(date: 2025-04-04 14:09:45)
date: 2025-04-04, from: Final Draft blog
Unicorns are real. They’ve been hiding in folklore and, until recently, they have remained undiscovered in the mountain wilderness of Canada. That’s the idea behind the latest A24 dark-comedy Death of a Unicorn starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, who accidentally hit a unicorn while driving to the remote house of the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/majestic-screenwriting-takeaways-from-death-of-a-unicorn
date: 2025-04-04, from: Locus Magazine
The Black Orb, Ewhan Kim (Serpent’s Tail 978-1-80081-572-8, £14.99, 368pp, tp) August 2024. (Mira 978-0-77838-734-8, $28.99, 304pp, tp) February 2025.
There’s little written in English about South Korean science fiction author and critic Ewhan Kim. A brief profile of Kim written by the author on the ‘‘Science Fiction Writers Union of the Republic of Korea’’ tells us he became ‘‘a writer after reading Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles’’ and …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/the-black-orb-by-ewhan-kim-review-by-ian-mond/
date: 2025-04-04, from: Locus Magazine
Bestselling fantasy writer Terry Brooks announced his semi-retirement from writing in a post on his website and social media March 8, 2025. He also announced that author Delilah Dawson will become his co-author on the Shannara series going forward.
Brooks wrote,
Let’s start with a few life facts that I have come to accept and just recently decided to address. I am now eighty-one years old. I have been writing …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/brooks-steps-back/
date: 2025-04-04, from: Locus Magazine
Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (Saga) debuts on three lists this week, ranking as high as #2 on the Los Angeles Times list.
Suzanne Collins’s Sunrise on the Reaping debuts on two print lists at #1, and is part of the #1 ranked title on the NYT Children’s & Young Adult Series list; NYT won’t be listing the title separately.
Note that Publishers Weekly has an updated Children’s
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/weekly-bestsellers-31-march-2025/
date: 2025-04-03, from: Locus Magazine
Winners of the 2025 Writers Guild Awards were announced February 15, 2025 during a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills CA.
Winners of genre interest include Nickel Boys in the Adapted Screenplay category, based on the book by Colson Whitehead, and The Penguin in the Limited Series category.
For more information, including a complete list of winners and nominees, see the Writers Guild website.
While you are …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/2025-writers-guild-awards-winners/
date: 2025-04-03, from: Locus Magazine
Welcome back, book lovers! We’re starting the month of April off right with a lovely new video on our top picks for the best SF, Fantasy, Horror, and YA books of the week! We post a new video every week, so come on by our YouTube channel and subscribe to keep up-to-date on future releases! We hope to see you next week!
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/new-books-video-for-4-1-25-is-live/
date: 2025-04-03, from: Locus Magazine
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has posted an update on the election results for the 2025 SFWA Board of Directors.
Ryka Aoki joins as new Director-at-Large along with returning Director-at-Large Curtis C. Chen and continuing Director-at-Large Christine Taylor-Butler. Kate Ristau continues as president and Steven D. Brewer continues as secretary. These terms will take effect on July 1, 2025.
As previously reported, Day Al-Mohamed was appointed to …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/sfwa-2025-election-results/
date: 2025-04-03, from: Locus Magazine
Candlemark & Gleam has announced that editor and publisher Athena Andreadis has stepped down and sold the press to Candlemark author Melissa Scott.
Candlemark & Gleam was originally founded by Kate Sullivan in 2010 and was purchased by Andreadis in November 2015. Since its inception, Candlemark has earned a reputation for publishing a wide range of speculative fiction—science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, magical realism, and more—that regardless of subgenre focuses …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/candlemark-gleam-sold/
date: 2025-04-03, from: Final Draft blog
Film and television can have a big influence on so many people, especially for creatives. A TV show, movie, song, painting or other artwork can spark a passion that leads to a lifelong career pursuit.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/producer-mona-garceas-tips-for-breaking-into-tv-writing
date: 2025-04-03, from: Locus Magazine
Rest Stop, Nat Cassidy (Shortwave 978-1-95956-536-9, $13.99, 160pp, tp) October 2024. Cover by Alan Lastufka.
When done right, there’s nothing like a novella: short, fast, engaging, and easy to devour. Nat Cassidy’s Rest Stop brings all of that and more to the table. Besides being fast and engaging, it’s also weird, intense, and deeper than it seems on the surface.
A young vocalist and bass player named Abe is on …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/rest-stop-by-nat-cassidy-review-by-gabino-iglesias/
date: 2025-04-03, from: Author’s Union blog
Chinese courts are recognizing AI-generated works as copyrightable, and these rulings could potentially impact those in the US under certain circumstances.
date: 2025-04-02, from: John August blog
The original post for this episode can be found here. John August: Hey, this is John. A standard warning for people who are in the car with their kids. There’s some swearing in this episode. [music] John: Hello and welcome. My name is John August. Craig Mazin: My name is Craig Mazin. John: You’re listening […] The post Scriptnotes, Episode 682: The Second Season with Tony Gilroy, Transcript first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2025/scriptnotes-episode-682-the-second-season-with-tony-gilroy-transcript
date: 2025-04-02, from: Locus Magazine
The Society of Illustrators has announced the 2025 inductees into its Hall of Fame. Honorees “are chosen based on their body of work and the impact it has made on the field of illustration.”
2025 Hall of Fame Laureates
The artists will be honored at the 2025 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, to be held October 9, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/society-of-illustrators-hall-of-fame-3/
date: 2025-04-02, from: Locus Magazine
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has opened registration for the 2025 Nebula Conference and Award Ceremony, to be held June 5-8, 2025 in Kansas City MO and online.
Registration may be purchased at this link.
Registration to attend the in-person conference is $375.00. The ticket is all-inclusive and grants access to “in-person programming & events, the Nebula Banquet and Ceremony, and… online recorded content at events.sfwa.org until …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/2025-nebula-conference-registration-opens/
date: 2025-04-02, from: Locus Magazine
The 2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize has announced its list of five finalists. The award honors “mid-career authors in fiction,” and the winner receives a $50,000 prize and a residence at the University of California, Berkeley and/or Bay Area. The award is given by the New Literary Project. Works and authors of genre interest include:
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/2025-joyce-carol-oates-prize-finalists/
date: 2025-04-02, from: Locus Magazine
The judges for the Crawford Award, which honors “an author’s first work of fantasy in book form,” are soliciting books published in the year 2025 between March 30 and December 31, 2025. What qualifies as a book is flexible: “In addition to novels and novellas, collections of poetry, short stories, and fiction aimed at younger readers are all eligible.” The Crawford Award will be given at the International Conference of …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/2026-crawford-award-submissions-open/
date: 2025-04-02, from: John August blog
The original post for this episode can be found here. John August: Hello, and welcome. My name is John August. Craig Mazin: My name is Craig Mazin. John: You’re listening to Episode 681 of Scriptnotes, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. Today on the show, what do you do when […] The post Scriptnotes, Episode 681: The Waiting Game, Transcript first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2025/scriptnotes-episode-681-the-waiting-game-transcript
date: 2025-04-02, from: Final Draft blog
Breaking into Hollywood as a screenwriter can seem almost impossible at
times, like a hero trying to enter an impenetrable fortress. But
Joseph
Greenberg’s journey, from contest winner to having his scripts set
up with major talent attached, offers an invaluable guide for
up-and-coming writers.
After his script
Man Alive won Final Draft’s
Big
Break screenwriting competition in the sci-fi category in 2014, it
was acquired by 20th Century Fox with Noah Hawley attached to direct.
Now, his latest project
Dreadnought is in development
with Dave Bautista set to star.
Final Draft caught up with
Joseph to hear about his amazing journey since winning his Big Break
category, and to get his advice for emerging screenwriters on navigating
a screenwriting career.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/big-break-winner-joe-greenbergs-advice-for-screenwriters
date: 2025-04-02, from: Locus Magazine
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has named Mercedes Lackey the 41st recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.
SFWA President Kate Ristau said,
It is SFWA’s honor to recognize and celebrate Nicola’s past achievements, while looking forward to her future triumphs. Her work continues to inspire and challenge me, and when asked to pick a Grand Master to lead us into our Diamond Year, I …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/griffith-named-sfwa-grand-master/
date: 2025-04-02, from: Final Draft blog
Ever watched a movie and wondered “How did they make this?”
From
a screenwriter first getting an idea to a director delivering a final
cut, there are numerous steps in the making of a movie and not every
journey from page to screen is the same. Some movies get made after
years – sometimes even decades – of development. Other movies are
quickly greenlit. Some movies are made independently. Other movies are
made by a major studio. Some have trouble free productions. Others are
marred by difficulties. Every scenario is different and dependent on
various factors.
That being said, there are 5 stages to the making of pretty much
any movie:
https://blog.finaldraft.com/how-are-movies-made
date: 2025-04-02, from: Locus Magazine
Clarkesworld 1/25
Zun Yu Tan’s “When There Are Two of You: A Documentary” in the January issue of Clarkesworld is set in a world where people can implant digital clones of themselves in their heads or have them uploaded into artificial bodies. The story is told in alternating sections between a woman with a Sentience in her head, and a digital clone in an artificial body, effectively …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/clarkesworld-short-fiction-reviews-by-a-c-wise-7/
date: 2025-04-02, from: Literature & a Latte blog
date: 2025-04-01, from: Final Draft blog
Most of us are creatures of habits, and one of the biggest reasons for
this is comfort.
It’s comforting to know you’ve got a certain
activity or way of doing something that’s a fixture of your life. In a
similar fashion, many screenwriters get comfortable writing in a certain
film
genre or in a specific style, and stick with it. However, this
mindset is not always
the
best strategy for screenwriting success. In fact, learning to write outside your comfort zone might
be a smart thing to do for several reasons I’ll explain below, along
with tips on how to learn to do it.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/how-to-write-outside-your-comfort-zone
date: 2025-04-01, from: Locus Magazine
Visit our bookshop.org page to purchase this week’s new books and support your local bookstore. And us!
New science fiction, fantasy, and horror books for the week of April 1, 2025.
Abeysekara, Shalini: This Monster of Mine (Sterling/Union Square & Co. 978-1454958093, $19.99, 416pp, formats: paperback, ebook, 04/01/2025)
Fantasy romance novel in a world inspired by ancient Rome. Sarai survived an attempted murder four years ago. As a Petitor, a …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/new-book-releases-4-1-2025/
date: 2025-04-01, from: Locus Magazine
Baffling 12/24 Flash Fiction Online 12/24 Zooscape 12/24
Baffling closes out 2024 with plenty of steam in an issue that mixes queer themes, speculative elements, and a particular focus on intimacy and sex. In K-Ming Chang’s “The Glass Wife”, that focus illuminates a narrator and her lover, who is made of glass. For the narrator, having a lover made of glass means sometimes losing sight of her, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/baffling-flash-fiction-online-and-zooscape-reviews-by-charles-payseur/
date: 2025-04-01, from: John August blog
John and Craig welcome writer and showrunner Tony Gilroy (Andor, Michael Clayton) for an in-depth look at crafting a second season of a hit TV show. They look at ways to find your season’s structure, setting your production up for success, controlling the energy your audience spends on information, and how to wrap up your […] The post The Second Season with Tony Gilroy first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2025/the-second-season-with-tony-gilroy
date: 2025-04-01, from: Locus Magazine
On APRIL 1, 2025, Saga Press published When We Were Real, a science fiction novel written by Daryl Gregory and Clippy, the Microsoft Office Assistant which debuted in Office 97.
Gregory said that he would never use an AI to write. “LLMs have used the work of writers and artists without permission or compensation, they waste huge amounts of water and energy, and the output they generate is …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/saga-publishes-novel-co-written-by-clippy/
date: 2025-04-01, from: Locus Magazine
The April 2025 issue of Locus magazine has interviews with Daryl Gregory and S.A. Barnes and a spotlight on Tachyon Publications. News includes the 2024 Nebula Awards ballot, the Stoker Awards final ballot, the sale of Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF to Must Read Magazines, and much more. Obituaries and appreciations remember Guy Thomas and Chris Moore. Reviews cover new works by Guy Gavriel Kay, Joe Abercrombie, Nnedi Okorafor, Sofía Rhei, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/04/issue-771-table-of-contents-april-2025/
date: 2025-03-31, from: Locus Magazine
We are so happy to release our sixth episode of The Storytellers, our series of Zoom-recorded author readings! Previously, we had Henry Lien read the first chapter of Peasprout Chen Today we are pleased to show Hannah Yang reading “A Monster in the Shape of a Boy“, a short story published in Apex Magazine and anthologized in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: Volume 4 . This story was …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/03/the-storytellers-hannah-yang-reads-a-monster-in-the-shape-of-a-boy/
date: 2025-03-31, from: Locus Magazine
The Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2025 has released its list of winners. Recipients of genre interest include The Cafe at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please (Harper Collins), Overall Winner and the winner of Best Illustrated Book; and Rune by Carlos Sánchez (Flying Eye), winner in the Best Book for Younger Readers category.
Category winners each receive £2,000 and the overall Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year title …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/03/waterstones-childrens-book-prize-2025-winners/
date: 2025-03-31, from: Locus Magazine
Allan Kaster is a child of the Sputnik era. Raised, mostly, in San Antonio, Texas, he traveled the world as an Air Force brat. Sharing and trading comic books with other kids in Germany is a fond memory of his childhood. He started reading sci-fi novels when he was ten-years old. Not surprisingly, science was always his favorite subject in school. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/03/spotlight-on-allan-kaster-infinivox/
date: 2025-03-31, from: Locus Magazine
Our Winter Monster, Dennis Mahoney (Hell’s Hundred 978-1-64129-633-5, $26.95, 304pp, hc) January 2025. Cover by Janine Agro.
Dennis Mahoney’s Our Winter Monster is a wonderful mix of pulpy horror and crime that has a struggling couple at its center; a strange monster that wreaks havoc in an idyllic little town in the middle of winter, and a killer on the loose. Fast-paced, full of chaos, and featuring a unique monster …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2025/03/our-winter-monster-by-dennis-mahoney-review-by-gabino-iglesias/