a collection of new books

I've been on a book buying spree lately and have brought in a host of new books to the welcoming embrace of my bookshelves.  Yes, I really do buy books, too.  This post was just long overdue.  I should really have updated sooner.  I think I've forgotten some stuff that I purchased a couple months ago. 

New
The Alchemist, by Paolo Bacigalupi
The White City, by Elizabeth Bear
The Executioness, by Tobias Buckell
The Strange Case of the Dead Bird on the Night Stand, by Emma Bull and Kyle Cassidy
Dread Island, by Joe R. Lansdale
A Companion to Wolves, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest
Holiday, by M. Rickert
Ventriloquism, by Catherynne M. Valente (also, here)
Secret Life, by Jeff VanderMeer
Precious Dragon, by Liz Williams


Used
A Shadow in Summer, by Daniel Abraham
The Gypsy, by Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm
Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grill, by Steven Brust
Solitaire, by Kelley Eskridge
The Blue Place, by Nicola Griffith
The Golden Key, by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott
Natural History, by Justina Robson
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell

Alias, by Brian Michael Bendis

I still have this bias against the traditional sort of superhero comics. I read X-Men as a kid, but I'm just having a difficult time mustering interest as an adult in those titles. Even iconic stuff like Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which really is very good, is a tough sell. The more the focus is on the superhero stuff, the less engaged I am.

Somewhere there must have been a list of awesome graphic novels that included a book titled Alias, though I can't imagine where*. I assumed it was a book focusing on a private investigator named Jessica Jones, and hey, that's enough. I'm inclined to like that sort of thing.

But when you don't really know anything about the book or about the writer, you'll often be surprised.

See, Alias was published under the MAX imprint of Marvel comics, which means that 1) Alias is set in the larger Marvel Universe of superheroes, and 2) writer Brian Michael Bendis is free to say “fuck” as often as he likes. Both of which are ultimately besides the point.

So yes, Alias does feature a private investigator named Jessica Jones who happened to once be a superhero named Jewel who was once in the Avengers. The 28 issues of the run feature characters like Captain America, Ms Marvel, Ant Man, J. Jonah Jameson, Daredevil, and a full cast cameo of the Avengers, but the story here is all Jessica Jones.

While there are four story arcs running across the 28 collected issues, the first three of which are investigations Jones takes on, but the real story is Jessica herself. Bendis's handling of Jessica's backstory is masterful and he dishes it out bit by bit, always serving the story while building a character. Jones is more than a frustrated investigator troubled by personal demons, though she is that. She is more than a superhero who walked away, though that is the core of her early identity in the series.

Why Alias works for me is that the focus is tight on character. This doesn't have to be a book with superheroes, but it happens to be. The writing of Brian Michael Bendis carries the day.

This is good stuff.

Bendis has done a good deal of work in the greater Marvel Universe, but I'm impressed enough that I'm willing to check out some of his other work. First up, naturally, will be The Pulse, which moves Jessica Jones from the MAX imprint to Marvel. Bendis has kicked ass with Jones, so why not read more of it?



*two hours later, I figured it out.

on libraries

Libraries really are wonderful. They’re better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.

-Jo Walton, Among Others, pg 59

Also,

Interlibrary loans are a wonder of the world and a glory of civilization.

Eclipse Four Table of Contents!

Jonathan Strahan has posted the table of contents for the forthcoming (and hotly anticipated around these parts) Eclipse Four. 

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Slow as a Bullet”, Andy Duncan
“Tidal Forces”, Caitlin R. Kiernan
“The Beancounter’s Cat”, Damien Broderick
“Story Kit”, Kij Johnson
“The Man in Grey”, Michael Swanwick
“Old Habits”, Nalo Hopkinson
“The Vicar of Mars”, Gwyneth Jones
“Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky
“Thought Experiment”, Eileen Gunn
“The Double of My Double Is Not My Double”, Jeffrey Ford
“Nine Muses”, Emma Bull
“Dying Young”, Peter M Ball
“The Panda Coin”, Jo Walton
“Tourists”, James Patrick Kelly

Exciting book is exciting.   As has been since the first book, Eclipse is a must read series.

some short story recs

Rachel Swirsky offers up her recommendations (and her nominations) for the coming awards season. Short Stories.  I hope she has similar posts lined up for novelettes and novellas. 

I've been chipping away at my reading for my Hugo nominations and will have a post on that in the next few weeks when I finalize what I've been able to get to.  Swirsky's list helps. 

One thing I will say, though - Jennifer Pelland's "Ghosts of New York" will be on my ballot.  Fantastic story.  I'm not coming across five stories to top it.  Y'all should read it.

The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear

The Sea Thy Mistress
Elizabeth Bear
Tor: 2011

The Sea Thy Mistress is filled with pain. The novel is a sequel to *both* All the Windwracked Stars (review) and By the Mountain Bound (review). Elizabeth Bear’s The Edda of Burdens is an unconventional trilogy, one where the second novel is set some two thousand years before the first. The third, fifty years after the first novel. Yet, The Sea Thy Mistress is a true sequel to each novel, continuing and finishing the story arcs began in each. The pain of the characters here is old, decades and millennia, but still sharp and cutting.

While The Sea Thy Mistress can stand on its own as a novel, on the off chance that someone picked it up without knowing about the two previous volumes, the characters and the motivations and the pain gain so much more context when considered as part of a larger narrative whole. Likewise, the novel loses so much emotional resonance if read without All the Windwracked Stars and By the Mountain Bound. In the context of the first two novels, the names Muire and Heythe have power and meaning. There are stories and heartaches and tragedies all tied together in those two simple names, which is an overlong way to say that readers do themselves and this novel a disservice to enter cold into the story of The Sea Thy Mistress. The discussion that follows assumes prior knowledge of the series. 

The story here is, more or less, twofold. It has to do with what the reader knows and some of the characters do not. The first is of Cathoair (All the Windwracked Stars), now one of the waelcryge and raising his and Muire's son, Muire, who is now the serpentine Bearer of Burdens and restoring the world and far is beyond “simple” concepts like mortal and immortal. Cathoair's story is of overcoming his pain, pain and memory beyond even the loss of Muire. This is the story of a man grown finding a way to process trauma. It is no simple thing. It is far more difficult than facing an enemy. The specter of Muire looms over the entire novel, but especially over Cathoair and Cathmar (their son).

The other half is the reader's assumed knowledge of what Heythe's arrival in this time means.

Which means thinking on Heythe. Goddess, lover, monster, betrayer. The most subtle thing the wolf has met in a long and terrible life, and he has known a great many gods and monsters. Heythe the seeress, Heythe the world-killer.

Heythe, the returned. (pg 28)

As much as a presence that Muire has on The Sea Thy Mistress, so does Heythe. Heythe is more on the page in this novel than Muire, but is a shadowy figure, concealing her identity and her purpose. Readers of By the Mountain Bound will know deep inside just how scary and dangerous Heythe is, but the new reader won't. She's a shadow figure, with only Mingan the Wolf carefully working against her in his fear and shame. But then Mingan himself is a much richer character if one knows his history and failures.

But then, that's really what the heart of The Sea Thy Mistress is. It is overcoming shame, failure, and frailty. It is the so difficult personal acceptance of self and identity with eyes open. This is played out with a conflict looming. It's just that the looming and necessary conflict with Heythe is plot, it isn't the story. The story is on the inside.

The Sea Thy Mistress is an achievement for Elizabeth Bear. Readers of her work know just how good she is at creating rich characters with strong personal stories beyond the actions of moving from place to place and overcoming Obstacle A. Her Promethean Age novels are excellent examples of this. But here, Bear has outdone herself. She works with the core of the threat of Heythe finishing what she started (and thought she had finished), with characters who aren't truly prepared for someone of Heythe's magnitude, but the story she tells...it is raw with pain and scarring and shame and healing. Bear was already very good at telling stories dealing heavily with the internal and emotional lives of her characters, stories that wound and break the heart. With The Sea Thy Mistress, she just got better. This is one of Bear's best, and that is very good indeed.


Reading copy provided courtesy of Tor Books.


Previous Reviews

Blood and Iron
Whiskey and Water
Ink and Steel
Hell and Earth
Hammered
Scardown
New Amsterdam
Seven for a Secret
A Companion to Wolves
Dust
All the Windwracked Stars
By the Mountain Bound

19 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2011

This is the fourth time I've attempted to put together a list of the books I am most looking forward to in the coming year.

If you take a look at the previous three lists you'll note that there are two particular novels which are frequent inhabitants of these lists. Hopefully 2011 is the year both are completed and published. I feel hopeful.


1. A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (??): I expect that it is more likely we’ll see this final Wheel of Time novel in early 2012, but on the off chance that it is published this year…well, this is any year's #1.

2. A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin (??): I will hold out hope every year that GRRM finishes the book and we get to read it. I am due a series re-read to prepare, but I’m waiting until the announcement is made. I have faith like a child.

3. The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear (February): To be fair, I’ve already read this one and it is an outstanding conclusion to Bear’s Edda of Burdens trilogy. You really need to have read All the Windwracked Stars and By the Mountain Bound to get the full emotional impact for the character arcs, but it is well worth the journey.

4. Machine, by Jennifer Pelland (August): I love, love, love, love Jennifer Pelland’s short fiction. I’ve been raving about it since I read “Captive Girl” on the Nebula ballot a few years back, have searched it out wherever I could find, and picked up her collection Unwelcome Bodies. Debut novel. EXCITED.

5. The Coldest War, by Ian Tregillis (October): The second volume of the Milkweed Triptych, following 2010’s excellent Bitter Seeds. Must. Read.

6. The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch (June?): As much as I want to read this next adventure of Locke Lamora, I want Scott Lynch to be healthy and whole. If that means that we have to wait longer for future volumes, so be it. I won’t be mad, though, if Lynch has finished the book and we see publication in 2011.

7. Grail, by Elizabeth Bear (March): The conclusion to the Jacob’s Ladder trilogy. Dust and Chill were excellent and I yearn to see how Bear wraps this up.

8. Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan (May): Might I state for the record just how highly I think of Strahan’s work on the Eclipse series?

9. Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, by Genevieve Valentine (May): I have no idea what this is about, though I’ll hazard a guess that a circus of some sort will figure into it. What I know is that I’ve been following Genevieve Valentine’s short fiction for several years now and have been hoping for a novel. Here it is. Also, Kelly Barnhill has already read it and loved it, and we seem to have some overlapping taste in what we find delightful.

10. The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn (August): Out of all of the books listed here, and even out of all the books NOT listed here, I never expected to learn that Melanie Rawn had written The Diviner, let alone finished it. The Diviner is the prequel to the outstanding generational fantasy novel The Golden Key co-written by Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott. With everything that has gone on with Rawn and her recent focus on the Spellbinder novels, I just assumed this was one of those ideas that just wasn’t going to come to fruition. I am SO glad that it did.

11. The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (August): The follow up to A Companion of Wolves. That novel was all sorts of awesome. As if I needed a reason to anticipate a novel written, in part, by Elizabeth Bear.

12. Dark Jenny, by Alex Bledsoe (April): It’s a new Eddie LaCrosse novel. Have sword, will travel; it’s a mystery of sorts set in a fantasy world. Think Glen Cook’s Garrett PI novels, only Eddie can be more of a bruiser. Still got plenty of quick wit. I already have a copy of this.

13. His Father’s Fists, by Matthew Stover: It’s a new Caine novel from Matthew Stover. You know, the guy who wrote Heroes Die, The Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife? Yeah, him.

14. City of Ruins, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (May): This is Rusch’s follow up to the outstanding Diving Into the Wreck. Another story about the explorer / scavenger Boss. Yes, please.

15. Fort Freak, by GRRM (June): New Wild Cards.

16. Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente (April): I confess, the cover art is doing a lot of selling here. Deathless is tied to Russian folklore and the product description says “All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.” We should also expect more of Valente’s stunningly beautiful and descriptive prose. That’s just my assumption.

17. Raising Stony Mayhall, by Daryl Gregory (July): Author of Pandemonium and The Devil’s Alphabet. Gregory isn’t working with a series, but each volume is a gem. You want to watch this guy.

18. Never at Home, by L Timmel Duchamp (June): Listed on the Locus list as a collection. Duchamp's Marq'ssan Cycle is excellent, and I'm always on the eye out for more from Duchamp.

19. The Mostly True Story of Jack, by Kelly Barnhill (August): Honestly, I don’t really care what this is about. I’m going to read it. Kelly Barnhill is a friend and she’s absolutely delightful, and I’ve enjoyed what stories of hers I’ve had the chance to read. I’m thrilled that her first novel is coming out this year.


I could probably make another list or three of all the books I'm looking forward to.  Here, I've mostly stuck with the SFF genre.  Step outside of the genre, and the list will grow exponentially.

So.  What do YOU want to read this year?

The Nine Best Reads of 2010

As I've mentioned elsewhere: Some people do a top ten list, others do a top eleven, yet others may only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why? Partly to be a little bit different and partly because I want the tenth spot on my list to be reserved for that really great book which I simply did not get the chance to read during 2009. That really great book may also be something I have only heard whispers about and I may not discover for several more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m holding a spot for it on my list.

Unlike my list of the top books published in 2010, this list is for the top books I read in 2010, no matter when the book was published.  This post would have been up earlier, but last week I was in the process of reading a book which I knew would make the list, which it ultimately did at #4.


1. Finch, by Jeff VanderMeer: Finch is not simply a noir detective novel, but to attempt to talk more about the core plot and betrayals and rebellion and fear and mysteries of Ambergris would be folly and miss the mark. Finch is not simply anything. It is a mystery that begs for unraveling, though unlike the hypothetical onion, readers are not likely to see all the layers they peel away and they may not recognize the core. That’s okay. There are plenty of different ways to read Finch and all of them are wholly satisfying. There is Finch for the Vander-neophyte, which is semi-straight forward in the detective tale. The ending is less important than the journey.

2. Flood / Ark, by Stephen Baxter: In a very real sense, Flood and Ark are hopeful novels. The promise implicit in Baxter’s story is that humanity will ever strive to survive as a species, and even in the most impossible conditions that have eliminated so much life, a remnant will adapt and survive and find a new way to persevere. Ultimately, it is a beautiful sentiment if one can get past the billions who have perished.

3. Dust / Chill, by Elizabeth Bear:  The first two volumes of a trilogy set aboard a derelict generation ship where there are angels and aspects of God and it is all tied together as science fiction.  It works.  The two novels together are much stronger than the two excellent novels are on their own.  There is a richness of characterization that builds across the novels, and as always, Bear's fiction is not to be missed. 

4. Slow River, by Nicola Griffith:  Lore was a scion of a wealthy family, but is found at the beginning of the novel naked, hurt, and alone.  She was kidnapped, escaped, and rescued by a woman named Spanner.  The novel traces multiple paths: Lore's childhood, her attempts to live a clean and honest life, and the time from her rescue to when she wants to go clean.  Slow River is not an easy novel and it's not always a pleasant one, but Nicola Griffith is one hell of a writer.  This is the story of a woman trying to create her own identity, and it is the story of recovery and pain.  It's a hell of a novel. 

5. Regenesis, by C. J. Cherryh:  Regenesis is a novel of conversation about power, about genetics, about family, and about ambition (among other things). The most thrilling passages were long conversations between two characters (often Ari and Yanni) that could come across as massive info dumps but still manage to convey tense political drama and danger. Because Cherryh frequently presents the third person limited perspective of Ari, the reader knows that a wrong answer could lead Ari down a path where she needs to eliminate (in some manner) the other person. Tense.

6. The Dazzle of Day, by Molly Gloss:  This isn't a novel so much about the destination as it is about the life of the people who will be the ancestors and first wave of the colonists of a new world. It's about the people and very much not about the journey or the science or the discovery. It's about the people and the more emotional challenges they face as the journey nears its end, not so much the physical challenges.  The Dazzle of Day is a beautiful novel about the quiet lives of thoughtful people.

7. Eclipse Three, by Jonathan Strahan:  Despite the subtitle of the Eclipse series, the stories of Eclipse Three are generally not heavy on genre elements. Most of the stories are set in a version of the real world, just with elements of magic or impossible technology. The genre elements are seamless parts of these stories about character, about people. The tech and the magic are never the point. The stories here are beautiful, heartbreaking, thrilling, moving, and hopeful - each in their own way.

8. The Unforgiving Minute, by Craig Mullaney:  Mullaney is a West Point graduate, a Rhodes Scholar, and an infantry officer.  This soldier's memoir is subtitled "A Soldier's Education", and it is exactly that.  It is the story of a man learning how to lead, about combat, about life.  Inherently, this memoir is about Mullaney, but it also about the men that he led and the overall sacrifices of war.  This is an outstanding memoir. 

9. Horns, by Joe Hill: Sometimes a novel is just so twistedly dark and funny that you can't help but love it. That's Horns, a novel featuring a protagonist who has, overnight, grown horns that nobody can see but which can lead to people to tell him exactly what they are really thinking - to absurd and heartbreaking result. After Heart-Shaped Box and now Horns, the world needs more novels from Joe Hill.


Previous Best Reads
2006
2007
2008
2009

Hugo Award Nomination Period Open

Oh, sure, because I need another excuse to compile lists and think about really awesome books and stories...

The 2011 Hugo Award Nomination Period is now open.

Nomination ballots will be accepted from January 1, 2011, to Saturday, March 26, 2011, 23:59 PDT for the prestigious Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Members of Renovation who join by January 31, 2011, and all members of Aussiecon 4, the prior year’s Worldcon, are invited to submit nominating ballots.

If you were a member of last year's Worldcon (I was!), you are eligible to submit a nominating ballot.  Only members of this year's Worldcon will be eligible to vote for the awards, but right now it is nominating time!

It was a stupid amount of fun coming up with my ballot last year.  I look forward to more of the same.

Top Nine Books Published in 2010

Some people do a top ten list, others do a top eleven, yet others may only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why? Partly to be a little bit different and partly because I want the tenth spot on my list to be reserved for that really great book which I simply did not get the chance to read during 2010. That really great book may also be something I have only heard whispers about and I may not discover for several more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m holding a spot for it on my list.

This Top Nine List is more or less in order.  Ask me tomorrow and some titles may shift around a little bit.  Whichever order the list is in, these are the nine novels published in 2010 which I feel were the strongest titles of the year, popularity be damned.


1. Ark, by Stephen Baxter: The companion novel to a disaster story where most of the action happened off the page, yet both Flood and Ark were outstanding stories of humanity striving for species survival.  Even though we knew what happens to the Earth, Baxter managed to keep the tension high.  My only regret is that there isn’t a second companion novel focusing on the other project going on. 

2. Chill, by Elizabeth Bear: Chill is a novel that made an already good book better.  What I mean is that as highly as I thought of Dust, Chill surpassed it and strengthened my opinion of the first novel.  Because of certain events in the first novel, the protagonists in Chill have changed.  This adds richness to the novel (and series) because characters which were previously presented somewhat one dimensionally in the first book because of the viewpoint perspective now have depth are much more fully fleshed out – which is one what expects from one of Bear’s novels.  The rich characterization and sense of adventure aboard a failing generation ship prop Chill up as one of the year’s best.  The Jacob’s Ladder trilogy is quickly becoming a series of novels I love almost as much as Bear’s Promethean Age books. 

3. Horns, by Joe Hill: Sometimes a novel is just so twistedly dark and funny that you can't help but love it.  That's Horns, a novel featuring a protagonist who has, overnight, grown horns that nobody can see but which can lead to people to tell him exactly what they are really thinking - to absurd and heartbreaking result.  After Heart-Shaped Box and now Horns, the world needs more novels from Joe Hill. 

4. Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest: Priest's third novel in her Clockwork Century milieu is perhaps the best of the three, and I already thought highly of Boneshaker and Clementine.  The tighter focus on Mercy Lynch and her conflicted trek across the country, from the Virginia hospital where she worked as a nurse to Seattle where her father lay dying, is what sells the novel.  She is traveling across a nation still in the grips of a Civil War in its third decade and to say the trip is fraught with peril would be to commit a gross understatement.  In Dreadnought, the sense of uncomfortable wonder is in full effect and Priest has an excellent grasp of storytelling.  More, please.

5. Shadow Tag, by Louise Erdrich: A beautiful, bleak novel focusing on a marriage fallen apart.  Broken people breaking further.  This is possibly Erdrich's best work since 2001's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse.

6. Bitter Seeds, by Ian Tregillis: It's an alternate World War II story, but it's not like what Harry Turtledove does.  There are supernatural and genetic changes, but Tregillis keeps the story tight on three viewpoint characters.  The arc of the story develops through the personal stories being told, and less through the lens of how "everything is different" - it isn't that different.  Yet.  Regardless, this is an outstanding debut novel. 

7. Servant of the Underworld, by Aliette de Bodard: Historical fantasy set in Aztec times, and something of a mystery novel, though I’m not sure it works specifically as a mystery.  Besides the fact that de Bodard’s debut novel is just really good, the refreshing thing about it is that the setting of Servant of the Underworld is just so different than most of what I come across.  Maybe there is this whole subculture of fantasy set in the middle of the Aztec empire, but I don’t really think so.  I think de Bodard is giving readers something quite different that is entirely its own thing.  That’s something to celebrate.  Oh, and it’s a really good book. 

8. Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal: The elevator pitch is “Jane Austen with magic”. This would normally cause me recoil in horror (because of the Jane Austen, not the magic), but Kowal is able tell a story that is thematically and stylistically related to that of Austen while engaging a modern reader.  The aspect of magic Kowal employs is woven delicately into the fabric of “cultured” society, and again, feels authentic to the sort of story Miss Austen might have told, if she only she thought to include magic.  The fantasy reader wonders, however, if this is the only aspect of magic in play in the world and what further applications might be in a less civilized setting.  Regardless, Shades of Milk and Honey is a delightful novel. 

9. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins: This concluding volume to The Hunger Games Trilogy closes things out in brutal fashion.  While the story is told fairly tightly from the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, which allows the reader to only see what Katniss sees, Collins doesn’t pull very many punches.  She’s not afraid to have a broken heroine, which is exactly what Katniss is.  So often Katniss will do something awful and horrible, because it is either what she needs to do to survive, or it is what she feels she needs to do to protect her family.  There are consequences and scarring on the inside.  Mockingjay isn’t a pretty novel, but it is an honest one.


Previous Best Ofs

2007
2008
2009

The Missing: 2010

I posted a similar list last year, and I think it is worth posting some of the books I didn't read in 2010.  Now, the actual list is absurdly long, but this is a decent representation of books I would have liked to have read and, for various reasons, never did.

For the sake of keeping this list manageable, I limited it to genre books.  If I browsed through listings of LitFic and Nonfiction, well, the list would be absurd.

Iorich, by Steven Brust
Galileo's Dream, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Black Hills, by Dan Simmons
The Sorcerer's House, by Gene Wolfe
Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Kraken, by China Mieville
Leviathan Wept, by Daniel Abraham
Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor
The Third Bear, by Jeff VanderMeer
Gaslight Dogs, by Karin Lowachee
The Loving Dead, by Amelia Beamer
Swords and Dark Magic, by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders
The Waters Rising, by Sheri S Tepper
Passion Play, by Beth Bernobich
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin
The Habitation of the Blessed, by Catherynne M. Valente

I would imagine that had I sampled through these books, my two Best Of lists which I'll post in the coming days would look a lot different. 

The Top Nine Author Discoveries of 2010

The year is coming to an end and it’s time to reflect on all of the good stuff I’ve read in the last twelve months. This is going to come up again when I talk about the Best Books Published in 2010 (that I’ve read), but 2010 has been something of an off year in regards to the number of books that I’ve read and also with the number of new books and authors I have encountered for the first time. There are reasons for that, none of which I’m going to get into right now, but the pool of newness isn’t as deep this year. Happily, the quality is just as strong.

Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2010. In the spirit of acknowledging that there is always something or someone I’ve missed, either by a slip of memory or just lack of opportunity, the traditional tenth spot on my list remains blank.


1. Jeff VanderMeer: I’ve read VanderMeer before, the occasional short story (including his excellent novella The Situation last year), but Finch was a revelation that just blew me away. I felt like I wanted to be John Cusack in Say Anything, standing in the world’s driveway holding Finch above my head. I never did work out how the copy of Finch would play “In Your Eyes”, especially since it’s more a Murder By Death book, but there you go. Since Finch, I’ve picked up copies of some of VanderMeer’s other work.  I think that counts as "discovery".

2. Molly Gloss: One theme of this year’s list is that most of the authors will be here on the strength of just one novel. For Molly Gloss, that novel is The Dazzle of Day, a fantastic novel focusing on the quiet lives aboard a generation ship traveling to a new world. While I haven’t yet picked up another one of her books, I will. The Dazzle of Day was simply beautiful.

3. Kristine Kathryn Rusch: One novel can be enough to make you want to read everything else the writer has done. With Rusch, that novel is Diving Into the Wreck. There’s a sequel coming, but I’ve also picked up the first book in her Retrieval Artist series. Rusch has been around for a while, has won a host of awards, been involved in both ends of publishing, and is all around a recognizable name. Turns out she’s a heck of a writer, too. I only wish I read her sooner.

4. James Barclay: The only writer on the list where I’ve read more than one book. In Barclay’s case, I’ve read four. Barclay writes the sort of secondary world quest fantasy so chock full of action and ass kicking that I would have absolutely LOVED as a teenager / twenty something, and which I still quite rather enjoy today. In my review (of sorts) of The Chronicles of the Raven I wrote about how Barclay was something of a bridge between the more standard fantasies of the 80’s / early 90’s and the nastier / in your face stuff like Joe Abercrombie is writing today. This is good stuff.

5. Aliette de Bodard: Do you know anyone else writing historical fantasy set in Aztec times with the High Priest of the Dead investigating crimes that may involve the very real gods? Neither do I. Also, Servant of the Underworld was an excellent novel. Want. More.

6. Ian Tregillis: I knew the name from the Wild Cards series, but the first volume of the Milkweed Triptych, an alternate WWII tale with very broken super soldiers and secret histories, is one heck of a debut novel. Bitter Seeds isn’t nearly as lurid as all that, but it is a well told story with genetic manipulation and a breeding program by the Nazis. This is a writer you want to watch (I suppose, by virtue of being on this list, I think these are all writers you want to watch)

7. George Mann: Mann is probably best known for his highly praised debut novel The Affinity Bridge, but my experience is with Ghosts of Manhattan, which harks back to the radio pulp heroes (think, The Shadow). It's a lot of fun and sold me on George Mann as a storyteller I wanted more from.

8. Wen Spencer: A Brother's Price is a Regency Romance with the gender roles flipped and there is a serious gender imbalance in the world. Spencer's novel is good enough that I might be willing to read a standard Regency novel, and I wish she wrote more stories (Regency or not) set in this world. There is so much more to explore here. I'm overdue to read more of Spencer's work.

9. Bernard Beckett: Beckett is the author of Genesis, a slim post apocalyptic dystopian novel where we are given so much social and personal history in info-dumping explanations (the protagonist is facing his entrance examinations to the “Academy”. Genesis should stagger under the weight of exposition, but instead it shines. Genesis is smart fiction. It's enough to recommend seeking out more of Beckett's work.


Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Servant of the Underworld, by Aliette de Bodard

Servant of the Underworld
Aliette de Bodard
Angry Robot Books: 2010

Historical Fantasy. Mystery. Aztecs. That's the snapshot of Aliette de Bodard's debut novel Servant of the Underworld. This isn't the sort of fantasy readers come across too often. After Servant of the Underworld it's time to wonder why. This is delightful.

During the height of the Aztec Empire in the capitol city of Tenochtitlan a Priestess disappears from her calmecac (think, school). The room from which she disappeared, unseen, is drenched in an obscene amount of blood. Tasked to investigate is Acatl, the High Priest of the Dead. Acatl has tried to avoid the politics of Empire, but the investigation will touch the politics of the Empire, gods, and of family. Servant of the Underworld is a murder mystery / family drama / historical fantasy / coming of age story and it is all awesome.

Aliette de Bodard does a fantastic job spinning this story. Acatl is absolutely uncomfortable getting involved in anything larger than the private duties of his religion, but his integrity and competence demands that he sees this investigation through, no matter the impact it may have on his family, on his brother who is implicated in the crime. There is a tenseness that pervades the novel, a sense that the time to find out the truth is running short. Politics requires an expedited investigation.

Servant of the Underworld is a fantastic novel which delves into a world so seldom explored in fiction. de Bodard mentions in the Afterword that one of her motivations was to show the Aztecs as more than the more common representation of bloodthirsty barbarian villains. Her accomplishment here is that while the side of the Aztecs we see in Servant of the Underworld is mostly that of the clergy, there is a pervading sense of a vibrant culture behind the scenes. Finishing Servant of the Underworld, which is a complete story on its own, will only compel readers to impatiently wait for the next volume, Harbinger of the Storm. I want more. 

the rare side of Wild Cards

George R. R. Martin has a Wild Cards related post and he gives a bit of an overview of where things stand for readers looking to get a hold of the earlier volumes of the series. As George mentions, the first book was published in 1987, and there have been four different publishers involved.  This is a longer excerpt than I normally quote, but it really covers the trouble readers may have with some of the later books.  George's post has prettier pictures than mine, and more paragraphs of joy.

Which is where things get complicated. With that long a history, some of the volumes are naturally much harder to find than others. The original twelve-volume run from Bantam can usually be found via ABE.books or ebay at reasonable prices, but the three volume "Card Shark" series that followed, published by Baen Books, is considerably more challenging, especially the third and concluding volume of the triad, BLACK TRUMP. If you do find it, it will likely cost you a lot more than it originally sold for.

That being said, even BLACK TRUMP is easy to find compared to the two hardcover originals published by iBooks when they brought the series back after a seven-year hiatus -- DEUCES DOWN, a typical Wild Cards book with stories by various hands, and DEATH DRAWS FIVE, John Jos. Miller's solo WC novel. DD5 was published only one week before iBooks went bankrupt and closed up shop. As result, to the best of our knowledge, only 600 or so copies ever got into the bookstores. (Was that the total print run, or are there more sitting somewhere in a warehouse? No one seems to know, and there's no one left at iBooks to ask). In the years since, and especially after Tor and INSIDE STRAIGHT kicked off the second coming, demand for the book has steadily risen, along with its price. It has become the Holy Grail of Wild Cards collectors.

He's not kidding with Death Draws Five.  If you can find a copy under $80 right now, you've found a good deal.  It's the only book in the series I don't own.

I got lucky with the paperbacks and, no lie, found almost the complete set in one glorious trip to Uncle Hugo's - including all three volumes of the Card Sharks trilogy.  Didn't realize those were on the rare side.  I later received Deuces Down as a gift.  Which leaves Death Draws Five.  Every time I check in at Uncle Hugo's, I am prepared to lose bladder control should I see a copy on the shelf.  I am prepared to snatch that copy, clutch it close, and call it "my precious".  That copy just hasn't shown up yet. 

I knew that there was an e-book of Death Draws Five available, but I've only read through the first seven books (plus 18-20), so just reading it isn't a priority at the moment.  My library also has one precious copy, if it came to that.  I just want a full collection in print editions. 

Hugo Awards

Just a heads up, start thinking about the 2011 Hugo Awards. 

If you were a member of the 2010 Worldcon (AussieCon 4), you will be eligible to nominate for the 2011 Hugo Awards.  If you want to vote, you'll need to be a member of Renovation.  The nomination period is from January to March (I saw the actual date range, just can't find it right now).

steampunk - all day, all night

If you have been under a rock for, well, ever, and you don't know much about steampunk at all or where to go with it, you might wish to check out this post from Jeff VanderMeer at Omnivoracious. 

Lots of good stuff there. 

The Man with the Knives, by Ellen Kushner

Hey, you know that Different Sort of List I posted, the one where Jeff VanderMeer offered up a number of off the beaten path gift ideas?

Well, in that post Jeff mentioned that Catherynne Valente's Under in the Mere and Ellen Kushner's The Man With the Knives weren't available on Amazon.  If you follow the link, you'll find that Valente's novel is available via the publisher, Rabid Transit Press. 


The Man with the Knives is a limited edition chapbook published by Temporary Culture and there are few copies remaining for sale (via a link that didn't work when I tried it).

The good news: "The Man with the Knives" has been published on Tor.com and everyone who missed out on the chapbook (most people) can read it. 

The story ties into Kushner's 1987 novel Swordspoint and likely answers a lingering question or two and provides some closure.  I couldn't say.  I haven't read Swordspoint.  But after reading "The Man with the Knives", I want to. 

"The Man with the Knives" stands on its own as a story and is a bittersweet tale of a somewhat broken man letting go of the past, and of a man and a woman finding a small place of quiet and home in the world.  Very good story. 

one last catch up post

Back in August I posted a catch-up with how I was doing on my anticipated reading list for 2010.  Since I'm working on the 2011 list, it's time to check in on this one last time. 

1.  Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
2.  A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin (2011?)
3.  The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch (2011)
4.  Shadow Unit: Season One, by Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear (editors)
5.  Prince of Storms, by Kay Kenyon
6.  Swords and Dark Magic, by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan (editors)
7.  Fort Freak, by George R. R. Martin (editor) (2011)
8.  Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest 
9.  The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
10. The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear (Q1 2011)
11. Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal
12. Horns, by Joe Hill
13. Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan (editor) (2011)
14. Gardens of the Sun, by Paul McAuley
15. The Best of Joe R. Lansdale
16. Lesser Demons, by Norman Partridge
17. The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 4, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)
18. Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor
19. Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld

With a number of titled slated for next year, I'm only slack on seven titles.  I own the McAuley and the Strahan anthology.  Interestingly, I have an ARC of Elizabeth Bear's novel and expect to finish that by the end of the year. 


Most of them will get read, if not in the next two weeks. 

A Different Sort of List

Jeff VanderMeer has a post up on the Omnivoracious blog titled "Gift Book Suggestions for the Imaginative, the Curious, the Weird".  It's a selection of some twenty books from a variety of mostly small presses and I've heard of a grand total of three of them.  Chances are they will be mostly new to you, too.

I'm posting the list here, but go check out the above link to see VanderMeer's thoughts on them. Lists are just lists.  They don't tell you why. 

Under in the Mere, by Catherynne M. Valente
The Man With the Knives, by Ellen Kushner
Half World, by Hiromi Goto (Viking)
The Wild Kingdom, by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
Eden, by Pablo Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Weird Fiction Review, edited by S.T. Joshi (Centipede Press)
The Library of Forgotten Books, by Rjurik Davidson (PS Publishing)
Elmer, by Gerry Alanguilan (Slave Labor Graphics)
Light Boxes, by Shane Jones (Penguin)
Horse, Flower, Bird, by Kate Bernheimer (Coffee House Press)
Poetry, Fiction, and Essays, by Eric Basso (various)
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, by Barbara Comyns (Dorothy)
Event Factory, by Renee Gladman
Scorch Atlas, by Blake Butler (Featherproof Books)
I Wonder, by Marian Bantjes (The Monacelli Press)
The Honey Month, by Amal El-Mohtar (Papaveria Press)
Black Static magazine, edited by Andy Cox
The Revisionist, by Miranda Mellis (Calamari Press)

The Results Are In: The Final Top 10

The results of Torque Control's poll to determine the top ten science fiction novels of the last decade written by women are in and final.  Niall has been posting the list, one by one, all week.  With the announcement of the number one novel, we now have the full list. 


1. The Carhullan Army/Daughters of the North, by Sarah Hall
2. Maul, by Tricia Sullivan
3. Natural History, by Justina Robson
4. The Time-Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
5= Spirit, by Gwyneth Jones
5= The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon
7. Life, by Gwyneth Jones
8. Lavinia, by Ursula K Le Guin
9. Farthing, by Jo Walton
10= Bold as Love, by Gwyneth Jones
10= City of Pearl, by Karen Traviss
 
My first thought is: Cool, two of my picks were popular enough to make the final list.  Both City of Pearl and The Time Traveler's Wife are excellent novels.  I'm glad I took the time to send in my picks because without them, City of Pearl would have dropped off the list.  It's nice to see that a number of other people though highly enough of it to include it on their lists as well. 

My second thought: Clearly I need to read some Gwyneth Jones.  And Tricia Sullivan's Maul.  I own a copy.  Maybe I should open it. 

Niall has also been compiling various stats based on the voting.

Various Top Tens by Category
The Full List of Works Nominated.
Top Ten Writers (based on total nominations, not necessarily placement on the list)

There have been a number of other posts keeping in the theme of the week, discussing other female authored SF works.  Just browse around and you'll find plenty of stuff to read.  Otherwise, the womensf tag grabs everything on wordpress using that tag.  You'll get all of Torque Control's recent stuff, but it stretches back farther than just this week.  Not a huge fan of the interface there, but it's another resource. 

So there you have it.