So long…and thanks for all the books

Time to put theforgottengeek on hiatus methinks. 2017 has been an exceptional year for my blog in terms of readership and my own personal development, but I think for now, after 215 posts, it’s time to give it a rest.

With that in mind, and my penchant for reflection, I thoughts I’d pick out some highlights from my time writing the blog. My best moment, personally, was my interview with Jeff Noon (albeit via email). He spotted my tweet about me enjoying his latest book, A Man of Shadows, and agreed to answer a few questions as a result. My most read review from 2017 was Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. For some reason, when I review her work, it seems to do very well on my hits. My missive on Sarah Lotz’ The Three is the most viewed review overall, followed by Micromégas by Voltaire.

My History of Science Fiction Literature section has been fairly successful, and I’ve reviewed and analysed 35 books from 1516 (Utopia) to 1950 (Cities in Flight). I’ve wondered about crowdfunding it into a collected book, or even self-publishing. Maybe one day…?

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to look at the gender distribution of the books I’ve read over the last few years. In the charts below, the inner ring is the male authors, and the outer is the female. I try not to chose my books on anything other than what I want to read, regardless of gender, but I find it disappointing that I with the exception of 2016 (25 male, 23 female) I don’t get close to parity.

I do like that fact my reading is not restricted to white English speakers however. I’ve enjoyed books from South Africans (Lauren Beukes), Italians (Niccola Ammaniti), Mexicans (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), Barbadians (Karen Lord), Nigerians (Nnedi Okorafor), Germans (Juli Zeh) and others.

But without further ado, here are my top 10 books that I’ve read since I began this blog, which was 2011, when I had a total of 1,080 views of my 25 posts.

The Year of the Ladybird	Graham Joyce	2013
The Humans	Matt Haig	2013
The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Neil Gaiman	2013
The Death House	Sarah Pinborough	2015
Bete	Adam Roberts	2014
A Tale for the Time Being	Ruth Ozeki	2013
All the Birds in the Sky	Charlie Jane Anders	2016
The Thing Itself	Adam Roberts	2015
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August	Claire North	2014
Europe in Autumn	Dave Hutchinson	2014

 

And then the rest up to number 50, in order of publication date:

Seven Wonders	Adam Christopher	2012
The Dog Stars	Peter Heller	2012
Some Kind of Fairy Tale	Graham Joyce	2012
Redemption in Indigo	Karen Lord	2012
Jack Glass	Adam Roberts	2012
Alif the Unseen	G. Willow Wilson	2012
The Method	Juli Zeh	2012
Lexicon	Max Barry	2013
The Shining Girls	Lauren Beukes	2013
The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf	Martin Millar	2013
The Adjacent	Christopher Priest	2013
The Machine	James Smythe	2013
The Golem and the Jinni	Helene Wecker	2013
The People in the Trees	Hanya Yanagihara	2013
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet	Becky  Chambers	2014
The Book of Strange New Things	Michel Faber	2014
Cuckoo Song	Frances Hardinge	2014
Tigerman	Nick Harkaway	2014
The Three	Sarah Lotz	2014
Descent	Ken MacLeod	2014
Station Eleven	Emily St. John Mandel	2014
A Man Lies Dreaming	Lavie Tidhar	2014
The Girl in the Road	Monica Byrne	2015
Europe at Midnight	Dave Hutchinson	2015
Signal to Noise	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	2015
The Book of Phoenix	Nnedi Okorafor	2015
Arcadia	Iain Pears	2015
Way Down Dark	J.P. Smythe	2015
The Seed Collectors	Scarlett Thomas	2015
The Power	Naomi Alderman	2016
The Race	Nina Allan	2016
A Closed and Common Orbit	Becky  Chambers	2016
Europe in Winter	Dave Hutchinson	2016
The Rift	Nina Allan	2017
Anna	Niccola Ammaniti	2017
A Man of Shadows	Jeff Noon	2017
The End of the Day	Claire North	2017
The Essex Serpent	Sarah Perry	2017
La Belle Sauvage	Philip Pullman	2017
The Underground Railway	Colson Whitehead	2017

 

So farewell for now…and thanks for all the fish books.

Some cultural comment from the previous bit since the last bit

Time for my annual missive on all things books, movies, TV and comics that I’ve enjoyed this year. It’s been a year of old favourite and new discoveries. So let’s start with my year in books, as Goodreads would put it.

At the turn of the year, which as been pretty much a cultural hellhole, I was midway through my Winter of Weird – an attempt to read 100+ short stories in 100 days. I didn’t quite manage it and it had a disappointing lack of effect on my psyche. I also finished off the magnificent Europe trilogy from the prescient Dave Hutchinson.

I knew that Philip Pullman was returning to Lyra’s world in 2017 so I re-read (again), His Dark Materials in preparation. I also revisited another old favourite from John Connelly and it seemed appropriate to re-read Nineteen Eighty-Four as well. I also picked up a Terry Pratchett for the first time in the shape of Mort. I did enjoy it but I wouldn’t say I was wowed. This year also so an interest in shorter fiction. As well as a couple of collections that I helped crowdfund – Haunted Futures and 2084 ­(reviews here and here) – I read and enjoyed a few novellas this year. Special mention to Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. Looking forward to reading the rest of her works.

So, not including short fiction or re-reads, these are my favourite novels of the last year (in order of reading):

• Europe in Winter – Dave Hutchinson
• The Power – Naomi Alderman
• The Gradual – Christopher Priest
• The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry
• The Rift – Nina Allan
• The Underground Railway – Colson Whitehead
• Crosstalk – Connie Willis
• A Man of Shadows – Jeff Noon
• Anna – Niccolo Ammaniti
• The Book of Dust – Philip Pullman.

 

And out of those, my absolute favourite was…not sure. Both the Allan and the Priest were remarkable in their own ways, both in terms of theme and structure. I really liked how they mess with the reader’s perception of time. And the Noon does the same with the sense of place. Colson Whitehead’s book, while not quite genre – despite winning genre awards – is a brilliantly written story that really boiled my blood.

Honourable mentions to Our Memory Like Dust by Gavin Chait as it had an unusual style to it that I very much appreciated.

In terms of non-fiction, a bit of a mixed bag in terms of content. I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Liptrott’s The Outrun and made me want to visit the Orkneys. I was informed and educated by AC Grayling on democracy (Democracy and its Crisis), by Naomi Klein on Tr*mp (No is not enough) and on existential philosophers by Sarah Bakewell (At the existentialist café). I used to read a lot of politics and philosophy and I want to get back into the habbit.

I am indebted to a couple of podcasts for introducing me to various titles this year, both read and added to my to-read list: Bookshambles and Backlisted. Check them out.

 

Now to comics. A mixed year. Nothing amazing has crossed my path, although I finally caught up with Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority which I really enjoyed. Highlights are probably Paper Girls, Injection, The Dying and the Dead, Kill or be Killed, The Vision, 2016’s Jessica Jones run, Monstress and the 2015 runs of Scarlett Witch and All new Hawkeye. Promising new work from Image looks to be Evolution, although I’ve only read issue #1. I’ve been reading most of my comics on digital this year, but I’m itching to pick up some physical collected editions…

Visual media and TV. This was the year when Buffy celebrated its 20^th anniversary, so I ploughed through the early seasons at the time. I’ve also started watching the very first season of The Twilight Zone which is hammy but fun. I thought Defenders was good but not brilliant and I really enjoyed Star Trek Discovery. Other enjoyment was found in Better Call Saul, iZombie, Capaldi’s last (and his best) season as Doctor Who (and very much looking forward to the new Doctor), Blue Planet II, the unbelievably daring Preacher and of course the brilliant The Handmaid’s Tale. Biggest disappointment was, of course, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams. Boring! Santa Clarita Diet was appallingly unfunny and Iron Fist was just dull.

I’m looking forward to catching up with American Gods, the new Twin Peaks, Westworld and Legion.

I’ve seen 49 films for the first time this year, both on DVD and cinema, which is a good haul I think. From the reboot of Ghostbuster to the recent Star Wars: The Last Jedi I’ve seen some terrific movies. My top 15 are:

• A Monster Calls – heartbreaking
• Baby Driver – entertaining
• Bladerunner 2049 – awesome
• Colossal – unusual
• Get Out – brilliant
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 – amusing
• Logan – brutal
• Sightseers – dark
• Spider-Man: Homecoming – enjoyable
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – intriguing
• The Death of Stalin – black
• The Girl with all the Gifts – startling
• The Red Turtle – beautiful
• Train to Busan – horrific
• Under the Shadow – creepy

Favourite – possibly A Monster Calls tied with Get Out and Bladerunner. Mentions to the non-genre I, Daniel Blake which I wouldn’t call entertaining but was certainly powerful and timely. I did enjoy Netflix’s Okja which also was a message movie. The Love Witch and Wonder Woman were also very engaging.

So that is my round up. I hope to read more new and original fiction in the coming months, but I’ve also got some interesting non-fiction on my pile. Here’s too the artists and the creators and the educators!

Update on the The History of Science Fiction Literature Challenge

I began to think about, and write about, significant books in the history of science fiction in August 2011. I originally came up with 40 books I believed would fit the bill. Later thoughts and explorations increased this list significantly. Some I’ve wanted to read I’ve not been able to track down, such as an English translation of René Barjavel’s Ravages (1943). As I’ve been going, I’ve added a few more here and there I’d not previously considered. My mind is like an algorithm – I’ve read this so I should probably read that.

The modern world, eh. Anyway…

My project is taking a lot longer than I expect, mostly because I’m easily distracted – see my Fav Re-reads posts, reading all of Vonnegut’s books and my Winter of Weird, for example. Plus people keep writing and publishing new books which I feel like I should read every now and then. Sometimes I wish they’ all stop it, just for a year or two so I can catch up. And of course I review for this site and that one too.

Fittingly perhaps, as I pause for reflection, from Utopia (1516) to Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), I’ve read 67 works which I feel have significance in the history and development of science fiction literature. My next choice is Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance, as my reading enters the 1950s. It occurs to me now, that there are probably dozens of significant and classic science fiction books being published every year. My choices have been reasonably arbitrary based on a little research and a little knowledge. Just look at some of the books published in the 1950s that I have already read:

• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)
• A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1958)
• Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
• More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon (1953)
• Shadow on the Hearth by Judith Merril (1950)
• Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
• The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1951)
• The Death of Grass by John Christopher (1956)
• The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1952)
• The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov (1951-1953)
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)
• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (1959)
• The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl (1952)
• Etc, etc…

There’s no way I could read every relevant book for this project. So what I’ve decided to do, because otherwise this would take forever, and ever and ever, is to just pick 4 or 5 books from each decade that I haven’t read before (which thankfully narrows the list down a fair bit). Although I’m sure some will see this list below and yell at me for not reading them so far. Well, I’ve been busy will all the other books and comics and films and life and stuff. So shhh now (and yes I did work in a public library).

Anyway, here’s my final list:

1. Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance (1950)
2. Cities in Flight by James Blish (1950)
3. The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (1955)
4. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957) – maybe, if I can face it.
5. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)
6. La Planete des singes by Pierre Boule (1963)
7. Witch World by Andre Norton (1963)
8. The Einstein Intersection by Samual Delany (1967)
9. Pavane by Keith Roberts (1968)
10. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolf (1972) – maybe, as there are 2 Wolf books here and I really want to read the other one…
11. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)
12. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1976)
13. Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979)
14. Ridley Walker by Russel Hoban (1980)
15. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf (1980)
16. Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh (1982)
17. Dawn by Octavia Butler (1987)
18. Grass by Sherri Tepper (1989)
19. Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (1991)
20. China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1992)

I’ve stopped here because I’ve reached 20. It’ll be a few more years before I reach this point and I’ll see where I am then, in terms of this project.

 

 

82 Weird stories in 93 days

So, in the 93 days since 31 October I’ve managed to read 82 stories from weird fiction compendium The Weird. So odds are that I won’t read the remaining stories in the next 7 days. But hey, I’ll keep ploughing on. There’s actually 110 anyway, so I think they’ll be done by end of February. I’m a little disappointed, to be honest. I thought the process would affect me more. The stories themselves haven’t penetrated me the way I thought they might. Sure, I’ve been inspired and I’ve wrote a short story myself, one that I’d hope would be classified as weird.

I’d kinda hoped that weirdness might infect my dreams and my waking thoughts. I’d wondered if imaginations of ghosts and aliens, strange cities and nightmare futures would creep into the corners of my vision. But nada. Nothing. Not a peep. Not a nightmare. Not a strange dream or an odd occurrence. Damn fiction for promising so much and delivering so little.

I’ve not really ‘discovered’ potential new authors yet. There’ve been a couple who’ve piqued my interest enough to investigate further. Elizabeth Hand and Kathe Koja among them. I enjoyed the imagination and description of Hand’s story, and her prose style generally and the passion and oddness of Koja’s. I’d already planned to read some more Robert Aickman.

But still, as a collection of short stories, there’s been plenty to enjoy. So with 28 stories remaining, here are some of my favourites thus far:

Algernon Blackwood, The Willows, 1907

Daphne Du Maurier, Don’t Look Now, 1971

Donald Wollheim, Mimic, 1942

Elizabeth Hand, The Boy in the Tree, 1989

Paul Wilson, Soft, 1984

Garry Kilworth, Hogfoot Right and Bird-hands, 1987

George R.R. Martin, Sandkings, 1979

Karen Joy Fowler, The Dark, 1991

Kathe Koja, Angels in Love, 1991

M.R. James, Casting the Runes, 1911

Ryunosuke Akutagawa, The Hell Screen, 1917

 

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Daphne_du_Maurier.jpg

Welcome to my Winter of Weird

So this is the plan. Read 110 short stories from The Weird over a period of about 100 days, which should lead to mid-February. Why? Well why not! It’s Halloween and I fancy setting myself a challenge. I’ll be blogging about it as I go, occasionally reviewing a story, occasionally commenting on the experience.

What is The Weird? I was given it as a gift a few years ago and I’ve dipped into occasionally, but not read the whole lot. Edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, it contains 110 short stories covering just over a century (1908 to 2010) of weird fiction. Lots of ‘deca’ notation going on here. Weird fiction might be described as a bit indescribable. Apparently, Lovecraft himself came up with the term, but I guess it really is that area of speculative fiction that can’t be described as horror, science fiction or fantasy. It is something ‘other’.

I’m hoping to discover, amongst all other considerations, a few new authors to explore from this collection. If read a few of the stories here, such as the Lovecraft, Gaiman, Miéville, Barker, Carter and others, and I am of course, familiar with many of the writers presented in this glorious collection. There are other authors that I know but have not read (Michael Chabon, Karen Joy Fowler, Lucius Shepard, Robert Bloch and Daphne Du Maurier – looking forward to reading Don’t Look Now especially – for example) but there are dozens of authors that I’ve not come across: Jerome Bixby, T.M. Wright, Kelly Link, Donald Wollheim, Reza Negarestani, Marc Laidlaw, Fritz Leiber…the list goes on.

I won’t be reading a story every day. Some are short enough to get a couple in on any given day (H.F. Arnold’s The Night Wire is only 4 pages long for example). However, I will be reading them in chronological order. So, it’s Halloween. Time to cosy on up on the sofa with a glass of whiskey and enjoy, the Winter of Weird.

Highlights from the first half of 2016

As the 6^th month of 2016 passes like one of Douglas Adam’s deadlines, it is time to report on my favourite books, comics and media so far. Why? Why not…

So far I’ve read 22 fiction books this year, plus 4 non-fiction, a couple of novellas and I’ve listened to 5 novels on audio too. For the full list see here. So here are my favourite 5 novels from 2016 so far, in no particular order (not including books I’ve read before):

The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry by B S Johnson

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

Arcadia by Iain Pears.

Well, that was actually the order I read them. So a little porkie there…The most enjoyable of the bunch was Anders’ debut. Such a joy to read with some great characters. Not often do you come across the story of a witch versus a mad scientist! Arcadia was brilliantly written and fascinating. Atwoods’ was technically great and a superb concept with some bonkers ideas. Johnson’s is an older book and I came across it via the Backlisted postcast. It is an experiment in metafiction and anti-capitalist in tone, and right up my street indeed. My favourite thus far however is Robert’s magnificent look at aliens, AI, rivalry, history, religion, abuse of power and middle age.

Other reading highlights include a couple of old favourites: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and Sunshine by Robin McKinley. I’ve also enjoyed Joe Hill’s The Fireman and Making Wolf by Tade Thomson – which is not my normal cup of tea. I also enjoyed the bonkers Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut. Which reminds me, I’ve almost finished my Vonnegut read. Reading (or listening to) all of his books in order. Only got Bluebeard, Hocus Pocus and Timequake to go. I’ll then write my Vonnegut reader…

Talking of future plans, I hope to embark on a Winter of Weird later this year. Reading 100 weird fiction short stories in 100 days – let’s see how that one goes.

Some comics I’m enjoying at the moment include:

Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

Injection by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey

The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

I’ve just started reading William Gibson’s Archangel, Beau Smith’s Wynonna Earp, and Rob William’s Unfollow. All of which have promise and I’m looking forward to reading more. However, my absolute favourite so far is the amazing and beautiful Monstress written by Marjorie Liu with art by Sana Takeda. Seriously, check it out! I was disappointed by no new issues of Ellis’ Trees and The Dying & The Dead from Jonathan Hickman.

In the moving image world, I’ve not seen as many new films or TV shows as I’d like. Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War and The Lobster are standouts for me. On the telebox, loved the second series of Daredevil, thoroughly enjoying ploughing my way through iZombie, and quite enjoyed catching up with season 1 of The Flash. I was quite disappointed by season 3 of Arrow and I’m giving up on it. The same is true of Agents of SHEILD. Failed to grab me. My absolute favourites were season 2 of Better Call Saul and season 4 of House of Cards. Awesome TV.

I plan to have read most of the major awards shortlisted books in time for the Clarke Award winner announcement in August, but what else should I be looking out for? Let me know…

Most books are not for me, but these are some I’ve enjoyed in the past 12 months.

I wouldn’t call 2015 a classic year of reading, despite its excellent start. In fact, the first book I read in this western-based time period was probably the best thing I read all year.

And thusly I present the things I liked to read since the last time I summarised the things I like to read…

I read 49 works of long form fiction and 3 short story collections including some of the biggest names around such as The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King and The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro – the latter a bit of a disappointment… There were some interesting and unusual books that crossed my path too. I was quite taken with The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley which had an unsettling atmosphere to the narrative, but lacked the killer punch I’d been hoping for. Scarlett Thomas’ The Seed Collectors was not my kind of thing on paper (despite me being a big fan of her previous novels) but I really enjoyed the prose and underlying mythology Thomas created, if not the story itself. I was a little disappointed by The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar, simply because it was decent but not a patch on his Kalix novels, which I adore. I read a lot of books that came highly recommended or I’d been swayed by hype, and which I thought were good and enjoyable, but nothing special. These include Way Down Dark by James Smythe, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, The Chimes by Anna Smaill, The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord and Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho.

So with that in mind, the novels I enjoyed the most are (in order): The Death House by Sarah Pinborough, Bête by Adam Roberts, Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Honourable mentions should go to Tigerman by Nick Harkaway and Touch by Claire North. These books all moved me in different ways. Pinborough’s book is beautiful and dark. Robert’s is technically brilliant while Hardinge’s was like nothing I’d ever read before both in terms of subject and style. The ambition and achievement of both North’s novels are extraordinary. Chambers’ debut was the most fun I’ve had with a book for quite some time. And Harkaway’s was just a great story with great characters. Other books I’ve enjoyed for various reasons include Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara, The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne, and Day Four by Sarah Lotz.

Last year I decided to read all of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels in order. I’m ploughing through them nicely, and I’m up to Jailbird which I hope to read fairly soon. It almost should go without saying that I loved Slaughterhouse Five or the Children’s Crusade and Breakfast of Champions the most so far but both Slapstick or Lonesome No More and Player Piano were awesome reads too. I’ve read a few other classics and favourites this year too, so nods must go to Ammonite by Nicola Griffith, The War Of The Worlds by HG Wells and Atomised by Michel Houellebecq.

My least favourite reads this year where The Empress Game by Rhonda Mason, Steeple by Jon Wallace and Rooms by Lauren Oliver. The former two are fairly bog standard science fiction which I find more and more uninspiring as I age, while the latter failed to grip me with its style or conceit. Which is a shame as it had a lovely cover.

A quick analysis of the authors I’ve read is a bit better this year in terms of gender equality. If you only count each author I read once, I read 21 males and 19 females. Non-white or non UK or US writers did well too. Faber, Heuvelt, Houellebecq, Ishiguro, Itäranta, Lord, Lotz, Novik, Yanagihara and Zamyatin graced my reading shelf. I also read and enjoyed The Apex Book of World SF: Volume 4

My non-fiction reads were fewer, as usual. My top 3 were:

Irrationality: the enemy within by Stuart Sutherland

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson,

The Establishment: And How They Get Away with It by Owen Jones

The rest in no order are: Discovering Scarfolk (Richard Littler – although this should probably come under fiction, but it is satire I guess), How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime (Roger Corman), I Think You’ll Find it’s a Bit More Complicated Than That (Ben Goldacre) The ‘If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One’ EP (Stewart Lee), The God Argument (A.C. Grayling), The Meaning of Human Existence (E.O. Wilson), The One-Shot Library Instruction Survival Guide (Heidi Buchanan), The Photography of Nature & The Nature of Photography (Joan Fontcuberta) and The Psychopath Test (Jon Ronson).

I picked up some interesting comics this year. I got a little bored with Saga and Zero and my interest in The Wicked + The Divine is starting to slip. However, I’m loving Monstress, Injection, Negative Space, Trees, Ms Marvel and The Dying and the Dead. I really enjoyed Wytches and adored Supreme Blue Rose, but was massively disappointed by Nameless and I didn’t get past issue 1 of Bitch Planet. Hipsters vs Rednecks was kinda fun. I really enjoyed the collected Alias vols 1 and 2 and I’m slowly working my way through the glorious Library Editions of Hellboy – I’m up to vol 4. Batman: Nine Lives is awesome as I love a bit of noir! I found the artwork on the first two volumes of Rat Queens frustrating and annoying, so I’ll pass on any more of those. I think my favourite comic book of the year is probably Leaves on the Wind (Serenity, #4). But then, it is Firefly! I also re-read V for Vendetta as everyone should in these troubled times!

My year according to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2015/6304958 

I also made a Sway: https://sway.com/Tmkrix8u5gWtdBTG

All of which is interesting because there is loads of great stuff out there which I’ve not read, either because I’ve not come across them, they are still on my to-be-read list or pile (the new Adam Roberts for example) or because they are simply not for me. That doesn’t mean that I’ve chosen well or badly over the last 12 months. The books I’ve listed above will not match anyone else’s best of year lists and for that I’m thankful. These are my books, the ones I enjoyed, the ones that spoke to me. These are not books that you, gentle reader, should read. Or agree with me if you have read them. Perhaps they might pique an interest and you might go and explore further. Great if you do, great if you don’t. Books are personal and these are mine. My only hope is that I read more brilliant books in 2016 and fewer that are just good.

I love reading, by the way…

For a sense of completion, I’ve seen 42 new films this year, which isn’t bad. My favourites were (in no order) Whiplash, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Inside Out, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Big Eyes, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Birdman, Lucy, Nightcrawler, Avengers Age of Ultron, Ex Machina, Mood Indigo and Odd Thomas. Probably a better year for films than books for me.

In terms of TV, nothing topped Jessica Jones but I also enjoyed Daredevil, Sense8, Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Better Caul Saul, House of Cards, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Dr Who and Once Upon a Time.

 

 

Some stuff I enjoyed during the last bit and what I’m looking forward to in the next bit

The time period known in the west as 2014 was a fairly unremarkable one for me. I read a whole bunch of books, short stories and graphic novels. One book which was experimental poetry. Quite a few comics. I also took to audio-books, listening to all of the Dark Tower series amongst others.

In a break from the normal annual review, may I present to you, dear reader, some top lists.

Top 5 non-fiction books:

1. The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (no, the other one)
2. This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
3. The Fossil Hunter by Shelley Emling
4. Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
5. An Atheist’s History of Belief by Matthew Kneale

Top 10 fiction:

1. The Humans by Matt Haig
2. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
3. The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker
4. Jack Glass by Adam Roberts
5. Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
6. The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
7. The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough
8. The Three by Sarah Lotz
9. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
10. The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf by Martin Millar

It seems that the first half of the year was better than the second in my reading choices. Only 2 proper science fiction in my top 10. Interesting. An honourable mention to Whitstable by Stephen Volk; a novella set in the town where I call home.

The comic series I’ve enjoyed reading in 2014 included:

1. Trees
2. Supreme: Blue Rose
3. The Wake
4. Ms Marvel
5. The Wicked + The Divine
6. Wytches

Oh what the hell. Some films too:

1. Godzilla
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
3. The Babadook
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
5. Edge of Tomorrow
6. Under the Skin
7. Inside Llewyn Davis
8. X-Men: Days of Future Past
9. Only Lovers Left Alive
10. Her

So there you go. Tell me I’m wrong.

What about 2015? Well, plans and such like are never set in stone but I’m looking forward to reading The Death House by Sarah Pinborough, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, most of novels of Kurt Vonnegut, some gothic fiction including The Castle of Otranto by Walpole Horace.  I must try and get round to reading Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. I should probably read a couple of old favourites too, including Brave New World and Ammonite by Nicola Griffin. I once tried to read Yevgeny Zamiatin’s We but didn’t get very far. I’m going to give that a bash too. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of new stuff too.

An occasional series of favourite re-reads, or I’m so busy, I’m dropping fiction writing, so why the hell am I doing this?

Come September 2014, my life will change. I’m taking on a new post-grad qualification. I’ve made a decision to stop thinking about writing fiction. Possibly for good. But I enjoy writing and as I love books, I can’t give up reviewing and blogging. Indeed.

Inspired by a couple of recent Twitter conversations, one with Andy Miller and another with Michael Marshall Smith I plan another series of semi-regular blogs within this feed. So as well as general reviews and my History of Science Fiction Literature Challenge, my new series is simply favourite re-reads. Because there’s clearly not enough out there to read – new books that just. Keep. Coming. And old ones I’ve not caught up with yet – I’m going to re-read some of my old favourites. Not just a review, but inspired by Mr Miller’s The Year of Reading Dangerously, but an experience.

So, first up, and reading soon is Douglas Adam’s Mostly Harmless, followed by Michael Marshall Smith’s Only Forward. Then, who knows, but I’m thinking perhaps:

Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Antipope by Robert Rankin

Ammonite by Nicola Griffin

Lethe by Tricia Sullivan

The End of My Y by Scarlett Thomas

And after that, who knows…

End of term report: 2013, or The books I read in an arbituary time period.

Good year, I think. In that I was quite disappointed by most of what I read in the first part of 2013, but I’ve read some cracking books since.

So, what words have reflected light into my eyes this year?

Non-fiction up first, and not much read, I’m annoyed to say. I’ve been so engrossed in fiction and reviews, I’ve let the non-fic slip a bit (in no particular order):

• Heretics by Will Stor
• The storytelling animal by Jonathan Gottschall
• Nightmare movies by Kim Newman
• The science of monsters by Matt Kaplan
• Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre
• Peter Cushing: a life in film by David Miller
• How mumbo-jumbo conquered the world by Francis Ween
• Monkeys with typewriters by Scarlet Thomas

8. Sheesh! Mind you, it took ages to read Nightmare Movies. I also read and reviewed the coffee table book Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections and Other Obsessions which was a study of the works of Guillermo del Toro. Plus I read a whole bunch of comics and graphic novels…

Since the summer, I’ve also not read any more short stories. So this year only saw The Peacock Cloak and The Eye With Which the Universe Beholds Itself, as mentioned in my half-term report. Shocker!

So, now for fiction and here are my top 5 books that I read in 2013:

The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce

I found the writing so evocative and the story so enthralling, that I wanted it to be much longer. I also loved the ambiguity. Is it a ghost story? I remember the summer of ’76 (just) and so for me, this was a wonderful tale full of reminiscences and potential.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

I kept wanting to read this long after I’d finished it, which highlights just how good the writing is. The story of Kirby is so utterly engaging, and Beukes is such a good storyteller. I loved how the time-travel elements were never explicit. I often find books that bring in new characters every few chapters to be very annoying, but Beukes’ writing to appealing to me, I lapped the new characters up.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A magical adventure with darkness and light and Gaiman’s awesome ability to scare and delight and awaken the child within. Can we have  longer book next time though, Neil?

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest

Such an intriguing work of imagination and deliberate uncertainness. What this book is, what it is about and what it all means against Priest’s earlier work is open to much debate and interpretation. But in the end, it is the characters and his writing that keeps you wanting to read more and more.

Lexicon by Max Barry

A book about words and their power. Genius. Some great writing and interesting characters. I loved how the clues in the different timelines eventually came together in the reveal, and I’m pleased that Barry never gave away the bareword.

What I loved in particular about these five books is something I think genre fiction has been guilty of shying away from: breaking the rules. Beukes is writing a time-travel story that’s not science fiction. Joyce has produced a historical fiction that may or may not be a ghost story. I’m not sure what I tag Lexicon with. Urban fantasy? Supernatural? Certainly not science fiction. And while The Adjacent is SF, it’s not like anything you’ll have read (his other work outstanding). Only Gaiman’s work can be said to be traditional genre fiction, and even that could be seen as being about telling stories and hence a bit meta. These books that have defied genre and categorisation. These books that have teased and suggested they might be one thing before turning out to be something else. These books (and some others, see below) have surprised me. Thanks, books.

So, next 5 in my list are:

• The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
• Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux
• Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson
• The Method by Juli Zeh
  
• The Chosen Seed by Sarah Pinborough

With the exceptions of Heller’s novel, which is pure post-apocalyptic fiction, along the lines of The Road, and The Method, which is classic dystopia, these other books mess with genre convention to some degree or other. Pinborough writes police procedural as urban fantasy. Wilson blends eastern mythology and science fiction. I’m not sure what Strange Bodies is. Victorian mad scientist and eastern European crime combined with literary detective. Whatever. Books I thoroughly enjoyed.

I also read two of my favourite books again this year: Vurt by Jeff Noon, and while lying on a beach, American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Ok, so now we’re onto some honourable mentions just outside my top 10:

• Hang Wire by Adam Christopher – another surprising genre-defying novel
• Beauty by Sarah Pinborough – great fun, alongside Poison
• The Woman Who Died Alot by Jasper Fforde – a return to form!
• Intrusion by Ken MacLeod – consistently great sf
• NOS4R2 by Joe Hill – his best work yet, reminiscent of his Dad’s early work.
• Dark Eden by Chris Becket – decent sf
• Poison by Sarah Pinborough
  
• The Shadow of the Soul by Sarah Pinborough – more crime based urban fantasy
  
• The Good Fairies of New York by Mark Millar – Millar’s work is always fun, and this is no exception
  

And so to the rest, and in no particular order now, oh all right, from best of the rest to the worst:

• The Shambling Guide to New York by Mur Laffety
• The Mummy by Jane Loudon Webb
  
• Parasite by Mira Grant
  
• Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow
  
• Doughnut by Tom Holt
  
• London Falling by Paul Cornell
  
• The City’s Son by Tom Pollock
  
• Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
  
• The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross
  
• Gideon’s Angel by Clifford Beal
  
• Fated by Benedict Jacka
  
• The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington
  
• Haunted by William Hussey
  
• The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
  
• The Last Man by Mary Shelley
  

At first glance, it looks like I’ve read a lot from female authors this year. However, Sarah Pinborough features heavily (as she’s only a recent discovery) and only 1 of my top 5 are women authors. I looked into all the books I’ve read, and only 30% of my favourite authors are women, which is annoying. On the other hand, I’m not going to just like an author because of their gender designation.

Putting the fiction I’ve read in the broadest possible categories then, this year has consisted of 14 science fiction novels, 2 horror and 22 fantasy. A closer look, however, shows clearly that the best books I’ve read this year defy specific characterisation. And I love that!