The finalists for the 2026 Locus Awards have been introduced. Right here they’re for the novel classes:

Locus Science Fiction Novel:

• The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear (Saga; Gollancz)
• Picks & Shovels by Cory Doctorow (Advert Astra; Tor)
• Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman (Tor)
• When We Have been Actual by Daryl Gregory (Saga)
• All That We See or Appear by Ken Liu (Saga; Advert Astra)
• The place the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfel & Nicolson)
• Sluggish Gods by Claire North (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Loss of life of the Writer by Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
• The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)
• Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)

Locus Fantasy Novel:

• The Devils by Joe Abercrombie (Tor; Gollancz)
• The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris UK)
• Classes in Magic and Catastrophe by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan UK)
• A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape)
• The Eternal by Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK)
• The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)
• Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher (Tor; Tor UK)
• Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager; Harper Voyager UK)
• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)
• Queen Demon by Martha Wells (Tor)

Locus Horror Novel:

• The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas (Berkley; Solaris UK)
• Unfold Me by Sarah Gailey (Nightfire)
• King Sorrow by Joe Hill (Morrow; Headline UK)
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)
• The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire; Titan UK)
• By no means Flinch by Stephen King (Scribner, Hodder & Stoughton UK)
• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Arcadia UK)
• It Was Her Home First by Cherie Priest (Poisoned Pen)
• The Crimson Street by A.G. Slatter (Titan US & UK)
• The Staircase within the Woods by Chuck Wendig (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)

Locus Younger Grownup Ebook:

• The Singular Lifetime of Aria Patel by Samira Ahmed (Little, Brown; Atom UK) [SF]
• Make Me a Monster by Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK) [H]
• Costumes for Time Vacationers by A.R. Capetta (Candlewick; Walker UK) [F]
• The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard (Tor Teen; Daphne UK) [H]
• The Underwood Tapes by Amanda DeWitt (Peachtree Teen) [H]
• Amongst Ghosts by Rachel Hartman (Random Home) [F]
• Sky on Fireplace by E.Okay. Johnston (Dutton) [F]
• Starstrike by Yoon Ha Lee (Delacorte; Solaris UK) [SF]
• I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang (Harper) [F]
• They Bloom at Night time by Trang Thanh Tran (Bloomsbury US; Bloomsbury UK) [H]

Locus First Novel:

• A Track of Legends Misplaced by M.H. Ayinde (Orbit UK; Saga) [F]
• Pink Rabbit Ghost by Jen Julian (Run For It) [H]
• When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur (Holt; First Ink UK) [H]
• Awake within the Floating Metropolis by Susanna Kwan (Pantheon; Simon & Schuster UK) [SF]
• Luminous by Silvia Park (Simon & Schuster; Magpie) [SF]
• Archive of Unknown Universes by Ruben Reyes Jr. (Mariner; Footnote UK) [SF]
• North Solar, Or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford (A Unusual Object) [H]
• Blob by Maggie Su (Harper; Sceptre UK) [F]
• Track of Spores by Bogi Takács (Damaged Eye) [SF]
• Bitter Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou (Tin Home; Wildfire UK) [F]

For the entire listing of noms in all classes take a look at Locus on-line. Our congratulations to all of the nominees!

What do you consider these lists? Any surprises? Any favorites?

Posted in Awards, Locus Awards