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From this issue:
Table of Contents
Recommended Reading List
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2009 Locus Recommended Reading List
This recommended reading list, published in Locus Magazine's February 2010 issue, is a consensus by Locus editors and reviewers -- Liza Groen Trombi, Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, Faren Miller, Russell Letson, Paul Witcover, Graham Sleight, Carolyn Cushman, Adrienne Martini, Tim Pratt, Karen Haber, and Rich Horton -- with inputs from outside reviewers, other professionals, other lists, etc.
Essays by many of these contributors, highlighting their particular favorite books and stories, are published in the February issue.
Novels - Science Fiction
- The Empress of Mars, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press; Tor)
- Transition, Iain M. Banks (Little Brown UK; Orbit)
- Ark, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz)
- The Devil's Alphabet, Daryl Gregory (Ballantine Del Rey)
- Buyout, Alexander C. Irvine (Ballantine Del Rey)
- Under the Dome, Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton; Scribner)
- Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress (Tor)
- Chronic City, Jonathan Lethem (Doubleday)
- Gardens of the Sun, Paul McAuley (Gollancz; Pyr 2010)
- The Walls of the Universe, Paul Melko (Tor)
- Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor)
- Yellow Blue Tibia, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
- Galileo's Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperVoyager; Ballantine Spectra 2010)
- The Sunless Countries, Karl Schroeder (Tor)
- This Is Not a Game, Walter Jon Williams (Orbit UK, Orbit US)
- Julian Comstock, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
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Novels - Fantasy
- The Price of Spring, Daniel Abraham (Tor)
- Last Days, Brian Evenson (Underland Press)
- Dragon in Chains, Daniel Fox (Ballantine Del Rey)
- Gears of the City, Felix Gilman (Bantam Spectra)
- Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales, Greer Gilman (Small Beer Press)
- Avilion, Robert Holdstock (Gollancz)
- The High City, Cecelia Holland (Forge)
- The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
- Green, Jay Lake (Tor)
- Madness of Flowers, Jay Lake (Night Shade Books)
- Audrey's Door, Sarah Langan (Harper)
- The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Ballantine Del Rey)
- Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; Harper)
- Spell Games, T.A. Pratt (Bantam Spectra)
- Canticle, Ken Scholes (Tor)
- Drood, Dan Simmons (Little, Brown)
- The Revolution Business, Charles Stross (Tor)
- Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
- Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland Press)
- Lifelode, Jo Walton (NESFA Press)
- The Painting and the City, Robert Freeman Wexler (PS Publishing)
- In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape; Del Rey)
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Young Adult Books
First Novels
- The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade Books)
- The Manual of Detection, Jedediah Berry (Penguin)
- Soulless, Gail Carriger (Orbit)
- The Adamantine Palace, Stephen Deas (Gollancz; Roc '10)
- Total Oblivion, More or Less, Alan DeNiro (Ballantine Spectra)
- Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)
- Ash, Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)
- Rosemary and Rue, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
- Lamentation, Ken Scholes (Tor)
- Harbinger, Jack Skillingstead (Fairwood Press)
- Spellbent, Lucy A. Snyder (Ballantine Del Rey)
- Living with Ghosts, Kari Sperring (DAW)
- Lightbreaker, Mark Teppo (Night Shade Books)
- Norse Code, Greg van Eekhout (Ballantine Spectra)
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Collections
- The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, Volume 1: Call Me Joe & Volume 2: The Queen of Air and Darkness, Poul Anderson (NESFA Press)
- We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon Publications)
- A Book of Endings, Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet Press)
- Tides from the New Worlds, Tobias S. Buckell (Wyrm Publishing)
- Ancestors and Others: New and Selected Stories, Fred Chappell (St. Martin's)
- Oceanic, Greg Egan (Gollancz)
- Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House)
- Grazing the Long Acre, Gwyneth Jones (PS Publishing)
- A is for Alien, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press)
- Cryptic: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt, Jack McDevitt (Subterranean Press)
- Cyberabad Days, Ian McDonald (Pyr)
- The Best of Michael Moorcock, Michael Moorcock (Tachyon Publications)
- Northwest Passages, Barbara Roden (Prime Books)
- Viator Plus, Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)
- Trips: The Collected Stories, Volume Four, Robert Silverberg (Subterranean Press)
- The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet, Vandana Singh (Zubaan/Penguin Books)
- Are You There and Other Stories, Jack Skillingstead (Golden Gryphon Press)
- Wireless, Charles Stross (Ace)
- Slow Sculpture: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon: Volume XII, Theodore Sturgeon (North Atlantic)
- Wild Thyme and Green Magic, Jack Vance (Subterranean Press)
- Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS Publishing)
- The Best of Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe (Tor); as The Very Best of Gene Wolfe (PS)
- The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny: Volumes 1-6, Roger Zelazny (NESFA Press)
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Anthologies - Original
- Postscripts #20/21: Edison's Frankenstein, Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers, ed. (PS Publishing)
- The Dragon Book, Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Berkley)
- Lovecraft Unbound, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Dark Horse Books)
- Poe, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)
- Troll's Eye View, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Viking)
- The New Space Opera 2, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Eos)
- Other Earths, Nick Gevers & Jay Lake, eds. (DAW)
- The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Three, George Mann, ed. (Solaris)
- Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Subterranean Press)
- Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between: Impossible Realism, Bradford Morrow & Brian Evenson, eds. (Bard College)
- Firebirds Soaring, Sharyn November, ed. (Firebird)
- X6, Keith Stevenson, ed. (coeur de lion)
- Eclipse Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade Books)
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Anthologies - Reprint
Anthologies - Bests
- The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Night Shade Books)
- The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-sixth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin's)
- Year's Best Fantasy 9, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Tor.com)
- Year's Best SF 14, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Eos)
- Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy: 2008 Download, Rich Horton, ed. (Wyrm Publishing)
- The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2009 Edition, Rich Horton, ed. (Prime Books)
- The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade Books)
- Best American Fantasy 2, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Prime Books)
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Non-Fiction / Art Books
- Powers: Secret Histories, John Berlyne (PS Publishing)
- The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, Mark Bould & Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts & Sherryl Vint, eds. (Routledge)
- Canary Fever: Reviews, John Clute (Beccon Publications)
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary, Jane Frank (McFarland)
- Imagination/Space: Essays and Talks on Fiction, Feminism, Technology and Politics, Gwyneth Jones (Aqueduct Press)
- Starcombing, David Langford (Cosmos Books)
- Cheek by Jowl: Essays, Ursula K. Le Guin (Aqueduct Press)
- The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction, Farah Mendlesohn (McFarland)
- On Joanna Russ, Farah Mendlesohn, ed. (Wesleyan University Press)
- Hope-in-the-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees, Michael Swanwick (Temporary Culture)
- This Is Me, Jack Vance!, Jack Vance (Subterranean Press)
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Art Books
- Knowing Darkness: Artists Inspired by Stephen King, George Beahm (Centipede Press)
- Reynold Brown: Reynold Brown: A Life in Pictures, Daniel Zimmer & David Hornung (Illustrated Press)
- Imaginaire II: Magic Realism 2010, Claus Brusen, ed. (Fantasmus-Art)
- The Future of Fantasy Art, Aly Fell & Duddlebug, eds. (CollinsDesign)
- Spectrum 16: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood Books)
- Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel, Paul Guinan & Anina Bennett (Abrams)
- Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist, James Gurney (Andrews McMeel)
- Sci-Fi Art: A Graphic History, Steve Holland (Collins Design)
- Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, Rodney Matthews, illustrator (Templar Books)
- The Late Fauna of Early North America: The Art of Scott Musgrove, Scott Musgrove (Billy Shire and Last Gasp)
- Frank R. Paul: From the Pen of Paul: The Fantastic Images of Frank R. Paul, Stephen D. Korshak, ed. (Shasta-Phoenix)
- Norman Saunders, David Saunders (Illustrated Press)
- Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess, Charles Vess (Dark Horse Books)
- Exposé 7, Daniel Wade & Paul Hellard, eds. (Mark Snoswell & Daniel Wade/Ballistic)
- Michael Whelan: The Little Sisters of Eluria, Stephen King (Donald M. Grant)
- Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, Gahan Wilson (Fantagraphics Books)
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Novellas
- The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
- Horn, Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)
- "Sugar", Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit 4/5/09)
- "Cuckoo", Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, & Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit 8/2/09)
- "Paradiso Lost", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 6-7/09)
- "Hot Rock", Greg Egan (Oceanic)
- "Where the Winds Are All Asleep", Michael F. Flynn (Analog 10/09)
- "Wives", Paul Haines (X6)
- The Push, Dave Hutchinson (NewCon Press)
- "Act One", Nancy Kress (Asimov's 3/09)
- "Sea-Hearts", Margo Lanagan (X6)
- "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky", John Langan (By Blood We Live)
- "Crimes and Glory", Paul McAuley (Subterranean Spring '09)
- "Vishnu at the Cat Circus", Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)
- Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon)
- A Special Place, Peter Straub (Borderlands Press)
- "Palimpsest", Charles Stross (Wireless)
- "The Far End of History", John C. Wright (The New Space Opera 2)
Novelettes
- "Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor's Vengeance", Daniel Abraham (Postscripts 19)
- "The Best Monkey", Daniel Abraham (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
- "A Tiny Feast", Chris Adrian (The New Yorker)
- "Things Undone", John Barnes (Jim Baen's Universe 12/09)
- "Formidable Caress", Stephen Baxter (Analog 12/09)
- "By Moonlight", Peter S. Beagle (We Never Talk About My Brother)
- "Vanishing", Peter S. Beagle (Intergalactic Medicine Show 3/09)
- "The Qualia Engine", Damien Broderick (Asimov's 8/09)
- "This Wind Blowing, and this Tide", Damien Broderick (Asimov's 4-5/09)
- "Truth and Bone", Pat Cadigan (Poe)
- "Lowland Sea", Suzy McKee Charnas (Poe)
- "One of our Bastards is Missing", Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
- "Healing Benjamin", Dennis Danvers (Realms of Fantasy 8/09)
- "Yes We Have No Bananas", Paul Di Filippo (Eclipse Three)
- "The Lion's Den", Steve Duffy (Cern Zoo: Nemonymous Nine)
- "The Dragaman's Bride", Andy Duncan (The Dragon Book)
- "each thing i show you is a piece of my death", Gemma Files & Stephen J. Barringer (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
- "The Death of Sugar Daddy", Toiya Kristen Finley (Electric Velocipede Spring '09)
- "Sails Above Greensea", Adam Corbin Fusco (Realms of Fantasy 4/09)
- "Economancer", Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 6-7/09)
- "It Takes Two", Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)
- "Dragon's Deep", Cecelia Holland (The Dragon Book)
- "Dragon's Teeth", Alex Irvine (F&SF 12/09)
- "Seventh Fall", Alex Irvine (Subterranean Summer '09)
- "The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles", Kij Johnson (Tor.com 7/14/09)
- "Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance", John Kessel (The New Space Opera 2)
- "Galapagos", Caitlín R. Kiernan (Eclipse Three)
- "Blood Dauber", Ted Kosmatka & Michael Poore (Asimov's 10-11/09)
- "First Flight", Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor.com 8/25/09)
- "A Wild and a Wicked Youth", Ellen Kushner (F&SF 4-5/09)
- "Technicolor", John Langan (Poe)
- "Clockatrice", Tanith Lee (Fantasy 10/5/09)
- "The Pain of Glass", Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
- "The Bones of Giants", Yoon Ha Lee (F&SF 8-9/09)
- "Secret Identity", Kelly Link (Geektastic)
- "Diana Comet", Sandra McDonald (Strange Horizons 3/2 - 3/9/09)
- "White Charles", Sarah Monette (Clarkesworld 10/09)
- "Mongoose", Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear (Lovecraft Unbound)
- "The Heart of the City", Garth Nix (Subterranean Summer '09)
- "The Long, Cold Goodbye", Holly Phillips (Asimov's 3/09)
- "Thieves of Silence", Holly Phillips (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 7/16/09)
- "Controlled Experiment", Tom Purdom (Asimov's 6/09)
- "Siren Beat", Tansy Rayner Roberts (Siren Beat/Roadkill)
- "Hair", Adam Roberts (When It Changed)
- "SinBad the Sand Sailor", R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's 7/09)
- "Wife-Stealing Time", R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's 10-11/09)
- "Cracklegrackle", Justina Robson (The New Space Opera 2)
- "Lion Walk", Mary Rosenblum (Asimov's 1/09)
- "You", Geoff Ryman (When It Changed)
- "A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon", Ken Scholes (Tor.com 2/17/09)
- "Sylgarmo's Proclamation", Lucius Shepard (Songs of the Dying Earth)
- "The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale", Robert Silverberg (Songs of the Dying Earth)
- "Infinities", Vandana Singh (The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet)
- "Black Swan", Bruce Sterling (Interzone 3-4/09)
- "Monetized", Jason Stoddard (Interzone 2/09)
- "Zeppelin City", Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn (Tor.com 10/6/09)
- "Eros, Philia, Agape", Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/3/09)
- "The City Quiet as Death", Steven Utley & Michael Bishop (Tor.com 6/9/09)
- "Riders of the Three-Toed Horse", Garrett W. Vance (Jim Baen's Universe 2/09)
- "Conquistador de la Noche", Carrie Vaughn (Subterranean Spring '09)
- "The Island", Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)
- "Sails the Morne", Chris Willrich (Asimov's 6/09)
- "This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe", Robert Charles Wilson (Other Earths)
- "Utriusque Cosmi", Robert Charles Wilson (The New Space Opera 2)
- "Everland", Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)
- "Twilight of the Gods", John C. Wright (Federations)
Short Stories
- "On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk", Peter M. Ball (Strange Horizons 7/6/09)
- "Strappado", Laird Barron (Poe)
- "Home Again", Paul M. Berger (Interzone 3-4/09)
- "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", Holly Black (Troll's Eye View)
- "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown", Holly Black (The Eternal Kiss)
- "Under The Shouting Sky", Karl Bunker (Cosmos 8-9/09)
- "Baby in the Basket", Cecil Castellucci (Strange Horizons 5/18/09)
- "Voice Like a Cello", Catherine Cheek (Fantasy 5/4/09)
- "Early Winter, Near Jenli Village", J. Kathleen Cheney (Fantasy 5/4/09)
- "Three Fancies from the Infernal Garden", C.S.E. Cooney (Subterranean Winter '09)
- "Erosion", Ian Creasey (Asimov's 10-11/09)
- "Bad Matter", Alexandra Duncan (F&SF 12/09)
- "Lady of the White-Spired City", Sarah L. Edwards (Interzone 5-6/09)
- "The Pelican Bar", Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
- "An Invocation of Incuriosity", Neil Gaiman (Songs of the Dying Earth)
- "As Women Fight", Sara Genge (Asimov's 12/09)
- "Child-Empress of Mars", Theodora Goss (Interfictions 2)
- "A Story, With Beans", Steven Gould (Analog 5/09)
- "Butterfly Bomb", Dominic Green (Interzone 5-6/09)
- "Salt's Father", Eric Gregory (Strange Horizons 8/03/09)
- "In the Lot and in the Air", Lisa Hannett (Clarkesworld 7/09)
- "Spar", Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
- "Collision", Gwyneth Jones (When It Changed)
- "Going Deep", James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's 6/09)
- "The Logic of the World", Robert Kelly (Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between)
- "The Motorman's Coat", John Kessel (F&SF 6-7/09)
- "Echoes of Aurora", Ellen Klages (What Remains)
- "Singing on a Star", Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
- "Dulce Domum", Ellen Kushner (Eclipse Three)
- "On the Human Plan", Jay Lake (Lone Star Stories 2/1/09)
- "Ferryman", Margo Lanagan (Firebirds Soaring)
- "Living Curiosities", Margo Lanagan (Sideshow)
- "The Cinderella Game", Kelly Link (Troll's Eye View)
- "Excellence", Richard A. Lovett (Analog 1-2/09)
- "Useless Things", Maureen F. McHugh (Eclipse Three)
- "Catalog", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 2/09)
- "The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale", Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21)
- "Her Voice in a Bottle", Tim Pratt (Subterranean Winter '09)
- "Narrative of a Beast's Life", Cat Rambo (Realms of Fantasy 12/09)
- "Before My Last Breath", Robert Reed (Asimov's 10-11/09)
- "Tests", Robert Reed (Postscripts 20/21)
- "Edison's Frankenstein", Chris Roberson (Postscripts 20/21)
- "Writ of Exception", Madeleine E. Robins (Lace and Blade 2)
- "My She", Mary Rosenblum (Federations)
- "Colliding Branes", Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling (Asimov's 2/09)
- "The Men Burned All the Boats", Patricia Russo (Fantasy 2/9/09)
- "Blocked", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/09)
- "Of Melei, of Ulthar", Gord Sellar (Clarkesworld 10/09)
- "Wizard's Apprentice", Delia Sherman (Troll's Eye View)
- What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night, Michael Marshall Smith (Nightjar Press)
- "Bob Choi's Last Job", Jonathan Stroud (The Dragon Book)
- "The Dying World", Lavie Tidhar (Clarkesworld 4/09)
- "The Shangri-La Affair", Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons 1/19/09)
- "Ragged Claws", Lisa Tuttle (Postscripts 20/21)
- "A Delicate Architecture", Catherynne M. Valente (Troll's Eye View)
- "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/09)
- "Bespoke", Genevieve Valentine (Strange Horizons 7/27/09)
- "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction", Jo Walton (Tor.com 2/6/09)
- "Three Twilight Tales", Jo Walton (Firebirds Soaring)
- "Donovan Sent Us", Gene Wolfe (Other Earths)
- "The Horse Angel", Marly Youmans (Postscripts 20/21)
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February 2010 Issue
2009 Recommended Reading
posted 1 February 2010
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Cover Design: Arnie Fenner
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