Using Awards Lists as a RA Tool: 2019 Locus Award Finalists Edition

I am on the road to StokerCon, so I have speculative fiction on the brain. But luckily so does Locus who just annoucend their finalists for the Locus Awards. What I love about these awards is that they are for all of the speculative genres-- SF, Fantasy and Horror. The list of finalists here is an excellent tool for suggestions, displays, and collection development for all speculative genres for audiences form teen to adult.

It is a perfect example of my long running argument that awards nominees lists, not just the winners' lists, are one of our best RA Tools.

Below I have reposted the first three categories-- SF, Fantasy and Horror novel, but there are many more categories, authors, titles, and collections you should know about if you click through.

2019 Locus Awards Finalists

 May 7, 2019

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top ten finalists in each category of the 2019 Locus Awards. Tickets are available now.

Winners will be announced during the Locus Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 28-30, 2019; Connie Willis will MC the awards ceremony. Additional weekend events include author readings; a kickoff Clarion West party honoring first week instructor Elizabeth Hand, Clarion West supporters, awards weekend ticket holders, and special guests; panels with leading authors; an autograph session with books available for sale thanks to University Book Store; and a lunch banquet with the annual Hawaiian shirt contest, all followed by a Locus party on Saturday night.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager US; Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress (Tor)
• Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)
• Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
• Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell (Titan US; Titan UK)
• Elysium Fire, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Orbit US)
• Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)
• Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)

FANTASY NOVEL

• Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch (DAW; Gollancz)
• Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown; Jo Fletcher)
• The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (Tor)
• Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com Publishing)
• Ahab’s Return, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
• European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss (Saga)
• The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley (MCD)
• The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)
• Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer (John Joseph Adams)

HORROR NOVEL

• In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams)
• Unlanguage, Michael Cisco (Eraserhead)
• We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk)
• Coyote Songs, Gabino Iglesias (Broken River)
• The Hunger, Alma Katsu (Putnam; Bantam Press UK)
• The Outsider, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Listener, Robert McCammon (Cemetery Dance)
• Cross Her Heart, Sarah Pinborough (HarperCollins UK/Morrow)
• The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan UK)
• Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren (Omnium Gatherum)

There are still more categories, including novella, story collections, first novel, and YA. Click here to see them all.