Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field, founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. It also publishes comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genres (excluding self-published). The magazine also presents the annual Locus Awards. Locus Online was launched in April 1997, as a semi-autonomous web version of Locus Magazine.

History

Charles N. Brown, Ed Meskys, and Dave Vanderwerf founded Locus in 1968 as a news fanzine to promote the (ultimately successful) bid to host the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally intended to run only until the site-selection vote was taken at St. Louiscon, the 1969 Worldcon in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing Locus as a mimeographed general science fiction and fantasy newszine. Locus succeeded the monthly newszine Science Fiction Times (formerly Fantasy Times, founded in 1941), when SFT ceased publication in 1970. Brown directed Locus as publisher and editor-in-chief for more than 40 years, from 1968 until his death at age 72 in July 2009. The magazine is now owned by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation.

Locus publishes:

  • A bimonthly commentary column by Cory Doctorow
  • Reports from around the world about the SF scenes in various countries
  • Listings of US and UK books and magazines published (monthly), bestsellers (monthly), and forthcoming books (every three months)
  • Convention reports, with many photos
  • Annual year-in-review coverage, with extensive recommended reading lists and the annual Locus Poll and Survey
  • Letters and classified ads
  • The Locus Index to Science Fiction, compiled from the magazine's "books received" column.

Locus Online

Locus Online (founded in 1997) is the online component of Locus Magazine. It publishes news briefs related to the science fiction, fantasy and horror publishing world, along with original reviews and feature articles, and excerpts of articles that appeared in the print edition. In 2002, Locus Online won the first Hugo Award for Best Web Site. It was nominated again in 2005. Longtime short-fiction reviewer Lois Tilton quit Locus in January 2016. She stated that editors had deleted material from her reviews that they deemed inappropriate. Locus later clarified that the edits were not intended to be made to work already published, but rather going forward, to future reviews. None of her past columns were changed, she was paid for the unpublished work, and the relationship ended amicably.

Locus Awards

Awarded annually since 1971, the Locus Awards are voted on by the readership of Locus magazine. There is no longer a "Professional Magazine" Hugo Award and was replaced in 1973 by the current "Best Editor".

  • Locus Magazine (official website)
  • Science Fiction Awards Database