Read These Queer Finalists for the 2025 Locus Awards

From the author of the Singing Hills Cycle, Chosen and the Beautiful, and Siren Queen, among others, comes a new standalone fantasy book about a demon, an angel, and a city. Vitrine is a demon who has, for generations, nurtured the city of Azril into a dazzling, riotous, and hedonistic place. Then, the angels descend and destroy it all. In her rage and grief, Vitrine captures one of the angels and curses them to be bound to her. Unexpectedly, as she mourns her dead and begins to rebuild, she and the angel grow closer. Then war threatens to raze the city once again, and Vitrine and her angel have to decide whether it’s worth saving. This is a beautifully written story about grief and resilience as well as a queer love story, and it’s going to be some readers’ new obsession: there’s something about an angel and demon queer love story!

This novella series packs a big punch with its take on a sapphic space western. In the first book, when a man goes missing on Jupiter, Investigator Mossa is called upon to look into the case. Her search brings her back to the colony’s university platform, Valdegeld, and her ex-girlfriend, Pleiti. Pleiti has dedicated her life to research on a possible return to Earth—something she seems to have in common with Mossa’s missing man. What does all this have to do with a conspiracy that could threaten all of Jupiter and any hopes of a return to Earth? Hopefully, Mossa’s investigative skills are up to finding out.

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is book two of the The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series. —Rachel Brittain

Cuckoo is a new novel from Gretchen Felker-Martin, the author of Manhunt. Set in the late ’90s, this book follows the story of five queer kids whose parents send them to a conversion camp to help “fix” them. The camp forces the kids to work long hours in the Utah desert heat, all in the hopes of “straightening” them out once and for all. But at night, something else calls to the kids somewhere in the mountains. —Emily Martin

The author of genre-defying novels like An Unkindness of Ghosts and Sorrowland is back with a take on haunted houses like no other. The Maxwell siblings grew up the only Black family in their neighborhood, in a house haunted by unexplained phenomena. Their mother refused to give the house up, so they endured—but as adults, they avoid it at all costs. When their parents die, they’re forced to walk inside again to determine what led to their demise. This is a queer, trans haunted house story that is more about the aftermath of being haunted—and real-life horrors—than it is about the setting. Check out the content warnings, including child sexual abuse, before picking this one up, but it’s a powerfully written, unsettling, and unforgettable read that I cannot get out of my head.

This queer Appalachian thriller by the award-winning White starts off swingin’. It follows autistic teen Miles Abernathy, a proud and socialist West Virginian, after he comes out as trans to his parents. That same night, he sneaks off to a party where the photographic evidence he has serves as proof of Sheriff Davies’ guilt in an “accident” that injured his dad and killed others. Miles is beaten by the sheriff’s sons and his friends, and in the hospital, Sheriff Davies threatens him to be silent. But that’s not all—as the sheriff is speaking, a soot-covered ghost hovers over Miles’ bed. And, after Miles accidentally kills one of the boys involved in his beating, he finds out that the spirit of the town overall has had enough of the violence doled out on them by those in authority. And they’re willing to do anything they have to to stop it. —Erica Ezeifedi

Ruth and Jules are sister con artists on an interstellar cruise, until Jules’s heart blows up their whole business. She falls for their mark, Esteban—and then Esteban dumps her without another word when she tells him the truth. Ruth is out for revenge, planning to make Esteban fall in love with her and then break his heart. But while on board this luxury satellite, she discovers a flaw in her plan: Sol, Esteban’s sister, is suspicious of her—and even worse, Sol looks very good in a suit.

Be gay, do crime: This queer, debut sci-fi novel is a heist story! Once upon a time in future Hawai’i, Edie trusted Angel, and now Edie has spent eight years in prison. Womp womp. Then Edie gets word that early parole is available—they just have to do one last job. For Angel. Edie thinks it would be outrageous to trust Angel again. But they’d also really like to get out of prison, so Edie agrees. What could go wrong? —Liberty Hardy

From the author of The Tea Master and the Detective, Fireheart Tiger, and many more comes a new sapphic SFF story. In this space opera, navigator clans guide their ships through the area of space known as the Hollows, where deadly Tanglers live. When a Tangler escapes the Hollows for the first time, each clan sends a representative to hunt it down. Việt Nhi of the Rooster clan and Hạc Cúc of the Snake clan are forced to work together on this mission, and their prickly personalities clash—until they don’t.

Queer people and monsters have an interesting relationship. Maybe it’s because we empathize with the outsider, or maybe it’s because we’ve been treated like monsters, too. In this YA anthology, trans and queer authors explore some different perspectives on monsters, including Mothman, sirens, werebeasts, and original creatures. Writers include Kalynn Bayron, H.E. Edgmon, Claire Kann, and many more.

It’s time to celebrate! Nalo Hopkinson, author of Brown Girl in the Ring and The Salt Roads, returns with her first story collection in almost a decade. These Afro-Caribbean-inspired stories contain several queer characters, a haunting at a funeral, two scientists who discover alien remains, a woman and her cyborg pig living in the future, and more! —Liberty Hardy