Locus News

Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Locus Award-winner Stephen Graham Joneswill be joining us as a Guest of Honor at the Locus Awards Weekend on May 29-31, 2026, in Oakland, California! We're very happy to welcome him. Jones joins fellow Guests of Honor Nnedi Okorafor and Tananarive Due, as well as a program of amazing local creators, for an unforgettable celebration.

From his website: Stephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling …Read More

The 16-title longlist has been announced for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction. Titles and authors of genre interest include:

• Paradiso 17, Hannah Lillith Assadi (Knopf US; 4th Estate UK)
• Audition, Katie Kitamura (Riverhead US; Fern UK)
• A Guardian and a Thief, Megha Majumdar (Knopf US; Scribner UK)
• A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing, Alice Evelyn Yang (William Morrow US; Dead Ink UK)

The prize is aimed at championing …Read More

The shortlist for the 2025 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards has been announced.

BestNovel

• A Granite Silence, Nina Allan (Riverrun)
• Project Hanuman, Stewart Hotston (Angry Robot)
• When There Are Wolves Again, E.J. Swift (Arcadia)
• Edge of Oblivion, Kirk Weddell (Troubador)
• The Salt Oracle, Lorraine Wilson (Solaris)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

• Cities Are Forests Waiting to Happen, Cécile Cristofari (Newcon)
• The River …Read More

The results of the annual Clarkesworld readers' poll for best stories and cover art of 2025 have been announced in an editorial by Neil Clarke.

Best Short Story

• WINNER: Missing Helen , Tia Tashiro (7/25)

• In My Country , Thomas Ha (4/25)
• Numismatic Archetypes in the Year of Five Regents , Louis Inglis Hall (2/25)
• Abstraction Is When I Design Giant Death Creatures and …Read More

From Upstream by Sophia Aki Kawamura of the University of Washington is the winner of the 2026 Must Read Books Award, previously the Dell Magazines Award,for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing.

The complete list of honors is:

• First Runner-up: Kinesis by Emma Kerkman from Hamilton College
• Second Runner-up: Silent Song by Jadyn Straigis from Goucher College
• Third Runner-up (tie): Akasabata by Hyunjin (Claire) Cho from …Read More

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a Missouri computer scientist whose copyright application was rejected for a work of AI-generated art. The decision sets a precedent that works without human authors are ineligible for copyright registration, although it does not stop all future litigation on the matter.

In 2018, Stephen Thaler applied for a copyright for a piece of artwork called A Recent Entrance to …Read More

The winners of the 2026 Fan Activity Achievement Awards (FAAns) were announced at Corflu 43, held February 27 - March 1, 2026 Santa Rosa CA.

Best Personal Zine

• This Here...

Best Genzine

• Idea

Best Special Publication

• Dancing to Architecture

Best Fan Writer

• Nic Farey

Best Letterhack

• Leigh Edmonds

Best Fan Artist

• Brad W. Foster

Best Fanzine …Read More

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced that writer Tananarive Due will be toastmaster at the 61st Annual Nebula Awards, to be held June 3-7, 2026 in Chicago IL.

SFWA Executive Director Isis Asare said, Due is an exceptional speaker – brilliantly insightful, delightfully funny – and deeply generous in her commitment to elevating the craft of speculative fiction writing across media. She is the perfect toastmaster …Read More

World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson Award-winner Tananarive Due will be joining us as a Guest of Honor at the Locus Awards Weekend on May 29-31, 2026, in Oakland, California! We're delighted to welcome her. Due joins fellow Guests of Honor Nnedi Okorafor and Stephen Graham Jones, as well as a program of amazing local creators for an unforgettable celebration.

From her website: TANANARIVE DUE (tah-nah-nah-REEVE doo) is …Read More

Dan Simmons, 77, award-winning author of 31 novels and short story collections, passed away on February 21, 2026 in Longmont, Colorado. Many of his books won honors ranging from the Hugo Award, science fiction's most prestigious award, to two World Fantasy Awards, three Bram Stoker Awards for horror, a dozen Locus Awards, and the Shirley Jackson Award. His titles have been translated into at least 20 languages and published in …Read More

TheBaltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) has announced the finalists for the 2026 Compton Crook Award:

• A Song of Legends Lost, M.H. Ayinde (Saga)
• Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, Yaroslav Barsukov (Caezik SF & Fantasy)
• All the Water in the World, Eiren Caffall (St. Martin's)
• The Book of Lost Hours, Hayley Gelfuso (Atria)
• The Raven Scholar, Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US / Hodderscape UK)
• Splinter Effect, Andrew Ludington (St. Martin's/Minotaur)

Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal (Serpent's Tail) andThe Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks (Avid Reader) are among the four shortlisted titles announced for the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award for work by British or Irish authors 18-35 years old. The 2025 shortlist consists of two novels and two works of nonfiction. The winner will receive a £10,000 prize, and three runner-ups will each receive a …Read More

Winners in several categories of the 57th NAACP Image Awards, honoring outstanding work in various media by Black performers and creators, have been announced February 23-24, 2026 as part of a virtual pre-show.

Nnedi Okorafor's Death of the Author (Morrow) was announced as the winner of the Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work: Fiction. Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Book of Anansi by Angie Thomas (Clarion) was announced as …Read More

Locus is pleased to announce that Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Eisner and Lodestar Award-winner Nnedi Okorafor will be joining us as a Guest of Honor at the Locus Awards, May 30, 2026, in Berkeley, California, during the Bay Area Book Festival! We're very happy to welcome her and fellow Guests of Honor Tananarive Due and Stephen Graham Jones, as well as a program of amazing local creators, for an …Read More

Finalists have been announced for the 2025 Prix Bob Morane, recognizing French-language works in the science fiction, fantasy, espionage, and thriller genres.

Romans traduit (Translated Novels)

• Les éléments [The Elements], John Boyne, tr. Sophie Aslanides (JC Lattès)
• Le roi des cendres [The King of Ashes], S.A. Cosby, tr. Pierre Szczeciner (Sonatine)
• Adieu Dakota [Farewell Dakota], Dan O'Brien, tr. Laura Derajinski (Au diable vauvert)
• Toutes les nuances de la nuit …Read More

The 2025 Aurealis Awards winners, recognizing the best in Australian speculative fiction, have been announced.

Best Science Fiction Novel

• WINNER: Wastelands, Samira Lloyd (Arianhrod)

• Letters to Our Robot Son, Cadance Bell (Ultimo)
• Arborescence, Rhett Davis (Fleet UK)
• Volatile Memory, Seth Haddon (Tordotcom)
• Dark Sands, J.S. Harman (self-published)
• All We Have, Tony Shillitoe (Millswood)

Best Science Fiction Novella

• WINNER: The Hidden God , T.R. Napper (Asimov's …Read More

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