The Ursula K. Le Guin Fiction Awards 2026

One of my favorite all-time novels

For the people who do check in this Blog, you may have noticed that I've been trying to read my way through the Ursula K. Le Guin catalogue. Le Guin wrote Sci Fi (the Hainish books), Fantasy (the Earthsea stories), fiction, poetry, etc. My first attempt at her work was during a Sci Fi Novel course I took at university. Two books a week and the mid-term was either analyze a short story or write a new ending for one. I chose the latter. The final was either a book report on a novel or write a short story. So I once again chose the latter. It was a great course as it exposed me to so much Sci Fi. Back then it was probably considered a bird course, but I liked it. Anyway we read the Left Hand of Darkness, one of the Hainish books and I've read it probably two more times since then (1976ish). 

The Lady herself

Over the years, I've read another 28 of her books and also interviews of her. I've still got quite a few others, because the lady was prolific. Unfortunately she died in 2018, at the age of 88. But she does live on as her estate has created the annual Ursula K. Le Guin Fiction Award. I first became aware of it last year. From the short list of eight books, I did order two, The West Passage by Jared Pechacek which I have already read and enjoyed immensely. A very imaginative story. I also ordered The City in Glass by Nghi Vo, which I have yet to read, although I have read The Empress of Salt and Fortune by her. It was also great. Going back through the previous years, it seems to have started in 2022, I have ordered a few others, it looks like 4. I've enjoyed It Lasts Forever and then It's Gone by Anne de Merken and also Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky and have a couple of more on my shelf.

Anyway the short list for 2026 is now out and you can click on it to go to the link, if you'd like to check it out. I've ordered 5 of the books on the list -

1. Sunward by William Alexander (2025).

"A cozy debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning writer William Alexander, this story of found family follows a planetary courier training adolescent androids in a solar system grappling with interplanetary conflict after a devastating explosion on Earth’s moon.

Captain Tova Lir chose a life as a courier rather than get involved in her family’s illustrious business in politics. Set in humanity’s far future, hiring a planetary courier is essential for delivering private messages across the stars.

Encouraged by friends, Tova begins mentoring baby bots, juvenile AI who are developmentally in their teens, and trains them how to interact within society essentially becoming their foster mom. Her latest charge, Agatha Panza von Sparkles, named herself on their first run from Luna to Phoebe station. But on their return, they encounter a derelict spaceship and a lurking assassin, igniting a thrilling chase across the solar system.

Tova and Agatha’s daring actions leave Agatha’s mind vulnerable, relying on Tova’s former AI pupils for help. As Tova starts gathering her scattered family around her, she is chased through the solar system by forces who want her captured and her family erased. This debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning author William Alexander is a must-read for fans of Becky Chambers and Ursula K. Le Guin. Lovers of poignant science fiction, where the bonds of found family, the evolution of AI, and the building distrust of centuries of bias, come together in this visionary look at humanity’s future."

2. Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung (first published 2023).

"From the author and translator of the National Book Award finalist and Booker Prize shortlisted Cursed Bunny, comes a new novel-in-ghost-stories, set in a mysterious research center that houses cursed objects, where those who open the wrong door might find it’s disappeared behind them, or that the echoing footsteps they’re running from are their own…

The acclaimed Korean horror and sci-fi writer’s goosebump-inducing new book follows an employee on the night shift at the Institute. They soon learn why some employees don't last long at the center. The handkerchief in Room 302 once belonged to the late mother of two sons, whose rivalry imbues the handkerchief with undue power and unravels those around it. The cursed sneaker down the hall is stolen by a live-streaming, ghost-chasing employee, who later finds he can’t escape its tread. A cat in Room 206 reveals the crimes of its former family, trying to understand its own path to the Institute’s halls.

But Chung's haunted institute isn't just a chilling place to play. As in her astounding collections Cursed Bunny and Your Utopia, these violent allegories take on the horrors of animal testing, conversion therapy, domestic abuse, and late-stage capitalism. Equal parts bone-chilling, wryly funny, and deeply political, Midnight Timetable is a masterful work of literary horror from one of our time's greatest imaginations."

3. The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (2025).

"He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.

Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.

In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he'll take on any job, no matter how vile.

As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.

Guy doesn't have a choice."

4. One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed (2025). I would read anything by Premee. I like her stuff.

"Pageantry, pomp, pretense, and peril—"The General's Turn,” originally published in The Deadlands, drew readers into the dark world of a ceremony where Death herself might choose to join the audience... or step onto the stage.

Award-winning author Premee Mohamed presents three brand new stories set in this morally ambiguous world of war and magic. In “One Message Remains,” Major Lyell Tzajos leads his team on a charity mission through the post-armistice world of East Seudast, exhuming the bones and souls of dead foes for repatriation. But the buried fighters may have one more fight left in them—and they have chosen their weapons well.

In “The Weight of What is Hollow,” Taya is the latest apprentice of a long-honored tradition: building the bone-gallows for prisoners of war. But her very first commission will pit her skills against both her family and her oppressor.

Finally, in “Forsaking All Others,” ex-soldier Rostyn must travel the little-known ways by night to avoid his pursuers, for desertion is punishable by death. As he flees to the hoped-for sanctuary of his grandmother's village, he is joined by a fellow deserter—and, it seems, the truth of a myth older than the land itself."

5. Slow Gods by Claire North (2025).

"My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.

Slow Gods is the galaxy-spanning tale ​of one man's impossible life charted against the fate of humanity amongst the stars—a powerfully imaginative space opera from multi-award-winning author Claire North. 

In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind.
 
Here is one out there in deep space, in the pilot's chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me. 

This is the story of the supernova event that burned planets and felled civilizations. This is also the story of the many lives I've lived since I died for the first time.  
 
Are you listening? "

I could have easily ordered the other books as well, but, hey, I was trying to behave. Anyway, if you want to explore the Sci Fi genre, check out the the books above and also go to the webpage of the award. Take care.