Worlds Without End Blog

Locus Magazine has announced the winners of the 2013 Locus Awards. The winners in the novel categories are:

• Science Fiction Novel: Redshirts, by John Scalzi (Tor; Gollancz)
• Fantasy Novel: The Apocalypse Codex, by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• Young Adult Novel: Railsea, by China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• First Novel: Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)

The complete list of all categories is available on the Locus web site. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees! So what do you think of the results?

No Comments | Posted in Locus Awards | Tags: Charles Stross, China Mieville, John Scalzi, Locus Award, Saladin Ahmed

Locus has announced the nominees for the 2013 Locus Awards. The winners will be announced at the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle, Washington with Master of Ceremonies, Connie Willis. The finalists in the novel categories are:

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• The Hydrogen Sonata, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• Caliban’s War, James S.A. Corey (AKA: Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank) (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Redshirts, John Scalzi (Tor; Gollancz)

FANTASY NOVEL

• The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
• Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• Hide Me Among the Graves, Tim Powers (Morrow; Corvus)
• The Apocalypse Codex, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

• The Drowned Cities, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown; Atom)
• Pirate Cinema, Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen)
• Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Dodger, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)
• The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel & Friends; Much-in-Little ’13)

FIRST NOVEL

• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
• vN: The First Machine Dynasty, Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot US; Angry Robot UK)
• Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
• The Games, Ted Kosmatka (Del Rey; Titan)
• Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson (Grove; Corvus)

Visit Locus Online for the official press release and the complete list of finalists in all categories. Congrats to all the finalists and best of luck in June!

4 Comments | Posted in Awards, Locus Awards | Tags: Locus Award

Locus Magazine has announced the winners of the 2012 Locus Awards. The winners in the novel categories are:

• Science Fiction Novel: Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Fantasy Novel: A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
• Young Adult Novel: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends)
• First Novel: The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)

The complete list of all categories is available on the Locus web site. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees! So what do you think of the results?

1 Comment | Posted in Awards, Locus Awards | Tags: Locus Award, Locus Young Adult Award

Locus has announced the nominees for the 2012 Locus Awards. The winners will be announced at the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle, Washington with Master of Ceremonies, Connie Willis. The finalists in the novel categories are:

Science Fiction Novel

• Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• 11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
• Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Rule 34, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• The Children of the Sky, Vernor Vinge (Tor)

Fantasy Novel

• A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
• Snuff, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)
• The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW; Gollancz)
• Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente (Tor)
• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

First Novel

• Ready Player One, Ernest Cline (Crown; Century)
• God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade)
• Soft Apocalypse, Will McIntosh (Night Shade)
• The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)
• Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime)

Young Adult Book

• Planesrunner, Ian McDonald (Pyr)
• Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs (Quirk)
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends)
• Goliath, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

Visit Locus Online for the official press release and the complete list of finalists in all categories. Congrats to all the finalists and best of luck in June!

7 Comments | Posted in Awards | Tags: Locus Award

Earlier this month Locus Magazine published its 2011 Recommended Reading List. "This recommended reading list, published in Locus Magazine’s February 2012 issue, is a consensus by Locus editors and reviewers…" of the best books published last year. These books make up the core of the Locus Awards Poll.

We’ve just finished adding the missing novels to our database so you can’t say you have nothing new to read now. Check these out and let us know what you think of the list. What do you like on this list? Is there something missing that should be there? Dont’ worry, you can vote online until April 15th!

Novels – Science Fiction

• Daybreak Zero – John Barnes (Ace)
• Grail – Elizabeth Bear (Ballantine Spectra)
• Leviathan Wakes – James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Clockwork Rocket – Greg Egan (Night Shade Books)
• This Shared Dream – Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor)
• 7th Sigma – Steven Gould (Tor)
• Deadline – Mira Grant (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Earthbound – Joe Haldeman (Ace)
• 11/22/63 – Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
• Wake Up and Dream – Ian R. MacLeod (PS Publishing)
• Firebird – Jack McDevitt (Ace)
• Embassytown – China Miéville (Ballantine Del Rey; Macmillan)
• All the Lives He Led – Frederik Pohl (Tor)
• The Islanders – Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
• Enigmatic Pilot: A Tall Tale Too True – Kris Saknussemm (Del Rey)
• Heart of Iron – Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books)
• Rule 34 – Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• Dancing With Bears – Michael Swanwick (Night Shade Books)
• The Children of the Sky – Vernor Vinge (Tor)
• The Courier’s New Bicycle – Kim Westwood (Voyager Australia)
• Zone One – Colson Whitehead (Doubleday; Harvill Secker)
• Vortex – Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
• Home Fires – Gene Wolfe (Tor; PS)

Novels – Fantasy

• The Heroes – Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz; Orbit US)
• The Dragon’s Path – Daniel Abraham (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Heartless – Gail Carriger (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Fallen Blade – Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Alchemists of Kush – Minister Faust (Narmer’s Palette)
• Hidden Cities – Daniel Fox (Del Rey)
• The Uncertain Places – Lisa Goldstein (Tachyon Publications)
• Raising Stony Mayhall – Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)
• The Magician King – Lev Grossman (Viking)
• Redwood and Wildfire – Andrea Hairston (Aqueduct Press)
• The Kingdom of Gods – N. K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• A Dance with Dragons – George R. R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
• The Cold Commands – Richard K. Morgan (Ballantine Del Rey; Gollancz)
• Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles – Kim Newman (Titan Books)
• The Book of Transformations – Mark Charan Newton (Tor UK)
• Mr. Fox – Helen Oyeyemi (Picador UK; Riverhead)
• The Hammer – K. J. Parker (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Snuff – Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)
• Briarpatch – Tim Pratt (ChiZine Publications)
• The River of Shadows – Robert V. S. Redick (Del Rey; Gollancz)
• The Wise Man’s Fear – Patrick Rothfuss (DAW; Gollancz)
• Deathless – Catherynne M. Valente (Tor)
• The Folded World – Catherynne M. Valente (Night Shade Books)
• Among Others – Jo Walton (Tor)
• Mistification – Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot UK; Angry Robot US)

Young Adult Books

• Abarat: Absolute Midnight – Clive Barker (Harper; HarperCollins UK)
• The Mostly True Story of Jack – Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
• Chime – Franny Billingsley (Dial)
• Red Glove – Holly Black (McElderry)
• Beauty Queens – Libba Bray (Scholastic)
• Eona – Alison Goodman (Viking; Angus & Roberson)
• Twilight Robbery – Frances Hardinge (Macmillan; Harper as Fly Trap)
• The Shattering – Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin; Little, Brown)
• Huntress – Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)
• Planesrunner – Ian McDonald (Pyr)
• A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness (Walker UK; Candlewick)
• The Akata Witch – Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)
• Mastiff – Tamora Pierce (Random House)
• Scrivener’s Moon – Philip Reeve (Marion Lloyd)
• Across the Universe – Beth Revis (Razorbill)
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs (Quirk)
• The Freedom Maze – Delia Sherman (Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House)
• The Highest Frontier – Joan Slonczewski (Tor)
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor (Little, Brown; Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making – Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends)
• The Boy at the End of the World – Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury USA)
• Goliath – Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)
• Across the Great Barrier – Patricia C. Wrede (Scholastic)
• The Space Between – Brenna Yovanoff (Razorbill)

First Novels

• Debris – Jo Anderton (Angry Robot US; Angry Robot UK)
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns – Rae Carson (Greenwillow; Gollancz as Fire and Thorns)
• Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (Crown; Century)
• God’s War – Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
• The Desert of Souls – Howard Andrew Jones (St. Martin’s)
• Of Blood and Honey – Stina Leicht (Night Shade)
• Soft Apocalypse – Will McIntosh (Night Shade Books)
• The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)
• The Tiger’s Wife – Téa Obreht (Random House; Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
• Low Town – Daniel Polansky (Doubleday; Hodder & Stoughton as Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure)
• Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti – Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
• Blood Red Road – Moira Young (McElderry; Marion Lloyd)
• Seed – Rob Ziegler (Night Shade Books)

1 Comment | Posted in Awards | Tags: Book Lists, Locus Award

As part of our new YA Genre Fiction Month we’ve just added the Locus Young Adult Award for best novel to the site. The award was first issued in 2003 so it has not been around a long time like some of our other awards but we feel it’s a great place to start our expanded coverage.

If you’re a fan of YA this is the award for you but more than that it’s a great resource for us parents trying to introduce our children to genre fiction. Tolkien and Lewis, and the other classics we know and love, can only take us so far. If you’re at all like me you may not know where to begin with the more recent work and oftentimes unfamiliar authors. Plus, with the holiday season rolling ’round the corner, this list of great books might come in handy when you go shopping. Christmas without books is just not Christmas – even if my kids disagree.

So what do you think of this award? Have you read many of these books? Any that you would recommend?

6 Comments | Posted in Awards | Tags: Locus Award, Locus Young Adult Award

The 2011 Locus Awards have just been announced at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle with live coverage provided on the Locus website. The winners are:

• Science Fiction Novel: Blackout / All Clear – Connie Willis (Spectra)
• Fantasy Novel: Kraken – China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey)
• First Novel: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
• Young Adult Book: Ship Breaker – Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
• Novella: The Lifecycle of Software Objects – Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
• Novelette: “The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains” – Neil Gaiman (Stories)
• Short Story: “The Thing About Cassandra” – Neil Gaiman (Songs of Love and Death)
• Magazine: Asimov’s
• Publisher: Tor
• Anthology: Warriors – George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Tor)
• Collection: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories – Fritz Leiber (Night Shade)
• Editor: Ellen Datlow
• Artist: Shaun Tan
• Non-Fiction: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1: 1907-1948: Learning Curve – William H. Patterson, Jr., (Tor)
• Art Book: Spectrum 17 – Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood)

Congrats to all the winners and nominees! So what do you think of the results? Anybody in particular that you were pulling for? No real surprises in the novel categories it seems.

8 Comments | Posted in Awards | Tags: Locus Award

The finalists for the 2011 Locus Awards have been announced. Winners will be presented during the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 24-26, 2011.  Get your ticket here.

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)

Fantasy Novel

• Under Heaven – Guy Gavriel Kay (Penguin Canada; Roc)
• 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)

Congrats to all the nominees! See the full news release from Locus for the details on the other categories.

Any of your favorites make the cut? What books do you think should have been included in the running?  These all seem to be heavy hitters in the genre except for Nnedi Okorafor.

6 Comments | Posted in Awards | Tags: Locus Award

Locus Magazine has released their annual Recommended Reading List for 2010. The list is assembled by Locus editors, reviewers and other industry professionals. You can read list related essays by these contibutors in the February issue. In case you were not aware, Locus is now available in digital format so you can subscribe on your Kindle or other devices!

As you can see from the list below we’re missing quite a few of these books in our database. I’ll be adding the rest over the next few days. Be sure to visit Locus to see the complete list of books and categories not covered here.

Update: All the books are in the database now.

Novels – Science Fiction

• Yarn – Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
• Surface Detail – Iain M. Banks (Orbit; Orbit UK)
• Directive 51 – John Barnes (Ace)
• Chill – Elizabeth Bear (Ballantine Spectra)
• Hull Zero Three – Greg Bear (Orbit US)
• CryoBurn – Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• The Passage – Justin Cronin (Ballantine)
• Zendegi – Greg Egan (Night Shade Books; Gollancz)
• Zero History – William Gibson (Putnam; Viking UK)
• Feed – Mira Grant (Orbit)
• Starbound – Joe Haldeman (Ace)
• Sleepless – Charlie Huston (Ballantine)
• Brain Thief – Alexander Jablokov (Tor)
• The Dervish House – Ian McDonald (Pyr; Gollancz)
• Terminal World – Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Ace)
• Birdbrain – Johanna Sinisalo (Peter Owen)
• Blackout / All Clear – Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)

Novels – Fantasy

• The Golden Age – Michal Ajvaz, translated by Andrew Oakland (Dalkey Archive)
• The Bird of the River – Kage Baker (Tor)
• Zoo City – Lauren Beukes (Jacana South Africa; Angry Robot UK; Angry Robot US)
• The Desert Spear – Peter V. Brett (Ballantine Del Rey; HarperVoyager)
• Changeless – Gail Carriger (Orbit US)
• The Wolf Age – James Enge (Pyr)
• Shades of Grey – Jasper Fforde (Viking; Hodder & Stoughton)
• Jade Man’s Skin – Daniel Fox (Del Rey)
• The Half-Made World – Felix Gilman (Tor)
• Horns – Joe Hill (Morrow; Gollancz)
• Kings of the North – Cecelia Holland (Forge)
• Hespira – Matthew Hughes (Night Shade Books)
• Under Heaven – Guy Gavriel Kay (Penguin Canada; Roc)
• The Bards of Bone Plain – Patricia A. McKillip (Ace)
• Kraken – China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell (Random House)
• Who Fears Death – Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
• The Folding Knife – K. J. Parker (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• A Matter of Blood – Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz)
• The House of Discarded Dreams – Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books)
• A Dark Matter – Peter Straub (Doubleday; Orion)
• The Fuller Memorandum – Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
• The Habitation of the Blessed – Catherynne M. Valente (Night Shade Books)
• The Sorcerer’s House – Gene Wolfe (Tor)

Young Adult Books

• Ship Breaker – Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
• White Cat – Holly Black (Simon & Schuster/McElderry Books)
• Pathfinder – Orson Scott Card (Simon Pulse)
• Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
• Factotum – D. M. Cornish (Omnibus Australia; Fickling UK; Putnam)
• Thresholds – Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Viking)
• Enchanted Glass – Diana Wynne Jones (HarperCollins UK; Greenwillow)
• The Boneshaker – Kate Milford (Clarion)
• Monsters of Men – Patrick Ness (Candlewick Press; Walker UK)
• Lord Sunday– Garth Nix (Scholastic Press; HarperCollins UK)
• I Shall Wear Midnight – Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; Harper)
• Fever Crumb – Philip Reeve (Scholastic)
• Kid vs. Squid – Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury)
• Behemoth – Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse)

No Comments | Posted in Awards | Tags: Locus Award

The winners for the 2010 Locus Awards have been announced at the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle, WA.  They winners are:

• Science Fiction Novel: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Tor)
• Fantasy Novel: The City & The City by China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
• First Novel: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
• Young Adult Novel: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)
• Novella: The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker (Subterranean)
• Novelette: “By Moonlight” by Peter S. Beagle (We Never Talk About My Brother)
• Short Story: “An Invocation of Incuriosity” by Neil Gaiman (Songs of the Dying Earth)
• Magazine: F&SF
• Publisher: Tor
• Anthology: The New Space Opera 2 by Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Eos; HarperCollins Australia)
• Collection: The Best of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe (Tor); as The Very Best of Gene Wolfe (PS)
• Editor: Ellen Datlow
• Artist: Michael Whelan
• Non-Fiction/Art Book: Cheek by Jowl by Ursula K. Le Guin (Aqueduct)

Thanks to Locus Online for the live coverage of the event.  You can go to their website to see the official announcement.  Congrats to all the winners and nominees.  You can see the list of finalists for the SF and Fantasy novels here.

So, Boneshaker and The City & The City.  No surprises there as they have both been very well received and won multiple awards – especially City with six nominations and now three wins.  Impressive.  Both books are still in the running for the 2010 Hugo as well with City also still in the hunt for the 2010 Campbell.

2 Comments | Posted in Awards | Tags: Locus Award