Books of 2013

A subjective selection of un-put-down-ables out of 90 books I read last year.

Tim Lebbon - Echo City
Tim Lebbon - The Heretic Land
Tim Lebbon - Fallen
First, a new author (for me) who clearly enjoys creating new, truly fantastic, worlds. God rising from the depths under the city. A city surrounded by poisonous wasteland, from which a pilgrim comes. A cliff marking the boundary of the known world, on top of which it is rumoured something awaits awakening. Enough said.

Sophie Hannah - The Point of Rescue
I read everything this author wrote, great style, fascinating British thrillers.

Philip K. Dick - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Philip K. Dick - Cantata 140
Science fiction classic. If you don't know who this author is, shame on you. (Blade Runner...?)

Lisa Tuttle - The Silver Bough
Another new author for me, set in a Scottish village cut away from the world by a sudden landslide, when a different world starts seeping in. Enchanting.

K.J. Parker - Sharps
K.J. Parker - The Company
Brutal, dark, realistic fantasy in a world that does not suffer fools or forgive mistakes. Like a female George R. R. Martin who prefers 300 pages long stories.

China Mieville - Railsea
Another fascinating story from the master of new weird, set in a world where people live in towns separated by seas of rail tracks over a dangerous ground.

Tad Williams - The Dirty Streets of Heaven
Urban fantasy noir - think Marlowe-like angel grudgingly doing his job as an advocate for fresh souls in a struggle between Heaven and Hell, until something goes bloodily wrong. I want more.

Greg Bear - Eon
Greg Bear - Eternity
Heady hard sf/ space opera mixture, a mysterious object appears in Earth's orbit, which starts a race to get to it and discover its secrets. Better dust off your string theory knowledge.

Lauren Beukes - Zoo city
Lauren Beukes - Moxyland
Another author I've never heard about and she's got some interesting ideas for stories set in near future - think genetic manipulation, global crisis and a novel way of dealing with criminals.

Tad Williams - Shadowmarch / Shadowplay / Shadowrise / Shadowheart
Master of high fantasy invites us on a long journey across a strange land. Epic.

Ian Rankin - Saints of the Shadow Bible
Good old style thriller set in the gloomy Scottish capital. Even better if you live in the same city it takes place in and recognise streets and pubs.

David Barnett - Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl
Steampunk is not dead! Mechanical creations, steam trains and zeppelins zipping across British countryside ruled by formidable Queen Victoria who just crushed the puny American colonies rebellion...

David S. Goyer, Michale Cassutt - Heaven's Shadow / Heaven's War / Heaven's Fall
An alien space ship appears in Earth's orbit (yes, another hard sf space opera), which starts a race... etc. look above, however this one is of a wider scope as the story races through time and space and encounters with  stunning variety of aliens. 

Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross - The Rapture of the Nerds
Near future sf, a world where nanos can change your sex overnight, the more evolved humans live in a cloud of data around Earth and send blasts of random messages to their fleshy ancestors and America turned into a hypercolony of ants. A dizzying ride.

Fritz Leiber - The Black Gondolier and Other Stories
Another classic, this author is mostly known for his fantasy books about Fafhrd and Grey Mouser but he proves to be a brilliant short story teller as well. And they are not all fantasy stories either.

Get reading then, people!