It was another good year, with a surprising number of excellent books from British writers, a bunch of great collections, and was particularly notable for the quality of big, fat novels by George R.R. Martin, China Miéville, Mary Gentle and others. As always, I didn't come close to reading all of the books that I would have liked to (Mary Gentle's Ash, Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass, and George R.R. Martin's A Storm of Swords are ones I particularly hope to get to), but of those books I did read these were all essential additions to the bookshelf: Baxter, Stephen - Space: Manifold 2(HarperCollins Voyager) De Lint, Charles - Forests of the Heart (Tor) Dowling, Terry - Blackwater Days (Eidolon [Australia]) Duncan, Andy - Beluthahatchie and Other Stories (Golden Gryphon) Haldeman, Joe - The Coming (Ace) McKillip, Patricia A. - The Tower at Stony Wood (Ace) Miéville, China - Perdido Street Station (Macmillan) Powers, Tim - Declare (Subterranean; Morrow 2001) Pratchett, Terry - The Truth (Transworld) Reynolds, Alastair - Revelation Space (Gollancz) Stableford, Brian - The Fountains of Youth (Tor) Sterling, Bruce - Zeitgeist (Bantam) Stewart, Sean - Galveston (Ace) Tan, Shaun - The Lost Thing (Lothian [Australia]) Yolen, Jane - Sister Emily's Lightship and Other Stories (Tor) If I were pushed to recommend a shorter list, I'd say don't miss the Miéville, Powers, Stewart or Sterling titles. If only one book - don't miss Zeitgeist. — Jonathan Strahan