Page 61 - Author Interview News Today

The Rithmatist (2013). Novella The Emperor’s Soul won a Hugo Award in 2013 and was a World Fantasy Award finalist. Novella Perfect State (2015) was a Hugo Award nominee. His Legion novella series is collected in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds (2018). He co-wrote SF novella The Original (2020) with Mary Robinette Kowal, published as an audiobook original. Sanderson was chosen by Robert Jordan’s estate to com­plete the late author’s unfinished Wheel of Time epic fantasy series...

While reading for Locus this year, I kept an unof­ficial list of notes about things I wanted to mention in my end-of-the-year es­say. The biggest word on the list is “WITCHES,” which cropped up in more than one memorable title to cross my desk. From the field hockey team that takes a solemn oath within an Emilio Este­vez notebook in Quan Bar­ry’s We Ride Upon Sticks to the mill workers who cast a life-saving spell for union solidarity in C.S. Malerich’s Factory Witches of Lowell,...

The primary protagonist of Charlie N. Holmberg’s latest novel, Spellbreaker, has had a difficult life. Elsie Camden was mysteriously abandoned as a young child and subsequently delivered to a workhouse. She later became a servant for a truly odious master and now, although she is thankful to be a valued assistant for a stonemason and artist, she is still ever-conscious of her precarious existence. A young woman of the lower class in the late Vic­torian era can take few chances and holds few...

I was on not one but two award juries in 2020. I told myself it was reasonable because there was a lot of overlap in the potential nom­inee pools, so it wouldn’t be that much extra reading. I didn’t count on 2020 being a year of unusual strain and psychic deterioration, which increased the difficulty of reading, thinking, making critical judgments, and re­ally doing anything that required executive function. Still, I got through my mountains of books, and even found some comfort (or, at...

Following reports of calls for political violence on Baen’s Bar, the online forum of Baen Books, and the subsequent temporary closure of the board by publisher Toni Weisskopf, Discon III, the 2021 Worldcon, has announced that it has removed Weisskopf as guest of honor. Chair Bill Lawhorn sent a press release on February 19: DisCon III condemns the violent and hostile content found within Baen Books’ forums. We also cannot condone the fact such content was enabled and allowed to ferment fo...

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet has been one of my favorite magazines for a long time, always publishing work unlike anything you’ll read else­where. The November issue is largely given over to a novella from Sarah Langan, “ You Have the Prettiest Mask“. It’s either a timely story or a weirdly untimely story! It’s told by Cathy Lerner, a 12-year-old girl attending an exclusive school, who opens the story by spurning her uncool long-time friend to join a clique of mean girls; whi...

The Best of Walter Jon Williams, Walter Jon Williams (Subterranean 978-1-64524-002-0, $45, 616pp, hardcover) February 2021 A writer always feels an instinctive camaraderie with other writers who debuted more or less simultaneously with one’s own beginnings. This does not mean that all writers in a given generation love and admire each other unconditionally, but only that a person recognizes and bonds more readily with other members of their own generation. It’s a realization that our paths ...

As any writer will tell you, endings are difficult. Sticking the landing of an acclaimed trilogy that has garnered multiple nominations in its field? Yeah, that’s even more difficult, and R.F. Kuang does it beautifully in The Burning God. The Poppy War Trilogy is the story of Fang Runin’s rise from obscurity to power, and how she claws her way to the top using any means possible. Rin has been described as an antihero, and it’s no different in this final chapter. How power shapes her is i...

Shreya Ila Anasuya, Eleyna Sara Haroun, and FS Hurston are the 2020 recipients of the Otherwise Fellowship (formerly the Tiptree Fellowship). Each winner will receive a $500 grant, and work produced as a result of this support will be recognized and promoted by the Otherwise Award. “The Otherwise Award celebrates works of speculative fiction that imagine new futures by exploring and expanding our understanding of gender roles. Through the Fellowship Program, the Award also encourages those w...

Covers for Robot Dreams, Fangorn (NewCon) Cover for Cover for “Four Black Lives Matter Murals in AR”, Nani Walker The awards will be voted on by members of BSFA and the British Annual Science Fiction Convention (Eastercon). The winners will be announced during ConFusion, to be held online April 2-5, 2021. For more information, see the BSFA website. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magaz...