Locus magazine’s 2022 Recommended Reading List

Thanks to anyone who suggested that “Pomegranates”, my new novella from PS Publishing, be included on Locus magazine’s 2022 Recommended Reading List.

Thanks also to editor Marie O’Regan and to PS Publishing.

“Pomegranates” is available in hardback and as an ebook here.

2018 Locus Recommended Reading List

I am absolutely delighted to be included on the 2018 Locus Recommended Reading List in the following categories-

Collections for “All the Fabulous Beasts”

Novelettes for “A Son of the Sea” (which appeared in “All the Fabulous Beasts”

Huge thanks to the editors and reviewers who recommended my work and, as always, thanks to Mike Kelly from Undertow Publications who published the book.

You can vote on your favourites for the year in the 2019 Poll & Survey, live soon, and help decide the winners of the Locus Awards. The awards are open to all to vote on.

Locus Recommended Reading List 2017

Locus’ annual Recommended Reading List in now out for 2017.

The list contains stalwarts like Caitlín R. Kiernan, Charles Stross, M. John Harrison, Angela Slatter, Yoon Ha Lee, Aliette de Bodard, Nina Allan, Adam Nevill, Joe Hill, Sarah Pinsborough, Philip Pullman, Jeff VanderMeer and Elizabeth Bear.

It’s terrific to see work on there by Kelly Robson, JY Yang, Victor LaValle, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Usman T. Malik and Carole Johnstone. (As an aside, check out Issue 60 of Black Static, which contains her novella “Skyshine”- I will be disappointed if it doesn’t make shortlists next year).

I love that the  Locus list also includes Sarah Hall’s “Madame Zero”- one on my favourites of last year. Jeffrey Alan Love is also on the list for his illustrations of “Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor, and Loki” by Kevin Crossley Holland. I think he’s a terrific talent.

I am very grateful to have two stories in the list. “Mercury” (my story from “Mad Hatters and March Hares”) and “The Crow Palace” from “Black Feathers”- an anthology of avian-themed horror edited by Ellen Datlow, which also made the Original Anthology category.

2015 Locus Recommended Reading List

I am chuffed that “Fabulous Beasts” is included on the 2015 Locus Recommended Reading List. This novelette appeared on Tor.com in Sept 2015.

Read it here. 

My eternal thanks to Ellen Datlow.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 8 Edited by Jonathan Strahan

I am thrilled to bits that “Rag and Bone” is to appear in Jonathan Strahan’s The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 8. It’s published by Solaris and will be out in May 2014.

I owe many thanks to Ellen Datlow, Tor and Jonathan Strahan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents:

• “Some Desperado”, Joe Abercrombie (Dangerous Women)
• “Zero for Conduct”, Greg Egan (Twelve Tomorrows)
• “Effigy Nights”, Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld)
• “Rosary and Goldenstar”, Geoff Ryman (F&SF)
• “The Sleeper and the Spindle”, Neil Gaiman (Rags and Bones)
• “Cave and Julia”, M. John Harrison (Kindle Singles)
• “The Herons of Mer de l’Ouest”, M Bennardo (Lightspeed)
• “Water”, Ramez Naam (An Aura of Familiarity)
• “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
• “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket”, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com)
• “Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls”, Richard Parks (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• “Rag and Bone”, Priya Sharma (Tor.com)
• “The Book Seller”, Lavie Tidhar (Interzone)
• “The Sun and I”, K J Parker (Subterranean)
• “The Promise of Space”, James Patrick Kelly (Clarkesworld)
• “The Master Conjurer”, Charlie Jane Anders (Lightspeed)
• “The Pilgrim and the Angel”, E. Lily Yu (McSweeney’s 45)
• “Entangled”, Ian R Macleod (Asimov’s)
• “Fade to Gold”, Benjanun Sriduangkaew (End of the Road)
• “Selkies Stories are for Losers”, Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons)
• “In Metal, In Bone”, An Owomoyela (Eclipse Online)
• “Kormack the Lucky”, Eleanor Arnason (F&SF)
• “Sing”, Karin Tidbeck (Tor.com)
• “Social Services”, Madeline Ashby (An Aura of Familiarity)
• “The Road of Needles”, Caitlín R Kiernan (Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales)
• “Mystic Falls”, Robert Reed (Clarkesworld)
• “The Queen of Night’s Aria”, Ian McDonald (Old Mars)
• “The Irish Astronaut”, Val Nolan (Electric Velocipede)

This story has brought me a lot of luck as it’s also made it onto the 2013 Locus Recommended Reading List.

The Ballad of Boomtown

My short story “The Ballad of Boomtown” appeared in Black Static Issue 28 in 2012. I am thrilled to bits that it’s made the Locus’ 2012 Recommended Reading List.
Thanks to Andy Cox of TTA for publishing it and to the lovely people who decided to include it.

There’s some great stuff on the list which includes writers like  Aliette de Bodard, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, E Catherine Tobler, Lavie Tidhar and  K.J. Parker.

Quite a few stories from TTA Press appeared – I particularly enjoyed Carole Johnstone’s “The Pest House”.

‘‘Beasts’’, Elizabeth Bourne (Interzone 240), novelette  

‘‘The Pest House’’, Carole Johnstone (Black Static 28), novelette

‘‘The Philosophy of Ships’’, Caroline M. Yoachim (Interzone 243), short story

‘‘Twember’’, Steve Rasnic Tem (Interzone 239), short story

I’m also very pleased to see ‘‘The Ballad of the Wayfaring Stranger and the Dead Man’s Whore’’ by Sean Demory is in there. It’s a self published story that’s available for 77p, which is a steal for something that’s so brilliant.

“Breaking the Bow: Stories Inspired by the Ramayana”, Anil Menon & Vandana Singh, eds. (Zubaan Books) was in the original anthology category (congratulations Anil!)

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade Books) and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2012 Paula Guran, ed. (Prime Books) both were in the reprint/best of anthology category. I was lucky enough to have stories in both of these (“The Show” in the former and “The Fox Maiden” in the latter). Thanks to both Paula and Ellen for including me.