Baen Books, an independent publisher of military science fiction and fantasy, has announced the creation of a new short story award, named in honor of the author David A. Drake. The reward is in addition to their currently sponsored awards, the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award and Jim Baen Memorial Award.

Baen hopes to “find new writing talent and will reward winners with professional publication contracts for their stories as well as a lovely trophy.” They will be searching for “works of great science fiction or fantasy with strong military themes central to the characters and plot, not mere window dressing.” The reward is judged by a board of Baen editors and “a widely published military science fiction author.”

Baen indicates, “Submissions of original, unpublished short stories of up to 8,000 words will be accepted from 24 September 2026 until 10 December 2026.” They hope to announce the finalists February 2027 and present the award at LibertyCon, Chattanooga TN.

For more information on the award, see the Baen press release.

The post Baen Introduces David A. Drake Memorial Award appeared first on Locus.

Wendy N. Wagner has announced that she will be stepping down as editor-in-chief of Nightmare Magazine to focus on writing, with the December 2026 issue being her last. Wagner wrote,

On the plus side, I’m simply returning the reins to our founder, John Joseph Adams. I am absolutely thrilled to see what he’ll do now that he’s had a bit of rest; his amazing work as a horror short fiction editor is what got me excited about short fiction in the first place! You can all look forward to a 2027 packed with thrilling and chilling new horror and dark fantasy.

I expect to spend the next few months feeling sad to say to goodbye and excited for the future. This magazine is such a special place, and the work we do here is so full of magic and delight. For a place called “Nightmare,” it’s actually a dream.

Wagner has also stepped down as senior editor at Lightspeed and is named Emeritus staff. In her place, associate publisher Christie Yant will assume the role of senior editor.

For more information, see the official announcements in Nightmare and Lightspeed.

The post Editorial Changes at <i>Nightmare</i> and <i>Lightspeed</i> appeared first on Locus.

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) has reported a theft at the offices of antiquarian bookseller L.W. Currey, Inc. in Elizabethtown NY. The theft was the third targeting L.W. Currey, including one in February 2026. New York State Police are investigating the case.

Approximately 150 books were reported as stolen, including at least ten books by Isaac Asimov; at least 15 books by H.G. Wells; at least five each by Ray Bradbury and William Hope Hodgson; a $25,000 first edition, first printing of Dune by Frank Herbert; a $15,000 first edition, first issue, first binding of A Voyage of Arcturus by Lindsay David; $25,000 and $15,000 first edition copies of The Shadow over Innsmouth and The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft; and a $17,500 first edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

Currey said,

Break-in was last night bypassing security last night — total thefts over a quarter of a million. Most books are identifiable and some are unique.

Thief or thieves are knowledgable and target specific authors and genres. This is under active investigation and lists have been sent to stolen book database. I would like to publicize this for warning others.

ILAB has requested that its offices, those of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), or the booksellers John W. Knott, Jr. or L.W. Currey be contacted if the items reappear in the trade.

For more information, see the ILAB website or the L.W. Currey stolen books web page.

[via File770.com]

The post Book Theft at Lloyd Currey Booksellers appeared first on Locus.

The Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) has announced the 2026 winners of its annual book awards.

The post 2026 SFRA Awards appeared first on Locus.

The National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F) has announced the winners of the 2026 National Fantasy Fan Federation Laureate Awards (AKA the Neffy Awards). 

The awards are presented irregularly by the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F), “the oldest (founded 1941) national science fiction club in the world.” For more information, see the N3F website.

The post 2026 N3F Awards appeared first on Locus.

Dream Foundry, a “non-profit dedicated to bolstering the careers of nascent professionals working with the speculative arts,” has announced the finalists for its 2026 contests.

Writing Contest

The post 2026 Dream Foundry Contest Finalists appeared first on Locus.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s longtime residence at 3321 NW Thurman St. in Portland, Oregon has been added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its “significance to American literature and women’s history.”

During the 58 years she spent in the distinctive Queen Anne-style home until her death in 2018, Le Guin wrote many of the novels that have since been canonized among the most celebrated classics of speculative fiction, including A Wizard of Earthsea, The Dispossessed, and The Left Hand of Darkness. Among other accolades, her work would earn her five Hugo awards, a National Book Award, and finalist status for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize.

In 2024, her estate donated the house to the local nonprofit Literary Arts, which is in the process of converting it into the Ursula K. Le Guin Writers Residency.

For more information, see coverage from local outlets such as the Portland Tribune and KPTV.

Westercon 80, to be held in 2028 by the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS) in conjunction with Loscon 54, will officially be the final Westercon after voters at its 2026 business meeting ratified a motion to repeal its bylaws. Following Loscon 54/Westercon 80, the convention “will be deemed to have ‘returned its charter’ to the owner of the Westercon service mark, LASFS,” which will determine its future going forward.

Westercon’s press release cited a lack of bids to host the convention and the proliferation of localized conventions across western North America that “filled the same role that Westercon once held” as reasons behind its discontinuement. Active since 1948, Westercon will pay homage to its history with its final two events, a planned “retirement tour” spanning from the Bay Area to its birthplace in Los Angeles.

The penultimate Westercon (79) will be held jointly with BayCon 2027 at the Santa Clara Marriott in Santa Clara, California, July 2-5, 2027. For more information, visit Westercon’s website.

Following a “careful review,” Apex Magazine has removed the story “Vigil of the Tenth Air” from Apex #153 amid skepticism around the author’s potential use of AI tools for its writing.

Though ultimately not selected for publication, a shortlisted story for Apex imprint Violet Lichen’s upcoming ECO25: the Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction was also struck from website listings after it came to light that other work associated with the author’s pen name was “recently removed from several other short fiction publications under suspicion of AI usage.”

In response, Apex Book Company, Apex Magazine, and Violet Lichen announced plans to reevaluate their submission guidelines, including “refining the language” of its AI clause and “expanding” the team’s internal review processes to more ably respond to concerns around LLM usage. The editorial team clarified that they do not intend to use AI screening applications or request early drafting papers for evidence “in the event a piece is suspected of AI use after publication,” and will converse directly with the author(s) involved “to discuss the story in further detail” and come to an appropriate resolution.

Apex‘s initial press release, posted by managing editor Darian Bianco, reaffirmed:

The Apex team is resolved to apply the lessons learned both from our experience, and from the invaluable reports and statements compiled by fellow indie publishers, to fortify our submission process against AI-assisted work, and to continue uplifting strange, surreal, beautiful speculative fiction written with passion and care by humans, for humans.

This comes after the recent news covered by Locus concerning speculation that some of the regional winners of the Commonwealth Prize may have at least partially used AI to generate their work—the Commonwealth Foundation has since announced that they are “satisfied that AI was not used to write the winning stories” after an investigation—and Hachette’s March decision to pull horror novel Shy Girl by Mia Ballard from shelves after information alleging its contents were AI generated was shared with the company by the New York Times.

Noidanlanka by J. S. Meresmaa (Myllylahti), is the winner of the 2026 Tähtifantasia Award, presented by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society for the best Finnish fantasy book published in the previous year. Other nominees were: