Locus Awards 1998: Complete list of winners
The 1998 Locus Awards celebrated some of speculative fiction’s most ambitious storytelling, with winners that ranged from intricate fantasy epics to sweeping science fiction sequels. Tim Powers took home Best Fantasy Novel for Earthquake Weather, a book that showcased his signature blend of historical detail and magical realism set against the California landscape. Meanwhile, the science fiction category crowned Dan Simmons’ massive The Rise of Endymion, the fourth book in his Hyperion saga, demonstrating the awards’ recognition of authors willing to sustain complex universes across multiple volumes. Perhaps most exciting was the discovery of fresh talent: Ian R. MacLeod claimed Best First Novel for The Great Wheel, a win that introduced readers to a writer who would go on to become a fixture in the genre.
This particular year’s Locus results are notable for what they reveal about the state of 1990s speculative fiction—a period when readers embraced both intricate world-building and experimental narrative structures. The absence of a horror winner that year stands as an unusual moment in the awards’ history, highlighting how the landscape of the genre was shifting. The Locus Awards, voted on by subscribers of Locus Magazine and the broader science fiction community, remain one of the field’s most fan-driven honors, and the 1998 selections underscore why they matter: they capture what readers themselves value most in their fantastic fiction.
Here are the complete winners from the 1998 Locus Awards:
Best Fantasy Novel
Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers
Best First Novel
The Great Wheel by Ian R. MacLeod
Best Horror Novel
Best Science Fiction Novel
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons