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| The long awards season is upon us already - Locus has just opened up the voting for their 2012 awards (for 2011 books - voting is open to non-subscribers). Here's another version of the list, this one with links to Amazon for each book.
For my part, 2011 hasn't felt like one of the better years in F&SF, but I've only read 26 2011 books to date, so perhaps my opinion will change. My favorite book so far is Jo Walton's Among Others - a wonderfully nostalgic book that is in part about the joys of discovering science fiction as a child. Catherynne M. Valente also has had another great year.
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| Heh, I was about to post a link to recommended reading list. I have not read any but am looking forward to reading the Egan and Vinge. | |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Hey, sorry for taking so long to reply! We've got the 2012 long list in the works to add to the site. The images are all ready and we'll be adding the books to the database in the next couple days. We're shy about 40 books right now across the SF, Fantasy, YA and First Novel categories. I'll post the list here and in the blog when we're done. Thanks for pointing us to the list. I missed the release somehow. | |
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| I see you've been hard at work adding books - thanks! 
My February copy of Locus arrived yesterday and there were some interesting tidbits in it.
One thing was that the editor-in-chief, Liza Trombi, bemoaned the fact that Stephenson's Reamde wasn't viewed as "skiffy" enough to be included. I suppose they may be right, but there was enough for me to count it as genre.
Another was that Jonathan Strahan confirmed my feelings that 2011 wasn't a stellar year, saying "I can't help but feel that it was a good all-around for science fiction and fantasy, but not a great one".
Lastly, was the almost shocking omission of Haruki Murakami's 1Q84. I skimmed through the 2011 discussions and didn't see even a mention of it. I'm about a quarter of the way through it, and it promises to be his best so far, and perhaps one of the all-time greats. | |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | 1Q84 was certainly one of the "books of the year" for me, but I didn't think the third book lived up to the promise of the first two, and it doesn't end up at the top of my list of favorite Murakami novels. The Locus list comes about through discussion among the magazine's reviewers and editors, and it wouldn't surprise me if none of them got around to reading it. I don't recall it being reviewed in Locus when it came out (but I might be wrong about that...).
Another book which did get a rave review in Locus (I think it was Letson), but didn't show up on the list is Rudy Rucker's Jim and the Flims, which was another favorite of mine last year. Recommended to anyone with a taste for the psychedelic...
And I agree with Engelbrecht that Jo Walton's Among Others was another highlight of the year. Given that it's gotten quite a bit of attention, and that it's a fantasy novel whose protagonist is a science fiction fan of a certain age, might this not be a good bet for the Hugo?
I'd be glad to hear other 2011 recommendations to add to my growing reading list... Already there are Home Fires, Embassytown, Osama, and Leviathan Wakes... And my wife made me put 11/22/63 on there, but I haven't read any Stephen King since 1980... | |
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| Rucker never did that much for me but maybe I'll give him another try.
A couple of 2011 books that weren't on the Locus lists but that were pretty good were Thomas Mullen's The Revisionists, Graham Joyce's The Silent Land, and Matthew Hughes' The Other (he channels Jack Vance when he writes and does it very well).
Books on the list that I've liked so far are Heart of Iron, Dancing With Bears, Vortex, Home Fires, The Magician King, Deathless, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Mechanique and The Bible Repairman. Leviathan Wakes was just so-so and Embassytown was disappointing, as was Vernor Vinge's The Children of the Sky.
A couple of 2011 books that I haven't read yet but am looking forward to are Victor Pelevin's Hall of the Singing Caryatids (a new Pelevin is always cause for celebration!!) and Titus Awakes, even though it's mostly by Maeve Gilmore, Peake's widow.
As for the Hugo, that's a hard one. I'd like to see Among Others win, but it's a pretty quiet novel and I'm not sure how widely read it's been. But there isn't much competition from the usual suspects this year, so maybe so...
Edited by Engelbrecht 2012-02-10 6:35 PM
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Hey, we finally finished adding the missing books from the Locus list. Happy reading! Novels – Science Fiction Novels – Fantasy Young Adult Books First Novels | |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | @Engelbrectht: If Rucker's not your cup of tea, this one isn't likely to change your mind, though I do think it's one of his best. It hasn't gotten much attention, though--people seem to be more interested in his autobiography, which was just released.
You reminded me that Dancing with Bears should be on my list, and Pelevin looks intriguing (he's new to me).
Moorcock has given a nice review to Titus Awakes...
@everybody: I'd be happy to see more recommendations from those who've read books on this list... | |
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Location: SC, USA | Scott,
I have not read any of the books on the list yet. However, several of them were already on my TBR list: Embassytown, Akata Witch, Ready Player One, The Tiger's Wife and The Night Circus. I've added The Islanders, Mr. Fox, and Professor Moriarty because of their addition here.
So many books....so little time.
Rhonda | |
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| Scott,
You were right about 1Q84's third book - disappointing , and the ending was so banal. Still, it was a very worthwhile read. The Pelevin was very good - not as good as his full length novels, but you don't really expect as much depth from novellas.
I've gotten off to a head start on 2012 reading with Ben Marcus' The Flame Alphabet, but it was hugely disappointing. It seems that the more accessible he becomes, the worse he writes. It took him ten years to come up with this one - I won't be holding my breath for the next. | |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Thanks, Rhonda & Engelbrecht! That Ben Marcus book seem to be pretty polarizing, from the reviews I've seen. It seems like the sort of thing I'd like, but it's moving down the list... The Islanders and Akata Witch are going onto the list. Rhonda: your blog post makes Okorafor sound like a writer I should try... Another one I'm adding, after hearing good things, is God's War by Kameron Hurley. | |
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| @Scott: I took your recommendation and read Rucker's Jim and the Flims. I liked it, in fact it's the best of his I've read, but I can't help feeling that he's something of a one-note author. It was fun though!
Some more 2011 reads:
MacLeod's Wake up and Dream was very good. It's a noir alternate history featuring Clark Gable as a down-at-the-heels private eye. The noir aspect is quite well done and the plot keeps turning in unexpected directions, but the ending doesn't quite fulfill the high expectations. Still quite a good read. I wanted to like Jones' The Desert of Souls much more than I did - the promised Arabian Night feeling just never quite clicked for me (try, say, Marion F. Crawford's Khaled or Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road for much more successful efforts), and the plot and characterization didn't really work for me either. Still, it wasn't a bad book, just one that underperformed, so to speak. And Chuck Palahniuk's Damned was weak - it's like he's running on fumes.
Sherman's The Freedom Maze was excellent. I was a little leery of this one going into it, thinking that it might be a little too PC or something (it's about a teenage girl who time-travels to an antebellum South), but it was handled in a very believable fashion, with great characterization. I enjoyed it more than McDonald's Planesrunner, which had a high gee-whiz quotient, but which felt a bit thin in comparison. But I'm still looking forward to the sequel! McHugh's After the Apocalypse was also great. A fine collection of compulsively readable stories with only one clinker in the bunch. I didn't particularly care for Ryman's Paradise Tales, which surprised me, as I really like most of his novels.
Moving on to 2012, I loved Caitlin R. Kiernan's The Drowning Girl. It's savagely beautiful with something of an Angela Carter/Margo Lanagan thing going on. Look for this one to appear near the top of a lot of the best of 2012 lists. | |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Thanks, Engelbrecht. I'm glad you liked the Rucker book. I suppose it's the sameness of his work that kept this one from getting much recognition. Maybe he's at the point where he's been given up on by all but his fans.
I was just listening to the "Coode Street" podcast this morning, and both Gary K. Wolfe and Peter Straub argued that The Drowning Girl is a "masterpiece," so it looks like you're right about the critical acclaim! I'm not big on horror, but it sounds like Kiernan has moved way beyond that label. So, yet one more to add to the list! McHugh and MacLeod are already on it.
Speaking of Arabian-style adventure-fantasy (and 2012 books), Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon is getting quite a bit of praise.
Having gone through the new Locus upcoming books list, a dozen more due this year that caught my eye:
Paolo Bacigalupi: The Drowned Cities (May)
Kage Baker: Best of (April)
Terry Bisson: Any Day Now (March)
Greg Egan: The Eternal Flame (September)
Jeffrey Ford: Crackpot Palace (August)
Ursula LeGuin: Selected Stories (2 volumes, December)
Ian McDonald: Be My Enemy (September)
Hannu Rajaniemi, The Fractal Prince (September)
Alastair Reynolds, Blue Remembered Earth (June)
Kim Stanley Robinson, 2312 (May)
Robert Sheckley: Store of the Worlds (April)
John Varley: Slow Apocalypse (September)
And getting back to the original topic of this thread, I still need to vote in those Locus Awards, but there are a couple of more things Id like to read first (just finished Leviathan Wakes--OK, but not award-worthy)
Edited by Scott Laz 2012-03-18 5:40 PM
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| Scott, thanks for the Coode Street info - that's a great resource. I listened to that same podcast and got a lot out of it. If only I had more time to listen through all the older podcasts... Yes, not much more time to get ready for the Locus voting - I think it's April 15th, tax day. Some other 2012 books I'm looking forward to are: - Ian M. Banks: The Hydrogen Sonata (Oct)
- Lois McMaster Bujold: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Nov)
- Mary Gentle: The Black Opera (May)
- Felix Gilman: Rise of Ransom City (Nov)
- Graham Joyce: Some Kind of Fairy Tale (Jul)
- Tim Powers: Hide Me Among the Graves (Mar)
- Ekaterina Sedia: The Greatest Show on Earth (Sep)
Lots of good stuff coming out towards the end of the year!
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Locus Award 2012