The winners of 2011 Locus Awards were announced this afternoon in Seattle, Washington. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. We are, of course, especially excited that Tor Books won for “Best Publisher.” All our thanks go out to this wonderful community of readers, authors, and artists.
Science Fiction Novel
- WINNER: Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)
- Surface Detail, Iain M. Banks (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
- Cryoburn, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
- Zero History, William Gibson (Putnam; Viking UK)
- The Dervish House, Ian McDonald (Pyr; Gollancz)
Fantasy Novel
- WINNER: Kraken, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey)
- Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (Penguin Canada; Roc)
- Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
- The Fuller Memorandum, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
- The Sorcerer’s House, Gene Wolfe (Tor)
First Novel
- WINNER: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US)
- The Loving Dead, Amelia Beamer (Night Shade)
- Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
- The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz; Tor)
- How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu (Pantheon)
Young Adult Book
- WINNER: Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
- Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
- Enchanted Glass, Diana Wynne Jones (HarperCollins UK; Greenwillow)
- I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; HarperCollins)
- Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)
Novella
- WINNER: The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
- Bone and Jewel Creatures, Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
- “The Mystery Knight”‘, George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
- “Troika”, Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines)
- “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window'”, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’10)
Novelette
- WINNER: “The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains”, Neil Gaiman (Stories)
- “The Fool Jobs”, Joe Abercrombie (Swords & Dark Magic)
- “The Mad Scientist’s Daughter”, Theodora Goss (Strange Horizons 1/18-1/25/10)
- “Plus or Minus”, James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s 12/10)
- “Marya and the Pirate”, Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s 1/10)
Short Story
- WINNER: “The Thing About Cassandra”, Neil Gaiman (Songs of Love and Death)
- “Booth’s Ghost”, Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn’t See and Other Stories)
- “Names for Water”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 10-11/10)
- “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time”, Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/10)
- “The Things”, Peter Watts (Clarkesworld 1/10)
Magazine
- WINNER: Asimov’s
- Analog
- F&SF
- Subterranean
- Tor.com
Publisher
- WINNER: Tor
- Baen
- Night Shade Books
- Orbit
- Subterranean Press
Anthology
- WINNER: Warriors, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Tor)
- Zombies vs. Unicorns, Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier, eds. (McElderry)
- The Beastly Bride, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Viking)
- The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s)
- Swords & Dark Magic, Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds. (HarperCollins)
Collection
- WINNER: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories, Fritz Leiber (Night Shade)
- Mirror Kingdoms, Peter S. Beagle (Subterranean)
- What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer)
- The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson, Kim Stanley Robinson (Night Shade)
- The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny: Volume Five: Nine Black Doves, Roger Zelazny (NESFA)
Editor
- WINNER: Ellen Datlow
- Gardner Dozois
- Gordon Van Gelder
- David G. Hartwell
- Jonathan Strahan
Artist
- WINNER: Shaun Tan
- Bob Eggleton
- Donato Giancola
- John Picacio
- Michael Whelan
Non-fiction
- WINNER: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1: 1907-1948: Learning Curve, William H. Patterson, Jr., (Tor)
- 80! Memories & Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Joy Fowler & Debbie Notkin, eds. (Aqueduct)
- Conversations with Octavia Butler, Conseula Francis (University Press of Mississippi)
- CM Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Visionary, Mark Rich (McFarland)
- Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001, Gary K. Wolfe (Beccon)
Art Books
- WINNER: Spectrum 17, Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood)
- Bob Eggleton, Dragon’s Domain (Impact)
- Donato Giancola, Middle-Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth (Underwood)
- Shaun Tan, The Bird King and Other Sketches (Windy Hollow)
- Charles Vess & Neil Gaiman, Instructions (Harper)
Fabulous reading list for me :-))
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!
Oh wow! I am gobsmacked by the YA winner. Really really surprised that “Mockingjay” did NOT win. I am not crying in my beer, as I am one of the three people on this planet who doesn’t worship at the Hunger Games alter. Just merely surprised.
And, yes, I KNEW that Connie Willis would win (and rightly so!!)
I just do not get what these or any other set of awards are given for. What distinguishes locus awards from all the others? And I usually understand and at least partially agree with locus reviews, but they would not have predicted these awards. Personally, I would have booted Connie willis off all the lists entirely, Feed should have at least made this list, Terry Pratchet should have won the young adult class, over hunger games which at least had good writing craft and shipwrecked should not have made the list. In actual practice, vs sponsors claims, many award programs look and act like high school popularity contests, all too often. Unfortuntely, awards are going to become increasingly vital marketing tools, even for “big name” authors, as marketing shifts from the bookstore to the internet. Info about what given awards stand for and who votes for them needs to be more easily accessible to the ordinary reader.
Much congrats to everyone!
Congrats to all the winners. So many great choices in each of the categories that using this for a reading list would no doubt make for a fantastic experience.
I have been holding off on reading Gaiman’s short stories in the hopes of a new collection coming out sometime in the next decade. I want to be able to enjoy them all for the first time. I’m tempted now to check them out. True, he is no longer young, but I for one love the “snuff-peddling” this “hack” writes. I for one have enjoyed his “vile”, “avaricious” creativity for 10+ years and look forward to much more in the future. And every future award he wins will make me chuckle at this opinion of his work.
LeeAnn H: The Locus awards are awards given by the subscribers of Locus Magazine for their favorite books and stories. That’s it. It’s not a judgement of what the “best” books of the year are– just the favorites of a bunch of SFF fans.
Oh, and like the Hugo, there’s no panel of judges that decide what the best of the year is. It’s just a large selection of people voting. (Wonder what the Oscars or the Grammys would be like if they allowed the unwashed masses to vote on their awards? Utter chaos, methinks.)
Not really a fan of Connie Willis’s work at all. And I think most Mieville fans (of which I am one) would agree that Kraken is NOT his strongest work at all. The fact that it’s appearing here… makes me a little concerned about the rest of the fantasy entries.
However I thought Hannu Rajaniemi’s Quantum Thief was a lot of fun. Ted Chiang’s work is always entertaining, and I will seek out that Paulo Bacigalupi YA novel, after reading The Windup Girl from a couple of years ago, he seems to be doing some promising work.
I’m really glad Blackout/All Clear won; it was wonderful. I love that series.
Man, I’m thrilled that Connie Willis won the novel award. I’m also pleased for George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois for winning with Warriors.
Congratulations, Tor!
I’m a disappointed to see Gaiman beat out Cat Valente for best short work. Her magnificent “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time” stays with me as one of the most daring (stylistically, intellectually, and emotionally) and powerful pieces of recent short fiction to which I’ve been exposed.