D.J. Butler, Witchy Winter (Baen 978-1-4814-8314-8, $25.00,591pp, hc) April 2018. Cover by Daniel Dos Santos. War and winter are coming in this second vol­ume in the epic flintlock fantasy series begun in Witchy Eye, which introduced this fascinating alternate history of a world where magic is real, and has greatly changed the course of history. Re­ligions are fascinatingly altered, and the magic, from various cultures, is intriguing. Despite the changes,

Finalists for the 2018 Geffen Awards for best science fiction and fantasy published in Hebrew have been announced by the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy: Best Translated Science Fiction Book Labyrinth of Reflections, Sergei Lukyanenko (Opus) Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel (Babel) Daemon, Daniel Suarez (Opus) Central Station, Lavie Tidhar (Yaniv) Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne (Ocean) Best Translated Fantasy Book Summer Knight,

The shortlist for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize includes several titles of possible genre interest: “Ghillie’s Mum”, Lynda Clark (United Kingdom) “The Divine Pregnancy in a Twelve-Year-Old Woman”, Sagnik Datta (India) “Passage”, Kevin Hosein (Trinidad and Tobago) “The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words) in English. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000.” The regional judges

U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s Wade in the Water (Graywolf; Penguin UK) is among the 15 shortlisted titles for the £10,000 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Smith’s book of speculative poetry, Life on Mars (Graywolf), won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize. For more information, including the complete shortlist, see the Forward Arts Foundation website. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We

Blackfish City, by Sam J. Miller (Ecco 978-0-06-268482-0, $22.99, 336pp, hardcover) April 2018 I’m going to confess to an idiosyncratic critical weakness: if you want me to be immediately predisposed towards your novel, preface it with an epigram from Dhalgren. Not only will I instantly respect your taste and cultural leanings, but I will be excited to see if your own book can possibly be worthy of bearing such an

The Cruel Prince, Holly Black (Little, Brown 978-0-316-31027-7, $18.99, 371pp, hc) Janu­ary 2018. Immersing oneself in the writing of author Holly Black, readers quickly discern that her formula is to create intricate, tricky, heart-stopping plots in which her characters will end up running for their lives across brilliantly invented landscapes, while also cementing and/or blowing up friendships and possibly falling in love (or at the very least engaging in some

American novelist PHILIP ROTH, 85, died of congestive heart failure on May 22, 2018 in a Manhattan hospital. Roth was the author of more than 30 books including Goodbye, Columbus (1959), Portnoy’s Complaint (1969), and his American trilogy: American Pastoral (1997), I Married a Communist (1998), and The Human Stain (2000). During his career he won two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle awards, three PEN/Faulkner Awards, a Pulitzer

F&SF 3-4/18 Analog 3-4/18 Asimov’s 3-4/18 Let’s begin with the March-April issues of the three leading digests. F&SF continues its strong recent run, with a March-April issue full of enjoyable work. Susan Palwick’s “Hideous Flowerpots” is a heart-warming story about a woman running a successful art gallery who isn’t happy, as evidenced by, among other things, her harsh reaction to people bringing her substandard art, and how another woman stages

Stephen King’s The Outsider and titles by Joanne M. Harris, Kate Heartfield, Andrew Lane & Nigel Foster, Claire North, Andrzej Sapkowski, and Deborah A. Wolf.

The Shimmer Program’s Two-way Exchange Fund, intended “to encourage cultural exchange between Chinese science fiction fans and science fiction fans all over the world,” has been awarded to Mihaela Marija Perković and Pablo M.A Vazquez. The Two-way Exchange Fund will provide 15,000 RMB per person (this will approximately cover economic class plane tickets and hotels; the fund recipient will be responsible for all costs exceeding this budget). For the first

The winner for the 2017 Gaylactic Spectrum Award in the novel category was announced at Gaylaxicon 2018, held at the Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel in Atlanta GA from May 11-13, 2018: WINNER: Mother of Souls, Heather Rose Jones (Bella) Cocktails at Seven, Apocalypse at Eight: The Derby Cavendish Stories, Don Bassingthwaite (ChiZine) Malachite, Kirby Crow (Bonecamp) Lily, Michael Thomas Ford (Lethe) Maze-Born Trouble, Ginn Hale (Blind Eye) Fallow, Jordan

Finalists for the 2018 Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction (the Eugie Award) have been announced: “Infinite Love Engine”, Violet Allen (Lightspeed 4/17) “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance”, Tobias S. Buckell (Cosmic Powers) “The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)”, Matthew Kressel (Tor.com 3/15/17) “And Then There Were (N-One)”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/17) “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 9/17)

A.P. Winter, The Boy Who Went Magic (Chicken House UK 978-1910655092, £6.99, tp) June 2017; (Chicken House US 978-1-338-21714-8, $17.99, 279pp, hc) April 2018. Cover by Manuel Sumberac. Magic is a myth repressed by the government in this rousing middle-grade fantasy, a solid first novel. Some 200 years before, when kings had real power, people believed in magic and the magical land of Ferenor. Bert Rumsey, an orphan raised at

The winners of the 2018 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, honoring the best SF/F work published in France in 2017, have been announced: French Novel WINNER: Toxoplasma, Calvo (La Volte) La Désolation, Pierre Bordage (Bragelonne) Le Temps de Palanquine, Thierry Di Rollo (Bélial’) La Société des faux visages, Xavier Mauméjean (Alma) Foreign Novel WINNER: L’Arche de Darwin [Galápagos Regained], James Morrow (Au diable vauvert) La Bibliothèque de Mount Char [The Library

Winners for the Tomorrow Prize and Roswell Award for short science fiction have been announced. The five finalists for each had their stories read by celebrity guests during LitFest Pasadena. Tomorrow Prize for short science fiction by LA county high school students: 1st Place: “Addiction”, Kalila Papanikolas 2nd Place: “The Demiurge”, Bry LeBerthon 3rd Place: “Relinquished Cities”, Sarah Krausz Honorable Mention: “Microcosm”, Chelsea See Honorable Mention: “Midas”, Audrey Wang Roswell

  Dean Koontz’ The Crooked Staircase (Bantam), latest in the Jane Hawk series, debuts on three lists, ranking #4 at USA Today and Publishers Weekly.

NICK HARKAWAY is a pseudonym for Nicholas Cornwell, born November 26, 1972 in Cornwall England, son of author David Cornwell (better known by his pen name John le Carré) and editor Valérie Jane Eustace. He attended University College School in North London, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied philosophy and earned a degree in social and political science. An avid martial artist, he has studied Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu,

The Teardrop Method, Simon Avery (TTA Press £8.00, 160pp, tp) November 2017. Krisztina, the protagonist of Simon Avery’s excel­lent novella, The Teardrop Method, is a musician living in Budapest. A singer whose debut album earned her promising notice, she turned her back on the music industry in favor of love. In the aftermath of a devastating accident that befalls her partner, however, Krisztina begins to hear fragments of a new

One of the things I insist to my students is that no writing advice is one-size-fits-all, aside from the general notion is that one should put words down in some form or another. Some people do what we affectionately call “pantsing” after the notion that one is writing by the seat of one’s pants, flying into the wordcloud and seeing what collects on one’s wings along the way. Others outline

Thomas Pynchon won the $100,000 inaugural Chris­topher Lightfoot Walker Award in Literature, presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which “recognizes a writer of distinction who has made a sig­nificant contribution to American literature.” For more information, see the Arts and Letters website. 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

A Study in Honor, Claire O’Dell (Harper Voy­ager 978-0-06-269930-5, $15.99, 304pp, tp). July 2018. Speaking of good, let’s talk about Claire O’Dell’s A Study in Honor. O’Dell is an open pseudonym for Beth Bernobich (The Queen’s Hunt, The Time Roads) and this marks the author’s first novel-length foray into science fiction. And damn, what a novel it is. A Study in Honor is a near-future take on Sherlock Holmes and

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) announced the winners of the 2017 Nebula Awards at an awards banquet during the 52nd Annual Nebula Conference held May 19, 2018 at the Pittsburgh Marriott Center in Pittsburgh PA. Novel Winner: The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK) Amberlough, Lara Elena Donnelly (Tor) The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss (Saga) Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory (Knopf; riverrun)

The winners for the 2017 Analog Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) and Asimov’s Readers’ Awards have been announced. Most are available to read online. Analog Science Fiction and Fact Analytical Laboratory Winners Best Novella WINNER: “Nexus“, Michael F. Flynn (3-4/17) “The Girls With Kaleidoscope Eyes“, Howard V. Hendrix (5-6/17) “The Proving Ground”, Alec Nevala-Lee (1-2/17) “Not Far Enough“, Martin L. Shoemaker (7-8/17) “Native Seeds“, Catherine Wells (11-12/17) Best Novelette WINNER: “For All

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 12, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris 978-1781085738, $19.99, 620pp, tp) April 2018. Cover by Adam Tredowski. After many years – sometimes it feels like too many – of reading year’s best anthologies, I’ve come to the conclusion that they serve three different purposes for three different but over­lapping audiences. The first, and most obvious, is to provide a rich and entertaining

SF in SF hosted Michael Moorcock at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco on April 9, 2018, coordinated by Rina Weisman and moderated by Terry Bisson. The event featured readings and signings, a Q&A session, a full bar, and time to mingle. Books were available for purchase thanks to Borderlands Books; Tachyon Publications sponsored the event. For more information, see the SF in SF website. This and more like

Norwescon 41 was held March 29 – April 1, 2018 in SeaTac WA at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport. The theme was “Uncovering Mysteries.” Guests of honor were Ken Liu (writer), Galen Dara (artist), and Mathew Wedel (science). (Wayne Barlowe was originally scheduled to be artist GoH, but had to cancel due to schedule conflicts.) Green Ronin was the spotlight publisher, represented by Nicole Lindroos and Chris Pramas. Norwescon

Sisyphean, by Dempow Torishima (Haikasoru 978-1-4215-8082-1, $16.99, 304pp, trade paperback) March 2018 With this stellar debut volume–a “mosaic novel” depicting a world of infinite biomorphic perversity that feels at once surreal yet authentic; estranging yet welcoming; otherwordly yet familiar–Dempow Torishima gives the world a book of fantastika with very few literary precedents. Perhaps the closest correlative is the cult classic Moderan, by David Bunch, a long-out-of-print sui generis set of

The Empress of Timbra, Karen Healey & Robyn Fleming (self-published 978-0-473-42716-0, $4.99, ebook). February 2018. Cover art by Damonza. The Empress of Timbra, co-authored by Robyn Fleming & Karen Healey (Guardian of the Dead, While We Run), turns out to be an unexpected de­light. Its publication was funded through Fleming and Healey’s Kickstarter campaign, but it’s now widely available as an ebook. While Healey’s solo form is in YA, this

Skyhorse has eliminated 16 full-time employees (from a total of 77) in “a major reorganization,” and plans to reduce their output of new titles by “approximately 25 percent.” They published around 1,100 titles in 2017. President Tony Lyons says the changes are “in response to shortfalls in Skyhorse revenues in 2017 and early 2018, including issues related to its distribution deal and paper shortages, as well as changes in the

Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco 978-0-06-268482-0, $22.99, 336pp, hc) April 2018. If Sam J. Miller’s debut novel The Art of Starving was an intimate portrait of a troubled but appealing teen grappling with personal demons like bullies and eating disorders, his SF debut Blackfish City is expansive, ambi­tious, violent, rich in invention, and populated by a range of colorful figures whose characteristics sometimes seem drawn from sources as diverse

Winners of the inaugural Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Speculative Fiction were announced May 16, 2018. Debut Speculative Fiction Best Worst American, Juan Martinez (Small Beer) Open Category (tie) On the Edge of Gone, Corrine Duyvis (Amulet/Abrams) Central Station, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon) The award was established by the Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth College. Winners each receive a $5,000 honorarium and are invited to participate in a

The 15-title longlist for the 2018 Edge Hill Prize for Short Story has been announced, including several titles and authors of genre interest: Wild Gestures, Lucy Durneen (MidnightSun) Madame Zero, Sarah Hall (Faber & Faber) You Should Come With Me Now, M. John Harrison (Comma) All the Beloved Ghosts, Alison MacLeod (Bloomsbury) Come Let Us Sing Anyway, Leone Ross (Peepal Tree) Ornithology, Nicholas Royle (Confingo) The £10,000 prize is given

Tomi Adeyemi, Children of Blood and Bone (Holt 3/18) West African lore infuses this young-adult fantasy novel, the first book in the Legacy of Orisha trilogy and a first novel gathering considerable acclaim. Zélie fights to reclaim her people’s magic and stop the monarchy’s ruthless efforts to eradicate it.   Elizabeth Bear, Stone Mad (Tor.com Publishing 3/18) The steampunk Old West fantasy adventures of Karen Memory continue in this rollicking

Marshall Ryan Maresca, Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe (DAW 978-0756412647, $7.99, 368pp, pb) March 2018. Cover by Paul Young. The Holver Alley crew returns for a new caper in this second book in the Streets of Maradaine series, following the Rynax brothers and their odd assortment of friends as they search for the real culprit behind the burning of their homes and shops in Holver Alley. Ex-spy Asti Rynax is obsessed with

Philip Pullman was awarded Author of the Year, and his La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust, narrated by Martin Sheen (Penguin Random House UK Audio), won Audiobook of the Year in the 2018 British Book Awards. Also called the “Nibbies,” The British Book Awards “honours and celebrates the commercial successes of publishers, authors and bookshops” with nominees in a variety of categories, including Debut Book of the Year, Editor

Titles by Neal Asher, Christopher Barzak, Robyn Bennis, Jack Campbell, Lara Elena Donnelly, Sarah Beth Durst, Nicola Griffith, Alex Jeffers, Stephen R. Lawhead, Brian McClellan, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Melissa Scott, Nancy Springer, Brian Stableford, and Tyler Whitesides.

The Tangled Lands, Paolo Bacigalupi & To­bias S. Buckell (Saga 978-1481497299, $26.99, 304pp, hc) February 2018. Nearly eight years ago, Tobias S. Buckell & Paolo Bacigalupi joined forces to create a high-fantasy world with a lot of familiar late-medieval/early Renaissance trappings and one particularly neat device: every act of magic or spellcasting, no matter how small, fuels the rapid growth of dense, poisonous brambles already threatening to encroach the land.

Prior to my career as a writer, I worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster mitigation. My job was to help communities prepare for natural and man-made events, some of them bordering on apocalyptic. I spent most of my time working with communities to prepare for these disasters, but I also spent time in the field observing and documenting the aftermath when disaster struck. Seeing how devastating

» Guardian: Eric Brown reviews Heather Child, GX Todd, Jeff Noon, Claire North, Roger Levy » NY Times: Ramin Bahrani, director of HBO’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 that debuts May 19th: Why ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Is the Book for Our Social Media Age » Singapore’s The Straits Times: Poet Christina Sng is the first Singaporean to win the Bram Stoker award

Finalists for the 2018 Ignotus Awards (the Spanish equivalent of the Hugo Awards), honoring the best works published in Spain last year, have been announced. Novela extranjera (Foreign Novel) Fuego [The Fireman], Joe Hill (Nocturna) Las estrellas son legión [The Stars Are Legion], Kameron Hurley (Alianza) La quinta estación [The Fifth Season], N.K. Jemisin (B) Detrás de sus ojos [Behind Her Eyes], Sarah Pinborough (Alianza) El archivo de atrocidades [The

  Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Frost and Starlight (Bloomsbury), fourth in the Court of Thorns and Roses YA series, debuts prominently on two lists, ranking #2 on the combined Publishers Weekly list.

ADA LOUISE GRACE PALMER was born June 9, 1981 in Washington DC. She grew up in Annapolis MD and went to college two years early, at age 16. She attended Simon’s Rock College of Bard for two years, then transferred to Bryn Mawr College, where she studied Re­naissance history. She did her PhD at Harvard, spending time studying in Florence and Rome, partly funded as a Fulbright fellow. She graduated

The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher (Red Wombat Tea Company 978-1-386-528876, $3.99, ebook). February 2018. Cover art by Ursula Vernon. Have you read The Wonder Engine yet? It’s the second book in T. Kingfisher’s (the pen­name for Ursula Vernon) Clocktaur War duol­ogy, following on from last year’s Clockwork Boys. While Vernon has the weird, wild, and occasionally dark Digger to her name, as well as her short fiction and illustrated books,

The 42nd Williamson Lectureship was held April 5-7, 2018, in Portales NM. The Lectureship, held to honor SF pioneer Jack Williamson, took place at Eastern NM University with casual gatherings around town. Santa Fe author S.M. Stirling, known for his Emberverse series and other alternate his­tory efforts, was the guest of honor, and Connie Willis served as toastmistress. The theme for the 2018 Lectureship was “Changes.” The event, often dubbed

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 2/1/18, 2/15/18 The Father of Lies, K.J. Parker (Subterra­nean) January 2018. Science-fantasy” is a slippery term, one that’s changed over time, as demonstrat­ed in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, issues #244 and #245, the annual science-fantasy double issue. Using the strictest definition, any story that features “impossible” technol­ogy, technology far in advance of what can be achieved by today’s technical capabilities, is “science-fantasy.” I give a break to stories

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter website Pottermore laid off a number of both senior and junior editorial staff as part of a “reorganization.” A spokesperson said the firings “reflect the evolution of the business and are being handled as sensitively as possible.” Those let go were responsible for writing original content for the site. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation.

The ServiceScape Short Story Award contest is open to submissions of original stories or non-fiction in any genre up to 5,000 words. The winning work will receive $1,000 and publication on the ServiceScape blog. The deadline for submissions is November 29, 2018. For more information, including complete rules, see the ServiceScape site.   While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation.

Spin: The Audiobook Musical, Neil Fishman & Harvey Edelman; narrated by Jim Dale and a full cast (HarperAudio and Blackstone Audio 978-153851884-7, $19.99, CD, 1.5 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) January 2018. Angel Catbird, Margaret Atwood; performed by a full cast (Audible Studios, $21.83, digital download, 2.75 hr., unabridged) February 2018. I admire the efforts of audiobook publishers to provide audio experiences that go beyond a written

The third SF New Year Gala, a special online publication project organized by Future Affairs Administration (FAA), went viral over the Chinese New Year in February 2018. Twenty-one SF stories and artworks by distinctive SF writers and art­ists from China, Korea, and US were published daily on multiple major new-media publication platforms during February 5-25, receiving a total of 9.2 million views. A follow-up writer’s workshop took place in Beijing,

Rachel Hartman, Tess of the Road (Random House 978-1-101-93128-8, $18.99, 521pp, hc) February 2018. Hartman follows up her young-adult fantasy duology begun in Serafina with this first in a new duology featuring Serafina’s younger half-sister, Tess. An irrepressible, curious, and imaginative child, Tess became the focus of her bitter and reli­giously repressive mother’s determination to pun­ish wrongdoing and turn her into a proper young lady, like her twin sister Jeanne.

The 2017 Shirley Jackson Awards nominees have been announced. The awards are presented for outstanding achievement in horror, psychological suspense, and dark fantasy fiction. Novel Ill Will, Dan Chaon (Ballantine) The Bone Mother, David Demchuk (ChiZine) The Night Ocean, Paul La Farge (Penguin) The Changeling, Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau) The Hole, Hye-young Pyun (Arcade) Novella The Lost Daughter Collective, Lindsey Drager (Dzanc) Mapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com

The £10,000 Encore Award for 2018, given by the Royal Society of Literature to the best second novel of the year, has been jointly awarded to Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley (John Murray) and The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney (John Murray). Alex Clark, chair of the judges, said: Prize juries are reluctant to split awards – probably because it looks either as though they can’t make up their

The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers (IAMTW) announced the nominees for the 2018 Scribe Awards, honoring excellence in licensed tie-in writing. Nominees of genre interest follow. Original Speculative The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase, Greg Cox (Tor) Halo: Legacy of Onyx, Matt Forbeck (Gallery) Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad, Christie Golden (Century) Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours, David Mack (Pocket) Supernatural: The Usual Sacrifices, Yvonne Navarro (Titan)

The Rig, by Roger Levy (Titan 978-1785655630, $14.95, 617pp, trade paperback) May 2018 In the period from 2000 to 2006, Roger Levy gave the world three novels: Reckless Sleep, Dark Heavens and Icarus. I recall receiving review copies and making a mental note that these books seemed several cuts above the average, and I should pay attention to them. But of course, due to the constant, overwhelming influx of good

Gunpowder Moon, David Pedreira (Harper Voyager 978-0-06-2676085, $14.9, 304pp, tp). February 2018. I began reading David Pedreira’s Gunpowder Moon, the debut novel of a former Florida journalist, with a fair degree of optimism. Its big idea – helium-3 mining on the moon – is fairly well discredited junk science (see Charles Stross, “Science-fictional shibboleths,” 4th De­cember 2015) but this is science fiction. Junk science is practically traditional, and writers such

Winners of the 2018 Indies Choice Awards were announced by the American Booksellers Association (ABA) and include several titles of genre interest: Adult Fiction Book of the Year Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward (Scribner) Adult Debut Book of the Year Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf) Audiobook of the Year Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders, read by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and a full

The shortlists for the 2017 Australian Shadows Awards were announced May 9, 2018. The award is given by the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) for “the finest in horror and dark fiction published by an Australasian within the calendar year.” Best Novel Aletheia, J.S. Breukelaar (Crystal Lake) Slithers, WW Mortensen (self-published) Soon, Lois Murphy (Transit Lounge) Corpselight, Angela Slatter (Jo Fletcher) Providence Place, Matthew Tait (Dark Crib) Best Short Fiction

So. Avengers. Avengers: Infinity War is the first half of the third movie of a subseries (following 2012’s Avengers and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron) in the (currently) 19-movie Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, and that’s a lot to take in. Thanos, the big purple CGI baddie played by Josh Brolin, sows death and destruction across the galaxy in his quest to acquire all six Infinity Stones, objects of power which

HARDCOVERS Months on list Last month 1) Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) 4 1 2) Artemis, Andy Weir (Crown) 4 3 3) Iron Gold, Pierce Brown (Del Rey) 2 2 4) Child of a Mad God, R.A. Salvatore (Tor) 1 – 5) Tempests and Slaughter, Tamora Pierce (Random House) 1 – 6) Into the Fire, Elizabeth Moon (Del Rey) 1 – 7) The Power, Naomi Alderman (Little, Brown) 4 4 8)

The Sky Is Yours, Chandler Klang Smith (Hogarth 978-0-451-49626-3, $27.00, 462pg, hc) January 2018. In Chandler Klang Smith’s The Sky Is Yours, Empire Island is falling apart, mostly (but not entirely) because two dragons circle above it. They never land. They can’t be killed. And, just for fun, they randomly set part of the island on fire. Those who could leave have left. Still on the island are the very

Roger Levy’s The Rig, Martha Wells’ Artificial Condition, and titles by Kevin J. Anderson & Sarah A. Hoyt, Raymond E. Feist, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dean Koontz, K.R. Richardson, Lilith Saintcrow, and Lee Thomas.

The 2018 Chesley Awards nominees have been announced: Best Cover Illustration: Hardcover Tommy Arnold for Horizon, Fran Wilde (Tor) Marcela Bolívar for Julia, Peter Straub (Centipede) Julie Dillon for Final Girls, Mira Grant (Subterranean) Donato Giancola for Assassin’s Price, L.E. Modesitt Jr. (Tor) John Harris for The Man in the Tree, Sage Walker (Tor) Elizabeth Leggett for Retrograde, Peter Cawdron (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Marc Simonetti for The Sword of Shannara,

The Bi Writers Association (BWA) announced finalists for the sixth annual Bisexual Book Awards on May 3, 2018 including titles of genre interest: Speculative Fiction [Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror/Etc.] Island of Exiles, Erica Cameron (Entangled Teen) Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor) Rescues and the Rhyssa, TS Porter (Less Than Three) The Seafarer’s Kiss, Julia Ember (Duet) The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic, F.T. Lukens (Duet) Run in the Blood, A.E.

Senlin Ascends: The Books of Babel #1, Josiah Bancroft; John Banks, narrator (Hachette Audio 978-154916787-4, $24.98, digital download, 14.25 hr., unabridged) January 2018. There’s been a quiet buzz about this steampunk­ish series ever since the author self-published the first book in 2012; the Hachette Book Group has picked the books up for wider distribution, and I’m happy to have this chance to review this first audio production, narrated with calm

The winners of the 2018 Fan Activity Achievement Awards (FAAns) were honored at the Corflu 35 Awards Ceremony, May 4-6, 2018, at the Ramada Plaza Toronto in Toronto Canada. Best Fanzine Beam Best Personal Zine Vibrator Best Special Publication Same Planet, Different World: Jacq Monahan’s TAFF Report, Jacq Monahan Best Fan Writer Randy Byers Best Fan Artist Steve Stiles Best Fanzine Cover Rubber Crab #8, Graham West Best Fan Website

The 2018 Spectrum Awards winners have been announced. Advertising Gold Award: “Moonrise”, Greg Ruth Silver Award: “ComicBase 2018”, Laurel Blechman “The Night Mare”, Brom “Mixc World Launch”, Victo Ngai “SK2 cosmetics packaging and POP project”, Yuko Shimizu Book Gold Award: “Serving Fish”, Victo Ngai Silver Award: “The Old Man and the Forest”, Petar Meseldžija “Red Rising”, Tommy Arnold “A Girl & Her Friends”, Wesley Burt “Heading Home”, Gregory Manchess Comic

  This is the 349th week that George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has appeared on this bestseller list compilation page since these weekly pages began in January 2003, covering now not quite 800 weeks. It’s the record; next is Martin’s A Game of Thrones, on 276 weekly pages, then Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, on 275 weekly pages.

Incentives matter. The dominance of ad-supported businesses online created an odd and perverse incentive to “maximize engagement” – to go to enormous lengths to create tools that people used for as long as possible, even when this made the product worse. Think of how Google added a “trending searches” drop­down to the default search-bar on Android, so that any time you went looking for a specific piece of information (the

Michelle Sagara, Cast in Deception (Mira 978-0-7783-3110-0, $15.99, 506pp, tp) January 2018. Cover by Shane Rebeschied. As always, a new crisis develops in this 13th vol­ume in the Chronicles of Elantra fantasy series, a novel with a serious case of middle-volume plot stall. Fortunately Kaylin’s irreverent attitude keeps things entertaining, even when the story bogs down. This time, Kaylin’s already-contro­versial household becomes the center of attention when one of her

After late-December flooding damaged several books and periodicals in Eastern New Mexico University’s temporary basement storage for library items, special collections librarian Gene Bundy revealed April 6 during the Williamson Lectureship that items are ready to come back from freeze-dried vacuum storage in Fort Worth TX. Once the dam­aged items are returned to Portales NM, Bundy and his staff will be able to evaluate whether they are salvageable or not.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 2/1/18, 2/15/18, 3/1/18 Lightspeed 2/18, 3/18 Clarkesworld 1/18, 2/18 Galaxy’s Edge 1/18 Kaleidotrope Winter ’18 Apex 2/18 February is Science-Fantasy Month at Be­neath Ceaseless Skies, one of my favorite times! And as a bonus, this year it extends to the first day in March, so there are three is­sues of stories that mix SF and fantasy (often by describing SFnal situations in the language of fantasy.) My

New issues of Apex, Aurealis, Clarkesworld, The Dark, Forever, Galaxy’s Edge, GigaNotoSaurus, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Shimmer, and Uncanny

The 39th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) took place March 14-18, 2018 at the Orlando Airport Marriot Hotel. The theme was ”200 Years of the Fantastic: Celebrating Franken­stein and Mary Shelley”. Academics, writers, publishers, editors, artists, students, independent scholars, and more participated, with about 457 people attending (down from 490 last year) and about 306 either presenting a paper or appearing on a panel (up from

The City of Brass, S.A. Chakraborty; Soneela Nankani, narrator (Harper Audio and Blackstone Audio (978-153845611-8), $55.99, MP3-CD, 19.5 hr., unabridged [also available as a digital download]) November 2017. In Napoleonic-era Cairo, Nahri makes a living as a con artist and thief posing as a fortune teller and healer, while concealing the magical talents she actually does possess but does not understand. One night, her grift goes terribly wrong: during a

» David Langford’s Ansible 370 » Washington Post: Everdeen Mason reviews R.F. Kuang, Julia Fine, Bethany C. Morrow » Scott Edelman dines with T.E.D. Klein, and with Elizabeth Massie » Los Angeles Times’ take on the Locus Award finalists

The annual Rainforest Writers Village retreat, hosted by Patrick Swenson and Fairwood Press, was held at Lake Quinault WA in three sessions: Feb 21-25, Feb 28-March 4, and March 7-11, 2018. For more information, see the Rainforest Writers website.   This and more like it in the May 2018 issue of Locus. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We

Margaret Atwood will receive a Hay Festival Medal for Prose for “a lifetime of ingenious and visionary fiction” during the Hay Festival event in Hay-on-Wye, Wales scheduled May 24 – June 3, 2018. Awarded annually since Britain’s Olympic year (2012), and crafted locally by silversmith Christopher Hamilton, the Hay Festival Medals draw inspiration from the original Olympic medal given for poetry. For more information about the Hay Festival and the

Alexander Mamut of Lynwood Investments has sold a majority stake of UK-based bookstore chain Waterstones to Elliot Advisors, the UK branch of Paul Singer’s Elliott Management hedge fund. James Daunt will remain as CEO, a post he’s held since 2011, and Lynwood Investments will retain a minority share. Waterstones has more than 280 bookshops in the UK and Europe. Daunt says they are in “expansion mode” and plan to open more

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 978-1-2501-6385-1, $14.99, 240pp, tp) March 2018. Cover by Jon Foster. There is much to admire in Kelly Robson’s novella Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach – her surprising skill at rigorous SF worldbuilding after a career distinguished mostly by clever fantasies like “The Waters of Versailles”, her nuanced characterization, especially of a cranky, middle-aged woman protagonist (with six leg-like tentacle prostheses),

Literary agent Susan Ann Protter, 78, died April 26, 2018 after a serious illness. Protter was born October 16, 1939 in Manhattan, grew up in Brooklyn and Long Island, and spent most of her years on the Upper West Side. She attended Syracuse University, where she earned a master’s degree in French, and traveled the world extensively. She taught French briefly, then began working for Harper & Row in the subsidiary