November 2020 • Issue 718 • Vol. 85 • No. 5
53rd Year of Publication • 30-Time Hugo Winner
Cover and Interview Designs by Steven H. Segal

INTERVIEWS
Victor LaValle: Destroy the Reader / 10
Meg Elison: They're Made Out of Stories / 30

MAIN STORIES / 6
Jemisin Wins Genius Grant • Serpell Wins Clarke • Palmer Wins Sturgeon • HMH to Discontinue JJA Books • WFC Revises Program • B&N Breached

THE DATA FILE / 7
National Book Awards News • Time's 100 Best Fantasy Books • Labyrinth Road • Absinthe Books • Patterson Gives • Sunburst Awards Hiatus • Elgin Awards Winners • 2021 ICFA Going Virtual • Diversity Initiatives • Women's Prize Controversy • Senators Against Cixin Liu • Bookstore News • Publishing News • Awards News • Announcements • World Conventions News • Financial News • International Rights • Audio Rights

PEOPLE & PUBLISHING / 8
Notes on milestones, awards, books sold, etc., with news this issue about Tomi Adeyemi, John Crowley, Jeff VanderMeer, Matthew Hughes, Scott Westerfeld, and many others

SPECIAL FEATURES
Photo Story: Meacham Retires / 7 Commentary by Cory Doctorow: Past Performance is Not Indicative of Future Results / 25 ICon / 26 EstCon / 28 Spotlight on We Need Diverse Books / 29 Spotlight on Fantasy Magazine / 51 Locus Letters / 57

LISTINGS
Magazines Received: September / 32 Books Received: September / 33 British Books Received: August / 42 Bestsellers / 44

OBITUARIES / 57
Randall Kenan

EDITORIAL MATTERS / 58
November Already? • Beth Meacham Retires • This Issue/Next Issue

LOCUS LOOKS AT BOOKS

Short Fiction Reviews by Rich Horton / 13
Uncanny 9-10/20; F&SF 11-12/20; Interzone 9-10/20; Galaxy's Edge 9/20; The Adventure of the Naked Guide, Cynthia Ward; Living Forever & Other Terrible Ideas, Emily C. Skaftun; The Best of James Van Pelt, James Van Pelt.

Short Fiction Reviews by Karen Burnham / 14
Strange Horizons 8/20; Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8/27/20; Clarkesworld 9/20; Lightspeed 10/20; Future SF Digest 6/20; Diabolical Plots 9/20; Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores 8/20; Daily SF 9/20; Night Roll, Michael J. DeLuca; Bunkerpunk, Thea Boodhoo, ed.

Reviews by Gary K. Wolfe / 16
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Volume 1, Jonathan Strahan, ed.; The Arrest, Jonathan Lethem; The Blade Between, Sam J. Miller; The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, V.E. Schwab.

Reviews by Paula Guran / 18
The Midnight Circus, Jane Yolen; The Best of Michael Marshall Smith, Michael Marshall Smith; Velocities: Stories, Kathe Koja; Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies, John Langan; Monster Movies, David J. Schow.

Reviews by Katharine Coldiron / 19
Ivory's Story, Eugen Bacon; Over the Woodward Wall, A. Deborah Baker; Master of Poisons, Andrea Hairston.

Reviews by Ian Mond / 20
The Arrest, Jonathan Lethem; I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, Laura van den Berg; The Hole, Hiroko Oyamada; The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories, Eugen Bacon.

Reviews by Colleen Mondor / 22
The Silvered Serpents, Roshani Chokshi; White Fox, Sara Faring; The Factory Witches of Lowell, C.S. Malerich; Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera.

Reviews by Divers Hands: Russell Letson, Liz Bourke, Rich Horton / 24
Fleet Elements, Walter Jon Williams; Architects of Memory, Karen Osborne; The House of Styx, Derek Künsken.

Terry Bisson: This Month in History / 13, 15, 19, 23

Magazines reviewed in this issue (indicating reviewer)—
Beneath Ceaseless Skies 8/27/20 (Karen Burnham)
Clarkesworld 9/20 (Karen Burnham)
Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores 8/20 (Karen Burnham)
Daily SF 9/20 (Karen Burnham)
Diabolical Plots 9/20 (Karen Burnham)
F&SF 11-12/20 (Rich Horton)
Future SF Digest 6/20 (Karen Burnham)
Galaxy's Edge 9/20 (Rich Horton)
Interzone 9-10/20 (Rich Horton)
Lightspeed 10/20 (Karen Burnham)
Strange Horizons 8/20 (Karen Burnham)
Uncanny 9-10/20 (Rich Horton)

Books reviewed in this issue (indicating reviewer)—
Bacon, Eugen • Ivory's Story (Katharine Coldiron)
Bacon, Eugen • The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories (Ian Mond)
Baker, A. Deborah • Over the Woodward Wall (Katharine Coldiron)
Boodhoo, Thea, ed. • Bunkerpunk (Karen Burnham)
Chokshi, Roshani • The Silvered Serpents (Colleen Mondor)
DeLuca, Michael J. • Night Roll (Karen Burnham)
Faring, Sara • White Fox (Colleen Mondor)
Hairston, Andrea • Master of Poisons (Katharine Coldiron)
Koja, Kathe • Velocities: Stories (Paula Guran)
Künsken, Derek • The House of Styx (Rich Horton)
Langan, John • Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies (Paula Guran)
Lethem, Jonathan • The Arrest (Gary K. Wolfe)
Lethem, Jonathan • The Arrest (Ian Mond)
Malerich, C.S. • The Factory Witches of Lowell (Colleen Mondor)
Miller, Sam J. • The Blade Between (Gary K. Wolfe)
Osborne, Karen • Architects of Memory (Liz Bourke)
Oyamada, Hiroko • The Hole (Ian Mond)
Rivera, Lilliam • Never Look Back (Colleen Mondor)
Schow, David J. • Monster Movies (Paula Guran)
Schwab, V.E. • The Invisible Life of Addie Larue (Gary K. Wolfe)
Skaftun, Emily C. • Living Forever & Other Terrible Ideas (Rich Horton)
Smith, Michael Marshall • The Best of Michael Marshall Smith (Paula Guran)
Strahan, Jonathan, ed. • The Year's Best Science Fiction: Volume 1 (Gary K. Wolfe)
van den Berg, Laura • I Hold a Wolf by the Ears (Ian Mond)
Van Pelt, James • The Best of James Van Pelt (Rich Horton)
Ward, Cynthia • The Adventure of the Naked Guide (Rich Horton)
Williams, Walter Jon • Fleet Elements (Russell Letson)
Yolen, Jane • The Midnight Circus (Paula Guran)