Sign in Subscribe

Here are the finalists for the 2026 Locus Awards

Some of the best SF/F from 2025

Here are the finalists for the 2026 Locus Awards
Image: Andrew Liptak

Locus Magazine, the industry publication for the speculative fiction literary community has issued its finalists lists for 2026. Each year, it issues a poll for its subscribers and fans, which it tabulates for its award, which is held up alongside the Hugo and Nebula Awards in significance. I've found that it's a good survey of the past year's storytelling. Here are last year's winners.

As in years past, it's an excellent roundup: there are a whole bunch of books that I read and really enjoyed, and I'm eager to see which ones end up winning.

This year's awards are being held in partnership with the Bay Area Book Festival, which is themed “Writing the Future.” This year's awards will be announced during this year's Locus Awards Ceremony, which will be held on May 30, during this year's Locus Awards Ceremony, which will be held at Hotel Shattuck in Berkeley Hall California. You can get tickets for the event here.

Here's the full list of nominees:

Science fiction novels

  • The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear
  • Picks & Shovels by Cory Doctorow
  • Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman
  • When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory
  • All That We See or Seem by Ken Liu
  • Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler
  • Slow Gods by Claire North
  • Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
  • The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi
  • Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Fantasy novels

  • The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
  • The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison
  • Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders
  • A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
  • The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
  • Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
  • The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
  • Queen Demon by Martha Wells

Horror novels

  • The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
  • Spread Me by Sarah Gailey
  • King Sorrow by Joe Hill
  • The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
  • The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
  • Never Flinch by Stephen King
  • The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest
  • The Crimson Road by A.G. Slatter
  • The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig

Young Adult novels

  • The Singular Life of Aria Patel by Samira Ahmed
  • Make Me a Monster by Kalynn Bayron
  • Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta
  • The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard
  • The Underwood Tapes by Amanda DeWitt
  • Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman
  • Sky on Fire by E.K. Johnston
  • Starstrike by Yoon Ha Lee
  • I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang
  • They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

First novels

  • A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde
  • Red Rabbit Ghost by Jen Julian
  • When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur
  • Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
  • Luminous by Silvia Park
  • Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr.
  • North Sun, Or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford
  • Blob by Maggie Su
  • Song of Spores by Bogi Takács
  • Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou

Translated novel

  • On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
  • The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses
  • The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran, translated by Gene Png
  • Red Sword by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
  • The Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
  • Ice by Jacek Dukaj, translated by Ursula Phillips
  • Blood for the Undying Throne by Sung-il Kim, translated by Anton Hur
  • Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
  • Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva, translated by Rahul Bery
  • The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken

Novellas

  • The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison
  • The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
  • What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher
  • Cinder House by Freya Marske
  • Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
  • Making History by K.J. Parker
  • Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce
  • Lives of Bitter Rain by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo
  • Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Novelettes

Short Stories

Anthology

  • The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories edited by andré m. carrington
  • Night & Day edited by Ellen Datlow
  • Storyteller: A Tanith Lee Tribute Anthology edited by Julie C. Day, Carina Bissett and Craig Laurance Gidney
  • The End of the World As We Know It edited by Christopher Golden & Brian Keene
  • We Will Rise Again edited by Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older
  • Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity edited by Lee Mandelo
  • The Best Weird Fiction of the Year: Volume 1 edited by Michael Kelly
  • Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three edited by Stephen Kotowych
  • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025 edited by Nnedi Okorafor and John Joseph Adams
  • As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories edited by Terese Mason Pierre

Collection

  • Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell
  • Moon Songs by Carol Emshwiller
  • Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss
  • Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha
  • Bright Dead Star by Caitlín R. Kiernan
  • The Essential Patricia A. McKillip by Patricia A. McKillip
  • One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed
  • The Revelation Space Collection Volumes 1 & 2 by Alastair Reynolds
  • Crows and Silences by Lucius Shepard
  • A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde

Magazine

  • Asimov’s
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies
  • Clarkesworld
  • F&SF
  • Fiyah
  • khōréō
  • Lightspeed
  • Reactor
  • Strange Horizons
  • Uncanny Magazine

Publisher

  • Angry Robot
  • DAW
  • Del Rey
  • Gollancz
  • Neon Hemlock
  • Orbit
  • Pan Macmillan/Tor UK
  • Saga
  • Solaris
  • Tachyon

Tor Publishing Group & Subterranean Press have recused themselves from this category. Tor UK is an imprint of Pan Macmillan, not TPG.

Editor

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Scott H. Andrews
  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • dave ring
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Bogi Takács
  • Wendy N. Wagner
  • Fran Wilde & Julian Yap
  • Sheila Williams

Artist

  • Brom
  • Rovina Cai
  • Galen Dara
  • Bob Eggleton
  • Kathleen Jennings
  • Alan Lee
  • John Picacio
  • Shaun Tan
  • Charles Vess
  • Michael Whelan

Illustrated and Art books

  • The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio
  • Frank Frazetta: Fine Lines edited by Sara Frazetta and Arnie Fenner, art by Frank Frazetta
  • Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, art by Rovina Cai
  • Designing Terry Pratchett’s Discworld by Paul Kidby
  • Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, art by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
  • The Space Cat by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford
  • Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene Volumes 1-3 by adapted by Rebecca K. Reynolds, art by Justin Gerard
  • Sunset at Zero Point / Swedish Machines by Simon Stålenhag
  • Faraway Dreaming by Ulla Thynell
  • Icons of the Fantastic: Illustrations of Imaginative Literature from the Korshak Collection edited by Amanda T. Zehnder and David M. Brinley

Nonfiction

  • The Outspoken and the Incendiary by Terry Bisson
  • Enshittification by Cory Doctorow
  • Colourfields by Paul Kincaid
  • Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling by Henry Lien
  • Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris
  • Black Apocalypse: Afrofuturism at the End of the World by Tavia Nyong’o
  • Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet by Tochi Onyebuchi
  • Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature edited by Becky Siegel Spratford
  • Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends edited by Richard Wolinsky
  • Octavia E. Butler: H is for Horse by Chi-ming Yang