2019 Locus Award Nominees

Location: Seattle, Washington.

Comments: At this point, the primary question concerning the Locus Awards is whether they serve any real purpose other than being just another award. As I have noted before, the Locus Award was originally created to serve as nominating recommendations for Hugo and Nebula voters, but that doesn't chronologically work any more (if it ever did in the first place). So are the Locus Awards now anything other than the equivalent of a AAA league in comparison to the Major League Baseball represented by the Hugo and Nebula Awards? Is that the ultimate place of the Locus Award?

Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner:
1. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Other Nominees:
2. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
3. Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
4. Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
5. Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
6. Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson
7. If Tomorrow Comes by Nancy Kress
8. Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell
9. Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar
10. Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds

Best Fantasy Novel
Winner:
1. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Other Nominees:
2. The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
3. European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss
4. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
5. Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
6. The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
7. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher
8. Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys
9. Ahab's Return by Jeffrey Ford
10. Creatures of Want and Ruin by Molly Tanzer

Best Horror Novel
Winner:
1. The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

Other Nominees:
2. The Outsider by Stephen King
3. Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough
4. In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey
5. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
6. Tide of Stone by Kaaron Warren
7. Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias
8. We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
9. The Listener by Robert McCammon
10. Unlanguage by Michael Cisco

Best Young Adult Book
Winner:

1. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Other Nominees:
2. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
3. Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen
4. Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman
5. Cross Fire by Fonda Lee
6. The Gone Away Place by Christopher Barzak
7. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
8. The Agony House by Cherie Priest and Tara O'Connor
9. Half-Witch by John Schoffstall
10. Impostors by Scott Westerfeld

Best First Novel
Winner:

1. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Other Nominees:
2. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
3. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
4. Witchmark by C.L. Polk
5. Semiosis by Sue Burke
6. The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken
7. Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
8. Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield
9. Severance by Ling Ma
10. Annex by Rich Larson

Best Novella
Winner:
1. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

Other Nominees:
2. The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
3. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
4. Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson
5. The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark
6. Time Was by Ian McDonald
7. The Descent of Monsters by JY Yang
8. Black Helicopters by Caitlín R. Kiernan
9. The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts
10. Umbernight by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Best Novelette
Winner:

1. The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

Other Nominees:
2. Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory
3. Okay, Glory by Elizabeth Bear
4. An Agent of Utopia by Andy Duncan
5. Quality Time by Ken Liu
6. How to Swallow the Moon by Isabel Yap
7. The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections by Tina Connolly
8. No Flight Without the Shatter by Brooke Bolander
9. The Donner Party by Dale Bailey
10. Queen Lily by Theodora Goss

Best Short Story
Winner:

1. The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by Phenderson Djèlí Clark

Other Nominees:
2. STET by Sarah Gailey
3. Firelight by Ursula K. Le Guin
4. The Storyteller's Replacement by N.K. Jemisin
5. Cuisine des Mémoires by N.K. Jemisin

6. A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow

7. The Starship and the Temple Cat by Yoon Ha Lee
8. The Bookcase Expedition by Jeffrey Ford
9. The Court Magician by Sarah Pinsker
10. Mother of Invention by Nnedi Okorafor

Best Collection
Winner:

1. How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

Other Nominees:
2. An Agent of Utopia by Andy Duncan
3. The Future Is Blue by Catherynne M. Valente
4. Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
5. How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen
6. Starlings by Jo Walton
7. The Dinosaur Tourist by Caitlín R. Kiernan
8. The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell
9. Brief Cases by Jim Butcher
10. All the Fabulous Beasts by Priya Sharma

Best Anthology
Winner:

1. The Book of Magic edited by Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2. Robots vs Fairies edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe
3. Infinity's End edited by Jonathan Strahan

4. The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

5. The Future Is Female! edited by Lisa Yaszek
6. Worlds Seen in Passing edited by Irene Gallo

7. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 edited by N.K. Jemisin and John Joseph Adams

8. The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year Volume Twelve edited by Jonathan Strahan

9. The Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten edited by Ellen Datlow

10. The Underwater Ballroom Society edited by Tiffany Trent and Stephanie Burgis

Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Book
Winner:

1. Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing by Ursula K. Le Guin and David Naimon

Other Nominees:

2. Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee

3. An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000 by Jo Walton

4. Dreams Must Explain Themselves: The Selected Non-Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin by Ursula K. Le Guin

5. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth edited by Catherine McIlwaine

6. Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece by Michael Benson

7. Sense of Wonder: Short Fiction Reviews (2009-2017) by Gardner Dozois
8. None of This Is Normal: The Fiction of Jeff VanderMeer by Benjamin J. Robertson
9. Old Futures: Speculative Fiction and Queer Possibility by Alexis Lothian
10. Strange Stars by Jason Heller

Best Art Book
Winner:

1. The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by Charles Vess

Other Nominees:

2. Beyond Science Fiction: The Alternative Realism of Michael Whelan by Michael Whelan

3. Dungeons & Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer

4. Cicada by Shaun Tan
5. Spectrum 25: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by John Fleskes
6. A Middle-earth Traveler: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor by John Howe

7. Yoshitaka Amano: The Illustrated Biography – Beyond the Fantasy by Florent Gorges

8. The Tales of Beedle Bard by J.K. Rowling, illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger
9. The Thousand Demon Tree by Jeffrey Alan Love
10. The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag

Best Editor
Winner:
1. Gardner Dozois

Other Nominees:
2. Ellen Datlow
3. Jonathan Strahan
4. John Joseph Adams
5. Neil Clarke
6. Navah Wolfe
7. Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer
8. C.C. Finlay
9. Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
10. Sheila Williams

Best Magazine
Winner:
1. Tor.com

Other Nominees:
2. Fantasy and Science Fiction
3. Uncanny Magazine
4. Asimov's Science Fiction
5. Clarkesworld
6. Lightspeed
7. Analog Science Fiction and Fact
8. Beneath Ceaseless Skies
9. Strange Horizons
10. Fireside

Best Publisher or Imprint
Winner:
1. Tor

Other Nominees:
2. Orbit
3. Subterranean
4. Saga
5. Small Beer
6. Angry Robot
7. Gollancz
8. DAW
9. Baen
10. Tachyon

Best Artist
Winner:
1. Charles Vess

Other Nominees:
2. Michael Whelan
3. John Picacio
4. Julie Dillon
5. Shaun Tan
6. Galen Dara
7. Victo Ngai
8. Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon
9. Bob Eggleton
10. Kinuko Y. Craft

Go to previous year's nominees: 2018
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2020

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