On White Trash Zombies

I am constantly fighting a battle with my personal biases, most of which have formed around an idea that I don't or won't like something.  Let's use food as an example. I don't like coconut, especially when it comes to candy. Most every experience I've had with coconut has been unpleasant. But, I've never had coconut milk. Would a different delivery system make coconut more palatable?  I don't know, because I've had enough coconut to not want to try it.  Likewise, I do not enjoy pineapple or pineapple juice. My wife made a jerk chicken in the slow cooker the other night and the recipe called for pineapple. I was skeptical. I don't like pineapple.

The dish was delicious.

For years I avoided avocado and guacamole.  I refused to eat it.  It looked gross, it just felt like something I would hate.  So I didn't try it.

Guacamole is one of my favorite things to eat and if you can sneak some avocado on a sandwich or salad, you'll make me very happy.  That bias kept me from trying one of my new favorite food items for years, if not decades.  What a loss.

Yesterday I wrote that I had a seldom examined bias against the modern day version of urban fantasy, which these days I mostly think of as paranormal romance.  To a significant point, I am being unfair right from the start in considering so many of the "vampire and werewolf" novels to be romance novels gilded with the supernatural. Actually, I am being further unfair in denigrating romance novels given that Romance is just as diverse a category as Science Fiction or Fantasy is.  I want to acknowledge my bias runs a bit deeper without actually unpacking that bias / disinterest with the romance genre. 


The thing is, I'm not quite sure where this bias against urban fantasy has come from. Is it because if we're talking in general terms, I don't have a strong interest in reading another werewolf or vampire novel?  Is it because if you look at the two covers I've included from Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series, it doesn't look like something I would like to read?  I think it is more the second, though I'd still argue that if you say "werewolf novel" I'm going to be disinclined to pay attention in the same way that other fantasy tropes will shut down my wife.

Carrie Vaughn is vital to this conversation because years ago I entered a contest to win some free books. I was happy when I found out I won right up until the point that I realized I won the first two novels in Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series (Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Goes to Washington). At that point, I couldn't figure out why I even entered the contest because these books were not for me.  Look at the covers.  I am not the audience for those books. I don't know who the audience is, but it wasn't me. If cover art is marketing and is designed to get a reader to pick up a book and buy it, Grand Central Publishing was not selling me the book. But, the books were being sent to me so I might as well read them, right?  You see where this is going?

Of course I loved them. Carrie Vaughn is one hell of a writer, I just didn't know it yet. I devoured those two books and waited impatiently for each subsequent book to come out.

The mistake I made then was in convincing myself that the urban fantasy genre was still not my thing, that Carrie Vaughn rose above the rest of the urban fantasy being written.  That it's still paranormal romance dreck, but her stuff isn't.  It's easy to do, easy to categorize the stuff we like as being better than the stuff we think we don't like. It allows us to keep a morally superior position which if we examined it at all we would recognize that it is nothing more than shame and bullshit keeping us in place.

Each time I would read a different urban fantasy novel that I liked, I would elevate it out of the ghetto of my mind's making and hold it up as being better than the others.  Maybe they are better, because I would sure as hell recommend Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville novels to anyone. I don't want to take away from those books I love, but I'm sick and tired of taking away from the books I haven't read yet either.

I don't remember what my trigger was last month, but this has been a long time coming. I decided to pick up Diana Rowland's My Life as a White Trash Zombie.  I've haven't been aware of the series for long, but I've heard some solid buzz on Rowland, enough so that in my ongoing effort to read more books written by women this year, I wanted to add Diana Rowland to that number.  I was also beginning to recognize a certain level of hypocrisy that I've been living with in how I view certain subgenres, urban fantasy being the one we're talking about right now and My Life as a White Trash Zombie fits solidly in that subgenre.  So, it was a choice to read this book.  It's a choice to read any book, but not all choices are solidly examined.  This one was.

I've now read three of the four published White Trash Zombie novels and it is probably a good thing that I only have one more to go because I may risk burning out on a good thing - and these White Trash Zombie novels are definitely a good thing.  They feature a life-going-nowhere young woman with a felony on her record who gets a second chance at life only after she's died and been turned into a zombie.  I'm not sure there I have a good way to describe the book without it sounding hokey, but the execution is killer. Pun intended.  Angel Crawford has a distinctive voice and her characterization and character transformation is outstanding. Because she is new at this whole zombie thing, any expository info dumps are as much for the character as they are for the reader. We're both discovering how Rowland's zombie America works. One small corner of it, anyway. 

One reason why I keep trying to read new (to me) authors is that you never know what is going to stick and often it is something that you didn't expect you would like. Sometimes you read a lauded novel and it isn't for you, no matter how many awards it is nominated for.  But sometimes you avoid a particular type of book for way too long only to discover that some of it is guacamole and whoops, you really like guacamole and you wish you didn't wait so long to try the guac.

What I think I'm saying is that I think urban fantasy is like dip.  Some writers are putting out some delicious guacamole.  Others may be a little bit too spicy, perhaps they've put in too much jalapeno and left the seeds and membranes.  Those books might not be my thing, but just because they aren't doesn't mean that I shouldn't eat dip with my chips. Dip can be delicious and there are all sorts of different flavors.  Maybe I should try some more. 

Is anyone else hungry right now?

Books Read: February 2015

February marks my first month back at work after the birth of my son, and I'm fairly pleased with my ability to keep reading.  I'm sure as he gets a bit older and more active, this will change a little bit and my 10+ books per month will drop to 5-7.  February also marks the first month I have read more books electronically than in paper copy.  I love holding books in my hand, but if my son is sleeping in my arms it is far easier to read on my nook than it is to try to hold a book in my hands - even more so if it is a hardback like Promise of Blood was.

Below are the eleven books I read during the month of February.  As has been the case recently, there are no reviews to link to.  

1. My Life as a White Trash Zombie, by Diana Rowland
2. Yesterday's Kin, by Nancy Kress
3. The Three, by Sarah Lotz
4. The Litigators, by John Grisham
5. The Complete Peanuts: 1993-1994, by Charles M. Schulz
6. Promise of Blood, by Brian McClellan
7. Fortune's Pawn, by Rachel Bach
8. Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, by Diana Rowland
9. Time of the Dark, by Barbara Hambly
10. Redeployment, by Phil Klay
11. We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory

Best Book of the Month: Phil Klay's collection Redeployment may one day hit the essential reading list much as Tim O'Brien's The Things We Carried did for the Vietnam War, though it is difficult to truly say what will resonate of the years and generations and what will just fade away despite the acclaim. Regardless, it is powerful fiction.  

Disappointment of the Month: I'm not sure this is a disappointment, per se, but I guess I expected more out of Time of the Dark. I've previously read her two Star Wars novels, but I also read one of her books when I was a teenager. I want to tell you it was Dragonsbane, but I really couldn't say if it was that or The Silent Tower or The Walls of Air being read out of sequence. I remember nothing, except that I enjoyed it enough I wanted to read something else by her and then didn't for over twenty years.  Time of the Dark was fine, it just didn't grip me.  Also, I'm not sure how interested I still am in the concept of people from our world crossing over to a fantasy world. There's a term for this, I just can't remember it. Portal fantasy?  I've enjoyed some of it in the past (Christopher Stasheff's Her Majesty's Wizard, others) and hated some of it (Lord Foul's Bane).  But do I still want to read much more of it?  I don't know.  

Discovery of the Month: I have a bias which I seldom examine. Well, I probably have many biases, but the one in particular is against the modern idea of "urban fantasy", which I often think of as "paranormal romance" with werewolves and vampires.  The bias is bullshit, of course. Years ago I won the first two Kitty Norville novels written by Carrie Vaughn in a contest that I don't think I meant to enter because look at those covers, man. They're clearly not for me. Except that I love the Kitty Norville novels and have been reading them faithfully ever since.  I've read the Sookie Stackhouse books, intrigued at first by their popularity and then by how enjoyable most of them were to read (except the last one).  But then I rationalized it by saying that I still don't like modern urban fantasy / paranormal romance, I just liked those books.  They're "better".  But that's bullshit, because it's exactly the same as saying that you don't like science fiction and fantasy but you really like Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood and The Time Traveler's Wife, but those aren't really SFF, they rise above genre.  Bullshit, right?  I was doing the same damn thing, so I picked up one of the more intriguing covers for a book that had been getting some good press.  Surprise - I thought it was fantastic and immediately wanted to read more.

My discovery of the month is the White Trash Zombie series from Diana Rowland. It's fantastic. Period. I'm near the end of the third book. I might write a bit more about the White Trash Zombie series in a separate article because it's worth unpacking my thoughts on the books and what is wrong my thinking. 

Worth Noting: I loved Promise of Blood from Brian McClellan. It's one of the first pieces of "flintlock fantasy" I'm conscious of reading, which is a fancy and concise way of saying that it is during the era of gunpowder rifles combined with magic and a fantasy setting. It's a change of setting that is nice, though I''m not at all claiming it was the first piece of that sort of fantasy written by a long shot. Also, I don't want to work too much with "flintlock fantasy" lest I start ghettoizing that, too.  But it's good. Lots of action and kick-assery. I'm going to read more from McClellan.

Gender Breakdown: This month 6 out of the 11 books I read were written by women. This brings me to 14 out of 24 on the year.  One of my reading goals for the year is to read more books written by women than by men.  As much as I have been focusing on this over the years, it is taking a very conscious choice to accomplish.  I'll have more to say about that in an article I still plan to write when I evaluate what I read last year. 


Previous Months:
January

Preliminary Thoughts on the Nebula Nominees

The Nebula Award nominees were announced on Friday and I wanted to wait a few days to think about what was nominated before posting.  Now that I've waited, I'm not sure my thoughts are any different.  Overall, this appears to be a very solid list of nominees, though I have read very few of the shorter works so I may change my mind on that.  I hope not. 


Novel
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Tor)
Trial by Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit)
The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor)
Coming Home, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals)

I have read three of the six nominated novels and they are all likely going to make my Hugo ballot. The Goblin Emperor, Ancillary Sword, and Annihilation are all outstanding works of fiction and area all more than worthy of a nomination.  I have a copy of The Three Body-Problem at home and had been looking forward to reading it regardless of any nomination it may garner.  The Nebula nomination just pushed it farther up my to-read pile.  Charles Gannon was nominated last year for his novel Fire by Fire.  I was a bit put off by the protagonist's dismissive sexism, but thought it was a well enough written novel that was easy enough to read and kept me just entertained enough to keep going.  Assuming the level of writing and storytelling in Trial by Fire is consistent with Gannon's first novel, it seems a little out of place on this ballot.

On the other hand, the SFWA is an organization with over 1800 members and as much as I think that my tastes should be much more widely shared, people enjoy and appreciate different things and they love what they love no less passionately than I do.  For them, Charles Gannon wrote outstanding novels two years in a row.  And while I haven't read Jack McDevitt before despite his frequent Nebula nominations, I understand that he writes a similar sort of science fiction.  The audience of Gannon and McDevitt are likely fairly similar.  I'll give McDevitt a shot this year.  I'm long over due. 

Novella 
We Are All Completely Fine, Daryl Gregory (Tachyon)
Yesterday’s Kin, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Regular,” Ken Liu (Upgraded)
“The Mothers of Voorhisville,” Mary Rickert (Tor.com 4/30/14)
Calendrical Regression, Lawrence Schoen (NobleFusion)
 “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap),” Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’14)

I have read three of the nominated novellas and the Mary Rickert and Rachel Swirsky stories are both consistently excellent, which is what one has come to expect from those two.  They will both be on my Hugo ballot.  Nancy Kress's story is a worthy addition, though it gave me less of the knock out punch that Rickert and Swirsky delivered.  

 Novelette
“Sleep Walking Now and Then,” Richard Bowes (Tor.com 7/9/14)
“The Magician and Laplace’s Demon,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 12/14)
“A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (F&SF 7-8/14)
“The Husband Stitch,” Carmen Maria Machado (Granta #129)
“We Are the Cloud,” Sam J. Miller (Lightspeed 9/14)
“The Devil in America,” Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com 4/2/14)

I have not read any of the Novelettes and am not overly familiar with any of the authors, which means that there is a whole lot of discovery here for me.

Short Story 
“The Breath of War,” Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/6/14)
“When It Ends, He Catches Her,” Eugie Foster (Daily Science Fiction 9/26/14)
“The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye,” Matthew Kressel (Clarkesworld 5/14)
“The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family,” Usman T. Malik (Qualia Nous)
 “A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide,” Sarah Pinsker (F&SF 3-4/14)
“Jackalope Wives,” Ursula Vernon (Apex 1/7/14)
“The Fisher Queen,” Alyssa Wong (F&SF 5/14)

Likewise, I have not read any of the Short Stories, though last year I very much enjoyed Sarah Pinsker's "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind".  I tend to enjoy Aliette de Bodard's fiction, whether it is a novel or short story.  The one thing that really struck me about this category, though, is that Eugie Foster's nominated story was her last story, published the day before she died.  Foster had previously won a Nebula Award in 2009. 


Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation 
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
The Lego Movie

When it comes to the Nebula Award, I tend to focus on the Nebula "Proper" and less on the Bradbury and Norton Awards.  With that said, while I haven't seen Birdman I am surprised to see a nomination here as I was not aware there were any genre elements beyond being about an actor who once played a superhero.  But maybe that's enough.  I still don't understand the raw love for The Lego Movie. 

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy 
Unmade, Sarah Rees Brennan (Random House)
Salvage, Alexandra Duncan (Greenwillow)
Love Is the Drug, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, A.S. King (Little, Brown)
Dirty Wings, Sarah McCarry (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Greenglass House, Kate Milford (Clarion)
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Leslye Walton (Candlewick)

I have not read any of these novels.

A Draft Hugo Ballot

This still needs a lot of work, or - as much work as I can do in the next two weeks, but this is where I'm at with my ballot for the Hugo Awards.  A star represents works that are a near lock to make my final ballot.  Anything else is a very inconsistent mark that means something specific to me for that category, but isn't quite enough to be put into words.

Novel
*City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett

*Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
*The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley
*The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison

Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
The Eternal Sky Trilogy, by Elizabeth Bear

This is it for the novels, I won't be getting to anything else new before the nomination period closes.  I have thoughts as to what my fifth slot will be, and it is very conflicted between excellent novels and reward a great achievement in the Eternal Sky trilogy (which is more than a worthy nominee - and much more so than The Wheel of Time was last year, I think in terms of raw quality)

Novella

*“The Mothers of Voorhisville”, by Mary Rickert (Tor.com)

*“Grand Jete”, by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean)

Yesterday’s Kin, by Nancy Kress

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome, by John Scalzi

I have three more novellas on my Nook right now, plus another I have copied over to a word doc - so if I am very productive, this category could look very different if I get through Daryl Gregory, Kat Howard, Ken Liu, and Lawrence Shoen.  Two of those will be read for the Nebula Awards, but if I get them fast enough I can consider them for the Hugos.

Novelette

“A Fire in the Heavens”, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Shadows Beneath)

I need to do work.

Short Story

-*”The Color of Paradox”, by A. M. Dellamonica (Tor.com)

--“Mrs Sorensen and the Sasquatch”, by Kelly Barnhill (Tor.com)

--“A Cup of Salt Tears”, by Isabel  Yap (Tor.com)

--“As Good as New”, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)

-“Spores”, by Seanan McGuire (The End is Nigh)

Last year was not a strong year for reading short fiction (for me), so I'm very behind.  I've used Some of the Best of Tor.com as a resource just to get ideas for what to consider, though Kelly Barnhill's story has been on my list all year and she's still holding on.  The trouble is, if I push to read more novelettes, I'm going to miss out on more short stories and my time is quite limited right now.  So - if there are any strong recommendations for something I just have to read now, I'll take it. 

Graphic Story
*Saga, Vol 3
*Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega

Related Work
*Rocket Talk Podcast

What Makes This Book So Great, by Jo Walton

There is an argument to be had regarding whether or not Rocket Talk is a Fancast or a Related Work. On the one hand, it is published on Tor.com, a professional publication - and I expect that Landon is compensated for each episode in the same way that all contributors to Tor.com are compensated.  On the other hand, I believe that Tor.com does not pay for the production of Rocket Talk.  I think, and this is obvious based on what category I'm commenting on, that Rocket Talk is a professional podcast and is much more suited to be a Related Work.  I love Rocket Talk, it is the one podcast I actually listen to on a semi-regular basis.  But it's association with Tor.com eliminates it from being a fancast. 

Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
*Interstellar
*Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Guardians of the Galaxy
Mockingjay: Part I
X-Men: Days of Future Past

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Editor, Short Form

William Schafer

Ann VanderMeer

Editor, Long Form

Professional Artist

-John Picacio

-Julie Dillon

Stephan Martiniere

Magali Villeneuve

Milan Jaram

Joey Hi-Fi

Fan Artist

*Elizabeth Leggett (she has professional work, but I love the fan work)

Wenqing Yan

Semiprozine

Fanzine
*Chaos Horizon

A Dribble of Ink
Lady Business
SF Mistressworks
The Wertzone

Chaos Horizon is easily my favorite blog / fanzine this year.  I love the analysis Kempner is doing in trying to figure out, based on past history, what works are likely to garner nominations for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. 

Fan Writer
*Brandon Kempner

*Renay Williams

Justin Landon
Abigail Nussbaum
Adam Whitehead

Niall Alexander

Paul Weimer

Liz Bourke

See above.  Also, Renay at Lady Business (and on Twitter) has been making me think this year, so I'd love to see her recognized.

Fancast

No Nominations

John W. Campbell Award

*Wesley Chu

*Helene Wecker

*Brian McClellan

Henry Lien

2014 Nebula Award Nominees

Picked this up first from John Scalzi, below are the nominees for the 2014 Nebula Awards (presented in 2015.  I should have some initial thoughts on the nominees next week.

Congratulations to all the nominees. 

Novel
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Tor)
Trial by Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor)
Coming Home, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals)

Novella 
We Are All Completely Fine, Daryl Gregory (Tachyon)
Yesterday’s Kin, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Regular,” Ken Liu (Upgraded)
“The Mothers of Voorhisville,” Mary Rickert (Tor.com 4/30/14)
Calendrical Regression, Lawrence Schoen (NobleFusion)
 “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap),” Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’14)

 Novelette
“Sleep Walking Now and Then,” Richard Bowes (Tor.com 7/9/14)
“The Magician and Laplace’s Demon,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 12/14)
“A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (F&SF 7-8/14)
“The Husband Stitch,” Carmen Maria Machado (Granta #129)
“We Are the Cloud,” Sam J. Miller (Lightspeed 9/14)
“The Devil in America,” Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com 4/2/14)

Short Story 
“The Breath of War,” Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/6/14)
“When It Ends, He Catches Her,” Eugie Foster (Daily Science Fiction 9/26/14)
“The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye,” Matthew Kressel (Clarkesworld 5/14)
“The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family,” Usman T. Malik (Qualia Nous)
 “A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide,” Sarah Pinsker (F&SF 3-4/14)
“Jackalope Wives,” Ursula Vernon (Apex 1/7/14)
“The Fisher Queen,” Alyssa Wong (F&SF 5/14)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation 
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
The Lego Movie

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy 
Unmade, Sarah Rees Brennan (Random House)
Salvage, Alexandra Duncan (Greenwillow)
Love Is the Drug, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)
Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, A.S. King (Little, Brown)
Dirty Wings, Sarah McCarry (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Greenglass House, Kate Milford (Clarion)
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Leslye Walton (Candlewick)

Books Read: January 2015

My son was born on January 6 and I was able to take a month off from work.  Because his three primary activities are eating, pooping, and sleeping I was able to read more books than I had expected in January.  Well, I expected him to be born closer to January 23, but I didn't expect to read much immediately following his birth.  With a slight slow down this last week, I was reading at a fairly decent clip. Everything after Oath of Gold was read following his birth. 

I don't know how confident I feel about what the next couple of months will be like.  Or, more specifically, what happens when he is awake more often and trying to crawl down the stairs.  But for now, I'm keeping up.

1. Oath of Gold, by Elizabeth Moon
2. Symbiont, by Mira Grant
3. An Untamed State, by Roxane Gay
4. City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
5. Abaddon's Gate, by James S. A. Corey
6. The World of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin
7. Down to the Bone, by Justina Robson
8. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
9. Low Midnight, by Carrie Vaughn
10. My Real Children, by Jo Walton
11. The Martian, by Andy Weir
12. The King's Deryni, by Katherine Kurtz
13. Engineering Infinity, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)

Best Book of the Month:  If I waited to do a Best Of list several months (or years) after the end of the year, rather than at the very end of that calendar year, that year's list would look very different.  For example, City of Stairs would / should be near the top of my most recent list, except that I put the list together in December and I read City of Stairs in January.  Regardless, this is a most impressive fantasy novel and it has me very excited to read whatever Bennett does next.  Also, read Renay's review of City of Stairs to get another perspective and to pick up on something that I completely missed but should not have.

Disappointment of the Month: I adore Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels.  More specifically, I adore Kurtz's Deryni novels set a bit farther back in the past - the Camber era stuff that deals with the Haldanes regaining the throne and Camber's children.  I've been less excited by the Kelson era work, and have been overall been disappointed by the Childe Morgan trilogy.  It had been 8 years since Childe Morgan was published (the second in the trilogy) and 11 since In the King's Service (book one).  This is more than my issue with the era Kurtz is writing in, though, which is immediately prior to Kelson.  The King's Deryni comes across more as a travelogue hitting some notable points over a ten year (approximately) period in Alaric Morgan's life - with his training, friendships, Duncan entering the priesthood, the poor priest caught being a Deryni, the battle against the Marluk, etc.  Much of that is richer because of prior knowledge of the series, not because of how well The King's Deryni was written.  I still hope for the Year 948 novel that has been long rumored.  If you look at earlier Deryni novels, there are genealogies and a LOT of people died in 948.  I'd like to know why and how.  The other novel I've been waiting for / hoping for is an Orin and Jodotha novel, which are the legendary Deryni Evaine was just discovering more about before her death. 

Discovery of the Month: Robert Jackson Bennett really isn't an unknown quantity at this point, but despite being well aware of The Troupe and American Elsewhere, I never picked up one of his books.  Until City of Stairs.  And I realized just how wrong I was for not reading him sooner.

Worth Noting: If The Martian had not been previously self published, I would be considering it for a Hugo nomination.  It might not make my final ballot because slots are really tight right now and it would take something to really knock me off my feet in the next three weeks for anything not currently under consideration to grab a slot.  But I would at least be thinking about it.  Now, please write another book, Mr. Weir. 

Gender Breakdown: To start out the year, I have 8 of the13 books I read were written by women, which breaks out to 61.54%.  This marks three consecutive months I have read more female authored books than male authored, and quite possible, the only three months this has happened in my life - though there may have been isolated months more than fifteen years ago when I would read all the Anne McCaffrey or Katherine Kurtz I could get my hands on. 

Incredibly Preliminary 2015 Hugo Award Nomination Ballot

After taking a year or so off, I am going to participate in the Hugo Awards again this year.  So, this post is the first of several which will allow me to publicly work through my thoughts on who I would like to nominate for a Hugo Award.  Unlike previous years I have nominated, I have been much less involved in the short fiction scene, so I'm going to actively seek out recommendations for the short fiction categories.

This is a start and is currently in no particular order.  My next post on this will start to narrow.  This is just what I am thinking about right now before doing more serious work to narrow down the categories.


Novel
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley
The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison
Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
The Eternal Sky Trilogy, by Elizabeth Bear


Graphic Story
Saga, Vol 3
Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega

Related Work
Rocket Talk Podcast


Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Mockingjay: Part I
X-Men: Days of Future Past


Fanzine
A Dribble of Ink
Lady Business

SF Mistressworks
Chaos Horizon
The Wertzone

Fan Writer

Justin Landon
Abigail Nussbaum
Brandon Kempner
Adam Whitehead

Categories I just have no idea about yet but will do research to feel good about.
Novella / Novelette / Short Story
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Semiprozine
Fancast 
Professional Artist (there is a great Hugo Eligible Artists blog to help me out)
Editor: Short Form / Long Form
Fan Artist
John W. Campbell Award

Books Read: December 2014

My intention was to get this post up immediately following all of my Year's Best and Looking Forward posts, which led to a good run of posting at very end of December and four posts in the first six days of January. That final post was scheduled for and posted on January 6. 

The reason we didn't get this post up on January 7 was that on January 6, my very pregnant wife's water broke in the wee hours of the morning and we spent the rest of the day in the hospital waiting for the arrival of our son.  Our first child.  Andrew decided to make an appearance at 11:49 pm.  He's doing great, and so is my wife.  But what this has meant in terms of posting is that we spent a couple of days in the hospital and then have been working on figuring this parenting thing out for the last 8 days.  By no means do we have it figured out, but I have some spare time while the rest of my family is napping. You could argue that I should be, too. 

There are no reviews to link to.

1. Grace's Guide, by Grace Helbig
2. Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
3. Prince of Dogs, by Kate Elliott
4. Hawk, by Steven Brust
5. Revival, by Stephen King
6. Allana, by Tamora Pierce
7. The Art of Asking, by Amanda Palmer
8. The Last Man, by Vince Flynn
9. Unexpected Stories, by Octavia Butler
10. The Deaths of Tao, by Wesley Chu
11. The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, by Matthew Inman
12. Steles of the Sky, by Elizabeth Bear

Best Book of the Month: Based on how I listed stuff on my list of the Top Nine Books Published in 2014, I have to go with Hawk. This was Steven Brust in full form and completely delivering a top notch Vlad Taltos novel. 

Disappointment of the Month: You generally know what you're getting with a Vince Flynn novel (action, a touch of jingoism, and a lot of ass kicking of terrorists and those who obstruct the safety of the United States).  You get an angry Mitch Rapp, which has generally been a solid if flawed ride.  The Last Man was Vince Flynn's last published novel and it was written while he was battling the cancer which ultimately took his life. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to the standard of the rest of the series.  I have some thoughts on that, but in the end, it doesn't matter. A husband and a father lost his life, and I feel so much more for his family than I care about how this particular novel turned out. I've enjoyed Flynn's work in the past and we have a couple of his books up at the cabin if we need to quickly dive in to something.  As a side note, it was recently announced that Kyle Mills will be continuing the Mitch Rapp series. The Survivor (a book Flynn started) may come out in 2015.

Discovery of the Month: I have mentioned this elsewhere, but I really wish I had discovered Tamora Pierce when I was twelve. I liked it at 35, I would have loved it then and would have devoured everything Pierce wrote back then. Allana was fantastic.

Worth Noting: With Steles of the Sky, Elizabeth Bear concluded her superb Eternal Sky trilogy, a "silk road" fantasy with far more eastern than western influences. It is a beautiful and brutal novel and series, and it should be held up as one of the top fantasy series in recent years.

Gender Breakdown: Of the twelve books I read last month, seven were written by women. This marks two consecutive months which I have read more books written by women than by men.  This brings my total to 62/135 for the year (45.92%), which is the greatest percentage of female authored books I have ever read in a given year as long as I have been keeping track of this sort of thing.  So, that's good, right?  It's a start.  I have a different and longer post in mind to talk about my year in reading as it relates to gender (a sequel to this one), so I won't bury it all here, but this is nothing more than a start.


Previous Months
January
February
March 
April 
May
June
July 
August 
September
October 
November

Less New Books I'm Looking Forward to Maybe Reading in 2015

Besides my most anticipated 2015 books I'm also anticipating the books from 2014, 2013, 2012 etc that I haven't gotten around to reading yet
— Kate Elliott (@KateElliottSFF) January 4, 2015

Inspired by Kate Elliott, I would like to consider some books published in the last several years which I would like to read. I'm putting this together with a quick scan of the Locus Forthcoming Lists.  Some of these will be later books in a series where I haven't read all of the earlier books, but they do hold some interest for me.

I am also quite certain that there are many more books than these for any given year that I'd like to read, these are just the ones jumping out at me today.

2013
MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood
American Elsewhere, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Daylight War, by Peter V. Brett
The Incrementalists, by Steven Brust and Skyler White
The Bitter Kingdom, by Rae Carson
Abaddon's Gate, by James S. A. Corey
Blood of Dragons, by Robin Hobb
Without a Summer, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Best of All Possible Worlds, by Karen Lord
Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch
Limits of Power, by Elizabeth Moon
A Matter of Blood, by Sarah Pinborough
Fiddlehead, by Cherie Priest
Necessary Evil, by Ian Tregillis

2012
Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed
Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill
Shoggoths in Bloom, by Elizabeth Bear
Rapture, by Kameron Hurley
The Shadowed Sun, by N. K. Jemisin
Crucible of Gold, by Naomi Novik
The Serpent Sea, by Martha Wells
Worldsoul, by Liz Williams

2011
Cold Fire, by Kate Elliott
Raising Stony Mayhall, by Daryl Gregory
Infidel, by Kameron Hurley
The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn
The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
City of Ruins, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

And also some random books from earlier years but which are on my "read sooner rather than later list":
Stretto, by L. Timmel Duchamp
The Burning Stone, by Kate Elliott
The Temporal Void, by Peter F. Hamilton
Fool's Fate, by Robin Hobb
Darkspell, by Katherine Kerr
The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon
Surrender None, by Elizabeth Moon
Maelstrom, by Peter Watts
The Killing of Worlds, by Scott Westerfeld

14 Books I Want to Read to in 2015

So, I gave a quick look through the LocusForthcoming List, a quick search on stuff I have saved on Goodreads, and voila! We have list!  
 

As such, this isn’t exhaustive or authoritative.  This is just a list of 14 books, in presumed publication order, that I’d like to read this year.  I’m sure I missed something awesome.  Maybe many somethings awesome.

1. The Just City, by Jo Walton (Jan): I haven’t read much from Jo Walton, but after reading Among Others a couple years back, I am sold.  Doesn’t matter what this is, I want to read it.  

2. Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear (Feb): New Elizabeth Bear. Does it matter what this is about?  It does not.

3. Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse, by John Joseph Adams (editor) (Feb): I adored JJA's previous Wastelands anthology (my review), so what can possibly be wrong with Wastelands II?  Nothing, I tell you, nothing.

4. Persona, by Genevieve Valentine (Mar): Political thriller with celebrity culture. Also, written by Genevieve Valentine.  

5. The Rebirths of Tao, by Wesley Chu (Apr): Oh, Tao, how I enjoy reading about thee.  

6. The Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Jul): Now that I'm digging into her Crown of Stars series, I want to read all of the Kate Elliott 

7. The End of All Things, by John Scalzi (Aug): New Scalzi, set in the Old Man's War universe.  It's another linked story collection like The Human Division.  Good stuff.

8. Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente (Aug): I'm really not sure what this means: "Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own"

9. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb (Aug): I expect to finish the Tawny Man trilogy in the next couple of months, but since I know that I would then want to read the Rain Wilds books before starting this, I don't expect to hit this series until 2016 at best.  But, because I continue to be impressed by each book I read of Hobb's, this should be acknowleded.

10. The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch (Sep): Gentleman Bastards Book 4.  I still need to read Republic of Thieves, but this is must read fantasy for me.

11. The Empire Ascendent, by Kameron Hurley (Oct): The Mirror Empire was one of my top books of 2014.  I expect The Empire Ascendent to be one of my top books of 2015.

12. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Oct): If you like science fiction and you're not reading Ann Leckie's novels, you're doing it wrong.

13: Mistborn: Shadows of Self, by Brandon Sanderson (Oct): More Mistborn, following up on Alloy of Law.

14. The Winds of Winter, by George R. R. Martin (???): I'm not sure I really expect this to come out in 2015, but it's the annual GRRM watch, so let's keep on hoping.

Final Catch Up with the 2014 To-Read List

Back in February I posted a list of 19 books I wanted to read this year, the list ordered by presumed publication date.  I ran an update to that post back in September, and now that we're into 2015 it is time to run the final update.

I have read 12 of the 19 books from the list.  This probably one of the better results from making a to-read list at the beginning of the year.  Things happen, publication dates get pushed back. Feist's King of Ashes and Lynch's Thorn of Emberlain were pushed to 2015, so I'm really at 12 of 17 books published in 2014.

If I'm being completely honest, I haven't read Symbiont yet, but I have a copy from the library and I'm going to start it this weekend.  So, it's a preemptive count.  On the other hand, I own a copy of One-Eyed Jack, but I know I'm not going to start it in the next couple of days, so I'm not counting it as read.  I'm nothing if not inconsistent. 

There is no reason why I didn't get to One-Eyed Jack or My Real Children.

I'm behind on the Glamourist Histories series from Mary Robinette Kowal, so I was never getting to Valour and Vanity this year.  Same with Cibola Burn, though I will be getting Abaddon's Gate from the library in the next week, so I'll have a chance to catch up to the series before Nemesis Games is published.

Finally, Going Gray was self published by Karen Traviss and since my book buying budget is limited these days, I don't expect to be able to purchase it anytime soon and my library may not get it.  There is a listing for the book, but I think it is back to when Going Gray had a traditional publisher and I'm not convinced the library will pull the trigger on it as a self published novel.  So, one day.  I hope Traviss has enormous success with the book, though.  Her Wess'har Wars were fantastic, and she has easily been my favorite Star Wars author when she was writing in that universe.  I haven't read her Gears of War or Halo novels, but that's entirely due to lack of universe familiarity.

12 out of 19, with two books not published.  That's not bad.

1. Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer (Feb)

2. Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega, by Joe Hill (Feb)

3. Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson (Mar)

4. Steles of the Sky, by Elizabeth Bear (Apr)

5. Valour and Vanity, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Apr)

6. King of Ashes, by Raymond E. Feist (May)

7. Cyador’s Heirs, by L. E. Modesitt, Jr (May)

8. Defenders, by Will McIntosh (May)

9. My Real Children, by Jo Walton (May)

10. Cibola Burn, by James S. A. Corey (Jun)

11. Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King (Jun)

12. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, by Genevieve Valentine (Jun)

13. One-Eyed Jack, by Elizabeth Bear (Aug)

14. Lock In, by John Scalzi (Aug)

15. Hawk, by Steven Brust (Sep)

16. Maplecroft, by Cherie Priest (Sep)

17. The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch (Nov)

18. Symbiont, by Mira Grant (Nov)

19. Going Gray, by Karen Traviss (Dec)

The Missing: 2014

I posted a similar list in the past, and I think it is worth posting a number of the books I didn't read in 2011.  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. Even strictly genre, I could probably grow triple this list with ease.  Let's just say that reading 135 books in a year doesn't get you as far as you might think, even if all you read were books published that year (which I didn't)

Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie
The Widow's House, by Daniel Abraham
Dead Man's Hand, by John Joseph Adams
One-Eyed Jack, by Elizabeth Bear
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
Cibola Burn, by James S. A. Corey
Afterparty, by Daryl Gregory
We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory
The Magician's Land, by Lev Grossman
Fool's Assassin, by Robin Hobb
Valour and Vanity, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The King's Deryni, by Katherine Kurtz
Prince of Fools, by Mark Lawrence
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
The Galaxy Game, by Karen Lord
The Three, by Sarah Lotz
Station Eleven, by Emily Mandel
Crown of Renewal, by Elizabeth Moon
The Adjacent, by Christopher Priest
The Causal Angel, by Hannu Rajaniemi
On the Steel Breeze, by Alastair Reynolds
The Memory Garden, by Mary Rickert
The Emperor's Blades, by Brian Staveley
Fish Tales, by Sheri Tepper
My Real Children, by Jo Walton
Echopraxia, by Peter Watts
The Martian, by Andy Weir

The Nine Best Reads of 2014

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 2014. 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 2014, this list is for the top books I read in 2014, no matter when the book was published. I'm also going to cheat a little and where a book overlaps with the previous list, I'm going to use most of the same text.  Because I'm lazy.


1. Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice won pretty much all the awards it could possibly win, and after all that, still managed to live up to the massive hype it inspired.  Ancillary Sword was a sequel that couldn't possibly live up to the first novel, yet, it did.  This is top notch science fiction and was, collectively, my favorite reads of 2014.  Bring on Ancillary Mercy!!

2. The Eternal Sky, by Elizabeth Bear: The Eternal Sky is comprised of Range of Ghosts, The Shattered Pillars, and Steles of the Sky.  It is epic fantasy that we don't see every day, with a very middle eastern and eastern flavor, but don't read this because it's good for you.  Read this because it's just friggin good.  Elizabeth Bear doesn't write bad books, and this is Bear at the top of her game. 

3. The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker: A beautiful and moving debut in turn of the century New York City, where the city feels almost as much of a character as the immigrant experience and the varied titular creatures also attempting to find both themselves and their way in a world very foreign from what they knew.  I'm not sure I can adequately capture just how good this book is.  It demands to be read.

4. Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer: The Southern Reach trilogy as a whole is strong, but Annihilation's introduction to Area X was what unnerved me the most and set the table for a meal I simply had to come back for. 

5. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot: The powerful and moving true story of a woman whose genetic information and her cells taken without her understanding did the world a lot of good, but Skloot explores the intersection of scientific advancement and personal consent by tracking the story of Henrietta Lacks.

6. The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley: Alternate "mirror" worlds, blood magic, and just insane worldbuilding.  The Mirror Empire is a kick in the balls of epic fantasy and it's friggin outstanding.  Easily one of my favorite reads of the year and one which has me damn near salivating at the thought of reading the second book next year. 

7. Hild, by Nicola Griffith: Griffith takes what little is known of the early life of St Hilda of Whitby and extrapolates one possible story of how a young "heathen" girl could become an abbess and adviser to bishops and kings.  Spectacular.

8. Sheepfarmer's Daughter, by Elizabeth Moon: I briefly considered having this spot be for the full Deed of Pasksenarrion trilogy, but I'm only 40 some pages into Oath of Gold and I don't see myself making sufficient enough progress in that third book to feel confident enough that it will live up to my expectations.  I think it will, but here Sheepfarmer's Daughter will do.  It is the opening novel in the trilogy and is very much the story of a young soldier just beginning her career - and how her being a young woman plays into it.  This is top notch fantasy, and easily worth discovering if you have not already done so.

9. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison: My only complaint about this book is that it is a standalone novel, which is something that I both appreciate and am frustrated by, because I very much want more of it.  On the other hand, a quality standalone fantasy novel is worth the price of admission.


Previous Best Reads
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2013

The Top Nine Books Published in 2014

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 2014. 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 2014 which I feel were the strongest titles of the year, popularity be damned. 


1. Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie: At any given moment, I could shuffle the top four books on this list and feel very comfortable with how everything landed.  But at this moment, Ancillary Sword feels the most like the book which should be at the top of this list.  After all of the hype and Ancillary Justice winning pretty much everything, Ancillary Sword had a lot of expectation to live up to.  It did, but it wasn't just Ancillary Justice Redux.  It advanced the story of the first novel but is very much its own thing.  It is a worthy successor to one of the best novels of 2013.

2. Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer: The Southern Reach trilogy as a whole is strong, but Annihilation's introduction to Area X was what unnerved me the most and set the table for a meal I simply had to come back for. 

3. The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley: Alternate "mirror" worlds, blood magic, and just insane worldbuilding.  The Mirror Empire is a kick in the balls of epic fantasy and it's friggin outstanding.  Easily one of my favorite reads of the year and one which has me damn near salivating at the thought of reading the second book next year. 

4. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison: My only complaint about this book is that it is a standalone novel, which is something that I both appreciate and am frustrated by, because I very much want more of it.  On the other hand, a quality standalone fantasy novel is worth the price of admission.

5. The Book of Unknown Americans, by Christina Henriquez: If there is ever a book that will help people re-think their views on illegal immigration and why the immigrants have come to America and the reasons why they might feel they have no choice to avoid the documented immigration system, it is this novel.  But, The Book of Unknown Americans is NOT a didactic polemic on the immigration system, but rather a fictional telling of very real stories of a small set of immigrants and what their lives were like before and now.  This is a beautiful book.

6. Hawk, by Steven Brust: I have finally caught up with the Vlad Taltos novels and Hawk is one of my favorites of a series I adore. It brought back so much of what was wonderful of those earliest Jhereg books - Vlad plotting and working a scheme and not telling nearly as much as he should, but doing so right under the nose of the Jhereg.  Wonderful. 

7. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, by Genevieve Valentine: This is the novel I didn't realize I always wanted Valentine to write. It is an outstanding novel of 1920's New York, with dance halls and speakeasies.

8. Defenders, by Will McIntosh: Go read a Will McIntosh novel. It doesn't matter which one, but you should be reading Will McIntosh.  Earth is invaded by mind-reading aliens. Humans create the "defenders" to defeat the aliens, but that causes a new round of problems.  Defenders is excellent, and so is everything else Will McIntosh has written.

9. Steles of the Sky, by Elizabeth Bear: The Eternal Sky trilogy is an impressive piece of epic fantasy, and one which uses a more Eastern setting than Western.  I've seen this described as Silk Road Fantasy, but whatever it is - it's damn good fantasy.  This is what we expect from Elizabeth Bear, and she continues to hit the mark.  Start with Range of Ghosts. 



Previous Best Ofs
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011

The Top Nine Author Discoveries of 2014

It seems I have not put together one of these lists in several years, the most recent being 2011.  My mistake. But, since we are coming to the end of another year, it's time to start reflecting on all of the awesome stuff that I've read throughout the year.  This has been a year for discovering authors I should have read twenty years ago, but for no reason I can articulate, did not.  It is also a year for discovering some of the hotter new authors. 

Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2014. 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. Ann Leckie: I've been familiar with Ann Leckie for years, having read her short fiction and eagerly following her excellent short fiction zine GigaNotoSaurus while she was the editor.  To that point, Leckie isn't really an author "discovery", but then came Ancillary Justice (my review) and the follow up Ancillary Sword and holy crap, you can still be absolutely blown away and amazed by this wonderful writer who you knew was good but still didn't see this coming.  That's Ann Leckie, and that's why she is still a discovery.

2. Rosemary Kirstein: I love discovering authors I should have been reading long ago, and sometimes I hate it.  I hate it because The Steerswoman (my review) is a friggin excellent novel and I feel like I've missed out on something by not having discovered this years ago.  I love it, because there are all these old "new" novels I haven't read before.  Either way, I am so happy that I discovered Rosemary Kirstein this year.  I've read The Steerswoman and The Outskirter's Secret and I am looking forward to the next two. 

3. Elizabeth Moon: Another writer I discovered much later than I would have liked, but unlike some of the others, I think I hit Moon at just the perfect time.  I don't know what my level of appreciation for Sheepfarmer's Daughter (my review) would have been years ago since it is mostly a grunt's level military fantasy novel.  Which is to say that I loved it, but like Glen Cook's The Black Company, I needed distance from my teenage years to appreciate it.  I am about to start the third Paksenarrion novel, Oath of Gold.  I'll be reading Elizabeth Moon for years now.

4. Kate Elliott: You know when you see a series of novels on a shelf for years (maybe fifteen years) and you think, "I should read that soon", but you wait another month and then another and then another year and then more time passes and you keep seeing the book and keep thinking "I should really read that, it looks awesome", but then you don't?  Then, some more years pass and you finally do read the book and you seriously get mad that you passed it over for more than a decade because the novel was stupid good and you can't wait to read the next one that you could have also read a decade ago?  Yeah, that's Kate Elliott and her Crown of Stars series which begins with King's Dragon.  I'm now two books in and I'm still pissed off I waited this long.  I feel like I should apologize to someone, but I'm not sure who. 

5. Katherine Addison: Despite being on my radar for years and years as Sarah Monette, I had never read any of her solo novels (I had read A Companion to Wolves (my review), which she wrote with Elizabeth Bear and it was excellent), but then The Goblin Emperor (my review) was published under the pseudonym of Katherine Addison and I finally picked up one of Sarah's novels.  It just felt like it was time and the book to read.  Folks, it is excellent and one of the best novels of 2014 (spoiler alert for my forthcoming Best Of list).

6. Wesley Chu: What can I say, I'm apparently a sucker for stories where aliens crash land on earth and inhabit humans as "hosts" and shape the direction of human history for their own purposes.  I'm sure I've read other books with that overall subject, but if not, Chu's Tao novels are still excellent on their own merit.  Start with the first book, The Lives of Tao (my review), continue on with The Deaths of Tao, and then wait eagerly for The Rebirths of Tao in April.  Do it now. 

7. Helene Wecker: Go read The Golem and the Jinni (my review).  If that is a debut novel, I can only imagine what Wecker's second novel will be like.  I can't wait. 

8. Tamora Pierce: I read Alanna just a couple of weeks ago.  It was published in 1983, and I swear to you that if I read that book when I was ten or twelve or fifteen years old instead of when I was thirty five, Tamora Pierce would be one of my favorite writers of all time.  I plan to read more of Pierce's work, but I feel like I really missed out on an opportunity to have a favorite writer hit me at just the right time.  I would have devoured Alanna as a teenager. 

9. Lois McMaster Bujold: It is weird to think that I met an author years before I ever read any of her work, and it is not because she wasn't published yet. I met Bujold the first year I attended Fourth Street Fantasy, had a very brief chat with her (not knowing yet who she was), and then never quite got around to reading any of the numerous novels she had published and won awards for.  And then I read Barrayar (my review) and wondered why in the world I hadn't been reading Bujold for years because it was a simply fantastic novel that I couldn't possibly read fast enough. 

Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011

Forthcoming Books: January - February - March 2015

Coming to the end of the year, it is time to look ahead towards some interesting stuff being published in the beginning of 2015.  I'm using the Locus Forthcoming list because even though it may not be exhaustive, it is a fairly representative list of what is coming out over the course of a year.  My list below is based simply on that which strikes my own fancy, and I'm sure I'm overlooking all sorts of excellent stuff that if only I knew more about it or was familiar with the author's work, I would be excited for it.  But, alas, I am not.

Later this month there will be the annual look at the books I am most excited for coming out any time next year, and you will see books slide from year to year to year depending on delays and such.  But for this post, it is just the first three months.


January: I am a book behind on the Tao series from Chu, but The Lives of Tao (my review) was a breath of fresh air in my reading.  Rebirths of Tao is volume three in the series, so I better get a move on.  I adored Jo Walton's Among Others, so at this point any new Walton is cause for celebration.

Rebirths of Tao, by Wesley Chu
The Just City, by Jo Walton


February: New Elizabeth Bear, which needs no explanation.  I thought the first Wastelands anthology was fantastic (my review) and I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic fiction.  I actually have the Kate Elliott collection on my Nook, so that's something I'll chip away at pretty soon.  And a new Kelly Link collection, which even though I'm not necessarily as big of a fan as many others, I think it is worth noting and worth reading.

Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse, by John Joseph Adams (editor)
Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear
The Very Best of Kate Elliott, by Kate Elliott
Get In Trouble, by Kelly Link


March: I'm a bit less excited by this month and I expect that what I read from March will be read months if not years down the line.  But, I'm two books into Peter Brett's series and I enjoyed them like a good 80's fantasy (my review of The Warded Man), Daryl Gregory's Pandemonium was excellent (my review) and I keep talking about his new books without reading them, and while I loved Bitter Seeds from Ian Tregillis (my review), I still haven't read anything else of his.

The Skull Throne, by Peter V. Brett
Harrison Squared, by Daryl Gregory
The Mechanical, by Ian Tregillis

Books Read: November 2014

The positive to take away from this is that I was able to get the post up on the first day of the month.  The negative is that I don't have any reviews to link up. I had anticipated only finishing nine or ten books, but I had a couple days at the very end where I powered through several.  I do count books that, for whatever reason, I was unable to finish.  I want to be able to record those as well. 


1. The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford, by Jean Stafford (unfinished)
2. The Way West, by A. B. Guthrie
3. As You Wish, by Cary Elwes
4. The Complete Peanuts: 1991-1992, by Charles M. Schulz
5. Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
6. Golden Fool, by Robin Hobb
7. Shouldn't You Be in School?, by Lemony Snicket
8. The Sapphire Rose, by David Eddings
9. Shattered Pillars, by Elizabeth Bear
10. Unlocked, by John Scalzi
11. Not That Kind of Girl, by Lena Dunham (unfinished)
12. Some Luck, by Jane Smiley
13. The Outskirter's Secret, by Rosemary Kirstein
14. Facing the Music, by Jennifer Knapp

Best Book of the Month: I am simply enamored with Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman books and I really want to see how she continues to develop this world - how the "magic" continues to be revealed as science.  I reviewed the first book, The Steerswoman, back in April.  The Outskirter's Secret is a worthy follow up. 

Disappointment of the Month: I've been chipping away at Lemony Snicket's prequel series to A Series of Unfortunate Events, but this latest entry was fairly dull and tedious.  Alternately, my tolerance for his particular style of writing was much lower than usual and I'm sure my child will love this book if he discovers it in five to ten years.  Or something. 

Discovery of the Month: No discoveries for November.

Unfinished of the Month:  There is nothing particularly wrong with Jean Stafford's Pulitzer Prize winning collection, but there was also nothing that made me want to read another story.  I read the first several, and then skipped ahead a few times.  Disinterest. 

Worth Noting: Fans of Jennifer Knapp's music or those who followed the Christian music scene in the late 90's and early 2000's may wish to check out her memoir, Facing the Music - which talks about her journey in and out (and in again) of the music industry, her faith, and her relationship with a woman (which is only notable because of how the Christian music industry and many churches treat homosexuality and as such, it becomes a significant part of her story).  I have been a big fan of Knapp's, once frequented the Alabaster Arts message boards, and I am more than thrilled to see her recording new music.  That her earlier "Christian" music spoke about her own doubts and struggles is what resonated with me and the continuing journey of her music speaks to me, still.  Plus, it's just damn good music.  Facing the Music is worth checking out.

Gender Breakdown: Of the fourteen books I read last month, eight were written by women, which may  mark the first month since I've been keeping track of this sort of thing that I have read more female authored books in a given month than those written by men.  This brings my total to 55/123 for the year (44.71%).  Looking at what I currently have out from the library, I expect December to be similar to November with a solid chance of a second month reading more books written by women.


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October

Books Read: October 2014

Once again, apologies for the tardiness of this post as well as the general lack of content.  I'd like to tell you that next year I'll have a consistent posting schedule (though I did well for a few months this year), but my wife and I are expecting our first kid in January and I'm pretty sure that will throw some kinks in the frequency of updates. 

No reviews to link, though I did start an Ancillary Sword review four times without figuring out just how to write about it.

1. The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith
2. Broken Monsters, by Lauren Buekes
3. Lock In, by John Scalzi
4. Acceptance, by Jeff VanderMeer
5. The Ruby Knight, by David Eddings
6. He Drank, and Saw the Spider, by Alex Bledsoe
7. Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
8. The Humans, by Matt Haig
9. My Life, by Li Na

Best Book of the Month: Ancillary Sword is not only the best book I read last month, it will surely be in contention for the best book of the year.  As good as Ancillary Justice was (my review), Ancillary Sword is better.  Different, but also better.  Dazzling. 

Disappointment of the Month: None, really.

Discovery of the Month: Also none.

Books and Bars of the Month: I read The Humans for book club, and I'm hoping that unlike the last few months, we're able to actually make it to be part of the conversation. I like the concept, and the book improved as it went on, but I don't know that I'd really recommend it.

Worth Noting: If you haven't been reading Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse novels and you'd like a different slice of fantasy like a detective novel set in a traditional medieval fantasy setting, you should really check these out. They begin with The Sword-Edged Blonde (my review) and the latest (He Drank, and Saw the Spider) might be the best of the bunch. 

Gender Breakdown: Of the nine books I read last month, four were written by women (Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J. K. Rowling).  This brings my total to 47/109 for the year.  I'm slowly creeping the percentage up to a 50/50 split, though I'm not quite sure I'll get there this year.



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2014 World Fantasy Award Winners

Via Tor.com

Congratulations to all the winners.

Novel

• Winner: Sofia Samatar, A Stranger in Olondria (Small Beer Press)
• Richard Bowes, Dust Devil on a Quiet Street (Lethe Press)
• Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (Tor Books)
• Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (William Morrow/Headline)
• Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni (Harper/Blue Door)
• Gene Wolfe, The Land Across (Tor Books)

Novella

• Winner: Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages “Wakulla Springs” (Tor.com, 10/13)
• Caitlín R. Kiernan Black Helicopters (Subterranean Press)
• KJ Parker “The Sun and I” (Subterranean magazine, Summer 2013)
• Veronica Schanoes “Burning Girls” (Tor.com, 6/13)
• Catherynne M. Valente, Six-Gun Snow White (Subterranean Press)

Short Story

• Winner: Caitlín R. Kiernan, “The Prayer of Ninety Cats” (Subterranean magazine, Spring 2013)
• Thomas Olde Heuvelt, “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket” (Tor.com, 4/13)
• Yoon Ha Lee, “Effigy Nights” (Clarkesworld, 1/13)
• Sofia Samatar, “Selkie Stories Are for Losers” (Strange Horizons, 1/13)
• Rachel Swirsky, “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” (Apex Magazine, 3/13)

Anthology

• Winner: George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, eds. Dangerous Women (Tor Books/Voyager UK)
• Kate Bernheimer, ed., xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths (Penguin Books)
• Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds. Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy (Tor Books)
• Stephen Jones, ed. Flotsam Fantastique: The Souvenir Book of World Fantasy Convention 2013 (Smith & Jones/PS Publishing)
• Jonathan Oliver, ed., End of the Road: An Anthology of Original Short Stories (Solaris Books)
• Jonathan Strahan, ed., Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy (Solaris Books)

Collection

• Winner: Caitlín R. Kiernan, The Ape's Wife and Other Stories (Subterranean Press)
• Nathan Ballingrud, North American Lake Monsters: Stories (Small Beer Press)
• Laird Barron, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories (Night Shade Books)
• Reggie Oliver, Flowers of the Sea (Tartarus Press)
• Rachel Swirsky, How the World Became Quiet: Myths of the Past, Present, and Future (Subterranean Press)

Artist

• Winner: Charles Vess
• Galen Dara
• Zelda Devon
• Julie Dillon
• John Picacio

Special Award—Professional

• Winner: Irene Gallo, for art direction of Tor.com
• Winner: William K. Schafer, for Subterranean Press
• John Joseph Adams, for magazine and anthology editing
• Ginjer Buchanan, for editing at Ace Books
• Jeff VanderMeer & Jeremy Zerfoss, for Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (Abrams Image)
  

Special Award—Non-professional

• Winner: Kate Baker, Neil Clarke & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
• Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Marc Aplin, for Fantasy-Faction
• Leslie Howle, for Clarion West administration
• Jerad Walters, for Centipede Press     

Winners of the Life Achievement Award were anounced last night:

• Ellen Datlow
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Underappreciated Authors: Part Two

Back in August I wrote about some authors I felt were a touch underappreciated, which really has nothing to do with sales numbers but rather with my perception.  I acknowledged that I may only be looking through a very narrow lens and all sorts of wonderful conversations are occurring in places I don't see, but that's the only lens I'm able to look through right now.

I knew then that I wanted to continue to highlight more writers who I have enjoyed, but don't too much conversation about.  

The first of those is Daniel Keys Moran.  I wrote a bit about Moran in 2007, which is to say that some time during high school I stumbled across The Long Run, the second novel in his Continuing Time setting (which had an ambitious 33 novels planned) and I was absolutely hooked.  I've come back to The Long Run from time to time over the years.  He has published seven novels, though only four in The Continuing Time.  Honestly, his fiction has been a bit hit or miss for me, but The Long Run was one great chase of a novel and The Last Dancer was solid and opened up the scope of the story he was telling.  I'd probably skip Emerald Eyes (or just understand that it's rather rough / raw compared to the next two).  I sound a bit conflicted about Moran, and I suppose I am, but I know that I'd be quite happy if he was able to keep publishing his Continuing Time novels because I would absolutely love to read them. 

The only work I've read from Jennifer Roberson is her multi-generational Chronicles of the Cheysuli series featuring a race of shape changing humans dealing with all sorts of prejudice, love, prophecy, lineage, and expectations.  Cheysuli is an 8 volume completed series and, if my memory serves from high school, is quite good and worth reading.  Years ago, Roberson announced she was going to write three additional Cheysuli novels (two interstitials and a prequel), but that they would be written after three other books which have not yet come to fruition.  Roberson is also the author of the Tiger and Del Sword-Dancer novels. 

Katherine Kurtz is most well known for the long running Deryni series, and has also written the Adapt and Templar series.  I first discovered her novels because of King Javan's Year and then the earlier set Camber of Culdi novels, and what I most appreciated was how Kurtz blended religion and magic - and the ceremonies and traditions of each.  The details were richly written and, despite the nastiness of what is going on, there is beauty in the description and in the faith. Wonderful, wonderful novels.  My preference is the earlier Camberian era novels and not the later set Kelson books.  Kurtz is wrapping up the Childe Morgan trilogy this coming December and with luck, she really will write the 948 novel or the Orin and Jodotha novel she hinted at years ago. 

Any writers you feel have not had enough attention these days?

Books Read: September 2014

All apologies for the delay in my monthly Books Read post and also for the overall lack of content.  There's been a number of things happening on the homefront.  First, we moved into our new house (from apartment), so there's been a plethora of home related items to take care of.  Second, I have a test coming up next week that I would really love to excel at, so that's been taking a good chunk of the remaining time.  Third, life's just been extra busy.

So, I'll probably need a little bit more time to sort this stuff out, but we're close to being through this busy patch.  After which, I'll resume the Memories Of series with Pern and Midkemia, plus at least one more after that.  We'll see.

The link below is to the one review I managed to write. 

1. Landline, by Rainbow Rowell
2. Bravo, by Greg Rucka
3. Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson
4. Hurricane Fever, by Tobias Buckell
5. The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley
6. Book of Iron, by Elizabeth Bear
7. The Diamond Throne, by David Eddings
8. Maplecroft, by Cherie Priest (unfinished)

Best Book of the Month: I was completely caught up in both The Mirror Empire and Words of Radiance.  If you're a fan of the massive tomes of more traditional epic fantasy, you really can't go wrong with Words of Radiance.  But in the same vein, I kept needing to know more about what's going on in The Mirror Empire.  I couldn't review it and do it justice, but that's a landmark fantasy that I hope will be recognized as such for some time.  There's a lot to unpack in it, but it's worth the effort.

Disappointment of the Month: This may be the only time I ever put one of Elizabeth Bear's books in the Disappointment category, but I struggled to engage with the novella.  Given that I nominated Bone and Jewel Creatures for the Hugo a few years back, it's not the setting of this prequel I struggled with.  I don't know.  Whatever it was, it's me.

Discovery of the Month: None.

Unfinished of the Month: I've plowed through most of Cherie Priest's novels, and there is seriously nothing wrong with Maplecroft, but I had to force myself to keep picking the book up.  I'll give this one another try in the future.

Worth Noting: David Eddings, man.  Writing up the Memories of Riva column had me feeling nostalgic and while I'm still not sure the Belgariad will hold up for me, The Diamond Throne mostly did.  Mostly. So much of the book is obvious, but it's good fun if you don't think too much about what's going on or examine any of the issues too seriously.  But for Eddings, it's damn near adult and it's a piece of my teenage years that happily I can still enjoy.  I'll finish up the Elenium before putting Eddings back to bed, possibly for good. 

Gender Breakdown: Four of the eight novels I read (or attempted to read) were written by women. Half isn't bad, though I suppose one could argue with me over Maplecroft.  This brings me to 43/100 for the year. 


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