Locus Award Finalists...and my thoughts on the ones I've read

Here are the just-announced Locus Award finalists, with winners to be announced later:

SF NOVEL

The Accidental Time Machine, Joe Haldeman (Ace) - Haven't read

Brasyl, Ian McDonald (Pyr) - read, will review in a few weeks, really enjoyed it.

Halting State, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK) - haven't read

Spook Country, William Gibson (Putnam; Viking UK) - haven't read

The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon (HarperCollins) - read, will review in a few weeks, thought this or the McDonald are deserving of awards.

FANTASY NOVEL

Endless Things, John Crowley (Small Beer Press; Overlook) - have, but will not be reading for a month or two longer, expecting quite a lot due to past successes in the Ægypt cycle.

Making Money, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins) - haven't read

Pirate Freedom, Gene Wolfe (Tor) - read, reviewed last year, thought it was one of the best of 2007

Territory, Emma Bull (Tor) - see what I said above about the Wolfe book

Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada; Roc) - haven't read

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

Extras, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK) - haven't read

The H-Bomb Girl, Stephen Baxter (Faber & Faber) - haven't read

Magic's Child, Justine Larbalestier (Razorbill) - haven't read

Powers, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt; Gollancz) - haven't read

Un Lun Dun, China Miéville (Ballantine Del Rey; Macmillan UK) - read, reviewed last year, enjoyed it

FIRST NOVEL

City of Bones, Cassandra Clare (Simon & Schuster/McElderry) - haven't read

Flora Segunda, Ysabeau S. Wilce (Harcourt) - haven't read

Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill (Morrow; Gollancz) - haven't read

The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW; Gollancz) - read, reviewed it elsewhere last year, thought it was decent to good first effort

One for Sorrow, Christopher Barzak (Bantam Spectra) - read, reviewed it here back in January, really enjoyed it and I hope it wins here, like it did with the Crawford Award

NOVELLA

"After the Siege", Cory Doctorow (The Infinite Matrix Jan 2007) - haven't read

"All Seated on the Ground", Connie Willis (Asimov's Dec 2007) - haven't read

"Memorare", Gene Wolfe (F&SF Apr 2007) - haven't read, awaiting the Wyrm limited-edition

"Muse of Fire", Dan Simmons (The New Space Opera) - haven't read

"Stars Seen through Stone", Lucius Shepard (F&SF Jul 2007) - haven't read

NOVELETTE

"Dark Integers", Greg Egan (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2007) - haven't read

"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", Ted Chiang (F&SF Sep 2007) - haven't read, will buy the limited-edition later, perhaps

"Trunk and Disorderly", Charles Stross (Asimov's Jan 2007) - haven't read

"We Never Talk About My Brother", Peter S. Beagle (Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show Jun 2007) - haven't read

"The Witch's Headstone", Neil Gaiman (Wizards) - read it last year, didn't review the anthology in which it appeared, thought it was a decent effort from Gaiman, but far from his best

SHORT STORY

"The Last and Only, or, Mr. Moscowitz Becomes French", Peter S. Beagle (Eclipse One) - haven't read

"Last Contact", Stephen Baxter (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction) - haven't read

"A Small Room in Koboldtown", Michael Swanwick (Asimov's Apr/May 2007) - haven't read

"Tideline", Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's Apr/May 2007) - haven't read

"Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?", Ken MacLeod (The New Space Opera) - haven't read

COLLECTION

The Dog Said Bow-Wow, Michael Swanwick (Tachyon) - haven't read

The Jack Vance Treasury, Jack Vance (Subterranean) - haven't read

Overclocked, Cory Doctorow (Thunder's Mouth) - haven't read

Things Will Never Be the Same, Howard Waldrop (Old Earth) - haven't read

The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories, Connie Willis (Subterranean) - haven't read

ANTHOLOGY

The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, eds. (Ballantine Del Rey) - read last year, didn't review it, but ranked it as being a very solid anthology in my Best of 2007 post on New Year's Eve

The Coyote Road, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Viking) - haven't read

The New Space Opera, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Eos) - haven't read

The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror 2007: Twentieth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, ed. (St. Martin's) - haven't read

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin's) - haven't read

NON-FICTION

Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Jeff Prucher, ed. (Oxford University Press) - haven't read

Breakfast in the Ruins, Barry N. Malzberg (Baen) - haven't read

The Country You Have Never Seen, Joanna Russ (Liverpool University Press) - haven't read

Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970 to 1980, Mike Ashley (Liverpool University Press) - haven't read

Shadows of the New Sun: Wolfe on Writing/Writers on Wolfe, Peter Wright (Liverpool University Press) - haven't read, but am strongly tempted to buy, considering the subject matter

ART BOOK

The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Lothian 2006; Scholastic) - read it last year, reviewed it, it was the overall #1 Book of the Year for me last year. Fantastic illustrations and story told without words. Hope this one wins!

Dreamscape: The Best of Imaginary Realism, Claus Brusen & Marcel Salome, eds. (SalBru) - haven't read

Emshwiller: Infinity x Two, Luis Ortiz, ed. (Nonstop Press) - haven't read

Mervyn Peake: The Man and His Art, compiled by Sebastian Peake & Alison Eldred, edited by G. Peter Winnington (Peter Owen) - haven't read

Spectrum 14: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood) - haven't read

EDITOR

Ellen Datlow

Gardner Dozois

David G. Hartwell

Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Gordon Van Gelder

MAGAZINE

Analog

Asimov's

F&SF

Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet

Subterranean

PUBLISHER

Baen

Bantam Spectra

Night Shade Books

Subterranean Press

Tor

ARTIST

Stephan Martiniere

John Picacio

Shaun Tan

Charles Vess

Michael Whelan

Lots of "haven't reads," unfortunately, but much of that is due to me not reading the mags anymore, even if I do like more short fiction than my responses above might indicate. On the whole, not a bad list at all. The usual quibbles about the usual suspects, but I like the novel lists better than either the Nebula or Hugo shortlists. Solid but not spectacular set of finalists here.