Science Fiction Saturday: Locus Magazine Best of the Year

Locus Magazine is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in science fiction. I've been reading it religiously for 25 years; nothing else comes close to its coverage of the genre. And in fact one of the nice things about SF as a field is it's compact enough that you can pretty effectively keep track on what's going on by just reading this one publication.

Which is why it's always a thrill to get the gala February issue of the magazine, where all their reviewers look back at the previous year's novels and short fiction and write up their recommendations and impressions. In addition, the reviewers and editors of the magazine do a collective mind meld to come up with the consensus best of the year for their "Recommended Reading List". 

Here's the SF novels reading list:

§  The Rift, Nina Allan (Titan US; Titan UK)

§  The Massacre of Mankind, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz; Crown)

§  The Berlin Project, Gregory Benford (Saga)

§  Persepolis Rising, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

§  Walkaway, Cory Doctorow (Tor; Head of Zeus)

§  Gnomon, Nick Harkaway (Heinemann; Knopf 2018)

§  The Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)

§  Mother Go, James Patrick Kelly (Audible)

§  The Moon and the Other, John Kessel (Saga)

§  Tomorrow’s Kin, Nancy Kress (Tor)

§  Shattered Minds, Laura Lam (Tor; Macmillan)

§  Provenance, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

§  Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

§  The Corporation Wars: Emergence, Ken MacLeod (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

§  Austral, Paul McAuley (Gollancz)

§  Luna: Wolf Moon, Ian McDonald (Tor; Gollancz)

§  The Last Good Man, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island)

§  Null States, Malka Older (Tor.com Publishing)

§  Seven Surrenders, Ada Palmer (Tor; Head of Zeus)

§  The Wrong Stars, Tim Pratt (Angry Robot US; Angry Robot UK)

§  From the Wreck, Jane Rawson (Transit Lounge)

§  The Real-Town Murders, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

§  New York 2140, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

§  The Collapsing Empire, John Scalzi (Tor US; Tor UK)

§  Sourdough, Robin Sloan (MCD; Atlantic UK)

§  Empire Games, Charles Stross (Tor; Tor UK)

§  Borne, Jeff VanderMeer (MCD; HarperCollins Canada; Fourth Estate)

§  Bannerless, Carrie Vaughn (John Joseph Adams)

The other lists, including fantasy, horror and short fiction, can be found here. And you might consider subscribing; the magazine provides a great service to the field and nobody's getting rich doing it.