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Link to the disclaimer and part 1.
Tia (Fantasy Debut) composed a list of best fantasy debuts that she read in 2008 (the books weren't necessarily published that year). Among others she mentions "The Outback Stars" (Sandra McDonald, best romance), "The Sellsword" (Cam Banks, best surprise romance), "The Name of the Wind" (Patrick Rothfuss, best character development story), "Elom" (William H. Drinkard, best sf epic), "Black Ships" (Jo Graham, best historical fantasy) and "The Sword-Edged Blonde" by Alex Bledsoe as her overall favorite debut. You are now well versed, I hope, in what to do if you are interested in the rest of her 'best of' list (=follow the link).Joe Sherry from Adventures in Reading - he is the only person I feel almost obliged to reffer to with name and last name (don't ask me why, because I don't know either) - was a busy-little-bee and compiled three different lists; the first one is about his top nine books that were published in 2008, the second one lists his nine best reads of 2008 and the final one elaborates on top nine authors he discovered in 2008. The best nine books he read are as follows: (1) "Shadow Unit: Season One" (Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, Sarah Monette, and Amanda Do
wnum; an ongoing story that is available online), (2) "The Stratford Man" (Elizabeth Bear), (3) "Blade of Tyshalle" & "Caine Black Knife" (Matthew Stover, the second and the third book of "Acts of Caine" saga), (4) "War of the Oaks" (Emma Bull), (5) "Not Flesh Nor Feathers" (Cherie Priest), (6) "The Armageddon Rag" (GRRM), (7) "The Uglies Series" (Scott Westerfeld, YA), (8) "Little Brother" (Cory Doctorow, YA sf) and (9) "Wastelands" (ed.John Joseph Adams, SF anthology). Top nine books published in 2008 as seen by Joe Sherry are: (1) "The Stratford Man" (Elizabeth Bear), (2) "Caine Black Knife" (Matthew Stover), (3) "Little Brother" (Cory Doctorow), (4) "Wastelands" (ed.John Joseph Adams), (5) "Zoe's Tale" (Joe Scalzi), (6) "Fast Ships, Black Sails" (ed.Ann and Jeff Vandermeer), (7) "The Best of Lucius Shepard" (Lucius Shepard, Shepard's retrospective of short stories), (8) "Before They Are Hanged" (Joe Abercrombie) and (9) "Order 66" (Karen Traviss, Star Wars tie-in). Top nine authors Joe Sherry discovered in 2008 are Emma Bull, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Westerfeld, Ellen Klages, Nancy Kress, L.Timmel Duchamp, Nick Mamantas, Liz Williams and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. Check the links for the commentiaries on his choices and all that.
SFSignal (if you are a fan of speculative fiction you should follow this site, period) and it's MIND MELD articles are one of the best things out there, so make sure you don't miss "MIND MELD: The Best Genre-Related Books/Films/Shows Consumed in 2008 (Part I, Part II and Part III)". In these articles there are some recognisable names extrapolating on the topic of the article. Some of the many books mentioned are: "Thunderer" (Felix Gilman), "Spin" (R.C.Wilson), "Zoe's Tale" (John Scalzi), "The Alchemy of Stone" (Ekaterina Sedia), "Staked" (Jeremy Lewis), "Mainspring" (Jay Lake), "Halo" (Tobias S.Buckell), "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" (David Wrobliewski), "Fast Forward 2" (ed.Lou Anders, short story collection), "Muse of Fire" (Dan Simmons, novella), "The Well-Built City Trilogy" (Jeffrey Ford), "Ink and Steel" and "Hell and Earth" (Elizabeth Bear), "The Steel Remains" (Richard Morgan), "River of Gods" (Ian McDonald), "Little Brother" (Cory Doctorow), "Debatable Space" (Philip Palmer), "The Domino Men" (Jonathan Barnes), "The Blue War" (Jeffrey Thomas), "The House of Suns" (Alastair Reynolds), "Binding Energy" (Daniel Marcus, short story collection), "Pump Six and Other Stories" (Paolo Bacigalupi, short story collection), "The Graveyard Book" (Neil Gaiman), "Singularity Ring" (Paul Melko), "Spin" (Robert Charles Wilson), "Song of Kali" (Dan Simmons), "Very Hard Choice
s" (Spider Robinson), "The Android's Dream" (John Scalzi), "Sly Mongoose" (Tobias S.Buckell), "The Golden Chord" (Paul Genesee), "The Thirteenth Reality" (James Dashner), "Ten Stigmas" (Paul Melko, short story collection), "The Innocent Mage" and "The Awakened Mage" (Karen Miller), "Implied Spaces" (Walter Jon Williams), "Tooth and Claw" (Jo Walton), "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings" (S.M. Stirling), "Old Man's War" (John Scalzi), "The Lies of Locke Lamora" (Scott Lynch), "Elantris" (Brandon Sanderson), "The New Weird" and "Steampunk" (ed.Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, short story collections), "The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy" (ed.Ellen Datlow, short story collection), "The Drowned Life" (Jeffrey Ford, short story collection), "Shadowbridge" and "Lord Tophet" (Gregory Frost) etc. (Note that not all books were actually released, only read, in 2008). Last but not least, John's (the guy who runs the site) 'best of': "Rollback" (Robert J. Sawyer), "Laika" (Nick Abadzis), "Spectrum 14" (ed.Cathy and Arnie Fenner), "The Lathe of Heaven" (Ursula K. LeGuin), "Little Brother" (Cory Doctorow), "The Affinity Bridge" (George Mann), "Necroscope" (Brian Lumley), "Planet of the Apes" (Pierre Boulle) and "The Watchmen" (Alan Moore)...more.
If Pat has his 'Hotties' than Blood of the Muse has its 'Bloodies' (no wonder then, that Pat's Fantasy Hotlist recieved the Bloodie for 'best speculative fiction blog'; 'best reviews', accordingly to the Blood of the Muse, are written by the guys at Fantasy Book Critic - congrats). Bloodies cover many categories so I'll just stick to the major ones: Charlie Huston ("Every Last Drop") is 'the most underappreciated author', Tobias Buckell ("Sly Mongoose") is 'the most improved author', Brent Weeks ("The Way of Shadows") is 'the best new author', Scott Bakker ("Neuropath" and "The Prince of Nothing" series) is 'the best writer in overall', "The Steel Remains" (Richard Morgan) was 'the most disappointing novel' for Paul, "The Ten Thousand" (Paul Kearny) was 'the most surprising novel' in 2008, 'best debut' was "The Way of Shadows" (Brent Weeks), award for 'the best urban fantasy' novel goes to "Every Last Drop" by Charlie Huston, 'best sf novel' of 2008 is "Sly Mongoose" (Tobias Buckell), 'Bloodie' for ' the best fantasy novel' goes to "Last Argument of Kings" (Joe Abercrombie) and 'the best novel of them all' is "Neuropath" by Scott Bakker (Bloodies stay true to Hotties here). Blood of the Muse's top reads of 2008 are as follows: (1) "Neuropath" (Scott Bakker), (2) "Last Argument of Kings" (Joe Abercrombie), (3) "The Given Day" (Dennis Lehane), (4) "Every Last Drop" (Charlie Huston), (5) "The Ten Thousand" (Paul Kearney), (6) "Sly Mongoose" (Tobias Buckell), (7) 
"The Way of Shadows", "Shadow’s Edge" and "Beyond the Shadows" (Brent Weeks), (8) "Busted Flush" (ed.George R.R.Martin), (9) "The January Dancer" (Michael Flynn) and finally (10) "The Company" (K.J. Parker). For more, visit Blood of the Muse.Dark Wolf's 'Top 10' 2008 reads are: (1) "The Shadow of the Wind" (Carlos Ruiz Zafon), (2) "Through a Glass, Darkly" (Bill Hussey), (3) "The Darkness That Comes Before" (Scott Bakker), (4) "The Name of the Wind" (Patrick Rothfuss), (5) "Winterbirth" and "Bloodheir" (Brian Ruckley), (6) "The Inferior" (Peadar Ó Guillin), (7) "The Warded Man" (Petter V.Brett, alt.title "The Painted Man"), (8) "The Secret History of Moscow" (Ekatarina Sedia), (9) "The Last Wish" (Andrzej Sapkowski) and at number (10) there is "Night of Knives" by Ian C.Esslemont.
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To be contiuned...
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2 Comments:
It's all part of this giant conspiracy to get everyone saying my name. ;)
Say my name, say my name, when no one is around you, say baby I love you, why the sudden change. Say my name, say my name... :D
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