TABLE OF CONTENTS January 1997 Issue 432 Vol. 38 No. 1 CHARLES N. BROWN 30th Year of Publication 18-Time Hugo Winner Publisher & Editor-in-Chief MAIN STORIES M ARIANNE S. JABLON Dean Koontz New Super-Deal/8 Putnam Berkley Sold to Penguin/8 Managing Editor Elizabeth A. Lynn Returns to Fantasy/8 US Leads Global Book Market/8 FA R EN C. MILLER THE DATA FILE CAROLYN F. CUSHMAN Editors Idoru Comes Early: Japan’s Virtual Popstar/9 Swedish SF Shop Rides Fantasy Boom/9 US Chain Store Sales Rise/9 KIRSTEN GONG-WONG Announcements/9 Readings & Signings/9 Publishing News/9 Assistant Editor Legal News/9 Worldcon Update/70 Magazine News/70 EDWARD BRYANT International Awards/70 Award News/70 Contest News/70 SHIRA DAEMON Recommended Reading/70 Rights/70 Online Update/70 MARK R. KELLY Publications Received/70 Audio Received/70 Catalogs Received/70 RUSSELL LETSON INTERVIEWS GARY K. WOLFE Contributing Editors Connie Willis: Serious Funny Business/4 Bradley Denton: Riding the Line/6 WILLIAM G. CONTENTO Special Projects CONVENTIONS BETH GWINN 1996 World Fantasy Convention: Reports by: Gary K. Wolfe/30 Photographer Russell Letson/33 Mark R. Kelly/71 Edward Bryant/72 Locus, The Newspaper of the Science Fiction Field (ISSN 0047-4959), is published monthly, at $4.50 per copy, by INTERNATIONAL Locus Publications, 34 Ridgewood Lane, Oakland CA 94611. Please send all m ail to: Locus Publications, P.O. Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661. Telephone (510) 339- SF in China/35 SF in Brazil/36 SF in Australia/37 9196; (510) 339-9198. FAX (510) 339-8144. E-mail: SF in Iberia: Convention Reports by: Charles N. Brown/38 [email protected]. Individual subscriptions in the US: $43.00 for 12 issues, $80.00 for 24 issues via peri­ Gay Haldeman/38 Joan Manel Ortiz/39 odical mail. In Canada: $48.00 for 12 issues, $90.00 for 24 issues via periodical mail. First class individual sub­ scriptions in the US or Canada are $53.00 for 12 issues, OBITUARIES $95.00 for 24 issues. 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