This will not be broken down into categories like my year-end shortlists will, but here are 51 works I'm currently considering to recognize as being among the best 2009 releases (with 2009 American copyrights in most cases, with a couple of exceptions for Brazilian and UK releases):
Jeff Lemire, The Nobody (graphic novel)
Jonathan Rosenberg, Goats: Infinite Typewriters (graphic novel)
Peter Straub (ed.), American Fantastic Tales (two volume reprint anthology)
Gail Carringer, Soulless (debut novel)
Kristin Cashore, Fire (YA)
Dave Eggers, The Wild Things (YAish?)
Jeff VanderMeer, Finch (fantasy); Booklife (non-fiction)
Otsuichi, ZOO (translated fiction; collection)
Caitlín R. Kiernan, A is for Alien (collection); The Red Tree (fantasy)
David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp (graphic novel)
Kazuo Ishiguro, Nocturnes (collection)
Zoran Živković, Impossible Stories II (collection); The Bridge (novella)
Nick Tapalansky and Alex Eckman-Lawn, Awakening: Volume I (graphic novel)
Dave Eggers, Zeitoun (non-fiction)
Gianpaolo Celli, Steampunk: Histórias de um Passado Extraordinário (foreign language fiction; anthology)
David Anthony Durham, The Other Lands (fantasy)
Lavie Tidhar, The Apex Book of World SF (translated fiction; anthology)
Julio Cortázar, Papeles inesperados (foreign language fiction; collection; non-fiction; criticism)
David Petersen, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 (graphic novel)
Jesse Bullington, The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart (debut novel; fantasy)
Robert Holdstock, Avilion (fantasy)
Dean Francis Alfar and Nikki Alfar, Philippine Speculative Fiction IV (anthology)
Daniel Abraham, The Price of Spring (fantasy)
Issui Ogawa, The Lord of the Sands of Time (translated fiction)
Terrence Holt, In the Valley of the Kings (collection)
Lev Grossman, The Magicians (fantasy)
Sang Pak, Wait Until Twilight (debut novel)
Ildefonso Falcones, La mano de Fátima (historical novel; foreign language fiction)
Laura Restrepo, Demasiados héroes (foreign language fiction)
Rafael Ábalos, Grimpow y la bruja de la estirpe (foreign language fiction; YA)
Brian Evenson, Fugue State (collection); Last Days (fantasy)
Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice (mystery/everything else under the sun)
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (epic poetry)
Bradford Morrow (ed.); Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between; Conjunctions 53: Hybrid Histories (magazine/anthology)
Tamar Yellin, Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes (collection)
Tobias Buckell, Tides from the New Worlds (collection)
Peter Beagle, We Never Talk About My Brother (collection)
Jonathan Littell, The Kindly Ones (semi-historical novel; translated fiction)
Yuri Andrukhovych, The Moscoviad (translated fiction)
Sarah Monette, Corambis (fantasy)
Mark Newton, Nights of Villjamur (debut novel)
Nick Gevers and Jay Lake (eds.), Other Earths (anthology)
Patrick Ness, The Ask and the Answer (YA)
Kay Kenyon, City Without End (SF)
Dan Simmons, Drood (horror; historical novel)
Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (eds.), Best American Fantasy 2 (anthology)
Jonathan Strahan (ed.), Eclipse Three (anthology)
James Morrow, Shambling Towards Hiroshima (novella)
Felix Gilman, Gears of the City (fantasy)
Peter Brett, The Warded Man (fantasy)
Richard Morgan, The Steel Remains (fantasy)
Feel free to weigh in with comments/questions. Might be able to answer back in 24-48 hours. I have a long article to write after work, though.
The Empirical Approach to Learning
2 days ago
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3 comments:
If Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 is not at least five times better than Autumn, I don't see how did it make into the list.
I liked it better than the first, but remember, this is the longlist. Plus I realized I left out a couple of books, which I'll correct later. I mailed you one of them.
Nights of Villjamur is not actually Newton's debut novel. That was last year's The Reef.
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