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  "description": "Some of the best SF/F from 2025",
  "path": "/2026-locus-awards-science-fiction-fantasy-horror-books-finalists/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-14T15:33:17.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.andrewliptak.com",
  "tags": [
    "last year's winners",
    "Bay Area Book Festival",
    "here",
    "The Witch and the Wyrm",
    "Barnacle",
    "Uncertain Sons",
    "We Begin Where Infinity Ends",
    "The Millay Illusion",
    "When He Calls Your Name",
    "The Twenty-One Second God",
    "Wolf Moon, Antler Moon",
    "Phantom View",
    "Secret Night",
    "In the Halls of the Makeshift King",
    "In My Country",
    "Wire Mother",
    "The Shape of Stones",
    "Courtney Lovecraft’s Book of the Dead",
    "Because I Held His Name Like a Key",
    "Landline",
    "Missing Helen",
    "Woolly"
  ],
  "textContent": "_Locus Magazine_ , the industry publication for the speculative fiction literary community has issued its finalists lists for 2026. Each year, it issues a poll for its subscribers and fans, which it tabulates for its award, which is held up alongside the Hugo and Nebula Awards in significance. I've found that it's a good survey of the past year's storytelling. Here are last year's winners.\n\nAs in years past, it's an excellent roundup: there are a whole bunch of books that I read and really enjoyed, and I'm eager to see which ones end up winning.\n\nThis year's awards are being held in partnership with the Bay Area Book Festival, which is themed “Writing the Future.” This year's awards will be announced during this year's Locus Awards Ceremony, which will be held on May 30, during this year's Locus Awards Ceremony, which will be held at Hotel Shattuck in Berkeley Hall California. You can get tickets for the event here.\n\nHere's the full list of nominees:\n\n### Science fiction novels\n\n  *  _The Folded Sky_ by Elizabeth Bear\n  * _Picks & Shovels _by Cory Doctorow\n  * _Notes from a Regicide_ by Isaac Fellman\n  * _When We Were Real_ by Daryl Gregory\n  * _All That We See or Seem_ by Ken Liu\n  * _Where the Axe Is Buried_ by Ray Nayler\n  * _Slow Gods_ by Claire North\n  * _Death of the Author_ by Nnedi Okorafor\n  * _The Shattering Peace_ by John Scalzi\n  * _Shroud_ by Adrian Tchaikovsky\n\n\n\n### Fantasy novels\n\n  *  _The Devils_ by Joe Abercrombie\n  * _The Tomb of Dragons_ by Katherine Addison\n  * _Lessons in Magic and Disaster_ by Charlie Jane Anders\n  * _A Drop of Corruption_ by Robert Jackson Bennett\n  * _The Everlasting_ by Alix E. Harrow\n  *  _The Raven Scholar_ by Antonia Hodgson\n  *  _Hemlock & Silver _by T. Kingfisher\n  * _Katabasis_ by R.F. Kuang\n  * _The Incandescent_ by Emily Tesh\n  * _Queen Demon_ by Martha Wells\n\n\n\n### Horror novels\n\n  *  _The Possession of Alba Díaz_ by Isabel Cañas\n  * _Spread Me_ by Sarah Gailey\n  * _King Sorrow_ by Joe Hill\n  * _The Buffalo Hunter Hunter_ by Stephen Graham Jones\n  * _The Library at Hellebore_ by Cassandra Khaw\n  *  _Never Flinch_ by Stephen King\n  * _The Bewitching_ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia\n  * _It Was Her House First_ by Cherie Priest\n  * _The Crimson Road_ by A.G. Slatter\n  * _The Staircase in the Woods_ by Chuck Wendig\n\n\n\n### Young Adult novels\n\n  *  _The Singular Life of Aria Patel_ by Samira Ahmed\n  * _Make Me a Monster_ by Kalynn Bayron\n  * _Costumes for Time Travelers_ by A.R. Capetta\n  * _The Executioners Three_ by Susan Dennard\n  * _The Underwood Tapes_ by Amanda DeWitt\n  * _Among Ghosts_ by Rachel Hartman\n  * _Sky on Fire_ by E.K. Johnston\n  * _Starstrike_ by Yoon Ha Lee\n  * _I Am Not Jessica Chen_ by Ann Liang\n  * _They Bloom at Night_ by Trang Thanh Tran\n\n\n\n### First novels\n\n  *  _A Song of Legends Lost_ by M.H. Ayinde\n  * _Red Rabbit Ghost_ by Jen Julian\n  * _When Devils Sing_ by Xan Kaur\n  * _Awake in the Floating City_ by Susanna Kwan\n  *  _Luminous_ by Silvia Park\n  * _Archive of Unknown Universes_ by Ruben Reyes Jr.\n  * _North Sun, Or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther_ by Ethan Rutherford\n  * _Blob_ by Maggie Su\n  * _Song of Spores_ by Bogi Takács\n  * _Sour Cherry_ by Natalia Theodoridou\n\n\n\n### Translated novel\n\n  *  _On the Calculation of Volume III_ by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell\n  * _The Unworthy_ by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses\n  * _The Midnight Shift_ by Cheon Seon-Ran, translated by Gene Png\n  * _Red Sword_ by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur\n  * _The Midnight Timetable_ by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur\n  * _Ice_ by Jacek Dukaj, translated by Ursula Phillips\n  * _Blood for the Undying Throne_ by Sung-il Kim, translated by Anton Hur __\n  * _Vanishing World_ by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori\n  * _Dengue Boy_ by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery\n  * _The Wax Child_ by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken\n\n\n\n### Novellas\n\n  *  _The Orb of Cairado_ by Katherine Addison\n  *  _The River Has Roots_ by Amal El-Mohtar\n  *  _What Stalks the Deep_ by T. Kingfisher\n  * _Cinder House_ by Freya Marske\n  * _Automatic Noodle_ by Annalee Newitz\n  *  _Making History_ by K.J. Parker\n  * _Psychopomp & Circumstance _by Eden Royce\n  * _Lives of Bitter Rain_ by Adrian Tchaikovsky\n  * _A Mouthful of Dust_ by Nghi Vo\n  * _Murder by Memory_ by Olivia Waite\n\n\n\n### Novelettes\n\n  * “The Witch and the Wyrm\" by Elizabeth Bear (_Reactor_ 2/26/25)\n  * “Barnacle\" by Kate Elliott (_Reactor_ 11/5/25)\n  * “Uncertain Sons\" by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons)\n  * “We Begin Where Infinity Ends\" by Somto Ihezue (_Clarkesworld_ 2/25)\n  * “The Tin Man’s Ghost\" by Ray Nayler (_Asimov’s_ 5-6/25)\n  * “The Millay Illusion\" by Sarah Pinsker (_Uncanny_ 11-12/25)\n  * “When He Calls Your Name\" by Catherynne M. Valente (_Uncanny_ 7-8/25)\n  * “The Twenty-One Second God\" by Peter Watts (_Lightspeed_ 6/25)\n  * “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon\" by A.C. Wise (_Reactor_ 1/13/25)\n  * “Phantom View\" by John Wiswell (_Reactor_ 10/22/25)\n\n\n\n### Short Stories\n\n  * “Secret Night\" by Nathan Ballingrud (Night & Day)\n  * “In the Halls of the Makeshift King\" by Tobias S. Buckell (_Asimov’s_ 7-8/25)\n  * “In My Country\" by Thomas Ha (_Clarkesworld_ 4/25)\n  * “Wire Mother\" by Isabel J. Kim (_Clarkesworld_ 10/25)\n  * “The Shape of Stones\" by Hildur Knútsdóttir (_Reactor_ 3/12/25)\n  * “Courtney Lovecraft’s Book of the Dead\" by Sam J. Miller (_Nightmare_ 10/25)\n  * “Because I Held His Name Like a Key\" by Aimee Ogden (_Strange Horizons_ 6/16/25)\n  * “Landline\" by Kelly Robson (_Reactor_ 3/5/25)\n  * “Missing Helen\" by Tia Tashiro (_Clarkesworld_ 7/25)\n  * “Woolly\" by Carrie Vaughn (_Asimov’s_ 5-6/25)\n\n\n\n### Anthology\n\n  *  _The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories_ edited by andré m. carrington\n  *  _Night & Day _edited by Ellen Datlow\n  * _Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology_ edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney\n  *  _The End of the World As We Know It_ edited by Christopher Golden & Brian Keene\n  *  _We Will Rise Again_ edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older\n  * _Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity_ edited by Lee Mandelo\n  * _The Best Weird Fiction of the Year: Volume 1_ edited by Michael Kelly\n  * _Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three_ edited by Stephen Kotowych\n  * _The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025_ edited by Nnedi Okorafor and John Joseph Adams\n  *  _As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories_ edited by Terese Mason Pierre\n\n\n\n### Collection\n\n  *  _Call and Response_ by Christopher Caldwell\n  * _Moon Songs_ by Carol Emshwiller\n  * _Letters from an Imaginary Country_ by Theodora Goss\n  * _Uncertain Sons and Other Stories_ by Thomas Ha\n  * _Bright Dead Star_ by Caitlín R. Kiernan\n  * _The Essential Patricia A. McKillip_ by Patricia A. McKillip\n  * _One Message Remains_ by Premee Mohamed\n  * _The Revelation Space Collection Volumes 1 & 2_ by Alastair Reynolds\n  * _Crows and Silences_ by Lucius Shepard\n  * _A Catalog of Storms_ by Fran Wilde\n\n\n\n### Magazine\n\n  *  _Asimov’s_\n  *  _Beneath Ceaseless Skies_\n  *  _Clarkesworld_\n  *  _F &SF_\n  *  _Fiyah_\n  *  _khōréō_\n  *  _Lightspeed_\n  *  _Reactor_\n  *  _Strange Horizons_\n  *  _Uncanny Magazine_\n\n\n\n### Publisher\n\n  * Angry Robot\n  * DAW\n  * Del Rey\n  * Gollancz\n  * Neon Hemlock\n  * Orbit\n  * Pan Macmillan/Tor UK\n  * Saga\n  * Solaris\n  * Tachyon\n\n\n\n _Tor Publishing Group & Subterranean Press have recused themselves from this category. Tor UK is an imprint of Pan Macmillan, not TPG._\n\n### Editor\n\n  * John Joseph Adams\n  * Scott H. Andrews\n  * Neil Clarke\n  * Ellen Datlow\n  * dave ring\n  * Jonathan Strahan\n  * Bogi Takács\n  * Wendy N. Wagner\n  * Fran Wilde & Julian Yap\n  * Sheila Williams\n\n\n\n### Artist\n\n  * Brom\n  * Rovina Cai\n  * Galen Dara\n  * Bob Eggleton\n  * Kathleen Jennings\n  * Alan Lee\n  * John Picacio\n  * Shaun Tan\n  * Charles Vess\n  * Michael Whelan\n\n\n\n### Illustrated and Art books\n\n  *  _The Invisible Parade_ by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio\n  *  _Frank Frazetta: Fine Lines_ edited by Sara Frazetta and Arnie Fenner, art by Frank Frazetta\n  *  _Starling House_ by Alix E. Harrow, art by Rovina Cai\n  *  _Designing Terry Pratchett’s Discworld_ by Paul Kidby\n  *  _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, art by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell\n  *  _The Space Cat_ by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford\n  *  _Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene Volumes 1-3_ by adapted by Rebecca K. Reynolds, art by Justin Gerard\n  *  _Sunset at Zero Point_ / _Swedish Machines_ by Simon Stålenhag\n  *  _Faraway Dreaming_ by Ulla Thynell\n  *  _Icons of the Fantastic: Illustrations of Imaginative Literature from the Korshak Collection_ edited by Amanda T. Zehnder and David M. Brinley\n\n\n\n### Nonfiction\n\n  * _The Outspoken and the Incendiary_ by Terry Bisson\n  *  _Enshittification_ by Cory Doctorow\n  *  _Colourfields_ by Paul Kincaid\n  *  _Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling_ by Henry Lien\n  *  _Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler_ by Susana M. Morris\n  *  _Black Apocalypse: Afrofuturism at the End of the World_ by Tavia Nyong’o\n  *  _Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet_ by Tochi Onyebuchi\n  *  _Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature_ edited by Becky Siegel Spratford\n  *  _Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends_ edited by Richard Wolinsky\n  *  _Octavia E. Butler: H is for Horse_ by Chi-ming Yang\n\n\n\n* * *",
  "title": "Here are the finalists for the 2026 Locus Awards",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-14T15:33:18.275Z"
}