Locus News

World Fantasy Awards Judges Announced
The judges for the 2025 World Fantasy Awards have been empaneled.
The judges will read and consider eligible materials from 2024 between now (January 6, 2025) and June 1, 2025. To be considered for awards, all materials must be received by all five judges and Peter Dennis Pautz by June 1, 2025. “If… something is received on May 31 the judges may well have only one day to read it ...Read More
Wiz Duos
Wizard’s Tower Press has announced the new Wiz Duo novella series, edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall, to launch in early 2025. Each volume “will contain two novella-length stories from different writers.” The first two books include stories by David Gullen and Ben Wright, and Juliet Kemp and E.M. Faulds. Their novellas were first acquired by the now-defunct Grimbold Books. Publisher Cheryl Morgan said:
While I love reading novellas, ...Read More
King Closes Stations
Author Stephen King is shutting down the three independent radio stations he owns in Bangor ME: WZON, WZLO, and WKIT. They are expected to go offline on December 31, 2024. King said, “While radio across the country has been overtaken by giant corporate broadcasting groups, I’ve loved being a local, independent owner all these years,” but the stations have never been profitable, with King covering the revenue shortfalls personally. Now, ...Read More
Asimov’s Readers’ Award Ballot Opens
Asimov‘s magazine has opened up the ballot for its 39th annual Readers’ Award. On the ballot, available here, readers can select their favorite Asimov’s short stories, novellas, novelettes, poems, and covers from 2024. The poll closes on February 1, 2025.
Founded in 1977 by Isaac Asimov and Joel Davis, Asimov’s publishes science fiction, poetry, editorials, and non-fiction. For more on the magazine’s history, see here.
While you are here, please ...Read More
Analog’s Analytical Laboratory Ballot Opens
Analog Science Fiction and Fact has opened up its annual poll for the Analytical Laboratory of reader favorites. On the ballot, available here, readers select their favorite Analog short stories, novellas, covers, articles, and more. The poll closes on February 1, 2025.
Analog, begun in 1930 as Astounding Stories, publishes science fiction and articles on science and technology. For more information about the magazine, see here.
While you are here, ...Read More
King’s New Year’s Honours 2025
Kazuo Ishiguro is the first name on the 2025 King Charles III New Year’s Honours list. The list gives Ishiguro the Companion of Honour distinction, which BBC.com notes as rare, as it is “a select group which is limited to 65 people at any one time.” Jacqueline Wilson DBE is next on the High Awards list, given the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. The complete list ...Read More
TAFF Nominees and Voting
The 2024 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), which “will send a European fan to the 2025 Worldcon in Seattle,” has selected its nominees and will begin voting on January 1, 2025.
The candidates for this year are Zi Graves, Mikołaj Kowalewski, and Jan Vaněk jr. Voting is open to any individual with their donation of £3 or $4 to TAFF. The ballot is available here.
TAFF “was created in 1953 for ...Read More
ICon: Tel Aviv 2024
The 28th ICon was held October 20-22, 20-24 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and included almost 350 panels, lectures, workshops, games, and roleplaying. Some 11,000 tickets were sold to the different events. In each of the three days, at a certain point, entrance to the venue had to be restricted to those who had tickets, because the 1,800 people limit on premises, set for health and safety reasons, was reached.
The ...Read More
SFWA Statement: Writers in Crisis
The Board of Directors of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has released a statement on the freedom of expression for writers residing in conflict areas and poor living conditions:
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in education, SFWA is restricted from political campaign intervention in particular forms. At the same time, our mission is to inform, support, promote, defend, and advocate for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and related ...Read More
George Zebrowski (1945-2024)
Author George Zebrowski, 78, died December 20, 2024.
Jerzy Tadeus Zebrowski (AKA George Thaddeus Zebrowski) was born December 28, 1945 in Villach, Austria. He moved to the US in 1951, and attended an early Clarion Writers’ Workshop in 1968.
Zebrowski’s first publications were collaborations with Jack Dann in 1970 (“Traps” and “Dark, Dark, the Dead Star”), and his first solo story was “The Water Sculptor of Station 233” (1970). He ...Read More
Can*Con 2024
Can*Con 2024 was held November 1-3 in person at the Sheraton Hotel in Ottawa, Canada. Guests of honour were Jennifer Brozek, Sarah Gailey, Diana M. Pho, Waubgeshig Rice, and Arley Sorg. A separate virtual Can*Con was held on April 20 with roughly one hundred attendees.
There were 400 in-person registered attendees. Programming featured 115 panelists and 107 items on writing, literature, and more, such as ‘‘Post-Colonial Perspectives on the Post-Apocalypse’’ ...Read More
T. Jackson King (1948-2024)
Writer T. Jackson King, 76, died December 3, 2024 in Santa Fe NM.
Thomas Jackson King, Jr. was born May 24, 1948 in Houston TX. He was a journalist, activist, and archaeologist.
Debut novel Retread Shop appeared in 1988. His Vigilante series began with Star Vigilante (2012) and continued with Nebula Vigilante (2013), Galactic Vigilante (2013), and Anarchate Vigilante (2014). The Aliens series includes Earth vs. Aliens (2014), Humans vs. ...Read More
2025 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award Finalists
The Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS) has announced the finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award for Best Classic Fiction.
- Orion Shall Rise, Poul Anderson (Timescape)
- “As Easy as A.B.C.”, Rudyard Kipling (London Magazine 1912)
- “The Trees”, Rush (Hemispheres)
- Singularity Sky, Charles Stoss (Ace)
Six other works were also considered: “Death and the Senator”, a 1961 short story by Arthur C. Clarke; That Hideous Strength, a 1945 ...Read More
Barry N. Malzberg (1939-2024)
Author, editor, and critic Barry N. Malzberg, 85, died December 19, 2024 in Saddle River NJ.
Barry Nathaniel Malzberg was born July 24, 1939 in New York. He attended Syracuse University, graduating in 1960, and returned later to study writing in graduate school. He left the program to work as an agent for the Scott Meredith Literary Agency as well as a freelance writer. He married Joyce Zelnick in 1964; ...Read More
Winterbottom Joins Transworld
Rachel Winterbottom has joined Penguin Random House UK imprint Transworld as sci-fi and fantasy publishing director. Winterbottom is scheduled to start working in the newly created role in March 2025, reporting temporarily to managing director Kimberly Young. Winterbottom has worked as an editor for Gollancz as well as HarperVoyager UK. Young said,
Rachel brings with her a magical combination of a deep passion for the SFF genre and a genuine ...Read More
New York Public Library Best Books and Top Check Outs
The New York Public Library (NYPL), the Brooklyn Public Library, the Queens Public Library, and others have released their annual lists of most-borrowed books. The 2024 announcement features a list of books tabulating check outs for the combined boroughs.
On the “Citywide” list, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Knopf) was the most checked out book for the combined boroughs of New York for 2024. Third place was ...Read More
John Marsden (1950-2024)
Author John Marsden, 74, died December 18, 2024 in Australia. He wrote more than 40 books in various genres and was best known for his Tomorrow series of young-adult SF novels.
Marsden was born September 27, 1950 in Melbourne, Australia. He moved to Sydney with his family at age ten and later attended Sydney University for a time before dropping out. He worked various jobs before becoming an English teacher, ...Read More
The Bookseller Ranks British and Irish Acquiring Editors
The Bookseller has created a list of their top 30 UK and Ireland editors of 2024, using available data from Circana Bookscan and factoring in other achievements like literary prizes. The rankings feature several editors and works of genre interest, including:
- Natasha Bardon (HarperCollins/HarperVoyager, acquisitions include Yellowface by R.F. Kuang)
- Romilly Morgan (Brazen, acquisitions include The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki, translated by Jesse Kirkwood)
- Michal Shavit (PRH/Jonathan
2024 HWA Scholarship and Grant Recipients
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced the recipients of its 2024 scholarships and diversity grants.
Amanda Helms, Somto Ihezue, Elis Montgomery, A.W. Prihandita, Ayida Shonibar, Tehnuka, and Ash Vale are winners of the $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.”
Catherine Yu won the $2,500 Horror Writers Association Scholarship. ...Read More
Pelletier Named PW Person of the Year
Liz Pelletier, publisher of Entangled Publishing, is Publishers Weekly’s 2024 Person of the Year.
Entangled Publishing—which includes genre imprints Red Tower, Entangled Teen, and Amara—had a breakout year in 2023 with the publication of bestseller Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Other notable titles include Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer and the Crave series by Tracy Wolff.
Pelletier founded Entangled in 2010 “to bridge the gap in the ...Read More