Issue:
In this issue:
The February 2026 Locus magazine, issue #781, is the annual Year in Review overview with the Locus 2025 Recommended Reading List, essays from our reviewers and others recommending their favorite books, and magazine and book summaries tracking the progress of the industry. The issue also features an interview with Nnedi Okorafor. News includes the Philip K. Dick Award nominees, changes to Must Read's contract language, Patrick Nielsen Hayden's retirement from Tor, the hospitalization of Asimov’s editor Sheila Williams, and more. Obituaries and appreciations remember Terence M. Green, M. Christian, Pierre Bordage, and Patrick Delahunt. Reviews cover new works by Tim Powers, K.J. Parker, Jo Walton & Ada Palmer, Margot Harrison, Allan Kaster (ed.), Aliya Whiteley, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Francis Spufford, George Saunders, Kristina Ten, M. Darusha Wehm, Jasmin Kirkbride, Paul McAuley, A.D. Sui, Gurnaik Johal, L.S. Stratton, Kate Quinn, Harper Ross, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Sam Munson, Cullen Bunn, John Fram, Joe Lansdale, Moniquill Blackgoose, and others.
Table of Contents:
February 2026 • Issue 781 • Vol. 96 • No. 2
58th Year of Publication • 30-Time Hugo Winner
Cover art by Greg Ruth. Cover and interview design by Francesca Myman.
INTERVIEW / 10
Nnedi Okorafor: Global Perspective
MAIN STORIES / 6
Philip K. Dick Nominees • Must Read Changes Contract Language • Nielsen Hayden Retires From Tor • Asimov’s Editor Sheila Williams Hospitalized
THE DATA FILE / 7
SFWA Announces LLM Nebula Awards Rules • LAcon V Adds Tracey Baptiste as Special Guest • 2026 Heinlein Society Scholarships Open • SFPA President’s Lifetime Service Award • 2025 Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds Grants Winners • Prometheus Hall of Fame Finalists • AnLab Award and Asimov’s Readers’ Awards • Splatterpunk Awards Nominees • Fox Wins Inaugural Ark Press Prize • Spate of Scams and Schemes Flood Email • Financial News • International Rights • Audio Rights
PEOPLE & PUBLISHING / 8
Notes on milestones, awards, books sold, etc., with news this issue about James Patterson, Kevin J. Anderson, Won-pyung Sohn, Linda Quinton and many others.
THE YEAR IN REVIEW / 25
2025 Recommended Reading List, 26 • 2025 Recommeneded Reading by Liza Groen Trombi (with Eleanor Trombla, Bob Blough, Alice Strangeman, Maya St. Clair & Francesca Myman), Gary K. Wolfe, Archita Mittra, Ian Mond, Colleen Mondor, Tim Melody Pratt, Arley Sorg, Jake Casella Brookins, Alex Brown, Alexandra Pierce, Eugen Bacon, Maria Haskins, Russell Letson, A.C. Wise, Graham Sleight, Niall Harrison, and Rachel S. Cordasco, 32 • 2025 Book Summary, 54 • 2025 Magazine Summary, 59
SPECIAL FEATURES
Photo Story: Brooklyn Books & Booze, 87
LISTINGS
Magazines Received: December, 69 • Bestsellers, 70 • New & Notable Books: December, 71 • Books Received: December, 72
OBITUARIES / 89
Terence M. Green • M. Christian • Appreciation by Cecilia Tan • Pierre Bordage • Patrick Delahunt
EDITORIAL MATTERS / 90
Short Fiction Reviews by MARIA HASKINS / 12
Fantasy Magazine 12/25; PodCastle 11/18/25; Cast of Wonders 11/18/25, 11/20/25; Beneath Ceaseless Skies 12/11/25; Lightspeed 12/25; Small Wonders 12/25; Bourbon Penn 11/25.
Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. WISE / 14
Clarkesworld 12/25; Augur 8.2; Analog 11-12/25.
Reviews by GARY K. WOLFE / 15
The Mills of the Gods, Tim Powers; Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead, K.J. Parker; Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Jo Walton & Ada Palmer.
Reviews by ALEXANDRA PIERCE / 16
The Library of Fates, Margot Harrison; The Year’s Best Science Fiction on Earth 3, Allan Kaster, ed.
Reviews by ABIGAIL NUSSBAUM / 17
The Misheard World, Aliya Whiteley; Pretenders to the Throne of God, Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Reviews by IAN MOND / 18
Nonesuch, Francis Spufford; Vigil, George Saunders; The Misheard World, Aliya Whiteley; Tell Me Yours, I’ll Tell You Mine, Kristina Ten.
Reviews by NIALL HARRISON / 20
The Department of What It (Really) Means to be Human, M. Darusha Wehm; The Forest on the Edge of Time, Jasmin Kirkbride; Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley; The Iron Garden Sutra, A.D. Sui; SHORT TAKE: Saraswati, Gurnaik Johal.
Reviews by COLLEEN MONDOR / 22
Sundown Girls, L.S. Stratton; The Astral Library, Kate Quinn; The Unwritten Rules of Magic, Harper Ross.
Reviews by GABINO IGLESIAS / 23
Darker Days, Thomas Olde Heuvelt; The Sofa, Sam Munson; Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World, Cullen Bunn; The Midnight Knock, John Fram; The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale, Joe Lansdale.
Reviews by ALEX BROWN / 24
To Ride a Rising Storm, Moniquill Blackgoose.
Books reviews in this issue (indicating reviewer) —
Blackgoose, Moniquill • To Ride a Rising Storm (Alex Brown)
Bunn, Cullen • Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World (Gabino Iglesias)
Fram, John • The Midnight Knock (Gabino Iglesias)
Harrison, Margot • The Library of Fates (Alexandra Pierce)
Johal, Gurnaik • Saraswati (Niall Harrison)
Kaster, Allan, ed. • The Year's Best Science Fiction on Earth 3 (Alexandra Pierce)
Kirkbride, Jasmin • The Forest on the Edge of Time (Niall Harrison)
Lansdale, Joe R. • The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale (Gabino Iglesias)
McAuley, Paul • Loss Protocol (Niall Harrison)
Munson, Sam • The Sofa (Gabino Iglesias)
Olde Heuvelt, Thomas • Darker Days (Gabino Iglesias)
Parker, K. J. • Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead (Gary K. Wolfe)
Powers, Tim • The Mills of the Gods (Gary K. Wolfe)
Quinn, Kate • The Astral Library (Colleen Mondor)
Ross, Harper • The Unwritten Rules of Magic (Colleen Mondor)
Saunders, George • Vigil (Ian Mond)
Spufford, Francis • Nonesuch (Ian Mond)
Stratton, L. S. • Sundown Girls (Colleen Mondor)
Sui, A. D. • The Iron Garden Sutra (Niall Harrison)
Tchaikovsky, Adrian • Pretenders to the Throne of God (Abigail Nussbaum)
Ten, Kristina • Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine (Ian Mond)
Walton, Jo, & Ada Palmer • Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy (Gary K. Wolfe)
Wehm, M. Darusha • The Department of What It (Really) Means to be Human (Niall Harrison)
Whiteley, Aliya • The Misheard World (Abigail Nussbaum)
Whiteley, Aliya • The Misheard World (Ian Mond)
