2013 was a great year for my encounters with debut novels — first novels from new authors, and first-time excursions into young adult fiction from established adult fic authors, and even an editorial debut. Starting with Leonard Richardson's incredible Constellation Games, and moving onto books like Mur Lafferty's long-awaited major press debut The Shambling Guide to New York City, Richard Kadrey's YA debut Dead Set, and many others. — Read the rest

Welcome to this year's Boing Boing Gift Guide, a piling-high of our most loved stuff from 2013 and beyond. There are books, gadgets, toys, music and much else besides: click the categories at the top to filter what you're most interested in—and offer your own suggestions and links!

Back in September, I blogged the announcement of Patrick Nielsen Hayden and David Hartwell's massive anthology
Twenty-First Century Science Fiction, which collects stories the authors view as significant signposts in the direction of the field since the turn of the millennium. — Read the rest

Paolo Bacigalupi has a lot of range. His debut novel, The Windup Girl was a lush ecological dystopia that plumbed odd depths of gender politics and colonialism. He followed it up with Ship Breaker, a young adult novel about class, peak oil, and corporate power, as lean and fast as Windup Girl was lavish and lush. — Read the rest

Jason sez, "The first issue of my new literary journal, LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, was just recently released by Singapore-based publisher Math Paper Press. The issue's contributors are Paolo Bacigalupi, Kate Osias, Zen Cho, Paolo Chikiamco, Chris Mooney-Singh, Ang Si Min, Elka Ray Nguyen and Bryan Thao Worra, all of whom present speculative writing from and about the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Laos and Vietnam. — Read the rest

Patrick Nielsen Hayden and David Hartwell have edited Twenty-First Century Science Fiction , a 250,000-word anthology of short fiction by writers who came to prominence since the turn of the century. The authors include "Vandana Singh, Charles Stross, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neal Asher, Rachel Swirsky, John Scalzi, M. — Read the rest

The 2013 Locus Awards final ballot has been announced, and as ever, it is a fabulous guide signposting some of the very best work published science fiction and fantasy in the past year — a perfect place to start your explorations of the year's books. — Read the rest

Welcome to this year's Boing Boing Gift Guide, a piling-high of our most loved stuff from 2012 and beyond. There are books, comics, games, gadgets and much else besides: click the categories at the top to filter what you're most interested in—and add your suggestions and links in the comments.

Great news: two of my favorite young adult novels of recent years are now in paperback. First is Steven Gould's 7th Sigma, a spectacular science fiction/western mashup set in the southwest after a mysterious alien invasion makes it impossible to use metal anywhere in the desert. — Read the rest

I'm delighted to announce that the Humble Ebook Bundle is live! Based on the wildly successful Humble Indie Bundles for distributing video games on a name-your-price basis, the Humble Ebook Bundle is a name-your-price collection of awesome entertainment that also helps you support three great charities. — Read the rest

Tony Smith from StarShipSofa sez,

Over the coming months StarShipSofa will present a series of online web lectures by some of the top SF writers out there. These lectures will be called How To Write Science Fiction with…

Among the writers lined up for future lectures are Kim Stanley Robinson, Spider Robinson, Paolo Bacigalupi and many others.

I'm incredibly chuffed to learn that the Japanese edition of Little Brother is up for this year's Seiun award, along with Bacigalupi's Windup Girl, Mieville's The City & the City, Wilson's Chronoliths, Delany's Dhalgren and Ballad's Millennium People.

pony H 54" L 49" W 27" is a kinetic sculpture that is reminiscent of one of Paolo Bacigalupi's more disturbing stories, somehow sexual and biomorphic at once. Do you know who made it and where it was exhibited? Please leave a comment. — Read the rest

Locus magazine has announced the winners of this year's Locus Award:

* Science Fiction Novel: Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra)

* Fantasy Novel: Kraken, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey)

* First Novel: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K.

Locus magazine has announced the finalists for this year's Locus Award, a popular science fiction, fantasy and horror award voted on by the magazine's readers. I reviewed several of these; I've hotlinked them to their Boing Boing reviews, in case you're interested:

Science Fiction Novel

* Surface Detail, Iain M.

Welcome to the second half of the 2010 Boing Boing Gift Guide, where we pick out some of our favorite books from the last year (and beyond) to help you find inexpensive holiday gifts for friends and family. Can you guess who chose a Sarah Palin book?

Looking for a gig in the glamorous world of publishing? Specialty SF publisherNight Shade Books (who put out Paoli Bacigalupi's Windup Girl, among other worthy books) is looking for an experienced full-time editor in San Francisco or NYC. (via IO9)

The 2010 Locus Magazine Awards for science fiction were handed out today — many of the winners were reviewed here as well (links below). You'd be hard pressed to find a better reading list of great contemporary SF:

Best SF Novel:

Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor)

Best Fantasy Novel:

The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)

Best First Novel:

The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)

Best Young Adult Book:

Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)

Best Novella:

The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean)

Best Novelette:

"By Moonlight", Peter S.

Cograts to all the winners of this year's Nebula Award, and a big squee to all the writers at the ceremony who got to go watch NASA launch a spaceship!

GRAND MASTER:
Joe Haldeman

SHORT STORY:
Winner: "Spar" by Kij Johnson

NOVELETTE:
Winner: Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster

NOVELLA:
Winner: The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker

NOVEL:
Winner: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

BRADBURY AWARD BEST DRAMATIC PRODUCTION:
Winner: District 9 by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

ANDRE NORTON AWARD:
Winner: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making by Catherynne M.

Congratulations to all the 2010 Hugo Nominees, including some favorites I've reviewed here: Robert Charles Wilson's Julian Comstock, Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, Ian McDonald's "Vishnu at the Cat Circus" (from Cyberabad Days) and Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl. — Read the rest