The Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners in each category of the 2023 Locus Awards on June 24, 2023, during the Locus Awards Weekend. Maggie Tokuda-Hall MCed the awards ceremony with Connie Willis as special guest. Additional weekend events included readings and panels with leading authors.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• WINNER: The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)

• Sweep of Stars, Maurice Broaddus (Tor)
• The Red Scholar’s Wake, Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz; JABberwocky)
• The Spare Man, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor; Solaris UK)
• Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf; Picador; HarperCollins Canada)
• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
• Goliath, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom)
• Eyes of the Void, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)
• Neom, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)
• Eversion, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Orbit US)

FANTASY NOVEL

• WINNER: Babel, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)

• The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris UK)
• When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Barnhill (Doubleday; Hot Key)
• Spear, Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom)
• The World We Make, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
• Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
• The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)
• Fevered Star, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga; Solaris UK)
• Siren Queen, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

HORROR NOVEL

• WINNER: What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK)

• Saturnalia, Stephanie Feldman (Unnamed)
• Just Like Home, Sarah Gailey (Tor; Hodder & Stoughton)
• Road of Bones, Christopher Golden (St. Martin’s; Titan UK)
• The Devil Takes You Home, Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland; Wildfire)
• The Fervor, Alma Katsu (Putnam; Titan UK)
• Gwendy’s Final Task, Stephen King & Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance; Hodder & Stoughton)
• Echo, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Nightfire; Hodder & Stoughton)
• No Gods for Drowning, Hailey Piper (Agora)
• The Pallbearers Club, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan UK)
• Sundial, Catriona Ward (Nightfire; Viper)

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

• WINNER: Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan UK)

• The Scratch Daughters, H.A. Clarke (Erewhon)
• Bloodmarked, Tracy Deonn (McElderry; Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Kindred, Alechia Dow (Inkyard)
• Bitter, Akwaeke Emezi (Knopf; Faber & Faber)
• Unraveller, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan; Amulet 1/23)
• Rust in the Root, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
• Lakelore, Anna-Marie McLemore (Feiwel and Friends)
• Ballad & Dagger, Daniel José Older (Hyperion)
• An Arrow to the Moon, Emily X.R. Pan (Little, Brown; Orion)

FIRST NOVEL

• WINNER: The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

• Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree (Cryptid; Tor)
• The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas (Berkley)
• The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean (Tor; Harper Voyager UK)
• The Bruising of Qilwa, Naseem Jamnia (Tachyon)
• The Ballad of Perilous Graves, Alex Jennings (Redhook; Orbit UK)
• The Unbalancing, R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)
• The Bone Orchard, Sara A. Mueller (Tor)
• How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu (Morrow; Bloomsbury)
• The Genesis of Misery, Neon Yang (Tor)

NOVELLA

• WINNER: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)

• Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, Aliette de Bodard (JABberwocky)
• Servant Mage, Kate Elliott (Tordotcom)
• “Bishop’s Opening“, R.S.A Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22)
• A Mirror Mended, Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
• Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
• Tread of Angels, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga; Solaris UK)
• High Times in the Low Parliament, Kelly Robson (Tordotcom)
• Ogres, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)
• Into the Riverlands, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

NOVELETTE

• WINNER: If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You, John Chu (Uncanny 7-8/22)
• Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold, S.B. Divya (Uncanny 5-6/22)
• Incident at Bear Creek Lodge, Tananarive Due (Other Terrors)
• Solidity, Greg Egan (Asimov’s 9-10/22)
• The Six Deaths of the Saint, Alix E. Harrow (Into Shadow)
• In Mercy, Rain, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com 7/18/22)
• Falling Off the Edge of the World, Suzanne Palmer (Asimov’s 11-12/22)
• The Sadness Box, Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld 7/22)
• A Dream of Electric Mothers, Wole Talabi (Africa Risen)
• The Difference Between Love and Time, Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time)

SHORT STORY

• WINNER: Rabbit Test, Samantha Mills (Uncanny 11-12/22)

• Give Me English, Ai Jiang (F&SF 5-6/22)
• The Goldfish Man, Maureen McHugh (Uncanny 3-4/22)
• Dick Pig, Ian Muneshwar (Nightmare 1/22)
• Master of Ceremonies, Frances Ogamba (The Dark 5/22)
• Beginnings, Kristina Ten (Fantasy 4/22)
• The Coward Who Stole God’s Name, John Wiswell (Uncanny 5-6/22)
• D.I.Y, John Wiswell (Tor.com 8/24/22)
• Inheritance, Hannah Yang (Analog 9-10/22)
• “A Monster in the Shape of a Boy”, Hannah Yang (Apex 5/22)

ANTHOLOGY

• WINNER: Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Sheree Renée Thomas & Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Zelda Knight, eds. (Tor)

• The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories, Yu Chen & Regina Kanyu Wang, eds. (Tordotcom)
• The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 6, Neil Clarke, ed. (Night Shade)
• Screams from the Dark, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Nightfire)
• The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022, Rebecca Roanhorse & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)
• Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris)
• Tomorrow’s Parties: Life in the Anthropocene, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (MIT Press)
• Trouble the Waters: Tales from the Deep Blue, Sheree Renée Thomas & Pan Morigan & Troy L. Wiggins, eds. (Third Man)
• The Best of World SF: Volume 2, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Head of Zeus)
• The Future is Female! Volume Two: The 1970s, Lisa Yaszek, ed. (Library of America)

COLLECTION

• WINNER: Boys, Beasts & Men, Sam J. Miller (Tachyon)

• Dark Breakers, C.S.E. Cooney (Mythic Delirium)
• Memory’s Legion: The Complete Expanse Story Collection, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Night Shift, Eileen Gunn (PM)
• Breakable Things, Cassandra Khaw (Undertow)
• Geometries of Belonging, R.B. Lemberg (Fairwood)
• The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe et al. (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
• Illuminations, Alan Moore (Bloomsbury USA; Bloomsbury UK)
• Our Fruiting Bodies, Nisi Shawl (Aqueduct)
• The Best of Lucius Shepard: Vol. 2, Lucius Shepard (Subterranean)

MAGAZINE

• WINNER: Tor.com

• Apex
• Asimov’s
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Clarkesworld
• F&SF
• FIYAH
• Lightspeed
• Strange Horizons
• Uncanny

PUBLISHER

• WINNER: Tor

• Angry Robot
• Gollancz
• Harper Voyager
• Neon Hemlock
• Orbit
• Small Beer
• Subterranean
• Tachyon
• Tordotcom

EDITOR

• WINNER: Ellen Datlow

• Neil Clarke
• Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
• Arley Sorg & Christie Yant
• Jonathan Strahan
• Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
• Sheree Renée Thomas
• Ann & Jeff VanderMeer
• Wendy N. Wagner
• Sheila Williams

ARTIST

• WINNER: Charles Vess

• Tommy Arnold
• Rovina Cai
• Kinuko Y. Craft
• Galen Dara
• Julie Dillon
• Bob Eggleton
• John Picacio
• Shaun Tan
• Michael Whelan

NON-FICTION

• WINNER: Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography, Rob Wilkins (Doubleday UK)

• The Rise of the Cyberzines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1991 to 2020, Mike Ashley (Liverpool University Press)
• Fantasy: How It Works, Brian Attebery (Oxford University Press)
• An Earnest Blackness, Eugen Bacon (Anti-Oedipus)
• Queering SF: Readings, Ritch Calvin (Aqueduct)
• Bridging Worlds: Global Conversations on Creating Pan-African Speculative Literature in a Pandemic, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Jembefola)
• Charting the Afrofuturist Imaginary in African American Art: The Black Female Fantastic, Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton (Routledge)
• The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom, Volume Two: 1940, David Ritter & Daniel Ritter (First Fandom Experience)
• Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics, Darieck Scott (New York University Press)
• Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences, Bev Vincent (Epic Ink)

ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOK

• WINNER: Chivalry, Neil Gaiman, art by Colleen Doran (Dark Horse)

• Visions of Beauty, Dianne Borsini-Burr, ed., art by Kinuko Y. Craft (Borsini-Burr & Imaginary Editions)
• Paintings & Drawings of Rowena, Kim DeMulder, art by Rowena (self-published)
• The Keeper, Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes, art by Marco Finnegan (Megascope)
• In the Black Fantastic, Ekow Eshun (Thames & Hudson; MIT Press)
• Spectrum Fantastic Art Quarterly Volume Two, Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Spectrum Fantastic Art)
• The Night Eaters Book 1: She Eats the Night, Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Abrams ComicArts)
• Mother Christmas, Vol 1: The Muse, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, art by Vic Terra (Rosarium)
• Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, George Orwell, art by Omar Rayyan (Suntup)
• Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections, Shaun Tan (Walker Studio UK; Windy Hollow; Levine Querido)

SPECIAL AWARD 2023: Developing Diversity in Genre Communities

• Carl Brandon Society

About Locus Magazine

Locus magazine was founded in 1968 in New York by Charles N. Brown, Ed Meskys, and Dave Vanderwerf as a one-page newszine to promote the “Boston in ’71” Worldcon bid. Two trial issues were sent to various fans and professionals to drum up subscriptions before issue #1 was mailed. Vanderwerf left after issue #4, and Meskys after #11, but Charles decided to keep the ‘zine going with the help of first wife Marsha Brown (who was co-editor from 1968-69), and later second wife Dena Brown (who co-edited from 1970-77). Issues were published once or twice a month, as the news merited.

In 1972, Charles and the magazine relocated to the California Bay Area, and in 1976 Charles quit his electrical engineering job to become a full-time editor. After Dena left following their divorce in 1977, Charles became the sole editor, with his first paid employee hired the same year. In the ’70s the magazine shifted to a regular monthly schedule and the page count increased. By the ’90s Locus was firmly established as the preeminent trade magazine for the SF/F publishing field, with unparalleled review coverage, in-depth author interviews, indispensable forthcoming books and convention coverage, and listings of all SF books published in the English language. The magazine launched a digital edition in January 2011 and has published in print and digital simultaneously ever since.

Locus won the Best Fanzine Hugo eight times (starting in 1970), and the Best Semiprozine Hugo 22 times, for an astonishing total of 30 Hugo Awards — the most recent in 2012, after which the rules for the category were changed to make Locus ineligible for any Hugo category.

Charles Brown ran the magazine for over 40 years, until his death in 2009, when executive editor Liza Groen Trombi took the helm as editor-in-chief and publisher. The magazine is now published under the auspices of the non-profit Locus Science Fiction Foundation, which also administers the Locus Awards, manages the literary estate of R.A. Lafferty, runs workshops, and does other work to promote SF/F literature. Locus celebrates 50 years of publishing as of 2018.

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