T A B L E o f C O N T E N T S April 2021 • Issue 723 • Vol. 86 • No. 4 54th Year of Publication • 30-Time Hugo Winner CHARLES N. BROWN Founder (1968-2009) Cover and Interview Designs by Francesca Myman LIZA GROEN TROMBI Editor-in-Chief KIRSTEN GONG-WONG Managing Editor CAROLYN F. CUSHMAN FRANCESCA MYMAN TIM PRATT ARLEY SORG Senior Editors JOSH PEARCE Associate Editor BOB BLOUGH Assistant Editor MARK R. KELLY LAUREL AMBERDINE Web Editors JONATHAN STRAHAN Reviews Editor TERRY BISSON LIZ BOURKE ALEX BROWN KAREN BURNHAM KATHARINE COLDIRON AMY GOLDSCHLAGER PAULA GURAN I N T E R V I E W S RICH HORTON KAMERON HURLEY Ursula Vernon: Shiny New Idea / 10 GABINO IGLESIAS Isabel Yap: Full Circle / 28 MAYA C. JAMES RUSSELL LETSON M A I N S T O R I E S / 5 ADRIENNE MARTINI IAN MOND 2020 Nebula Awards Ballot • Nghi Vo Wins Crawford • British Fantasy Awards Winners • COLLEEN MONDOR Philip K. Dick Award Judges • Weisskopf Removed as DisCon III GoH • Cherryh Wins 2021 GARY K. WOLFE Heinlein Award • Dell Award Winner • Stoker Awards Final Ballot Contributing Editors ALVARO ZINOS-AMARO TH E D A T A F I L E / 7 Roundtable Blog Editor Locus, The Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fan- Carnegie and Greenaway Medal Shortlists • Ray Bradbury Prize Finalists • Analog Anlab tasy Field (ISSN 0047-4959), is published monthly, Award Finalists • Asimov’s Readers’ Award Finalists • Lambda Awards Finalists • Octavia at $8.99 per copy, by Locus Publications, 655 13th Street, Suite 100, Oakland CA 94612. Please send E. Butler News • BSFA Shortlist • Audie Awards Finalists • Black Creatives Fund • SFWA all mail to: Locus Publications, 655 13th Street, Suite 100, Oakland CA 94612. Telephone (510) 339-9196. News • World Conventions News • Publishing News • Workshop News • Contest News • Email: <[email protected]>. 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Japanese Subscription Agent: Akira Okawada, 2-11-2 Koiwada-higashi, L I S T I N G S Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture, 300-0834 , Japan; Australian Subscription Agent: Justin Ackroyd, Slow Magazines Received: February / 34 Books Received: February / 36 British Books Glass Books, PO Box 1280, Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia. Bookseller discounts available. Advertis- Received: January / 46 Bestsellers / 48 ing rates on request. We take no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. Printed in the United States. Periodical postage paid at Oakland, California, and O B I T U A R I E S / 57 all additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Locus Publications, 655 13th Street, Suite 100, Oakland CA 94612. © 2021 by Norton Juster • Dean Morrissey • Michael G. Adkisson Locus Publications. Letters, information, and credit card subscriptions can L O C U S L E T T E R S / 57 be sent via email to <[email protected]>. Sub- scriptions by phone are available at (510) 339-9196; 9:30AM to 5:00PM PST, Monday – Friday. E D I T O R I A L M A T T E R S / 58 All opinions expressed by commentators and inter- viewees are solely their opinions and do not reflect There’s a Light • Locus Awards Voting Deadline • This Issue/Next Issue the opinions of Locus. LOCUS LOOKS AT BOOKS p. 42 Short Fiction Reviews by Rich Horton / 12 Curiosities Winter ’20; Cossmass Infinities9/20; On Spec #115; Analog 3-4/21; Asimov’s 3-4/21. Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran / 13 Uncanny 1-2/21; Apex #122; The Dark 1/21, 2/21; Nightmare 1/21, 2/21; Fantasy 2/21, 3/21; Baffling1/21. Short Fiction Reviews by Karen Burnham / 14 Clarkesworld 2/21; Lightspeed 2/21; Fiyah Winter 21; Tor.com 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/24/21; Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/28/21, 2/11/21; Strange Horizons 2/8, 2/15/21; Aurealis #137; Fantasy Magazine 2/21. E. Lily Yu Reviews by Liz Bourke / 15 (2019) The Alien Stars and Other Novellas, Tim Pratt; Hold Fast Through the Fire, K.B. Wagers. Reviews by Gary K. Wolfe / 16 p. 18 The Best of World SF: Volume 1, Lavie Tidhar, ed.; Alias Space and Other Stories, Kelly Robson; I’m Waiting for You and Other Stories, Kim Bo-Young; On Fragile Waves, E. Lily Yu; Chaos on Catnet, Naomi Kritzer. Reviews by Adrienne Martini / 18 What Abigail Did That Summer, Ben Aaronovitch; The Only Living Girl on Earth, Charles Yu; Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir; The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers; A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers. Reviews by Katharine Coldiron / 19 Unity, Elly Bangs; These Lifeless Things, Premee Mohamed; Skyward Inn, Aliya Whiteley. Andy Weir Reviews by Ian Mond / 20 (2013) Hummingbird Salamander, Jeff VanderMeer; Peaces, Helen Oyeyemi; The White Library, Paul Voermans; Rabbit Island, Elvira Navarro. p. 19 Reviews by Colleen Mondor / 22 Written in Starlight, Isabel Ibañez; Kingston and the Magician’s Lost and Found, Rucker Moses & Theo Gangi; Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, Kristen O’Neal. Reviews by Divers Hands: Alex Brown, Paula Guran, Rich Horton, Gabino Iglesias, Maya C. James, Russell Letson, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro / 23 Written in Starlight, Isabel Ibañez; The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, Angela Slatter; Driftwood, Marie Bren- nan; Ink, Jonathan Maberry; Disease, Sarah Tolmie; The Unbroken, C.L. Clark; A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine; Michael Bishop and the Persistence of Wonder: A Critical Study of the Writings, Joe Sanders. Audiobook Reviews by Amy Goldschlager / 26 Elly Bangs (2019) The Mask of Mirrors, M.A. Carrick; The Witch in the Almond Tree and other stories, C.S.E. Cooney; The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, Lev Grossman; The Tower of Fools, Andrzej Sapkowski; In the Empty Quarter, G. Wil- low Wilson. p. 24 Terry Bisson: This Month in History / 12, 17, 21, 23 CORRECTIONS TO LOCUS In the People & Publishing column in our March 2021 issue, we said Premee Mohamed’s These Lifeless Things was a novel; it is a novella, and sold to the Solaris novella line. In New & Notable, we misspelled Olga Grushin’s name as Olga Grushkin. We apologize for the errors. Jonathan Maberry E. Lily Yu ..............................(F/SEF)4 Seliger, (F/PGS) Peg Skorpinski, (F/ (2021) Andy Weir ....................................(F)4 PHOTO LISTING LDM) Larry D. Moore under a CCAxSA Elly Bangs ....................................(F)4 4.0 license, (BG) Beth Gwinn, (F/SOK) Jonathan Maberry .............. (F/JNM)4 Department ..................... (F/SIM)32 Shuyao Kong, (F/SIM) Srinarahari Nghi Vo ........................................(F)5 Inaugural Session Mysore, (F) Furnished. Locus Online RJ Barker ............................ (F/DDB)5 Participants ..................... (F/SIM)33 Adam Nevill ........................ (F/TGE)5 Didier Queloz ..................... (F/SIM)33 Cover and interior Vernon collage by <www.locusmag.com> Toni Weisskopf ..........................(FM)6 Sujan Sengupta ................. (F/SIM)33 Francesca Myman incorporates ‘‘Third C.J. Cherryh .............................. (AS)6 Dr. Venugopal KR during his Bird Golem’’ art by Ursula Vernon. In April, Locus Online features weekly Jazmin Collins .............................(F)6 Presidential Address ....... (F/SIM)33 Interview spot art by Vernon. listings of notable new books; periodic John Varley ..........................(F/LEE)8 Radhakrishna K ................. (F/SIM)33 listings of periodicals; and ‘‘Blinks’’ to Susanna Clarke ..................... (CNB)8 Norton Juster .............................(F)57 online reviews, articles, and genre e- Marlon James .....................(F/MKS)8 publications. In addition the site posts Namwali Serpell.................. (F/PGS)9 Photo Listing: (F/SEF) Sabine Frost, breaking news posted by the Locus Daniel José Older ............... (F/LDM)9 (F/JNM) Jonathan Maberry, (F/DDB) staff; columns, sample reviews, and Ursula Vernon .........................(BG)11 David Bowman, (F/TGE) Tania Glyde, AD INDEX excerpted interviews from the Maga- Kameron Hurley .........................(F)27 (FM) Francesca Myman, (AS) Arley Locus .......................................... 2,59 zine; and periodic Roundtable posts Isabel Yap ......................... (F/SOK)28 Sorg, (F/LEE) Lee Emmett, (CNB) Small Beer ..................................... 35 from Alvaro Zinos-Amaro. IASFA, Performing Arts Charles N. Brown, (F/MKS) Mark Uphill Downhill Press ..................... 60 4 / LOCUS April 2021 Novel Novelette, cont. Andre Norton Award Piranesi, Susanna Clarke ‘‘Where You Linger’’, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet) (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK) (Uncanny 1-2/20) A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, The City We Became, N.K.