Here are the finalists for the 2024 Locus Awards

Each year, Locus Magazine, the premiere industry magazine for the SF/F world, polls fans for its annual awards, the Locus Awards. I’ve often found it to be an excellent survey of the prior year’s field (in addition to the magazine’s annual recommended reading list), and the publication has released its list of finalists for this year’s award.

It’s an excellent roundup: there are a whole bunch of books that I’ve read that I really enjoyed that made the cut, and I think it speaks well of the health and variety of the genre. The winners of the award will be announced on June 22nd during this year’s Locus Awards Ceremony, which will take place at Nile Hall at Preservation Park in downtown Oakland, California. You can buy tickets to the event here.

Here are this year’s finalists:

Science Fiction Novel

• The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu
• A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard
• Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow
• Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott
• Translation State by Ann Leckie
• The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
• Starter Villain by John Scalzi
• Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• System Collapse by Martha Wells
• The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

Fantasy Novel

• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
• The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliott
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
• Dead Country by Max Gladstone
• The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang
• Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher
• He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
• My Brother’s Keeper by Tim Powers
• City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Witch King by Martha Wells

Horror Novel

• Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
• The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
• A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
• Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
• How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
• Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
• A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
• Lone Women by Victor LaValle
• Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

Young Adult Novel

• Promises Stronger Than Darkness by Charlie Jane Anders
• The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila
• Damned If You Do by Alex Brown
• A Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow
• The Library of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix
• Into the Light by Mark Oshiro
• Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
• The Siren, the Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

First Novel

• Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud
• The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
• Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou
• These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
• Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
• The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan
• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi
• Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
• Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

Novella

• The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
• The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das
• “Linghun” by Ai Jiang
• The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
• Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
• Rose/House by Arkady Martine
• Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
• The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
• The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi
• Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo

NOVELETTE

• “What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata”, P. Djèlí Clark (The Book of Witches)
• “John Hollowback and the Witch”, Amal El-Mohtar (The Book of Witches)
• I AM AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
• “The Year Without Sunshine“, Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny 11-12/23)
• “Prince Hat Underground”, Kelly Link (White Cat, Black Dog)
• “At Every Door a Ghost”, Premee Mohamed (Communications Breakdown)
• “The Rainbow Bank“, Uchechukwu Nwaka (GigaNotoSaurus 8/23)
• “One Man’s Treasure“, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 1-2/23)
• “Six Versions of My Brother Found Under a Bridge“, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9-10/23)
• “On the Fox Roads“, Nghi Vo (Tor.com 10/31/23)

Short Story

• “A Soul in the World“, Charlie Jane Anders (Uncanny 3-4/23)
• “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub“, P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23)
• “The Mausoleum’s Children“, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny 5-6/23)
• “Suppertime”, Tananarive Due (New Suns 2)
• “Window Boy“, Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 8/23)
• “Reckless Eyeballing”, N.K. Jemisin (Out There Screaming)
• “The Sound of Children Screaming“, Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare 10/23)
• “Those Hitchhiking Kids“, Darcie Little Badger (The Sunday Morning Transport 4/2/23)
• “Stones“, Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld 9/23)
• “There’s a Door to the Land of the Dead in the Land of the Dead“, Sarah Pinsker (The Deadlands 6/23)

ANTHOLOGY

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 7 edited by Neil Clarke
• Christmas and Other Horrors edited by Ellen Datlow
• The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2022) edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis
• Never Whistle at Night edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
• The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang & John Joseph Adams
• Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams
• New Suns 2 edited by Nisi Shawl
• The Book of Witches edited by Jonathan Strahan
• Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology edited by Wole Talabi
• The Best of World SF: Volume 3 edited by Lavie Tidhar

Collection

• The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volumes 1 & 2 by Peter S. Beagle
• Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories by Tobias S. Buckell
• The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
• White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
• No One Will Come Back For Us by Premee Mohamed
• Jackal, Jackal by Tobi Ogundiran
• Skin Thief by Suzan Palumbo
• Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker
• The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume Two by Michael Swanwick
• The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One by Catherynne M. Valente

Magazine

• Analog
• Asimov’s
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Clarkesworld
• F&SF
• FIYAH
• khōréō
• Strange Horizons
• Tor.com
• Uncanny

Publisher

• Angry Robot
• DAW
• Gollancz
• Neon Hemlock
• Orbit
• Small Beer
• Subterranean
• Tachyon
• Tor
• Tordotcom

Editor

• Neil Clarke
• Ellen Datlow
• Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
• Arley Sorg & Christie Yant
• Jonathan Strahan
• Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
• Sheree Renée Thomas
• E. Catherine Tobler
• Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
• Sheila Williams

Artist

• Brom
• Rovina Cai
• Kinuko Y. Craft
• Julie Dillon
• Bob Eggleton
• Abigail Larson
• John Picacio
• Charles Vess
• Michael Whelan
• Alyssa Winans

Nonfiction

• The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Alternate History by Jack Dann
• 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams edited by Kevin Jon Davies
• Wish I Was Here: An Anti-Memoir by M. John Harrison
• All These Worlds by Niall Harrison
• 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie Hartmann
• Space Crone by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color edited by Chinelo Onwualu
• A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller by Maureen Kincaid Speller
• Owning the Unknown: A Science Fiction Writer Explores Atheism, Agnosticism, and the Idea of God by Robert Charles Wilson
• Being Michael Swanwick by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Illustrated and Art Book

• The Culture: The Drawings by Iain M. Banks
• Home to Stay! The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories by Ray Bradbury, adapted by Al Feldstein, art by Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Wallace Wood, et al.
• The Pen & Ink Drawings of Tony DiTerlizzi by Tony DiTerlizzi
• Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly, Volume Three edited by Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner
• The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta edited by Dian Hanson, art by Frank Frazetta
• The Last Count of Monte Cristo by Ayize Jama-Everett, art by Tristan Roach
• Voyaging, Volume One: The Plague Star by George R.R. Martin, art and adaptation by Raya Golden
• Thalamus, Volumes 1 & 2: The Art of Dave McKean by Dave McKean
• Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s by Adam Rowe
• Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures edited by Kevin M. Strait & Kinshasha Holman Conwill

That’s the list! What catches your eye and what will you vote for?