Locus Recommends You Read 2008 Things: The Meme

Great googly moogly, but this is a long one. I got it from Rob B, a fellow book-reviewing, New Jersey-living, working-in-publishing guy.

It's the usual rule: bold for things one has read, italics for things one has in a pile but hasn't read yet.

And, before I jump in, let me just note that 2008 was the first full year of my working life that I wasn't professionally reading SFF, so I expect long stretches of roman type.

SF novels

• Matter, Iain M. Banks (Orbit UK)
• Flood, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz, Roc '09)
• Weaver, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz, Ace)
• City at the End of Time, Greg Bear (Gollancz, Del Rey)
• Incandescence, Greg Egan (Gollancz, Night Shade)
• January Dancer, Michael Flynn (Tor)
• Marsbound, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
• Spirit, Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz)
• Escapement, Jay Lake (Tor)
• Song of Time, Ian R. MacLeod (PS Publishing)
• The Night Sessions, Ken MacLeod (Orbit)
• The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (Gollancz)
• The Company, K. J. Parker (Orbit)
• House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz, Ace '09)
• Pirate Sun, Karl Schroeder (Tor)
• Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Atlantic UK, Morrow)
• Saturn's Children, Charles Stross (Orbit, Ace)
• Rolling Thunder, John Varley (Ace) [Locus is either kidding or on drugs; I love Varley but this is very thin soup.]
• Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor)
• Implied Spaces, Walter Jon Williams (Night Shade Books)

Fantasy novels

• An Autumn War, Daniel Abraham (Tor)
• The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak (Bantam)
• The Knights of the Cornerstone, James P. Blaylock (Ace)
• The Ghost in Love, Jonathan Carroll (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• The Island of Eternal Love, Daina Chaviano (Riverhead)
• The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
• Shadowbridge/ Lord Tophet, Gregory Frost (Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Memoirs of a Master Forger, William Heaney (Gollancz) ; as How to Make Friends with Demons, Graham Joyce (Night Shade Books '09)
• Varanger, Cecelia Holland (Tor/Forge)
• Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)
• The Bell at Sealey Head, Patricia A. McKillip (Ace)
• The Hidden World, Paul Park (Tor)
• The Engine's Child, Holly Phillips (Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape)
• The Alchemy of Stone, Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books)
• The Dragons of Babel, Michael Swanwick (Tor)
• An Evil Guest, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

First novels

• The Ninth Circle, Alex Bell (Gollancz)
• The Painted Man, Peter V. Brett (HarperVoyager); as The Warded Man (Ballantine Del Rey)
• A Curse as Dark as Gold, Elizabeth C. Bunce (Scholastic)
• Graceling, Kristin Cashore (Harcourt)
• Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst (Riverhead)
• Thunderer, Felix Gilman (Bantam Spectra)
• Black Ships, Jo Graham (Orbit US)
• Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Ballantine Del Rey)
• The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway (William Heinemann, Knopf)
• Last Dragon, J.T. McDermott (Wizards of the Coast/Discoveries)
• Singularity's Ring, Paul Melko (Tor)
• The Long Look, Richard Parks (Five Star)
• The Red Wolf Conspiracy, Robert V. S. Redick (Gollancz, Del Rey '09)
• The Cabinet of Wonders, Marie Rutkoski (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

Young Adult Books

• City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare (Simon & Schuster/McElderry)
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
• Monster Blood Tattoo, Book Two: Lamplighter, D. M. Cornish (Putnam; Omnibus Books Australia)
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, Bloomsbury)
• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, Alison Goodman (Viking); as The Two Pearls of Wisdom (HarperCollins Australia)
• Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Knopf)
• How to Ditch Your Fairy, Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury USA)
• Ink Exchange, Melissa Marr (HarperTeen)
• Chalice, Robin McKinley (Putnam)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness (Candlewick Press)
• The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt)
• Nation, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK, HarperCollins)
• Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (Tor)
• Flora's Dare, Ysabeau S. Wilce (Harcourt) [I've been looking for it, more or less, but I don't have a copy.]
  

Collections

• The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories, Joan Aiken (Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House)
• Pump Six and Other Stories, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books)
• The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives, James P. Blaylock (Subterranean Press)
• Works of Art, James Blish (NESFA Press)
• The Wall of America, Thomas M. Disch (Tachyon Publications)
• Dark Integers and Other Stories, Greg Egan (Subterranean Press)
• The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial)
• The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories, James Patrick Kelly (Golden Gryphon Press)
• The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories, John Kessel (Small Beer Press)
• Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories, Nancy Kress (Golden Gryphon Press)
• Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters, John Langan (Prime Books)
• Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link (Viking)
• H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction, H. P. Lovecraft (Barnes & Noble)
• Binding Energy, Daniel Marcus (Elastic Press)
• Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods, Paul Melko (Fairwood Press)
• The Collected Short Fiction: Where Angels Fear / The Gods Perspire, Ken Rand (Fairwood Press)
• The Ant King and Other Stories, Benjamin Rosenbaum (Small Beer Press)
• Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Strange Journeys, Ken Scholes (Fairwood Press)
• Filter House, Nisi Shawl (Aqueduct Press)
• The Autopsy and Other Tales, Michael Shea (Centipede Press)
• The Best of Lucius Shepard, Lucius Shepard (Subterranean Press)
• The Best of Michael Swanwick, Michael Swanwick (Subterranean Press)
• Other Worlds, Better Lives, Howard Waldrop (Old Earth Books)
• Crazy Love, Leslie What (Wordcraft of Oregon)
• Gateway to Paradise: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Six, Jack Williamson (Haffner Press)

Anthologies - Original

• Clockwork Phoenix, Mike Allen, ed. (Norilana Books)
• Fast Forward 2, Lou Anders, ed. (Pyr)
• Sideways in Crime, Lou Anders, ed. (Solaris)
• Dreaming Again, Jack Dann, ed. (HarperCollins Australia; Eos)
• The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Ballantine Del Rey)
• Galactic Empires, Gardner Dozois, ed. (SFBC)
• Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology, Nick Gevers, ed. (Solaris)
• A Book of Wizards, Marvin Kaye, ed. (SFBC)
• The Solaris Book Of New Science Fiction Volume Two, George Mann, ed. (Solaris)
• Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, William Schafer, ed. (Subterranean Press)
• Eclipse Two, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade Books)
• The Starry Rift, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Viking)
• Fast Ships, Black Sails, Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Night Shade Books)
• Celebration: 50 Years of the British Science Fiction Association, Ian Whates, ed. (NewCon Press)

Anthologies - Reprint

• Wastelands, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Night Shade Books)
• A Science Fiction Omnibus, Brian W. Aldiss, ed. (Penguin Modern Classics)
• The Black Mirror and Other Stories: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Germany and Austria, Franz Rottensteiner, ed. (Wesleyan University Press)
• Poe's Children: The New Horror, Peter Straub, ed. (Doubleday)
• The New Weird, Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)
• Steampunk, Ann Vandermeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)

Anthologies - Best of the Year

• The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-first Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds. (St. Martin's Griffin)
• The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin's)
• Year's Best Fantasy 8, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)
• Year's Best SF 13, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Eos)
• Fantasy: The Best of the Year: 2008 Edition, Rich Horton, ed. (Prime Books)
• Science Fiction: The Best of the Year: 2008 Edition, Rich Horton, ed. (Prime Books)
• The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Nineteen, Stephen Jones, ed. (Robinson; Running Press)
• The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade Books)

Non-Fiction

• Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle, Second Edition, Michael Andre-Driussi (Sirius Fiction) [I did read, and still have, the first edition, though -- actually, what I have is an ultra-rare comb-bound advance proof of the first edition.]
  
• Miracles of Life, J. G. Ballard (HarperCollins/Fourth Estate UK)
• An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett, Andrew M. Butler (Greenwood)
• The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold, Lillian Stewart Carl & Martin H. Greenberg (Baen)
• H. Beam Piper: A Biography, John F. Carr (McFarland)
• The Worlds of Jack Williamson: A Centennial Tribute 1908-2008, Stephen Haffner, ed. (Haffner Press)
• Basil Copper: A Life in Books, Stephen Jones (PS Publishing)
• What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction, Paul Kincaid (Beccon)
• Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography, Jeffrey Marks (McFarland)
• Rhetorics of Fantasy, Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan University Press)
• The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia, Laura Miller (Little, Brown)
• Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman, Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden & Stephen R. Bissette (St. Martin's Press)

Art Books

• Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood Books)
• Paint or Pixel: The Digital Divide in Illustration Art, Jane Frank, ed. (NonStop Press)
• P. Craig Russell, Coraline, Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell (HarperCollins)
• J. Allen St. John, The Paintings of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master of Fantasy, Stephen D. Korshak & J. David Spurlock (Vanguard)
• Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia (Allen & Unwin; Scholastic '09)
• A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P.L., Jerad Walters, ed. (Centipede Press)

Novellas

• Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press)
• "The Overseer", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
• The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten, Thomas M. Disch (Tachyon Publications)
• “The Political Prisoner", Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF 8/08)
• "Arkfall", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 9/08)
• The Luminous Depths, David Herter (PS Publishing)
• "Mystery Hill", Alex Irvine (F&SF 1/08)
• "The Erdmann Nexus", Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 10-11/08)
• "Pretty Monsters", Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters)
• "The Surfer, Kelly Link (The Starry Rift) "
• "The Hob Carpet", Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov’s 6/08)
• "The Tear", Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
• "Tenbrook of Mars", Dean McLaughlin (Analog 7-8/08)
• Once Upon a Time in the North, Philip Pullman (Knopf)
• "The Man with the Golden Balloon", Robert Reed (Galactic Empires)
• "Truth", Robert Reed (Asimov’s 10-11/08)
• "True Names", Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow (Fast Forward 2)
• "Wonjjang and the Madman of Pyongyang", Gord Sellar (Tesseracts Twelve)
• "The Philosopher’s Stone", Brian Stableford (Asimov’s 7/08)

Novelettes

• "The Gambler", Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
• "Pump Six", Paolo Bacigalupi (Pump Six and Other Stories)
• "Tangible Light", J. Timothy Bagwell (Analog 1-2/08)
• "Radio Station St. Jack", Neal Barrett, Jr. (Asimov’s 8/08)
• "The Ice War", Stephen Baxter (Asimov’s 9/08)
• "Turing’s Apples", Stephen Baxter (Eclipse Two)
• "The Rabbi’s Hobby", Peter S. Beagle (Eclipse Two)
• "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri", Peter Beagle (InterGalactic Medicine Show 7/08)
• "Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
• "Shoggoths in Bloom", Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s 3/08)
• "The Golden Octopus", Beth Bernobich (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
• "From the Clay of His Heart", John Brown (InterGalactic Medicine Show 4/08)
• "Jimmy", Pat Cadigan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "Catherine Drewe", Paul Cornell (Fast Forward 2)
• Conversation Hearts, John Crowley (Subterranean Press)
• "The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away", Cory Doctorow (Tor.com 8/08)
• "Crystal Nights", Greg Egan (Interzone 4/08)
• "Lost Continent", Greg Egan (The Starry Rift)
• "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story", James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s 2/08)
• "Memory Dog", Kathleen Ann Goonan (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
• "Shining Armor", Dominic Green (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm", Daryl Gregory (Eclipse Two)
• "Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
• "The Art of Alchemy", Ted Kosmatka (F&SF 6/08)
• "Divining Light", Ted Kosmatka (Asimov’s 8/08)
• "Childrun", Marc Laidlaw (F&SF 8/08)
• "Machine Maid", Margo Lanagan (Extraordinary Engines)
• "The Woman", Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix)
• "The Magician’s House", Meghan McCarron (Strange Horizons 7/08)
• "An Eligible Boy", Ian McDonald (Fast Forward 2)
• "The Dust Assassin", Ian McDonald (The Starry Rift)
• "Special Economics", Maureen F. McHugh (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe", Garth Nix (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
• "Infestation", Garth Nix (The Starry Rift)
• "Immortal Snake", Rachel Pollack (F&SF 5/08)
• "The Hour of Babel", Tim Powers (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
• "Five Thrillers", Robert Reed (F&SF 4/08)
• "Fury", Alastair Reynolds (Eclipse Two)
• "The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice", Alastair Reynolds (The Starry Rift) "
• "The Egg Man", Mary Rosenblum (Asimov’s 2/08)
• "Sacrifice", Mary Rosenblum (Sideways in Crime)
• "Days of Wonder", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/08)
• "Lester Young and the Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues", Gord Sellar (Asimov’s 7/08)
• "Gift from a Spring", Delia Sherman (Realms of Fantasy 4/08)
• "An Alien Heresy", S.P. Somtow (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
• "Following the Pharmers", Brian Stableford (Asimov’s 3/08)
• "The First Editions", James Stoddard (F&SF 4/08)

Short Stories

• "Don’t Go Fishing on Witches Day", Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden)
• "Goblin Music", Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden)
• "The Occultation", Laird Barron (Clockwork Phoenix)
• "King Pelles the Sure", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
• Boojum", Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
• "Private Eye", Terry Bisson (F&SF 10-11/08)
• "Offworld Friends Are Best", Neal Blaikie (Greatest Uncommon Denominator Spring ’08)
• "The Man Who Built Heaven", Keith Brooke (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "Balancing Accounts", James L. Cambias (F&SF 2/08)
• "Exhalation", Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
• "The Fooly", Terry Dowling (Dreaming Again)
• "Truth Window: A Tale of the Bedlam Rose", Terry Dowling (Eclipse Two)
• "Awskonomuk", Gregory Feeley (Otherworldly Maine)
• "Daltharee", Jeffrey Ford (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "The Dismantled Invention of Fate", Jeffrey Ford (The Starry Rift) "
• "The Dream of Reason", Jeffrey Ford (Extraordinary Engines)
• "The Seventh Expression of the Robot General", Jeffrey Ford (Eclipse Two)
• "Reader’s Guide", Lisa Goldstein (F&SF 7/08)
• “Glass”, Daryl Gregory (Technology Review 11-12/08)
• "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 7/08)
• "The Voyage Out", Gwyneth Jones (Periphery)
• "Evil Robot Monkey", Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "The Kindness of Strangers", Nancy Kress (Fast Forward 2)
• "The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue into the Black", Jay Lake (Clarkesworld 3/08)
• "The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross", Margo Lanagan (Dreaming Again)
• "The Goosle", Margo Lanagan (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "The Thought War", Paul McAuley (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "[a ghost samba]", Ian McDonald (Postscripts Summer ’08)
• "Midnight Blue", Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 9/08)
• "Fallen Angel", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 12/08)
• "Mars: A Traveler’s Guide", Ruth Nestvold (F&SF 1/08)
• "The Blood of Peter Francisco", Paul Park (Sideways in Crime)
• "The Small Door", Holly Phillips (Fantasy 5/08)
• "His Master’s Voice", Hannu Rajaniemi (Interzone 10/08)
• "The House Left Empty", Robert Reed (Asimov’s 4-5/08)
• "Fifty Dinosaurs", Robert Reed (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "Traitor", M. Rickert (F&SF 5/08)
• "Snatch Me Another", Mercurio D. Rivera (Abyss & Apex 1Q/08)
• "The Film-makers of Mars", Geoff Ryman (Tor.com 12/08)
• "Talk is Cheap", Geoff Ryman (Interzone 6/08)
• "After the Coup", John Scalzi (Tor.com 7/08)
• "Invisible Empire of Ascending Light", Ken Scholes (Eclipse Two)
• "Ardent Clouds", Lucy Sussex (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• "From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled", Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s 2/08)
• "The Scarecrow’s Boy", Michael Swanwick (F&SF 10-11/08)
• "Marrying the Sun", Rachel Swirsky (Fantasy 6/08)
• "A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)
• "Fixing Hanover", Jeff VanderMeer (Extraordinary Engines)
• "The Eyes of God", Peter Watts (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two)
• "Ass-Hat Magic Spider", Scott Westerfeld (The Starry Rift) "

I am utterly innocent of any knowledge of any short fiction since I was booted from the SFBC, it seems that I don't read any short fiction unprompted.

As I usually say around this time every year, I don't want to hear anyone complain that there's no good SFF to read. If you don't like anything on that list, we can all officially shun you.