Locus Magazine is the Publisher's Weekly of Science Fiction and Fantasy. For years, since 1971, Locus Magazine has awarded "Locus Awards" based on votes from their subscribers. This year's awards were presented on June 27th, at an awards banquet held in Seattle. The Locus Awards Finalists are listed here.

This is the first time since the award's been offered that I haven't already read all the books; I'm especially interested in the novels. LeGuin's Lavinia from Harcourt won for Fantasy; it's a retelling, from the female point of view, of Virgil's Aeneid. It's been getting amazing reviews from some pretty surprising places. Neal Stephenson's Anathem, published by Atlantic UK/Morrow won for SF; it's a fourth volume that follows his "historical" Baroque trilogy; this one's SF though, with a sort of monastic college of scientists in the distant future and on a distant planet. It's another door-stop book, too. The First Novel award went to Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko; it was published by Tor, and Melko is a Viable Paradise workshop alum, which says something about the workshop.

The short fiction awards are a bit harder to track down; they're all listed on the Website I linked to, but they're often in short run magazines. The Editor award went to Ellen Datlow. Datlow is one of those names that I watch for on anthologies, or in terms of mythic fantasy. She's the editor responsible for amazing collections like The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales , The Faery Reel: Tales From the Twilight Realm , and The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, (all three co-edited with Terri Windling, another favorite editor). I'll buy something just because Datlow edited it. Tor won for publisher. I'm particularly delighted to see Tor nominated for the Publisher award; Tor is, hands down, my favorite SF and Fantasy publisher, and one of my favorite publishers, period. I learned in the first year of Tor's existence to watch for their logo on the spines of books. They've got not only a crackerjack group of editors; they still design their books, from covers to page layout.

You might be interested in the 2009 Locus Award Finalists, which are listed here. I think the decisions had to have been particularly difficult this year. Looking at the Finalists for novels, I'm looking forward to reading McKillip's novel The Bell At Sealy Head, and Stross' Saturn's Children, neither of which I've had a chance to read. I note that Stephenson's Anthem, and Stross' Saturn's Children are both on the Hugo Awards ballot, as is Bear's novelette "Shoggoths in Bloom," one of the Locus Award finalists for novelette. The Hugos are voted on by World Con members, and the results will be released at Anticipation in Montreal this August. It's always interesting to compare the Hugos, the Locus Awards, and the Nebula awards.