Last Dragon J.M. McDermott’s 2008 Year’s Best (on Amazon)
I invited writers who made Amazon’s SF/F Top 10 for 2008 to send me their own year’s best list. The latest, from J.M. McDermott, is now up on the Amazon book blog. It’s a function of genre being a small pond that two anthologies I co-edited with Ann are on the list. Sometimes there’s no getting away from that kind of interconnectivity, and it’s always hard to know how to deal with it. But it also balances out: despite being on Amazon’s top 10 list several times in the past, I am not eligible to be on it so long as I do work for their blog.
I’ve also reproduced his list below, without his annotations. What would you add to it? What do you disagree (politely) with?
1 – The Man on the Ceiling by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem
2 – The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford
3 – The New Weird edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
4 – Liberation by Brian Francis Slattery
5 – Thunderer by Felix Gilman
6 – The Houses of Time by Jamil Nasir
7 – Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
8 – Shadowbridge/Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost
9 – The Magician and the Fool by Barth Anderson
10 – Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlowe
11 – Implied Spaces by Walter John Williams
12 – The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
13 – Steampunk by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
14 – The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell
15 – The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
January 21, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I didn’t pick Jeff’s books because he picked mine. I picked them because they were totally awesome. They appeared on quite a few other year’s best lists, as well.
Just to be clear.
January 21, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I’d add John Joseph Adams’ The Living Dead anthology. The stories are far more diverse than I’d been expecting from the subject.
January 21, 2009 at 3:16 pm
JM–yep. I just don’t feel comfortable presenting the list without addressing it. No implication there.
Jeff
January 21, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I’m pleased to see the Tems’ novel/memoir take the top slot. Clearly a labor of love for the husband-wife duo, it’s deeply affecting and scary, making the reader feel what it’s like to lose a loved one.
January 21, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I’m reading Thunderer now, and it it top notch!
January 21, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Glad to see “Sharp Teeth” there – good stuff!
January 21, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I’ve only read a little of ‘Thunderer’ so far but I’m definately in agreement with its presence there, it’s a fine novel – so lavish you almost wonder how they’ve crammed it into the pages without words and worlds spilling out all over the floor. Gushing here but damn, it’s a page turner.
Ashamed to say I haven’t read any of the others, aside from the two Jeff & Ann edited anthologies.
January 22, 2009 at 8:34 am
Thunderer recently appeared in bookshops here in Helsinki, and I’ve been wondering whether it’s worth picking up. Sounds like a yes!
January 22, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Obviously, I strongly recommend all *cough* 16 * cough* of the books on my top 15 list.
An interesting tidbit about Thunderer: Recently made the shortlist for the Crawford Prize.
Not to mention his hilarious stint guest-blogging around here.
December 23, 2010 at 2:37 pm
At first I thought you told Google to call the library, and it did, and that blew my mind.
Then I realized that you actually called the library, and my mind became unblown.
I’ll get back to work…
If you ask my opinion about this topic I really like. Thank you for sharing your friends. Hope to see you another day.