Locus News

The Nuremberg 2028 Worldcon bid has announced its withdrawal from the race after a decision by a crew-committee assembly.

This decision comes from a mix of personal, organisational and timing reasons. Since our introduction at Smofcon in November, we have received wonderful support from volunteers, artists, experienced conrunners and communities across Central Europe. We are deeply grateful for that.

But as site selection begins, we have to be honest: we …Read More

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The Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners in each category of the 2026 Locus Awards on May 30, 2026, during the Bay Area Book Festival. Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, and Nnedi Okoraforwere Guests of Honor, withFeatured Local Artist Alyssa Winans. Additional weekend events included readings, panels with leading authors, and a catered reception.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• WINNER:Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)amazon/bookshop

…Read More

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The 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards nominees for outstanding achievement in horror, psychological suspense, and dark fantasy fiction have been announced.

Novel

• Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square)
• Old Soul, Susan Barker (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
• How to Fake a Haunting, Christa Carmen (Thomas & Mercer)
• Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, Grady Hendrix (Berkley)
• Moonflow, Bitter Karella (Run For It)
• The Lamb, Lucy Rose (HarperCollins)

…Read More

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Hum by Helen Phillips (Marysue Rucci) [amazon / bookshop] has been announced as the winner of the second annual Climate Fiction Prize. Founded by Leo Barasi, Rose Goddard, and Imran Khan, and supported by Climate Spring, the prize seeks to celebrate the most inspiring novels tackling the climate crisis.

Other shortlisted titles and authors of genre interest include:

• Dusk, Robbie Arnott (Astra House US; Chatto & Windus UK; …Read More

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Lalana Dararutana, 49, died May 18, 2026. She had cervical cancer.

Dararutana was born September 15, 1976 in Syracuse NY. In her childhood she was a caregiver to her younger sister and brother. She began publishing books in her thirties after attending a writing conference in 2009. As an author, Dararutana went by Piper J. Drake and PJ Schnyder and published many works of fantasy, paranormal, and SF romance. She …Read More

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The British Fantasy Society (BFS) has announced the shortlists for the 2026 British Fantasy Awards:

Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award)

• A Song of Legends Lost, M.H. Ayinde (Orbit)
• The Outcast Mage, Annabel Campbell (Orbit)
• Magic, Maps, and Mischief, David Green (self-published)
• Daughters of Nicnevin, Shona Kinsella (Flame Tree)
• Grave Empire, Richard Swan (Orbit)
• Upon a Starlit Tide, Kell Woods (Tor US; Titan UK)

Best Horror Novel …Read More

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Bouchercon has announced the nominees for the 2026 Anthony Awards, honoring the best in crime fiction. Authors and works of genre interest include:

Best Hardcover Novel

• King of Ashes, S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)
• All This Could Be Yours, Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur)

Best First Novel

• Mask of the Deer Woman, Laurie L. Dove (Berkley)

Best Juvenile/YA Novel

• Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History, Chris Chan (Level Best)

…Read More

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Shahriar Shaams is the recipient of the 2026 A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature, presented by the Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) and DesiLit.

The $1,000 grant is given annually to a South Asian / South Asian diaspora writer developing speculative fiction. Shaams's winning work is A Night With the Spy.

For more information, see the SLF website. …Read More

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The winners of the 2026 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, honoring the best SF/F work published in France in 2025, were announced on May 18, 2026.

French Novel

• WINNER: Aatea, Anouck Faure (Argyll)

• Festin de larmes, Morgane Caussarieu & Vincent Tassy (ActuSF)
• Tovaangar, Céline Minard (Rivages)
• Sintonia, Audrey Pleynet (Le Bélial')
• Une vie de saint, Christophie Siébert (Au Diable Vauvert)

Foreign Novel

• WINNER: Le Livre des …Read More

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Science fiction editor, publisher, critic, and translator Tom Clegg, 68, died suddenly May 5, 2026. He was known in the SFF community for his deep affection for science fiction, and he became an important channel for translated works in France through his work at Bragelonne SF.

Thomas Clegg was born in 1957 in Springfield MA and grew up in Spain with his family. He graduated from Amherst College in 1978 …Read More

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MILESTONES

JON COURTENAY GRIMWOOD is now represented by John Jarrold Literary Agency.

LYNNE M. THOMAS and MICHAEL DAMIAN THOMAS were amicably divorced on April 2. Uncanny Magazine is now entirely under the ownership of Michael Damian Thomas per the divorce settlement.

BOOKS SOLD

S.A. CHAKRABORTY sold an untitled novel and another book to David Pomerico at Harper Voyager US for seven figures via Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates. …Read More

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Speculative poet and critic Donald Sidney-Fryer, 91, died May 2, 2026 in Chatham MA. He was in palliative care for bone cancer.

Sidney-Fryer was born September 8, 1934. He published well over 100 works of speculative poetry, starting as early as 1968 with Connaissance Fatale and publishing in periodicals including Macabre, Spectral Realms, Weird Tales, and Witchcraft & Sorcery; anthologies including Off the Coastal Path (2010); and collections including The …Read More

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Winners of the 2026 Steve Miller Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) Annual Poetry Contest have been announced.

• 1st Place: Terracotta Warrior , Y.M. Pang
• 2nd Place: Starlight Bathing , Vivian McInerny
• 3rd Place: The Planet that Learned our Fear , Ayesha Mansoor
• Youth Award: Faster Than Light , Madame Reeds-A-Lot
• Honorable Mention: The Witch of Dark Matter , Kristin5689
• Honorable Mention: The River Remembers , Hashim Quraishi

The …Read More

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The winners have been announced for the 2026 Kurd Laßwitz Preis. The prize is awarded to German-language SF works published in the previous year.

BestGerman SFNovel

• WINNER: Lyneham, Nils Westerboer (Klett-Cotta)

• We Burn the Sun, Anika Beer (Piper)
• The Deniables: Gestohlene Vergangeheit, Stefan Cernohuby (Leseratten)
• Skyrmionen oder: A Fucking Army, Dietmar Dath (Matthes & Seitz)
• Der Himmel wird zur See, Sven Haupt (Eridanus)
• Ein Übermaß von Welt, …Read More

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The Bookseller has announced the winners of the 2026 British Book Awards, including the Book of the Year Winners. Winning titles and authors of genre interest, and other finalists of interest in those categories, include:

Author of the Year

• WINNER: A.F. Steadman

• Elif Shafak

Fiction

• WINNER: Boleyn Traitor, Philippa Gregory (HarperFiction)

• Dream Count, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4th Estate)
• The Rose Field: The Book …Read More

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LAcon V has announced that online voting for the 2026 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer are now open.

WSFS members can access the Hugo Awards Voter Packet and cast their ballot by logging in to the LAcon V online balloting portal. The deadline is August 8, 2026, 12:00 p.m. PDT, and votes can be resubmitted at any …Read More

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Finalists for the 2025 Analog Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Award and the 2025 Asimov's Readers' Awards have been announced.

The Analog AnLab Awards finalists are:

Novella

• Aleyara's Flight , Christopher L. Bennett (11-12/25)
• Apartment Wars , Vera Brook (1-2/25)
• Murder on the Eris Express , Beth Goder (3-4/25)
• The Return of Tom Dillon , Harry Lang (3-4/25)
• Under the Moons of Venus , Jay Werkheiser …Read More

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Horror author Thomas Tessier, 78, died March 26, 2026.

Thomas Edward Tessier was born May 10, 1947 in Waterbury CT. He studied at University College Dublin in Ireland and lived in the UK for many years before eventually returning to Connecticut.

Tessier's first genre novel was The Fates (1978), an SF horror, and he also wrote The Nightwalker (1979); Shockwaves (1982); World Fantasy Award nominee Phantom (1982); Finishing Touches (1986); …Read More

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The Pulitzer Prize Winners have been announced.Angel Down by Daniel Kraus (Atria) won in the Fiction category. Other finalists of genre interest include Auditionby Katie Kitamura (Riverhead) andStag Dance: A Quartetby Torrey Peters (Random House). In addition, Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) won in the Memoir or Autobiography category.

The Pulitzer jury said ofAngel Down: A breathless novel of World War …Read More

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Transworld has announced the launch 3AM Books, Penguin Random House's first dedicated horror imprint. The imprint will reflect the full range and ambition of horror today, bringing together established voices, bold new talent and a growing community of readers, according to The Bookseller.

Imprint leadership will include publishing director Rachel Winterbottom, editorial director Simon Taylor, editor Nicole Witmer, assistant editor Anna Carvanova, marketing executive Molly Openshaw, press officer Nina Lewis, …Read More

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