print lists, while the #1 selling title on Amazon.com this morning is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Andrea Hairston was born July 9, 1952, in Pittsburgh PA, and lived there until she moved to Massachusetts to attend Smith College at 18, where she studied physics and math before switching to theater. She did graduate work at Brown, and has taught theater in the US and Germany. She is currently the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Africana Studies at Smith College, and the Artistic Director
Baffling 10/20 Weird Horror Fall ’20 Fantasy 11/20 Fall 2020 brought a new online magazine, a new print periodical, and the return of a digital magazine. Baffling launched October 1, 2020 with four “unapologetically queer and unashamedly weird” stories of under 1,200 words. (Going forward they will publish one flash story a month on Patreon, compile the offerings quarterly, then publish that for free online.) Baffling #1 offers a welcome
PS Publishing has announced that it will take over publication of Interzone magazine from TTA Press, which also produces the Black Static and Crimewave magazines. Ian Whates of NewCon Press will replace Andy Cox as editor. PS co-founder Peter Crowther said, “The call came on the Saturday before Christmas Day, from Andy Cox, Main Man of Interzone magazine who wanted to know if I fancied taking on IZ’s production reins, thereby giving
The Association of Authors’ Representatives (the professional organization for literary agents) has changed its name to the Association of American Literary Agents. They say the new name “better reflects the membership and aligns the organization with its core mission of empowering and educating literary agents.” They’re updating their website to reflect the new branding and to “offer deeper resources for members and writers.” They’ve added a non-profit division, Literary Agents
Art of Gary Gianni for George R.R. Martin’s Seven Kingdoms, Gary Gianni (Flesk Publications 978-1-64041-022-0, $49.95, 303pp, hc) March 2020. Cover by Gary Gianni. It’s easy to get lost in the expressive, romantic linework and painting of master artist Gary Gianni’s illustrations for George R.R. Martin’s Seven Kingdoms. Somehow the heroes and heroines of A Song of Ice and Fire look more heroic, the villains more dastardly, and the humor
Yesterday’s Tomorrows: The Story of Classic British Science Fiction in 100 Books, Mike Ashley (British Library Published 978-0712353717, £15.00, 320pp, trade paperback) October 2020 (US edition titled Yesterday’s Tomorrows: The Story of Science Fiction in 100 Books, May 2021). The British Library wants to share their wealth. Realizing that many of their 25 million books have undeservedly faded from current memory and attention, the BL has embarked on three series
The litigation between Chooseco (which holds the trademark for “Choose Your Own Adventure” books) and Netflix regarding the latter’s interactive movie Black Mirror: Bandersnatch has ended. The two companies informed their judge in November 2020 that they’d reached a settlement, though terms were not disclosed. Chooseco argued that Netflix appropriated their protected imagery and terminology without permission. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a
Middle-earth Journeys in Myth and Legend, Donato Giancola (Dark Horse 978-1-50671-086-0, $29.99, 199pp, hc) April 2019. Cover by Donato Giancola. Much-awarded and acclaimed classical realist artist Donato Giancola has such technical mastery that he is able to depict powerful, memorable images in both SF and fantasy throughout his career. From spacesuits to hobbits, he can and has done it all. Here he takes a deep, delicious dive into all things
German SF looks back upon a history found in many other European countries: 17th and 18th-century proto-SF (such as Somnium [The Dream] by astronomer Johannes Kepler), a first novel meeting modern SF criteria published at the beginning of the 19th century (Ini. Ein Roman aus dem ein und zwanzigsten Jahrhundert [Ini. A Novel from the Twenty-First Century] by Julius von Voss in 1810 – eight years before Shelley’s Frankenstein), and
The Evidence, Christopher Priest (Gollancz 978-1-473231375, £20.00, 320pp, hc) October 2020. Long before the notion of worldbuilding became catnip for writer’s workshops and convention panels, Christopher Priest was finding new ways to explore and exploit his massive Dream Archipelago, a string of thousands of islands on a world in which the two major countries on a massive continent waged an endless war, mostly through a frozen south polar wasteland much
Beneath Ceaseless Skies 9/24/20 Omenana 8/20 Beneath Ceaseless Skies has so many excuses to celebrate! There are the big round number celebrations, like issue number 300 back in March, as well as September’s calendar anniversary. All the more opportunity to appreciate a venue that has steadfastly brought us excellent fiction from a broad range of writers, always expanding the remit of “literary adventure fantasy” in secondary world settings. September brings
Rise of the Red Hand, Olivia Chadha (Erewhon 978-1645660101, $18.95, 384pp, hardcover) January 2021. Olivia Chadha’s heartfelt, adroit, brisk and thoughtful debut novel proves that everything old is new again. While its “Clutian Real Year” (i.e., the headspace and zeitgeist that birthed it and which provided its themes) is definitely 2020, its soul and blood and sinews are somewhere back in 1985, with the nascent Neuromancer. It’s nth-generation cyberpunk, with
The Extraordinaries, TJ Klune (Tor Teen, 978-1-250-20365-6, $18.99, 399pp, hc) May 2020. TJ Klune follows up The House in the Cerulean Sea with another compelling human drama that is set in a world like our own, but with a few unexpected fantasy elements. In Cerulean Sea it was people with magical abilities; this time around, in The Extraordinaries, it’s somewhat unconventional superheroes. Teen Nick Bell lives with his hard-working father
The Endeavour Award committee has announced the suspension of the 2021 award for books published in 2020. In a statement, they said, Several reasons have led to the suspension. The Covid 19 situation has made it more difficult to run our preliminary judging. In addition to problems stemming from the pandemic, additional problems have contributed to the need to suspend the Award. We expect to begin collecting books published during
The Washington Science Fiction Association is now accepting nominations of “works published for the first time in the English language in 2020” for its Small Press Award, given annually to an outstanding story of “imaginative literature” (17,500 words or fewer) published in the small press. Authors and small-press publishers are among those eligible to nominate, and need not be members of WSFA. Finalists are selected “by a committee of five
This list of 2020 speculative titles in translation was compiled by Rachel Cordasco, who founded and runs site sfintranslation.com as well as the SF in Translation Award. Corrections may be sent to locus@locusmag.com. SF IN TRANSLATION 2020 NOVELS Ashery, Asaf. Simantov, translated from the Hebrew by Marganit Weinberger-Rotman (Angry Robot, April). [Israel] Barba, Andrés. A Luminous Republic, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman (HMH, April). [Spain] Barbery, Muriel. A
Anthropocene Rag, Alex Irvine (Tor.com Publishing 978-1-250-26927-0, $14.99, 256pp, tp) March 2020. I’m still not certain what actually happened in Alex Irvine’s Anthropocene Rag – but I do know that this journey into the heart of a transformed-by-nanotech America is a fascinating ride to take. In the end, that may be all that matters. Irvine’s America is one where the Boom – essentially, programmable bits of tech that are omnipresent
Underneath the Oversea, Marc Laidlaw (Freestyle, $6.99, eb) October 2020. Here’s an experiment I wish I could conduct. I would strip all identifying data from Marc Laidlaw’s new fantasy novel, Underneath the Oversea, and then hand the raw text to a number of savvy lovers of fantastika. I’m willing to bet that many of them would react by saying something along these lines: “Wow! This must be some classic 20th-century
The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey (Peepal Tree) has won the 2020 Costa Novel award. The Costa Book Awards recognizes “some of the most enjoyable books of the year, written by authors based in the UK and Ireland.” Each winner in the five individual categories receives £5,000. The Costa Book of the Year, an award accompanied by a £30,000 prize, will be selected from the category winners and
Artist JAEL, 83, died November 17, 2020. Jael’s artistic career spanned six decades, during which she published hundreds of SF book and magazine cover illustrations, in addition to fine arts work and other commissions. Some of her art was collected in Perceptualistics (2002). She was nominated for eight Chesley Awards from 1985-2002. Jael Ashton was born October 31, 1937, and grew up in Utah. She worked as a professional artist
Public voting is now open for the Analog Science Fiction and Fact Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) and Asimov’s Science Fiction Readers’ Awards, covering works published in their 2020 issues. Readers can select three favorite choices from each magazine in novella, novelette, short story, poem, and cover categories, as well as a “Best Science Fact” article from Analog. The deadline to vote is February 1, 2021. For more information, see the Analog
Ernest Cline’s Ready Player Two still ranks #2 on two lists. Note there is no Publishers Weekly issue this week.
Finalists for the 2020 Children’s and Young Adults Bloggers’ Literary Awards (Cybils) have been announced. Books of genre interest follow. Young Adult Speculative Fiction Red Hood, Elana K. Arnold (Balzer + Bray) Legendborn, Tracy Deonn (Margaret K. McElderry) Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (Simon Pulse) Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger, illustrated by Rovina Cai (Levine Querido) Burn, Patrick Ness (Quill Tree) Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas
Writer Anton Strout, 50, died unexpected on December 30, 2020. Strout was an author of urban fantasy, best known for his Simon Canderous series. He was also the host of the Once and Future Podcast, where he interviewed authors beginning in 2014, producing more than 200 episodes. He worked in publishing as well, as a longtime sales rep for Penguin Random House. Anton Strout was born January 24, 1970 in
As I write this in mid-November 2020, there’s quite a stir over the new version of Apple’s Mac OS, the operating system that runs on its laptops. For more than a year, Apple has engaged in a covert, global surveillance of its users through its operating system, which automatically sent information about which apps you were running to Apple, and which gave Apple a remote veto over whether that program
Rest and Be Thankful, Emma Glass (Bloomsbury 978-1-526-60107-0, £12.99, 144pp, hc) March 2020. While I know it’s odd to say anything remotely positive about 2020, I found this to be an incredible year for fiction and especially sophomore novels from some of the UK’s brightest authors, including Daisy Johnson, Sophie Mackintosh, Megan Hunter, and now Emma Glass. Peach, Glass’s debut novel published in 2018, was an ambitious, if not entirely
Amazon Publishing may shift their longstanding stance against allowing libraries to lend their ebooks. The company is said to be in “active discussions” with the Digital Public Library of America to alter its policies. Amazon is reportedly “testing a number of different models” and may lend books as early as 2021, with a spokesperson saying, “We believe libraries serve a critical purpose in communities across the country, and our priority
The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: An Illuminated Edition, Oscar Wilde & Yuko Shimizu (Beehive Books 979-1-948886-01-7, $100.00, 140pp, hc) April 2020. Cover by Yuko Shimuzu. Historically, small presses have been the refuge of non-mainstream writers and artists, whose work they have nurtured and promoted. In the SFnal field they have provided an important home for many award-winning writers (I’m looking at you, Tachyon). In addition to Tachyon Publications right
Knopf Random House Canada is splitting apart: beginning in 2021, Knopf Canada and Random House Canada will operate independently again (they were combined in 2009). Publisher Anne Collins will become executive editor and vice-president of Random House Canada on January 4, 2021. CEO Kristin Cochrane says, “I believe the time is right to have space for each to build on its past successes and pave the way for the future.
Leonardo 2, Stéphane Levallois (NBM/Louvre éditions 978-1-681122-64-9, $29.99, 96pp, hc) October 2020. Cover by Stéphane Levallois. If we ever needed art, we need it now. Discussing art books in a time of plague may seem frivolous, but there’s an argument to be made that any distraction becomes precious during times of extreme stress. Also valuable is the reminder of the sublime and ingenious ways humans can transmute powerful emotions into
Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends, Sheila Williams, ed. (MIT Press 978-0-26253-925-8, 240pp, $19.95, tp) September 2020. Artificial intelligence, genome tampering (eugenics), sex bots, and other forms of technology descend upon the middle class in Entanglements, an anthology from Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov’s. Originally launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review, Twelve Tomorrows is an annual anthology series that explores the role of technology in near and far futures.
The House of Styx, Derek Künsken (Solaris 978-1786183200, $8.99, eb,) August 2020. (Solaris 978-1781088050, 608pp, $27.99, hc) April 2021. One of the most notable aspects of Derek Künsken’s short work to date has been a fascination with rigorous worldbuilding, often featuring the extreme, and the politics that often result from adaptation to said environments. These aspects are central to his new novel, The House of Styx, first in his Venus
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Jonathan Strahan chooses The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Gary K. Wolfe says, “At times The Ministry of the Future seems bent on exploding the notion of what a novel can be. Of Robinson’s 106 chapters, some are narrated by anonymous characters who never show up again (such as one of the pilots in India’s aerial seeding program), some
Judges for the 2021 Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction have been announced: Indra Das, Saad Z. Hossain, and Malka Older. The annual award is open to original fiction of 10,000 words or fewer written in English by authors who must be “currently residing in Pakistan, or be of Pakistani birth/descent.” Submissions are open now through July 31, 2021. The winning story will receive $500 and publication on the award website,
Mark Kelly’s regular Periodicals posts have been discontinued. We will list online and print magazines seen by Locus each month.
The Blade Between, Sam J. Miller (Ecco 978-0-06-296982-8, $26.99, 384pp, hc) December 2020. In both of Sam J. Miller’s YA novels, The Art of Starving and Destroy All Monsters, Hudson High School – presumably a version of the same small-town high school that Miller attended in upstate New York – is nearly as powerful an antagonist as the supernatural forces that threaten Miller’s outsider heroes. With The Blade Between, the
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Arley Sorg selects Burning Roses by S.L. Huang, saying, “To simply say this is a tale of Red Riding Hood and Hou Yi misses the brilliance displayed within the confines of a very slender volume.” You can read Katharine Coldiron’s review online or in the October 2020 issue of Locus.
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Liz Bourke picks The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso: “I was a fan of Caruso’s work to start with, but with The Obsidian Tower she’s hit another level in terms of prose and tension. This is a truly excellent fantasy, and an epic beginning for a new trilogy. I can’t wait to see what she does next.” Read Liz’s full review online
New books this week are by Genevieve Cogman, Cass Morris, and Michael Marshall Smith.
Several titles of genre interest made The Atlantic‘s list of the 15 best books of 2020: Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley (Farrar, Straus, Giroux), Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, translated by Jamie Chang (Liveright), and Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (Pantheon). For the full list, see The Atlantic‘s website. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation.
The Midnight Circus, Jane Yolen (Tachyon Publications 978-1-616-96340-8, $16.95, 256pp, tp) November 2020. The prolific, multi-award-winning Jane Yolen is a bona fide legend and, at least to those of us on the darker side of genre, has long been noted for what Theodora Goss calls – in her excellent foreword – the darkness “in much of her work, both fiction and poetry, because her writing is grounded in history and
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Russell Letson selects Pacific Storm by Linda Nagata: “in Pacific Storm, she explores an increasingly relevant near-future-nightmare territory, one that sits comfortably (or uncomfortably) next to recent work by Christopher Brown (Rule of Capture, Failed State), Greg Egan (Perihelion Summer), Nancy Kress (Sea Change), and even the political-satirical side of Charles Stross (Dead Lies Dreaming).” Read Russell’s full review in the December 2020
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Josh Pearce picks By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar. Ian Mond calls it “a jolt of pure entertainment, a brilliant, revisionist blend of magic, crime syndicates, and Kung-fu knights.” Read Ian’s full review online or in the April 2020 issue of Locus, and Gary K. Wolfe’s review online or in the June 2020 issue of Locus.
Entertainment Weekly has released their list of the 10 best books of 2020, compiled by Leah Greenblatt and David Canfield. Titles of genre interest include The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf) in the top spot, Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (Ecco) at number four, and Memorial by Bryan Washington (Riverhead) at number five. For the full list, see EW‘s website. While you are here, please take
The Saints of Salvation, Peter F. Hamilton (Del Rey 978-0-399-17888-7, $32, 528pp, hardcover) November 2020. One shameful sensation experienced by the over-burdened reviewer—or by any reader, I suppose, with more books than time—is how many series of novels one begins but then abandons, due solely to time constraints. For instance, after complete enjoyment of their predecessors, I have been unable to make time to read the fourth book in Paul
The new Science Fiction and Fantasy Rosetta Awards (SFFRA) were launched December 26, 2020, “initiated and organized by a group of SFF enthusiasts with faith to promote and recognize the SFF literatures from various cultures and languages along with the efforts of those authors and translators.” The awards will be given in long- and short-form categories, as well as a special service award category. Eligible works must be science fiction
HuffPost has announced its list of the best books of 2020, compiled by Claire Fallon, including several titles of genre interest: Leave the World Behind, Rumaan Alam (Ecco) Parakeet, Marie-Helene Bertino (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) Red Pill, Hari Kunzru (Knopf) Temporary, Hilary Leichter (Coffee House) The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf) Death in Her Hands, Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin) For the complete list, see the HuffPost website. While you are here,
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue returns to several lists this week.
The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories, Eugen Bacon (Meerkat Press 978-1-94615-431-6, $16.95, 192 pages) December 2020. The 24 stories that make up Eugen Bacon’s new collection The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories run the gamut in terms of tone, genre, and structure. There are experimental, modernist pieces reminiscent of the New Wave, namely “A Good Ball”, “The Enduring”, or “A Man Full of Shadows”; playful, self-aware
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Bob Blough chooses Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell. Ian Mond calls it “a colourful and politically aware love letter to the British Invasion and the last, lingering days of the Summer of Love.” Read Ian’s full review online or in the August 2020 issue of Locus.
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Ian Mond and Jonathan Strahan choose We All Hear Stories in the Dark by Robert Shearman. Ian says it “is a remarkable feat of storytelling. Nine years in the making, it comprises over 100 pieces of fiction, spans three volumes (with introductions from Angela Slatter, Michael Marshall Smith, and Lisa Tuttle, and a “peculiar” middleword by Steven Moffat), and features exquisite black-and-white
The Factory Witches of Lowell, C.S. Malerich (Tor.com Publishing 978-1250756565, $14.99, 128pp, tp) November 2020. In the early 19th century, Lowell MA was known for its thriving textile mill industry. Unlike neighboring Rhode Island, the Lowell system developed a workforce made primarily of young women, all of whom worked 80 hours a week, lived in company-owned dormitories, and, because of their gender, earned a lower salary than men. Historically, there
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Gary K. Wolfe chooses The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison: “All of his fiction is distinguished by carefully crafted prose that can achieve sublime beauty even when slicing like a razor, and by characters that are somehow a lot more compelling to us than they are even to themselves.” Read Gary’s full review online or in the
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Arley Sorg selects Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark. Gabino Iglesias says it “is a wildly imaginative, superbly written narrative about friendship, magic, and fighting racism that occupies a strange interstitial space between historical fiction, fantasy, and body horror. It is also a smart reimagining of history that pushes current racial tensions to the forefront and forces readers to remember that bigotry
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, V.E. Schwab (Tor 978-0-7653-8756-1, $26.99, 446pp, hc) November 2020. There are so many classic themes woven together in V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie Larue that at times the novel feels like a gallery of old favorites curated by someone who clearly loves them all. The deal-with-the-devil tale, of course, is as old as the devil. The secret-immortal-living-among-us has been a genre staple
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Paula Guran picks The Best of Michael Marshall Smith: “Smith writes stories that draw the reader in and keep them mesmerized as they worm their disquieting way permanently into the psyche. He’s a perceptive observer of human passions, weaknesses, and everything in between. His scrutiny thereof usually results in dark conclusions.” Read Paula’s full review online or in the November 2020 issue
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Liz Bourke chooses Micaiah Johnson’s “fantastic, thoughtful, and thought-provoking debut” The Space Between Worlds: “in one sense, it’s a quiet, domestic novel about jobs and relationships, borders and class issues, and the problems of navigating structures of power as an outsider that those structures can crush with impunity… and then, from another angle, it’s a novel of action and intrigue, revolution and
NPR’s Book Concierge has an extensive list of Best Books in an assortment of categories heavy with genre content, including The Dark Side and Young Adult, “nearly 2,500 recommendations from NPR staff and trusted critics.” The Sci Fi, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction category offers 64 recommendations covering a range of themes and topics, such as Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (One World), Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet), Riot Baby by Tochi
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) announced the recipients of the 2021 Givers Fund Grants for organizations which further SFWA’s mission: “To promote, advance, and support science fiction and fantasy writing in the United States and elsewhere, by educating and informing the general public and supporting and empowering science fiction and fantasy writers.” Grant recipients are “Any 501(c)(3) or similar organization… with a program related to the
