I was browsing through a few forums tonight before resuming my work on my new exercise bike and I thought I would list authors that I read for the first time in 2008 that I found to have written some really good works. I'll highlight those whose debut efforts came out in the U.S. this year:
Steve Erickson
Milan Kundera
Brian Evenson
Toby Barlow
Taha Muhammad Ali
Ma Jian
Naguib Mahfouz
Fernando Pessoa
Kay Kenyon
Barth Anderson
D.M. Cornish
Francie Lin
Amanda Michalopoulou
Etgar Keret
Jo Graham
Maurice Dantec
Sarah Hall
Joe Abercrombie
Thomas Ligotti
Holly Phillips
Felix Gilman
Jeanette Winterson
J.M. McDermott
Peadar Ó Guilín
George MacDonald
Thomas M. Disch
Brian Francis Slattery
Paolo Bacigalupi
John Langan
Javier Negrete (not available in English translation)
Elias Khoury
Susan Palwick
Antonio Orlando Rodríguez (not available in English translation)
There are still quite a few newish works I'm reading and some of those will involve debuts. I'll elaborate on the 2008 debut authors late in December. But does anyone else have any of their "discoveries" that they'd like to share here, in hopes of sparking discussion and/or people trying those authors on for size?
Eclectic and striving never to follow paths into ruts, the OF Blog focuses on essays, reviews, interviews, and other odds and ends that might be of interest to fans of both literary and speculative fiction. Now with a cute owl for your enjoyment.
John Grant
ReplyDeleteRob Rogers
Zoran Zivkovic
Adrienne Kress
Brian Evenson
Christopher Golden
Graham Joyce
Ekaterina Sedia
Joe Hill
Laird Barron
Paolo Bacigalupi
Paul Tremblay
Robert Freeman Wexler
Theodora Goss
Tim Pratt
Darrel Schweitzer
Rogers I have, but for some reason I've passed him over despite an interesting blurb and some good reviews elsewhere. I'll have to correct that as well. I can't remember if I read Sedia's The Secret History of Moscow just before or just after the New Year's; I did buy it in 2007, so that's why I didn't include her on the list. Joyce, Živković, Goss, and Pratt are also excellent writers whose first fictions I read in previous years. Will have to investigate the others!
ReplyDeleteI have a whole blog full of discoveries! However, there were a few debut authors on your list that I didn't recognize right off, so thank you! I may have covered them, but it's more likely that I missed them.
ReplyDeleteThese are all authors that I read for the first time this year. I'll bold the debut authors.
ReplyDeleteThese I read as prep for the panel I moderated at Bouchercon:
Alan Jacobson
Michelle Gagnon
Jonathan Hayes
Books by these authors made my year end long list:
John Brandon
Monica Drake
Austin Williams
Books by these authors have made my year end list:
Steve Mosby
Joe Meno
Conrad Williams
Toby Barlow
And some others:
Tyler Knox
Brian Hodge
Brian McNaughton
I discovered this year quite a few authors. And I'll say here
ReplyDeleteCarlos Ruiz Zafon
Bill Hussey
Peadar O Guilin
Brian Ruckley
Joe Hill
Peter V Brett
Patrick Rothfuss.
This list is for now.
Larry, I just posted my personal list on PWT:
ReplyDeletehttp://verbeat.org/blogs/pwt/2008/11/my-2008-reading-discoveries.html
2008 was my personal enlightenment year. I can hardly wait for what 2009 has to offer.