Locus Online: 2004 Recommended Reading

FEBRUARY 2005

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2004 Recommended
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Mailing Date:
29 January 2004

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THE MAGAZINE OF THE SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY FIELD

2004 Recommended Reading List

This recommended reading list, published in Locus Magazine's February 2005 issue, is a consensus by Locus editors and reviewers -- Charles N. Brown, Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, Faren Miller, Russell Letson, Nick Gevers, Carolyn Cushman, Tim Pratt, Karen Haber, and Rich Horton -- and other professionals, including Gardner Dozois, David G. Hartwell, Michael Swanwick, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, and others. It takes at least two positive mentions to make the final list. Essays by many of these contributors are published in the February issue.

Science Fiction Novels

The Life of the World to Come, Kage Baker (Tor)
The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks (Orbit)
Exultant, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz; Del Rey)
Spondulix, Paul Di Filippo (Cambrian)
Eastern Standard Tribe, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
Stamping Butterflies, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Gollancz)
Camouflage, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
For Us, The Living, Robert A. Heinlein (Scribner)
Black Brillion, Matthew Hughes (Tor)
Life, Gwyneth Jones (Aqueduct)
The Language of Power, Rosemary Kirstein (Del Rey)
Crucible, Nancy Kress (Tor)
Newton's Wake, Ken MacLeod (Orbit; Tor)
White Devils, Paul McAuley (Simon & Schuster UK; Tor)
Lost in Transmission, Wil McCarthy (Bantam Spectra)
River of Gods, Ian McDonald (Simon & Schuster UK)
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (Sceptre; Random House)
Century Rain, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Ace 2005)
Forty Signs of Rain, Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins UK; Bantam)
The Plot Against America, Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin)
Frek and the Elixir, Rudy Rucker (Tor)
Air, Geoff Ryman (St. Martin’s)
The Baroque Cycle: The Confusion; The System of the World, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
The Zenith Angle, Bruce Sterling (Del Rey)
Iron Sunrise, Charles Stross (Ace)
Banner of Souls, Liz Williams (Bantam Spectra)
The Fourth Circle, Zoran Zivkovic (Ministry of Whimsy)

Fantasy Novels

Dead Lines, Greg Bear (HarperCollins UK; Ballantine)
Mortal Love, Elizabeth Hand (Morrow)
The Witches' Kitchen, Cecelia Holland (Forge)
One King, One Soldier, Alexander C. Irvine (Del Rey)
The Last Light of the Sun, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada; Roc)
The Charnel Prince, Greg Keyes (Del Rey)
Murder of Angels, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah; The Dark Tower, Stephen King (Grant/Scribner)
Dragon's Treasure, Elizabeth A. Lynn (Ace)
Alphabet of Thorn, Patricia A. McKillip (Ace)
Glass Dragons, Sean McMullen (Tor)
Iron Council, China Miéville (Del Rey)
Going Postal, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)
A Handbook of American Prayer, Lucius Shepard (Thunder’s Mouth)
Perfect Circle, Sean Stewart (Small Beer)
In the Night Room, Peter Straub (Random House)
The Family Trade, Charles Stross (Tor)
Shadowmarch, Tad Williams (DAW)
The Wizard Knight, Gene Wolfe (Tor – 2 Volumes: The Knight, The Wizard)
The Last Guardian of Everness, John C. Wright (Tor)

Young-Adult Books

Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, Isabel Allende (HarperCollins)
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, Clive Barker (HarperCollins)
Basilisk, N. M. Browne (Bloomsbury)
The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Viking)
The Blue Girl, Charles de Lint (Viking)
The Sea of Trolls, Nancy Farmer (Atheneum)
Unexpected Magic: Collected Stories, Diana Wynne Jones (Greenwillow)
Gifts, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harcourt)
New Magics, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, ed. (Tor)
The Keys to the Kingdom: Grim Tuesday, Garth Nix (Scholastic)
Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales, Deborah Noyes, ed. (Candlewick)
Airborn, Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins Canada; Eos)
A Hat Full of Sky, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins)
The Golem's Eye, Jonathan Stroud (Hyperion)
Midnighters, Vol. 1: The Secret Hour, Scott Westerfeld (Eos)

First Novels

Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham (Del Rey)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad, Minister Faust (Del Rey)
Ghosts in the Snow, Tamara Siler Jones (Bantam Spectra)
Fitzpatrick's War, Theodore Judson (DAW)
Move Under Ground, Nick Mamatas (Night Shade)
The Gods and Their Machines, Oisín McGann (Tor)
Firethorn, Sarah Micklem (Scribner)
Trash Sex Magic, Jennifer Stevenson (Small Beer)
The Year of Our War, Steph Swainston (Gollancz; Eos 2005)
City of Pearl, Karen Traviss (Eos)
The Labyrinth, Catherynne M. Valente (Prime)
Olympic Games, Leslie What (Tachyon)
The Arcanum, Thomas Wheeler (Bantam)
Through Violet Eyes, Stephen Woodworth (Dell)

Collections

Mother Aegypt and Other Stories, Kage Baker (Night Shade)
Stagestruck Vampires & Other Phantasms, Suzy McKee Charnas (Tachyon)
The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh, C.J. Cherryh (DAW)
Novelties & Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction, John Crowley (Perennial)
Neutrino Drag, Paul Di Filippo (Four Walls Eight Windows)
Morning Child and Other Stories, Gardner Dozois (ibooks)
Love's Body, Dancing in Time, L. Timmel Duchamp (Aqueduct)
Cartomancy, Mary Gentle (Gollancz)
Stable Strategies and Others, Eileen Gunn (Tachyon)
Partial Eclipse and Other Stories, Graham Joyce (Subterranean)
American Sorrows, Jay Lake (Wheatland)
Black Juice, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin Australia; Eos 2005)
Breathmoss and Other Exhalations, Ian R. MacLeod (Golden Gryphon)
The Cat's Pajamas & Other Stories, James Morrow (Tachyon)
Swiftly, Adam Roberts (Night Shade)
Thumbprints, Pamela Sargent (Golden Gryphon)
Trujillo, Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)
Two Trains Running, Lucius Shepard (Golden Gryphon)
Phases of the Moon: Stories of Six Decades, Robert Silverberg (Subterranean; ibooks)
Secret Life, Jeff VanderMeer (Golden Gryphon)
The John Varley Reader, John Varley (Ace)
The Banquet of the Lords of Night and Other Stories, Liz Williams (Night Shade)
Seventy-Five: The Diamond Anniversary of a Science Fiction Pioneer, Jack Williamson (Haffner)
Innocents Aboard, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

Anthologies

Microcosms, Gregory Benford, ed. (DAW)
The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Charles N. Brown & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (Voyager Australia; Eos)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds. (St. Martin’s)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s)
Science Fiction: The Best of 2003, Karen Haber & Jonathan Strahan, eds. (ibooks)
Year's Best SF 9, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Eos)
Year's Best Fantasy 4, David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds. (Eos)
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Fifteen, Stephen Jones, ed. (Carroll & Graf)
Polyphony 4, Deborah Layne & Jay Lake, eds. (Wheatland)
Nebula Awards Showcase 2004, Vonda N. McIntyre, ed. (Roc)
All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories, David Moles & Jay Lake, eds. (Wheatland)
Conqueror Fantastic, Pamela Sargent, ed. (DAW)
Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy, Al Sarrantonio, ed. (Roc)
Between Worlds, Robert Silverberg, ed. (SFBC)
Best Short Novels 2004, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (SFBC)
The First Heroes: New Tales of the Bronze Age, Harry Turtledove & Noreen Doyle, eds. (Tor)

Non-Fiction

The Gernsback Days, Mike Ashley & Robert A. W. Lowndes (Wildside)
Solar Labyrinth: Exploring Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Robert Borski (iUniverse)
x, y, z, t: Dimensions of Science Fiction, Damien Broderick (Borgo)
The Cherryh Odyssey, Edward Carmien, ed. (Borgo)
Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction, Jonathan R. Eller & William F. Touponce (Kent State)
Brazilian Science Fiction, M. Elizabeth Ginway (Bucknell University)
The Evolution of the Weird Tale, S.T. Joshi (Hippocampus)
The Wave in the Mind, Ursula K. Le Guin (Shambhala)
Speaking of the Fantastic II, Darrell Schweitzer (Wildside)
The Annotated Brothers Grimm, Maria Tatar, ed. (Norton)
Dancing Naked: The Unexpurgated William Tenn, William Tenn (NESFA)
The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King’s Magnum Opus, Bev Vincent (NAL)
Attending Daedalus: Gene Wolfe, Artifice and the Reader, Peter Wright (Liverpool 2003)

Art

Caniglia, As Dead As Leaves: The Art of Caniglia (Shocklines)
Alan M. Clark, The Paint in My Blood (IFD)
Leo & Diane Dillon, The People Could Fly: The Picture Book, Virginia Hamilton (Knopf)
Spectrum 11: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood)
Digital Art for the 21st Century: Renderosity, John Grant & Audre Vysniauskas (APPL; Harper Design International)
Futures: 50 Years in Space: The Challenge of the Stars, David A. Hardy & Patrick Moore (Harper Design International)
Richard Hescox, The Deceiving Eye: The Art of Richard Hescox (Paper Tiger)
Paul Kidby, Terry Pratchett: The Art of Discworld, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; HarperCollins)
Ilene Meyer, Ilene Meyer: Paintings, Drawings, Perceptions (Underwood)
Keith Parkinson, Kingsgate: The Art of Keith Parkinson (SQP/Fanfare)
Those Macabre Pulps, Darrell C. Richardson (Adventure House)
Luis Royo, Fantastic Art: The Best of Luis Royo (NBM)
François Schuiten, The Book of Schuiten (NBM)
Gahan Wilson, The Best of Gahan Wilson (Underwood)

Novellas

Baxter, Stephen, Mayflower II (PS Publishing)
Cowdrey, Albert E., "The Tribes of Bela" (F&SF 8/04)
Denton, Bradley, "Sergeant Chip" (F&SF 9/04)
Dozois, Gardner, George R.R. Martin & Daniel Abraham, "Shadow Twin" (Sci Fiction 6/9/04)
Duchamp, L. Timmel, "The Héloïse Archive" (Love’s Body, Dancing In Time)
Feeley, Gregory, "Arabian Wine" (Asimov’s 4-5/04)
Feeley, Gregory, "Giliad" (The First Heroes)
Garcia y Robertson, R. "Long Voyage Home" (Asimov’s 2/04)
Jarpe, Matthew & Jonathan Andrew Sheen, "The Bad Hamburger" (F&SF 12/04)
Kelly, James Patrick, "The Wreck of the Godspeed" (Between Worlds)
McDowell, Ian, "Under the Flag of Night" (Asimov’s 3/04)
McKillip, Patricia A., "The Gorgon in the Cupboard" (To Weave a Web of Magic)
Park, Paul, No Traveller Returns (PS Publishing)
Roberts, Adam, "Eleanor" (Swiftly)
Shepard, Lucius, Viator (Night Shade)
Stross, Charles, "The Concrete Jungle" (The Atrocity Archives)
Stross, Charles, "Elector" (Asimov’s 9/04)
Stross, Charles & Cory Doctorow, "Appeals Court" (Argosy 5-6/04)
Wolfe, Gene, "Golden City Far" (Flights)

Novelettes

Abraham, Daniel, "Flat Diane" (F&SF 10-11/04)
Abraham, Daniel, "Leviathan Wept" (Sci Fiction 7/7/04)
Arnason, Eleanor, "The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance" (Synergy SF)
Bacigalupi, Paolo, "The Pasho" (Asimov’s 9/04)
Bacigalupi, Paolo, "The People of Sand and Slag" (F&SF 2/04)
Baker, Kage, "The Catch" (Asimov’s 10-11/04)
Baker, Kage, "Leaving His Cares Behind Him" (Asimov’s 4-5/04)
Barron, Laird, "Bulldozer" (Sci Fiction 8/25/04)
Baxter, Stephen, "PeriAndry’s Quest" (Analog 6/04)
Beagle, Peter S., "Quarry" (F&SF 5/04)
Berman, Judith, "The Fear Gun" (Asimov’s 7/04)
Bisson, Terry, "Super 8" (Sci Fiction 11/24/04)
Brown, Simon, "Water Babies" (Agog! Smashing Stories)
Cambias, James L., "The Ocean of the Blind" (F&SF 4/04)
Claxton, Matthew, "The Anatomist’s Apprentice" (Sci Fiction 7/14/04)
Di Filippo, Paul, "Observable Things" (Conqueror Fantastic)
Finlay, Charles Coleman, "The Seal Hunter" (F&SF 1/04)
Flynn, Michael F., "The Clapping Hands of God" (Analog 7-8/04)
Ford, Jeffrey, "A Night in the Tropics" (Argosy 1-2/04)
Grant, John, "Q" (Sci Fiction 10/20/04)
Irvine, Alex, "Volunteers" (Sci Fiction 7/28/04)
Kelly, James Patrick, "Men Are Trouble" (Asimov’s 6/04)
Kiernan, Caitlín R., "Riding the White Bull" (Argosy 1-2/04)
Klein, Sean, "Five Guys Named Moe" (Sci Fiction 2/23/04)
Link, Kelly, "The Faery Handbag" (The Faery Reel)
Link, Kelly, "Stone Animals" (Conjunctions 43: Beyond Arcadia)
Lynn, Elizabeth A., "The Silver Dragon" (Flights)
Miéville, China, "Reports of Certain Events in London" (McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories)
Moles, David, "The Third Party" (Asimov’s 9/04)
Morrow, James, "Martyrs of the Upshot Knothole" (Conqueror Fantastic)
Murphy, Pat "Inappropriate Behavior" (Sci Fiction 2/11/04)
Powers, Tim, "Pat Moore" (Flights)
Reed, Robert, "The Dragons of Summer Gulch" (Sci Fiction 12/01/04)
Reed, Robert, Mere (Golden Gryphon)
Rosenbaum, Benjamin, "Biographical Notes to ‘A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes’ by Benjamin Rosenbaum" (All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories)
Rosenblum, Mary, "Songs the Sirens Sing" (Asimov’s 1/04)
Rosenblum, Mary, "Tracker" (Asimov’s 4-5/04)
Rowe, Christopher, "The Voluntary State" (Sci Fiction 5/5/04)
Shea, Michael, "The Growlimb" (F&SF 1/04)
Sherman, Delia, "CATNYP" (The Faery Reel)
Shiner, Lewis, "Perfidia" (Black Clock #2)
Stoddard, James, "The Battle of York" (F&SF 7/04)
Straub, Peter, "Mr. Aickman’s Air Rifle" (McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories)
Swanwick, Michael, "The Word that Sings the Scythe" (Asimov’s 10-11/04)
Tilton, Lois, "The Gladiator’s War: A Dialog" (Asimov’s 6/04)
Utley, Steven, "Invisible Kingdoms" (F&SF 2/04)
VanderMeer, Jeff, "Three Days in a Border Town" (Polyphony 4)
Watson, Ian, "An Appeal to Adolf" (Conqueror Fantastic)
Wilce, Ysabeau S., "Metal More Attractive" (F&SF 2/04)
Williams, Walter Jon, "The Tang Dynasty Underwater Pyramid" (Sci Fiction 8/04/04)
Wolfe, Gene, "The Little Stranger" (F&SF 10-11/04)
Wolfe, Gene, "The Lost Pilgrim" (The First Heroes)

Short Stories

Aegard, John, "The Golden Age of Fire Escapes" (Rabid Transit: Petting Zoo)
Anderson, Barth, "Alone in the House of Mims" (Strange Horizons 4/26/04)
Anderson, M.T., "Watch and Wake" (Gothic!)
Asher, Neal, "Strood" (Asimov’s 12/04)
Attanasio, A.A., "Zero’s Twin" (F&SF 6/04)
Barton, William, "The Gods of a Lesser Creation" (Asimov’s 8/04)
Bisson, Terry, "Scout’s Honor" (Sci Fiction 1/28/04)
Black, Holly, "The Night Market" (The Faery Reel)
Blaylock, James P., "Hula Ville" (Sci Fiction 11/3/04)
Butner, Richard, "The Wounded" (Crossroads)
Counihan, Elizabeth, "The Star Called Wormwood" (Asimov’s, 12/04)
DeNiro, Alan, "A Keeper" (Electric Velocipede Spring ’04)
Dowling, Terry, "Clownette" (Sci Fiction 12/15/04)
Duncan, Andy, "Zora and the Zombie" (Sci Fiction 2/4/04)
Emshwiller, Carol, "All of Us Can Almost…" (Sci Fiction 11/17/04)
Emshwiller, Carol, "Gliders Though They Be" (Sci Fiction 6/2/04)
Finlay, Charles Coleman, "After the Gaud Chrysalis" (F&SF 6/04)
Fintushel, Eliot, "Gwendolyn Is Happy to Serve You" (Asimov’s 7/04)
Fintushel, Eliot, "Women Are Ugly" (Strange Horizons 6/21/04)
Ford, Jeffrey, "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" (The Faery Reel)
Gaiman, Neil, "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" (Gothic!)
Goonan, Kathleen Ann, "Dinosaur Songs" (Asimov’s 7/04)
Goss, Theodora, "Miss Emily Gray" (Alchemy 2)
Haldeman, Joe, "Faces" (F&SF 6/04)
Hand, Elizabeth, "Wonderwall" (Flights)
Harrison, M. John, "tourism" (Amazon.com, 8/04)
Hughes, Matthew, "A Little Learning" (F&SF 6/04)
Jennings, Phillip C., "The Saint" (Asimov’s 3/04)
Johnson, Kij, "The Empress Jingu Fishes" (Conqueror Fantastic)
Kelly, James Patrick, "The Best Christmas Ever" (Sci Fiction 5/26/04)
Kessel, John, "The Baum Plan for Financial Independence" (Sci Fiction 3/24/04)
Klages, Ellen, "The Green Glass Sea" (Strange Horizons 9/6/04)
Kress, Nancy, "My Mother, Dancing" (Asimov’s 6/04)
Laidlaw, Marc, "Flight Risk" (Sci Fiction 4/21/04)
Lake, Jay, "The Angel’s Daughter" (Realms of Fantasy 8/04)
Lanagan, Margo, "Earthly Uses" (Black Juice)
Lanagan, Margo, "Red Nose Day" (Black Juice)
Lanagan, Margo, "Rite of Spring" (Black Juice)
Lanagan, Margo, "Singing My Sister Down" (Black Juice)
Levine, David D., "Charlie the Purple Giraffe Was Acting Strangely" (Realms of Fantasy 6/04)
Maguire, Gregory, "The Oakthing" (The Faery Reel)
McAllister, Bruce, "The Seventh Daughter" (F&SF 4/04)
McDevitt, Jack, "The Mission" (Crossroads)
McHugh, Maureen F., "Oversite" (Asimov’s 9/04)
Melko, Paul, "Fallow Earth" (Asimov’s 6/04)
Melko, Paul, "Ten Sigmas" (Talebones Summer ’04)
Miéville, China, "’Tis the Season" (Socialist Review 12/04)
Moles, David, "Five Irrational Histories" (Rabid Transit: Petting Zoo)
Mueller, Richard, "Jew if by Sea" (F&SF 5/04)
Palwick, Susan, "Beautiful Stuff" (Sci Fiction 8/18/04)
Pratt, Tim, "Life in Stone" (Lenox Avenue 11-12/04)
Reed, Kit, "Family Bed" (Sci Fiction 5/12/04)
Reed, Robert, "Opal Ball" (F&SF 10-11/04)
Rickert, M., "Cold Fires" (F&SF 10-11/04)
Rickert, M., "Many Voices" (F&SF 3/04)
Roberson, Chris, "Red Hands, Black Hands" (Asimov’s 12/04)
Roggie, Deborah, "The Enchanted Trousseau" (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 6/04)
Rosenbaum, Benjamin, "Embracing-the-New" (Asimov’s 1/04)
Rosenbaum, Benjamin, "Start the Clock" (F&SF 8/04)
Schutz, Aaron, "Being With Jimmy" (Asimov’s 12/04)
Singh, Vandana, "Delhi" (So Long Been Dreaming)
Skillingstead, Jack, "Scatter" (Asimov’s 10-11/04)
Sterling, Bruce, "Luciferase" (Sci Fiction 12/22/04)
Swanwick, Michael, "The Last Geek" (Crossroads)
Taaffe, Sonya, "Featherweight" (Say ... Why Aren’t We Crying?)
Tiedemann, Mark W., "Rain from Another Country" (F&SF 9/04)
Van Pelt, James, "Echoing" (Asimov’s 12/04)
Vinge, Vernor, "Synthetic Serendipity" (IEEE Spectrum Online 7/7/04)
Vukcevich, Ray, "Gas" (F&SF 4/04)
Vukcevich, Ray, "Glinky" (F&SF 6/04)
Waldrop, Howard, "The Wolf-man of Alcatraz" (Sci Fiction 9/22/04)
Williams, Liz, "Skindancing" (The Banquet of the Lords of Night)
Wolfe, Gene, "Pulp Cover" (Asimov’s 3/04)

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