. . .too many to discuss thoroughly in this space. Here are a few of the winners in categories I follow, and no knock to shorter forms, which I don’t read enough:

Best SF novel: Martha Wells, System Collapse

Best fantasy novel: Martha Wells, Witch King

Best first novel: Vajra Chandrasekera, The Saint of Bright Doors

I don’t have much standing to comment on these. My project for reading all of the finalists for best novel posted by all the major speculative fiction awards was a bit too ambitious for me this year–I only decided to read this huge list of novels at the beginning of May–and that is especially true of the Locus Awards, coming so fast after the Nebula Awards. Next year I’ll do better! My take on the Locus Awards is that the vote is for fan-favorites, which is fine. However, Martha Wells is such a brand name that I feel slightly skeptical of the results. I should read more of her books to decide on that.

In the SF category: I need to read Wells’s System Collapse and see what I think. Among the runners-up, Ann Leckie’s Translation State (see my review HERE) is a really good book, and Annalee Newitz’s The Terraformers is simply superb. See my review HERE. To vote against either of those two must have taken a lot, and I can only hope all voters made a good-faith effort to read the entire list. As I say, I have little standing to comment or complain–there are seven other novels on that short-list that I haven’t read yet! One of the runners-up, Starter Villain, by John Scalzi, is nominated for the Hugo Award this year, so I plan to read that one soon in my quest to read every novel short-listed for the Hugo.

In the fantasy category: Witch King, the novel by Wells that I did read, was good but not overpoweringly good (only my opinion). Of the runners-up, I’ve only read S. L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws, which I liked more. See my reviews HERE and HERE.

In the first novel category: Here’s a winner I can enthusiastically endorse. Chandrasekera’s The Saint of Bright Doors just won the Nebula Award for best novel, and it richly deserves the Locus win as well. See my review HERE. I did love one of the runners-up, Wole Talabi’s Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon. If that book had won either of these two awards, the Nebula or the Locus, I would have called it a great decision. See my review HERE. My gut feel is that Chandrasekera’s novel has more gravitas, and Talabi’s novel is more fun. I haven’t read any of the other short-listed books on the first-novels list for the Locus, but I am just about to finish one of them, Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh. That novel has been short-listed for both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Hugo Award, too. I’ll be reviewing it soon. I’m on the last few chapters, and I had to put the book down to write this post! (Just put. the. book. down, Jane.) Another novel short-listed for Locus best first novel is Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars. I’ll read this one next and review it soon, because it is also short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, coming up fast on July 24..

As I’ve mentioned in preceding posts: I don’t read horror. I have nothing against horror. Some of my most admired writer-friends and mentors are writers of horror (John Skipp!) and some of my favorite novels in other categories of speculative fiction (China Miéville!) have more than a touch of horror in them. My own writing has been known to have a touch of horror in it. But I don’t really know horror and don’t feel I have enough insight into the genre to blog about it. I imagine anyone really interested in reading horror will find some good choices in the Locus Awards horror category.

And I feel bad that I don’t pay enough attention to shorter forms, especially the short story. That’s something I as a reader should remedy. I’ve been participating in the great George Saunders Story Club substack, where I’ve started re-acquainting myself with some of the masters of (literary) short fiction, so I’m making an honest start on that project. The categories for shorter forms short-listed for the Locus Award will give any reader of speculative fiction plenty of chances to discover something great.

Not to mention other media. . .The Hugo Awards are awarded in categories other than fiction in print form, and I may have to take a look at some of their nominees in film, gaming, long-form video/television, and all the rest. Essentially, though, I am a reader first, mostly a reader of novels, and that’s what this blog is (mostly) about.

And now, on to some heavy-duty reading, all of the nominees, all SF, for the 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award, to be announced on July 24th.