Locus Awards "Finalists"

Locus magazine has released the top five finishers in each of the categories of their readers' poll, ahead of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame Weekend in Seattle in late June, on their website.

Of course, Locus already knows what the winner is, in every category -- this is just the list of the top five finishers reorganized alphabetically -- but it does have the shape of a shortlist, so Locus hopes that we will all treat it as one.

And the awards will go to an already-determined subset of the following works:


Science Fiction Novel

• Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
• Cryoburn, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• Zero History, William Gibson (Putnam; Viking UK)
• The Dervish House, Ian McDonald (Pyr; Gollancz)
• Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)

I've reviewed both Cryoburn and the Willis dyptych; I haven't read the others.

Fantasy Novel

• Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (Penguin Canada; Roc)Kraken
• Kraken, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey)
• Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
• The Fuller Memorandum, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• The Sorcerer's House, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

I've reviewed Kraken, The Fuller Memorandum, and The Sorcerer's House here, and not read the other two.

First Novel

• The Loving Dead, Amelia Beamer (Night Shade)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
• Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz; Tor)
• How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu (Pantheon)

I've reviewed Shades of Milk and Honey and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe; I haven't read the others yet -- though The Quantum Thief is only being published in the US this month.

Young Adult Book

• Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
• Enchanted Glass, Diana Wynne Jones (HarperCollins UK; Greenwillow)
• I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; HarperCollins)
• Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

I've reviewed I Shall Wear Midnight and Behemoth here, and I'd missed the publication of Enchanted Glass entirely. (I now have a hold at the library for it.)

Novella

• Bone and Jewel Creatures, Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
• The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
• "The Mystery Knight"', George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
• "Troika", Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines)
• "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's Window'", Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer '10)

Interesting to see that this category is now dominated by books; I'm not sure what that says about the traditional SF magazines.


Novelette

• "The Fool Jobs", Joe Abercrombie (Swords & Dark Magic)
• "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains", Neil Gaiman (Stories)
• "The Mad Scientist's Daughter", Theodora Goss (Strange Horizons 1/18-1/25/10)
• "Plus or Minus", James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's 12/10)
• "Marya and the Pirate", Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov's 1/10)

I reviewed both Swords & Dark Magic and Stories; I'd agree that the Gaiman was one of the best stories in that book -- and one of the best I'd read last year -- but I would not go as far with the Abercrombie. And the magazines do make a comeback in this category; perhaps current circumstances make it difficult for them to publish novellas? (Or, perhaps, just the highest-profile novellas?)

Short Story

• "Booth's Ghost", Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn't See and Other Stories)
• "The Thing About Cassandra", Neil Gaiman (Songs of Love and Death)
• "Names for Water", Kij Johnson (Asimov's 10-11/10)
• "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/10)
• "The Things", Peter Watts (Clarkesworld 1/10)

Clarkesworld has an amazing batting average this year; remember that they only publish two stories a month.

Magazine

• Analog
• Asimov's
• F&SF
• Subterranean
• Tor.com

Tor.com is a magazine? You keep using that word -- I do not think it means what you think it means. Just because something publishes short fiction semi-regularly does not make it a magazine.

Publisher

• Baen
• Night Shade Books
• Orbit
• Subterranean Press
• Tor

If anyone thinks Tor won't win this category, for the umpty-umpth year running, I'd be happy to make a little side wager.

Anthology

• Zombies vs. Unicorns, Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier, eds. (McElderry)
• The Beastly Bride, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Viking)
• The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St.
• Martin's)
• Warriors, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Tor)
• Swords & Dark Magic, Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds. (HarperCollins)

As previously mentioned, I reviewed Swords & Dark Magic; I haven't read the others.

Collection

• Mirror Kingdoms, Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean)
• What I Didn't See and Other Stories, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer)
• Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories, Fritz Leiber (Night Shade)
• The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson, Kim Stanley Robinson (Night Shade)
• The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny: Volume Five: Nine Black Doves, Roger Zelazny (NESFA)

Editor

• Ellen Datlow
• Gardner Dozois
• Gordon Van Gelder
• David G. Hartwell
• Jonathan Strahan

Artist

• Bob Eggleton
• Donato Giancola
• John Picacio
• Shaun Tan
• Michael Whelan

Once again I have to ask, seriously, what genre art Whelan has done recently? He's an excellent artist, and did piles of great SF/Fantasy book covers, true. But he's been retired from that part of his career for over a decade, and it's time for the fans to get that through their thick heads and start voting for the great artists who still are working in the field.

Non-fiction

• 80! Memories & Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Joy Fowler & Debbie Notkin, eds.
• (Aqueduct)
• Conversations with Octavia Butler, Conseula Francis (University Press of Mississippi)
• Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1: 1907-1948: Learning Curve, William H. Patterson, Jr., (Tor)
• CM Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Visionary, Mark Rich (McFarland)
• Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001, Gary K. Wolfe (Beccon)

I'd love to think that something other than the Heinlein book had a chance here, but I'm much too cynical for that.

Art Books

• Bob Eggleton, Dragon's Domain (Impact)
• Spectrum 17, Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood)
• Donato Giancola, Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth (Underwood)
• Shaun Tan, The Bird King and Other Sketches (Windy Hollow)
• Charles Vess & Neil Gaiman, Instructions (Harper)

I note, with mild puzzlement, that the author of the book comes first in this category, unlike all of the others -- and except for the one book edited by non-artists. This is very curious. I resolutely refuse to read anything into that fact, but I do always hope for greater consistency in the future.