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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has just announced the top ten finalists for this year’s Locus Awards. The final winners will be announced on June 25 during the virtual Locus Award Weekend, where Connie Willis will MC the ceremony.

Congratulations to all the finalists!

Science Fiction Novel

  • The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton; Harper Voyager US)
  • Leviathan Falls, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey (Tor; Hodder & Stoughton)
  • Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf; Faber & Faber)
  • A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
  • Noor, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
  • We Are Satellites, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley; Ad Astra)
  • You Sexy Thing, Cat Rambo (Tor)
  • Shards of Earth, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)
  • Hummingbird Salamander, Jeff VanderMeer (MCD; Fourth Estate)

Fantasy Novel

  • Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki (Tor)
  • The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris)
  • Black Water Sister, Zen Cho (Ace; Macmillan)
  • Paladin’s Strength, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
  • Under the Whispering Door, TJ Klune (Tor; Tor UK)
  • Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)
  • Soulstar, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
  • The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • No Gods, No Monsters, Cadwell Turnbull (Blackstone)

Horror Novel 

  • Revelator, Daryl Gregory (Knopf)
  • The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix (Berkley; Titan)
  • My Heart Is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan)
  • Billy Summers, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
  • Later, Stephen King (Hard Case Crime)
  • Moon Lake, Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland)
  • A Broken Darkness, Premee Mohamed (Solaris)
  • Sorrowland, Rivers Solomon (MCD; #Merky)
  • The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling (St. Martin’s)
  • The Book of Accidents, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)

Young Adult Novel

  • Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan)
  • This Poison Heart, Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury; Bloomsbury USA)
  • The Infinity Courts, Akemi Dawn Bowman (Simon Pulse)
  • The Gilded Ones, Namina Forna (Delacorte; Usborne)
  • A Dark and Starless Forest, Sarah Hollowell (Clarion)
  • Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet; Hot Key)
  • Chaos on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
  • A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
  • Terciel & Elinor, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin; Tegen; Hot Key)
  • Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat)

First Novel

  • The Unbroken, C.L. Clark (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
  • Machinehood, S.B. Divya (Saga)
  • The All-Consuming World, Cassandra Khaw (Erewhon)
  • A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK)
  • Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell (Tor; Orbit UK)
  • She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor; Mantle)
  • The Chosen and the Beautiful, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
  • Wendy, Darling,C. Wise (Titan)
  • Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat)

Novella 

  • A Blessing of Unicorns, Elizabeth Bear (Audible Originals 10/20; Asimov’s 9-10/21)
  • A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
  • Defekt, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)
  • Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
  • A Spindle Splintered, Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
  • The Return of the Sorceress, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Subterranean)
  • Remote Control, Nnedi Okorafor (Tordotcom)
  • Comfort Me With Apples, Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
  • The Past is Red, Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
  • Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Novelette

  • “The Red Mother,” Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com 6/23/21)
  • “Mulberry and Owl,” Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny 9-10/21)
  • “Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story,” Nalo Hopkinson (F&SF 11-12/21)
  • “Skinder’s Veil,” Kelly Link (When Things Get Dark)
  • “The Black Pages,” Nnedi Okorafor (Black Stars)
  • “Bots of the Lost Ark,” Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld 6/21)
  • “L’Esprit de L’Escalier,” Catherynne M. Valente (Tor.com 8/25/21)
  • “Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.,” Fran Wilde (Uncanny 5-6/21)
  • “That Story Isn’t the Story,” John Wiswell (Uncanny 11-12/21)
  • “Small Monsters,” E. Lily Yu (Tor.com 10/20/21)

Short Story

  • “If the Martians Have Magic,” P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 9-10/21)
  • “Mr. Death,” Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/21)
  • “Proof by Induction,” José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny 5-6/21)
  • “Let All the Children Boogie,” Sam J. Miller (Tor.com 1/6/21)
  • “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather,” Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/21)
  • “Crazy Beautiful,” Cat Rambo (F&SF 3-4/21)
  • “Huginn and Muninn – and What Came After,” Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s 7-8/21)
  • “An Arc of Electric Skin,” Wole Talabi (Asimov’s 9-10/21)
  • “The Sin of America,” Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny 3-4/21)
  • “For Lack of a Bed,” John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 4/21)

Anthology

  • We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020, C.L. Clark & Charles Payseur, eds. (Neon Hemlock)
  • The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Thirteen, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade)
  • When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Titan)
  • Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021), Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, ed. (Jembefola)
  • Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology, Alex Hernandez, Matthew David Goodwin, & Sarah Rafael García, eds. (Mad Creek)
  • Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices, Swapna Krishna & Jenn Northington, eds. (Vintage)
  • Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness, dave ring, ed. (Neon Hemlock)
  • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021, Veronica Roth & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)
  • The Year’s Best Science Fiction Volume 2, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Saga)
  • The Best of World SF: Volume 1, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Head of Zeus)

Collection

  • Even Greater Mistakes, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
  • Shoggoths in Traffic and Other Stories, Tobias S. Buckell (Fairwood)
  • Spirits Abroad, Zen Cho (Small Beer)
  • Big Dark Hole, Jeffrey Ford (Small Beer)
  • The Best of Elizabeth Hand, Elizabeth Hand (Subterranean)
  • Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan, Usman T. Malik (Kitab)
  • Belladonna Nights and Other Stories, Alastair Reynolds (Subterranean)
  • Alias Space and Other Stories, Kelly Robson (Subterranean)
  • The Ghost Sequences,C. Wise (Undertow)
  • Never Have I Ever, Isabel Yap (Small Beer)

Magazine 

  • Analog
  • Asimov’s
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies
  • Clarkesworld
  • F&SF
  • FIYAH
  • Lightspeed
  • Strange Horizons
  • Tor.com
  • Uncanny

Publisher

  • Angry Robot
  • Baen
  • DAW
  • Gollancz
  • Neon Hemlock
  • Orbit
  • Small Beer
  • Subterranean
  • Tor
  • Tordotcom 

Editor

  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
  • Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Arley Sorg & Christie Yant
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
  • Sheree Renée Thomas
  • Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
  • Sheila Williams

Artist

  • Tommy Arnold
  • Kinuko Y. Craft
  • Rovina Cai
  • Galen Dara
  • Bob Eggleton
  • Victo Ngai
  • John Picacio
  • Shaun Tan
  • Charles Vess
  • Michael Whelan

Non-Fiction

  • Yesterday’s Tomorrows, Mike Ashley (British Library Publishing)
  • After Human: A Critical History of the Human in Science Fiction from Shelley to Le Guin, Thomas Connolly (Liverpool University Press)
  • Roger Zelazny, F. Brett Cox (University of Illinois Press)
  • Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1945: Immigrants in the Golden Age, Valerie Estelle Frankel (Lexington)
  • Chinese Science Fiction during the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw, Hua Li (University of Toronto Press)
  • Gothic: An Illustrated History, Roger Luckhurst (Thames and Hudson; Princeton University Press)
  • Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950–1985, Andrew Nette & Iain McIntyre, eds. (PM)
  • Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color, Joy Sanchez-Taylor (Ohio State University Press)
  • You Are Not Your Writing & Other Sage Advice, Angela Slatter (Brain Jar)
  • The Young H.G. Wells: Changing the World, Claire Tomalin (Penguin)

Illustrated and Art Book

  • Clockwork Curandera Volume 1: The Witch Owl Parliament, David Bowles, art by Raúl the Third (Tu Books)
  • Monstrous Mythologies, Michael Bukowski (Lethe)
  • Medusa, Jessie Burton, art by Olivia Lomenech Gill (Bloomsbury)
  • Norse Tales: Stories from Across the Rainbow Bridge, Kevin Crossley-Holland, art by Jeffrey Alan Love (Walker Studio UK 2020; Candlewick Studio US as Across the Rainbow Bridge: Stories of Norse Gods and Humans)
  • Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly Volume One, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood)
  • After the Rain, Nnedi Okorafor, adapted by John Jennings, art by David Brame (Abrams ComicArts/Megascope)
  • 1984: The Graphic Novel, George Orwell, art by Fido Nesti (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
  • The Labyrinth, Simon Stålenhag (Fria Ligan Sweden 2020; Simon & Schuster UK 2021; Image Comics US 2021)
  • Squad, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, art by Lisa Sterle (Harper Alley/Greenwillow)
  • The Art of Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess’s Stardust, Charles Vess (Titan)

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Vanessa Armstrong

Author

Vanessa Armstrong is a writer with bylines at The LA Times, SYFY WIRE, StarTrek.com and other publications. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog Penny and her husband Jon, and she loves books more than most things. You can find more of her work on her website or follow her on Twitter @vfarmstrong.
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