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The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced the final ballot for the 2025 Bram Stoker Awards.

Superior Achievement in a Novel

• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, Grady Hendrix(Berkley)
• King Sorrow, Joe Hill(William Morrow)
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga)
• The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia(Del Rey)
• Girl in the Creek, Wendy N. Wagner(Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

• The Scald-Crow, Grace Daly (Creature)
• Moonflow, Bitter Karella(Run …Read More

The Los Angeles Times has announced the finalists for their 46th annual Book Prizes.

Finalists of genre interest include:

Science Fiction/Fantasy

• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga)
• The Death of Mountains, Jordan Kurella (Lethe)
• Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow)
• Esperance, Adam Oyebanji (DAW)
• Luminous, Silvia Park (Simon & Schuster)

Fiction

• Only Way Out, Tod Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, …Read More

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced their Summer Scares Reading list for 2025.

Adult Books:

• Never Whistle at Night, Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., eds. (Vintage)
• Maeve Fly, CJ Leede (Tor Nightfire)
• A Botanical Daughter, Noah Medlock (Titan)

Young Adult Books:

• Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, Linda Cheng (Roaring Brook)
• What We Harvest, Ann Fraistat (Delacorte)
• Our Shadows Have Claws, Yamile Saied Méndez & Amparo …Read More

The longlist has been revealed for the inaugural James Patterson and Bookshop.org Prize, a new literary prize celebrating debut authors, hand-selected by independent booksellers.

Titles and authors of genre interest include When the Tides Held the Moon byVenessa Vida Kelley (Erewhon) and Aftertaste byDaria LaVelle (Simon & Schuster).

Titles, which must be full-length debut books published in the United States within the past 12 months, are nominated by booksellers …Read More

Andy Weir is the winner of the 2026 Robert A. Heinlein Award, given for outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space.

This award is in recognition of Mr. Weir's novels which have blended the best elements of science fact with the aspirations of traditional science fiction with a flare for engaging a new generation of readers.

The Heinlein Award has …Read More

Keith R.A. DeCandido is the recipient of the 2026 Edward E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (AKA the Skylark Award). The award was presented by the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) at Boskone 63, held February 13-15, 2026 in Boston MA.

The Skylark is given to some person, who, in the opinion of the membership, has contributed significantly to science fiction, both through work in the field and …Read More

Brisbane, Australia has announced a bid to host the 2028 Worldcon. The bid would hold the convention on July 27-31, 2028 at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. Original co-chairs were Random Jones and Vix Richardson. On February 17, 2026 Jones announced his plans to step down [d]ue to ongoing health issues. Jo Van will be Richardson's new co-chair.

Nuremberg, Germany has also announced a bid to host the 2028 …Read More

The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is now accepting nominations of works published for the first time in the English language in 2025 for its Small Press Award, given annually to an outstanding story of imaginative literature (17,500 words or fewer) published by a small press. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2026 at 11:59pm ET.

Authors and small-press publishers are among those eligible to nominate, and need not …Read More

On August 27, 2025, a group of speculative fiction writers represented by The Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency filed a complaint against the Topps Company for breach of contract; specifically, for their failure to account or pay royalties, according to agent Ashley Leader. William H. Keith Jr. on behalf of himself and Andrew Keith, Brenda Gressman on behalf of Thomas Gressman, and Mel Odom are plaintiffs in the suit, which claims …Read More

MILESTONES

JAMES PATTERSON is now represented by UTA.

 

AWARDS

OGHENECHOVWE DONALD EKPEKI's Birth of Orisha, R.W. HARTSHORN's The Bellow, the Ache, ELLEN BIRKETT MORRIS's Home Repair Manual, and TERESE SVOBODA's Dot and Edward have been shortlisted for the 2025 Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Award.

 

BOOKS SOLD

KEVIN J. ANDERSON sold Dinosaur Homestead to Blackstone Publishing/Weird Tales Presents.

WON-PYUNG SOHN sold Land of Youth, set in near-future Korea …Read More

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. These awards will be presented at LACon V, the 84th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 27-31, 2026 in Anaheim CA. The convention says,

Emails are going out to eligible nominators (those who became a member of LAcon V by January 31, 2026, …Read More

SF author Jeffrey A. Carver, 76, died February 6, 2026 in Massachusetts. He suffered multiple strokes and entered a coma after a lung transplant in July 2025.

Jeffrey A. Carver was born August 25, 1949 in Cleveland OH. He studied creative writing at Brown University and marine affairs at University of Rhode Island. His debut novel, Seas of Ernathe, began the space opera Star Rigger series, including Star Rigger's Way …Read More

The 2026 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), which will send a North American fan to MetropolCon, the 2026 Eurocon in Berlin Germany, has selected its nominees. Voting has begun, and all votes must reach the administrators by 11:59 p.m. British/Irish time on April 7, 2026.

The candidates for this year are Lisa Hertel and Katrina Kat Templeton. Voting is open to any individual with their donation of £3 or $4 to …Read More

The Climate Fiction Prize has announced its 2026 longlist. Founded by Rose Goddard, Imran Khan, and Leo Barasi and supported by Climate Spring, the prize seeks to celebrate the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis.

Shortlisted titles and authors of genre interest include:

• Dusk, Robbie Arnott (Astra US / Vintage UK)
• Every Version of You,Grace Chan (Affirm US / Verve UK)
• Helm,Sarah Hall (Mariner US / Faber …Read More

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) has announced the finalists for the 2026 Audie Awards, recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Finalists of genre interest include:

Audiobook of the Year

• Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins, narrated by Jefferson White (Scholastic Audio)
• King of Ashes, S.A. Cosby, narrated by Adam Lazarre-White (Macmillan Audio)
• Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy, narrated by, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, Cooper Mortlock & Steve West …Read More

The Odyssey Writing Workshop has announced the application deadline for the 2026 Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop (YPO). The remote program began in 2022 and is an intensive, one-on-one workshop experience in which students may pick a six-week, 12-week, or 18-week pace on writing topics of their choice and assignments of their own designs.

The six-week session begins June 1, 2026. The 12-week session begins August 12, 2026. The 18-week …Read More

Author Ayida Shonibar and illustrator and animator Aude Abou Nasr are the 2025 recipients of the Otherwise Fellowship (formerly the Tiptree Fellowship).

Each winner receives a $500 grant and work produced as a result of this support will be recognized and promoted by the Otherwise Award, which celebrates works of speculative fiction that imagine new futures by exploring and expanding our understanding of gender roles. Through the Fellowship program, the …Read More

Author and editor M. CHRISTIAN died in the emergency room January 1, 2026.

M. Christian was born in Whittier, CA. They were the managing editor at Future of Sex, and they published several novels, collections, anthologies, and works of short fiction, predominantly erotica. Their novels include vampire thriller The Very Bloody Marys (2007), gay horror Me2 (2008) and Finger's Breadth (2011), erotic SF Painted Doll (2014), and Running Dry (2006) …Read More

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced Gay Haldeman as the winner of the 2026 Kevin O'Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award. The award is presented for outstanding work on behalf of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.

The announcement notes, among other things, that Haldeman was a founder of the University of Iowa Science Fiction League in 1975 and the club secretary of the Washington …Read More

SF and mystery writer, reviewer, and essayist James Sallis, 81, died January 27, 2026 in Phoenix AZ of a long-term illness.

James Sallis was born December 21, 1944 in Helena AR. He taught at Phoenix College, Otis College, and the Piper Center. He published well over 100 pieces of speculative short fiction, beginning with Kazoo (1967) in New Worlds, a magazine he went on to briefly co-edit. Others have appeared …Read More