Great Books for 2016?

This is the time of year where one is supposed to talk about the great books of the past year, the things you read, the things you recommend for awards, and so on.

I have to confess, this year?  I got nothing for you.

This year I did a lot of starting-books-and-bouncing-off-them.  The things I did read to completion?  They were... fine.  Nothing that I'd be "You Must Read This Book!"  (Or, at least, none of it was from this year.  I don't exactly keep records of my reading, but I think I read The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson and Rules for Werewolves by Kirk Lynn in 2016, but they were both 2015 books.)  

Other than that?  The best thing I read I actually can't recommend because it's an unsold, unpublished book that I read for blurb-giving purposes.  

But part of that is because, as I said-- start-and-bounce.  A lot.  That isn't something that should reflect on those authors, and I won't call out people whose books I didn't get into.  Because that's about me, not them.  Their books didn't click with me.  That is OK.  Not every book is for everyone.  Heck, if you start-and-bounce with my books?  That's fine.  Really.  I mean, don't go giving them one-star reviews or anything.  That's not cool.  

I know at least part of my bouncing on other people's books ties to what I'm doing, writing-wise.  I have a lot of stuff to keep track of, a lot of process and writing craft stuff going on in my head.  I can't read without going into diagnostic mode now.  Again-- this is on me, not the writer.  I can be all "Oh, that's a really well crafted thing they're doing", and I make no emotional connection to the story.

So I'll throw it out there: what should I have read?  What should I be reading, especially if I'm going to be doing any award nomination stuff?

My 2016 Recommendations

Linda's 2016 Recommendations

The Red Queen  (link here) by Victoria Aveyard

A well reviewed debut novel that got my attention. In this world people have red blood or silver, and the silver-blooded are royalty and have power. Mare, the main character, is a red blood who ends up in front of the Silver court and there discovers she has power ofher own, which, of course, the king wants to hide from other red bloods.






The Silent Army (link here) by James A. Moore

I love this series and Moore is a great guy.

I recommend this one on audio book. There are many odd words/names/places which I adore in fantasy, but if you have any qualms about such, then the audio book smooths that right over. Also, the narrator for this has his narrator voice and gruffer voices for character dialogue which suits this telling well. Check the link above and click the listen button under the cover image.

A Curse on the Land (link here) by Faith Hunter

First in a new series set in Faith's Jane Yellowrock world.

I also recommend this one on audio book. Check the link above and click the listen button under the cover image because the reader has a southern tonality that really sells this story/character.

Happy Between Aces: My 3 Most Memorable Books of 2016

My Three Most Memorable Books of 2016...

10% Happier by Dan Harris
My mom sent me this book three times. I figured if I read it once, it'd make me 30% happier.  I'd be full ebullient mode 24/7. Or Not. Maybe. The book isn't about finding your favorite tree to hug. It's about coping when your mind turns against you.  Dan Harris is a national news anchor. The book opens with the day he suffered his first panic attack live on air. It gives a fascinating look into his early career working for Dan Rather and going to Afghanistan to cover the war.


Between You and Me, Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
If you've ever had a copy editor bleed all over  your manuscript, this book will remind you that you are not alone. Norris uses humorous vignettes of her storied personal life to embed grammatical lessons. It's a light read that's worth the time and might save your copy editor a few gray hairs.



Aces Wilde by Jenn Stark
An Urban Fantasy with flying swords on the cover...what's not to love? This action-packed story is about an artifact hunter who uses Tarot-Cards to find her targets. This time, she's inherited the head honcho spot for the criminal syndicate of the House of Swords. Naturally, an outsider being handed the reins doesn't go over well, and in this line of business it's fight or die. Magic might save her, but her relationship with the Arcana Council's seductive Magician just might ruin her forever.

MY top three of 2016

Damn, that's a seriously hard list. I mean that. I haven't read nearly as much as I wanted to this year, but still, what I have read has been a whole lot of good books. I started a few lemons, too, but i set them aside, because life is too short for the bad books.

I used to make myself read them. I felt an obligation. Not any more. that stuff goes to the wayside very quickly these days.

So here they are in no particular order:

1) Mark Morris's THE WOLVES OF LONDON: OBSIDIAN HEART BOOK ONE
I'm a sucker for high tension suspense. I thrive on horror that creeps in and chills you without necessarily getting all kinds of gory. I love a good time travel story. the Obsidian Heart series has all three and that's just in the first book. I have the other two short-listed in my TBR pile. You know, along with about a hundred others.

2) Christopher Golden's DEAD RINGERS
I love a good mystery. I love a good ghost story. I love a tale that mingles both and DEAD RINGERS is flawless at it. Golden continues to challenge himself with his characters and continues to be up to the challenge. An added bonus for me is that I now live in Massachusetts and when visiting Boston recently I could actually see some of the places listed in the book. Damned fine read.

3) Jonathan Maberry's KILL SWITCH
I enjoy a good series as much as the next person. I love a great series. The JOE LEDGER series by Maberry is one of the best. I'd put it up there with F.Paul Wilson's REPAIRMAN JACK series and that one is my all time favorite. In this tale Echo Team goes south, as into Antarctica, and encounters the sort of nightmarish creations that leave a chill which has noting to do with the weather. Great subplots, loads of action. I loved it.

Honorable mentions: E.J. Stevens' HUNTING IN BRUGES is the first in a spin off series (Spinning off from the Ivy Granger Series) and it's a fun ride. Lots of action, a solid mystery and a healthy heaping of snark. Dennis Lehane's A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR. I'm behind the times when it comes to reading Lehane, but, damn, he's good! I just read the first two books in the series and I'll be reading the rest in short order. Joe Hill's THE FIREMAN. I'm not even going to try to explain the book properly. It's amazing, it's different, it's fun. Highly recommended. Thomas Sneigoski's SAVAGE is a book that lives up to its name. Nature strikes back and strikes hard. Bracken Mcleod's STRANDED is a hard, brutal and utterly delightful read. It might seem like he's coming out of nowhere, but the author has earned his chops.  Lastly, Hillary Monahan's series BLOODY MARY: THE SUMMONING and BLOODY MARY: UNLEASHED are delightful YA stories that merge proper horror and local folklore to potent affect. Gruesome, scary and everything that a tale of a vengeful ghost should be.

Okay. Ten instead of three. I said it was a good year for reading and I meant it. I could go on and name more, like the latest from Tim Lebbon, or Wesley Chu, or Paul Tremblay, but I think you get the idea.

I hope 2017 brings you endless good books to read, folks.

Bracken Mcleod reading from his novel STRANDED at the release party. 

Top Three Books of 2016: Jeffe's Picks

Every year since my birth, my mother has given me a Christmas ornament. She usually gives it to me at Thanksgiving, so that I have it for decorating my tree. This year she gave me a Nambé star for a tree-topper. I may have made a special request, as I love all things Nambé, and I love this, in particular. One day I hope to have Santa's sleigh, but ... alas the price! 

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is a round-up of our three most memorable books of the year. I think it's interesting that we frame it as "most memorable," as opposed to the best, or most loved or favorite. There's a difference, isn't it?

So when I went to write this post, instead of first combing my list of five-star reads, I thought back to what books stood out in my mind. The first that popped into my head was one I loathed - not only for the story itself, but for the blatant manipulation of the reader. I ranted already about it here, so I shan't give it any more press than that.

Another book that jumped immediately to mind turned out to be one I read in October 2015, and so not eligible. However, I figure any book with that kind of impact deserves an honorable mention, so I'm including it now: Everything I Left Unsaid by Molly O'Keefe. What a wonderful story. I've recommended it any number of times to people this last year, so I think it totally counts.

Otherwise, I made a list of the books that loomed large in my head and checked those against my lists. As many of you may know, I keep a spreadsheet (OF COURSE) of everything I read in a given year. That includes work for critique or editing, and so includes my own books. My goal for the year was to read 150 books. That was a reasonable (I thought) and optimistic increase from the 122 I read in 2015. Right now I'm at 88. There's some reasons for the lower numbers, along with other ways that 2016 was a strange dip year for me, which I'll talk about that more next week when we explore how our 2016 goals turned out - both accomplishments and deviations.

But for now... My Three Most Memorable Books Read in 2016!

The High Ground

This is the only book in my top three for 2016 that was actually published in 2016. Time is ever a problem for me. This year I read books that will be published in the future, some published long ago, and very few in the narrow twelve-month window that makes them award-eligible. I'm trying to get better about this (which did factor into the fewer books read), but I'm not where I'd like to be on this.

I met Melinda for the first time in May when we did a signing together. She bought my book, I bought hers, and we became friends - which is cool since we live quite close to each other, New Mexico-landscapewise. This sort of buying-each-other's books thing can be fraught as there's always the possibility you won't like the book, and then you see this person you like again and it's all weird and awkward. Happily, I loved this book! Fortuitously, she also liked mine. Regardless, this is a wonderful first book in a new space opera with a tasty slow-burn romance. The world - one where corporations are the aristocracy - is oddly prescient of our current political climate, but not so much that it will make you think of modern politics. Can't wait to wrest the next book out of Melinda's paws!

Wishful Drinking

I came at this book through a winding path - mostly due to having my iPod on All Songs Shuffle during a June solo road trip. Paul Simon came up and I listened to songs from Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints for the first time in ages. I loved those albums in the day, so the revisit felt wonderful and magical. In the ensuing years, I'd come to understand the significance of him being married to Carrie Fisher, who also resurfaced this year in my mind as an enduring hero - and totally badass in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Simon's songs tell stories and, listening, I began to wonder which were about Carrie and their marriage. A LOT OF THEM it turns out. I downloaded the audio book and listened to it on the trip home. Her stories made me think about art, creativity, love and being drawn to other creative types. Fascinating stuff that fed into many of my ideas this year.


A Game of Thrones

I tried to read this book a few years ago. Before I kept a spreadsheet, in fact. I'd read my requisite 25% and set it down as a book that would not make me happy. When the HBO series came out, we starting watching that and I felt validated in my perception that, yes, this is an author who will break my heart. I even got rid of my paper copy finally.

Then it came to be that my friend Anne Calhoun talked me into reading it. We are embarking on a project, a book club of two, to read epic fantasy and learn from them. I'm on page 539 of 802, so it might be a bit of a false positive that it's a memorable book of the year.

And yet... I don't think so.

One thing I've noticed in reading this book is that it's invaded my dreams - and has done so from the first page. I think about the characters and I freaking worry about them! This is one reason I abandoned it before, because I don't WANT to be this involved with people I know will face horrible events, including their deaths. But it's also amazing that an author is able to do this. Anne has called reading this book a master class in writing and I think she's right.

It's also an interesting bookend to these three that George is longtime friends with Melinda, so now I'm friends with them both.

It's been an interesting year!

So, what about you all? Most memorable books? Most loved??

SciFi Twelve Days of Christmas

So the way I understood this week's challenge was to take one of my favorite Christmas carols and rewrite it, sort of flash fiction-y. (And if that isn't the challenge, well fa la la la la because that's what I DID...)

I've always loved "The Twelve Days of Christmas," although being an impatient person, I'm skipping all the verses and going straight to the big finale:

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 12 Star Lords leaping...
On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 11 Vulcans vamping...
On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 10 Ewoks dancing...
On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 9 Transporters humming...
On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 8 Wizards wanding...
On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 7 Mermaids swimming...
On the 6th day of Christmas my true gave to me: 6 Dragons diving...
FIVE SATURN RINGS!!!!!
Four Shooting stars...
Three Red Shirts...
Two Baby Groots...
AND A BLACK HOLE IN A GALAXY!

Here's the obligatory article on how much the traditional set of gifts would cost this year, from The Fiscal Times.... LINK

And a fun version of the song from the Straight No Chaser group, which is their version of carol flash fiction!

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

"Santa Claus is coming to town."

"Uh huh."

"Santa Claus is coming to town."

"Don't know how it's escaped your notice, Joe, but we're on Mars. Also. Your culture. Not mine. And while technically, the planet does have a north pole . . ."

"He knows."

I rolled my eyes. "When you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good. Yes. Yes. I know the song. What the hell is wrong with you, Joe?"

I shot him a glance, but kept a firm grip on the sample isolated inside the sealed chamber where we performed soil tests in a thus far fruitless search for signs of life. That would be a hell of a Christmas present, should I suddenly take up observing a holiday outside the purview of the Buddhist philosophy I'd grown up with in rural China. Finding life. Life outside of the increasingly odd expedition leader who'd brought me this set of samples from a tunnel bored deep into the flanks of Olympus Mons.

I studied the man. His breath fogged the clear glass shielding his face. Even so, I detected perspiration beaded on his pallid forehead and upper lip. His golden brown eyes didn't quite focus upon me. I frowned and gently set my soil sample back into the stand awaiting the test tube. I wrestled free of the thick gloves that provided my access to the flat gray-brown mud. Actual mud. That meant water. Water meant the remote possibility of life. Even in the lightless depths of the last place on this dead hunk of planet that might retain traces of life-giving warmth from the cooling core. I shook away my curiosity and speculation about the sample and approached my colleague. "You okay, Joe? You don't look so good."

"Oh, you better watch out. You'd better not cry." He reached for my air hose.

Ice dripped down my spine. I started and stepped out of reach. "I'd better not cry? Joe . . ."

"What do you want for Christmas, Mai?" Another slow move, this time for my faceplate.

"That's it." I turned for the door.

He stepped in front of it, trapping me in the increasingly small lab. "What do you want for Christmas?"

I blinked, recalling my stupid wishful thinking - that it would be fun to find life on the Red Planet. I gasped, stared at him, and couldn't stop the whisper. "Life?"

He nodded and stepped closer. "You'd better not cry. You'd better not shout. I'm telling you why."

I swung around an instrument table, scooping up a scalpel. Tiny. Ineffectual. Sharp enough to put a hole in his pressurized suit if he kept trying to get my air supply away from me. "Joe! Stop it! You're sick! Running a fever. That must be the problem. We've got to get you to the infirmary. You need treatment. Who knows what a simple infection - - " I stopped mid-sentence to listen to what I'd said. "Infection. My God. Life. Infection. Is that it? I won't find life in that sample in there because somehow you breached containment. You're hosting -- whatever."

"You'd better not cry. You'd better not shout."

I reeled. 'Don't shout.' He meant don't call out for help. My heart quaked and I couldn't get my breath. How could I not? Joe might die. And if he did, my first chance to catch a glimpse of an actual Martian organism would die with him. Yet if I alerted the rest of the base, a round of antibiotics or antivirals later, and I'd have lost my chance just the same. "If I don't tell anyone," I began, "will you let me take a blood sample? I want to see."

His teeth flashed in a grin. He caught my wrist in a tight grip that set my teeth on edge. Prying the scalpel from my fingers sliced through his gloves. Blood seaped through the cuts. My breath came in short, useless bursts. I yanked against his hold. No effect. He cut my suit and me where my gloves met my pressure suit. My blood welled up. I yelped.

"Santa Clause is coming to town." He smeared pressed his bloody fingers into the cut on my wrist.

Holver Alley Crew Cover Reveal!

Many things on my plate today, so no regular blog from me, but here's something exciting: Cover Reveal for The Holver Alley Crew!  
http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2016/12/cover-reveal-holver-alley-crew-by.html

Another beauty from Paul Young.  He's really done well by me.