Here is the online version of the 43rd annual Locus Awards ballot, covering works that appeared in 2012.
In each category, you may vote for up to five works or nominees, ranking them 1 (first place) through 5 (fifth). Listed options in each category are based on our 2012 Recommended Reading List [this link will open a new window], with options in categories for editor, artist, magazine, and publisher including results of the past two years.
You are welcome to use the write-in boxes to vote for other titles and nominees in any category -- if you do, please try to supply author, title, and place of appearance, where appropriate.
Do not vote for more than one item in a category at the same rank (e.g. two selections ranked 1st); if you do, we will disregard your votes in that category.
Note that the Hugo and Nebula awards have somewhat different eligibility requirements; Locus Awards are open to publications or works that first appeared, anywhere in the world, during calendar year 2012. Feel free to leave some categories blank or partially blank, but try to fill in the entire survey. A free issue of Locus will be given for a filled-out ballot to subscribers of record when we count them in May, so please use the exact name on your subscription and your subscription number. Deadline for ballots is April 15, 2013.
As in previous years, voting rules count subscriber votes double. All votes, from subscribers and non-subscribers alike, will be counted as long as you include your name, e-mail, and survey information (Locus does not sell e-mail lists) and do not violate voting rules.
If you prefer, you may print this page or use this PDF version of the poll and survey, fill it in by hand, and mail it to Locus Publications, PO Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661.
Anonymous ballots will not be counted. Please include your name and e-mail address with your submission.
This ballot is now delinked. No more votes will be accepted.
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Digital subscribers: No subscriber number is required. Please be sure your name is entered exactly as it was when you subscribed.
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If not, were you in the past?
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Locus Poll
In each category, enter '1' in the Rank column for your first choice, '2' for your second choice, '3' for your third choice, '4' for your fourth choice, and '5' for your fifth choice. Do not vote for more than five items in each category.
Best SF Novel
Rank
Title
The Hydrogen Sonata, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Bowl of Heaven, Gregory Benford & Larry Niven (Tor)
Any Day Now, Terry Bisson (Overlook; Duckworth ’13)
Blueprints of the Afterlife, Ryan Boudinot (Black Cat)
Edge of Infinity, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris US; Solaris UK)
Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Random House)
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXVIII, K.D. Wentworth, ed. (Galaxy)
Solaris Rising 1.5, Ian Whates, ed. (Solaris)
Epic: Legends of Fantasy, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Tachyon)
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s Griffin; Robinson as The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 25)
Rock On: The Greatest Hits of Science Fiction & Fantasy, Paula Guran, ed. (Prime)
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2012 Edition, Paula Guran, ed. (Prime)
Year’s Best SF 17, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Harper Voyager)
The Sword & Sorcery Anthology, David G. Hartwell & Jacob Weisman, eds. (Tachyon)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2012, Rich Horton, ed. (Prime)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume 23, Stephen Jones, ed. (Robinson; Running Press)
Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology, James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel, eds. (Tachyon)
Beyond Binary, Brit Mandelo, ed. (Lethe)
The Century’s Best Horror Fiction: Volume One and Volume Two, John Pelan, ed. (Cemetery Dance)
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade)
Steampunk III: Steampunk Revolution, Ann VanderMeer, ed. (Tachyon)
Robots: The Recent A.I., Rich Horton & Sean Wallace, eds. (Prime)
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Best Nonfiction Book
Rank
Title
An Exile on Planet Earth, Brian Aldiss (Bodleian Library)
Angela Carter: New Critical Readings, Sonya Andermahr & Lawrence Phillips, eds. (Continuum)
Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010, Damien Broderick & Paul Di Filippo, eds. (NonStop)
Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, Diana Wynne Jones (Fickling UK; Greenwillow)
Astounding Wonder: Imagining Science and Science Fiction in Interwar America, John Cheng (University of Pennsylvania Press)
On Conan Doyle, Michael Dirda (Princeton University Press)
Distrust That Particular Flavor, William Gibson (Putnam)
The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn, eds. (Cambridge University Press)
We Wuz Pushed: Joanna Russ and Radical Truth-Telling, Brit Mandelo (Aqueduct)
London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction, Michael Moorcock (PM Press)
As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality, Michael Saler (Oxford University Press USA)
Some Remarks, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
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Best Art Book
Rank
Title
Spectrum 19: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood)
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!, John Fleskes, ed. (Flesk)
Trolls , Brian Froud & Wendy Froud (Abrams)
Exposé 10, Ronnie Gramazio, ed. (Ballistic)
Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration, Scott Tracy Griffin (Titan)
Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention, Paul Guinan & Anina Bennett (Abrams Image)
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull, eds. (Houghton Mifflin)
Star Wars Art: Illustration, Eric Klopfer, ed. (Abrams)
Velocity , Stephan Martiniere (Design Studio Press)
Steampunk: An Illustrated History, Brian J. Robb (Aurum)
The Art of the Dragon, Patrick Wilshire & J. David Spurlock, eds. (Vanguard)
Fantasy+ 4, Vincent Zhao, ed. (CYPI Press)
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Best Novella
Rank
Title
‘‘The Moon Belongs to Everyone’’, Michael Alexander & K.C. Ball (Analog 12/12)
‘‘Hand of Glory’’, Laird Barron (The Book of Cthulhu II)
‘‘In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns’’, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s 1/12)
‘‘Twenty Lights to ‘The Land of Snow’’’, Michael Bishop (Going Interstellar)
‘‘Maze of Shadows’’, Fred Chappell (F&SF 5-6/12)
‘‘Gods of Risk’’, James S.A. Corey (Orbit Short Fiction)
On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
‘‘The Last Judgment’’, James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s 4-5/12)
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
‘‘The Stars Do Not Lie’’, Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
‘‘The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future’’, Jay Lake (Subterranean Spring ’12)
‘‘Let Maps to Others’’, K.J. Parker (Subterranean, Summer ’12)
‘‘Sudden, Broken, and Unexpected’’, Steven Popkes (Asimov’s 12/12)
‘‘Murder Born’’, Robert Reed (Asimov’s 2/12)
‘‘Eater-of-Bone’’, Robert Reed (Eater-of-Bone)
‘‘Katabasis’’, Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
‘‘The Mongolian Book of the Dead’’, Alan Smale (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
‘‘Sky’’, Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls)
The Boolean Gate, Walter Jon Williams (Subterranean)
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Best Novelette
Rank
Title
‘‘Holmes Sherlock: A Hwarhath Mystery’’, Eleanor Arnason (Eclipse Online 11/12/12)
‘‘Mating Habits of the Late Cretaceous’’, Dale Bailey (Asimov’s 9/12)
‘‘The Witch of Duva: A Ravkan Folk Tale’’, Leigh Bardugo (Tor.com 6/6/12)
‘‘Frontier Death Song’’, Laird Barron (Nightmare 10/12)
‘‘Invisible Men’’, Christopher Barzak (Eclipse Online 12/10/12)
‘‘Faster Gun’’, Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com 8/12)
‘‘No Decent Patrimony’’, Elizabeth Bear (Rip-Off!)
‘‘The Telling’’, Gregory Norman Bossert (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 11/29/12)
‘‘Beasts’’, Elizabeth Bourne (Interzone 5-6/12)
‘‘The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi’’, Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity)
‘‘The Ghosts of Christmas’’, Paul Cornell (Tor.com 12/19/12)
‘‘Weep for Day’’, Indrapramit Das (Asimov’s 8/12)
‘‘Troll Blood’’, Peter Dickinson (F&SF 9-10/12)
‘‘Close Encounters’’, Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
‘‘Black Box’’, Jennifer Egan (The New Yorker 6/4/12)
‘‘The Keats Variation’’, K. M. Ferebee (Strange Horizons 6/4/12-6/11/12)
‘‘The Journeyman: On the Short-Grass Prairie’’, Michael F. Flynn (Analog 10/12)
‘‘The Wish Head’’, Jeffrey Ford (Crackpot Palace)
‘‘The Castle that Jack Built’’, Emily Gilman (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/26/12)
