Books of 2008, reading plan 2009

Last year I set myself a target of reading 60 books (novels or novellas, not counting graphic novels) and came pretty darn close to meeting that target with a total of 55, which wasn't too shabby.

I started the year with Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie and finished with The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. In between, I managed to explore a reasonably eclectic mix of territories: from epic fantasy to psychological horror, historical mystery to space opera, serial killer thriller to YA adventure, comic surrealism to fictional memoir.

I enjoyed far too many highlights to list them all, but I am extremely glad I read Guy Gavriel Kay's World Fantasy Award winning Ysabel, as well as Peter Crowther's mini-collection The Land at the End of the Working Day, from the now-defunct Humdrumming Press. Pete is selling copies of that one via the PS Publishing website and I urge you to grab one if you're any sort of fan of the strange, surreal, funny and moving bar tales of Spider Robinson's Callahan's series, in particular.

I also enjoyed reading (or re-reading) some favourite graphic novel series during the year. Mike Carey's eleven-volume Lucifer series was a real treat, and I also caught up with another swathe of Hellblazer back-reading. Plus, re-visits to Alan Moore's Tom Strong and Promethea and a re-read of Jeff Smith's nine-volume Bone adventures.

For 2009 I'm planning on revising my targets slightly. I'm still hoping to read about 60 books, but I'll be interspersing my regular fiction reads (many of which will be Orbit titles, naturally) with a number of marketing titles that I've got my eye on, hopefully to the tune of one a month. Meanwhile, my regular Xmas voucher haul will be helping to fill some gaps in my graphic novel collection, so I'm hoping to be able to re-read the first five volumes of Fables and bring myself up-to-date with the next six. I think I might take another look at The Books of Magic as well.

I'm also hoping to treat myself to a couple of re-reads of favourite novels, which is something I've hardly dared do for the past few years. But what the hell, eh? Sometimes it's important to get back in touch with much-loved books from years gone by, if only to remind yourself of the path you've taken to reach your current reading preferences. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

January 3, 2009 | Filed Under Books and Reading | 2 Comments

Cover Debate: Mike Carey's 'Dead Men's Boots'

On the off-chance you've been following the discussion that's sprung up in the comments section of the previous thread and have been getting annoyed flicking back and forth between here and Amazon to compare the two covers and see what all the fuss is about (I know I have), here they both are:

The version on the left is the one that was originally circulated by Orbit. The version on the right is the one that it was replaced with, and that will be on the cover of the book when it hits the shelves towards the end of the month.

Please feel free to add your own comments on the relative merits of the two on either this post or the previous one, should you feel the urge.

August 17, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 16 Comments

Schedule Watch: Orbit and Tor UK

I've just received the latest update to the publication schedule for Orbit Books, and I've been hanging on to a schedule that Tor UK sent through a few weeks back.

Personal highlights for me look like they'll be:

Orbit

'Dead Men's Boots' by Mike Carey - Click for ordering info from Amazon.co.uk

Mike Carey's third Felix Castor novel, Dead Men's Boots [Amazon] is almost upon us: publication date September 6th. (Amazon seem to have the wrong artwork there...)
I've been promising myself that I'll put aside some time to dive into something by Charles Stross and I might just start with The Jennifer Morgue [Amazon], which is also out early next month, in paperback, and follow that up with Halting State [Amazon], which is due in January.
The third part of K.J. Parker's Engineer Trilogy - The Escapement [Amazon] - will be published in December. Hopefully it'll improve on the rather slow pacing of the second volume (memo to self: pull finger out and post about that one, you finished it weeks ago...)
I've already read Debatable Space [Amazon], the debut novel by Philip Palmer, which is due to be published in January. Space opera with an acid twist, well worth trying out.
Jim Butcher's next Dresden Files novel, White Night [Amazon] is another January title. One for the must-read shelf.
And who isn't looking forward to Matter [Amazon], the new Iain M Banks Culture novel? Due February.

That'll do for Orbit for now. I'll pick a few more from 2008 next time.

Tor UK

The Waking [Amazon] by T.M. Jenkins looks like an intriguing sf / thriller amalgam. One for the old pool-side, read-til-I-drop holiday later in the year, maybe...
That man Stross again... Tor are publishing the UK edition of the first part of his Merchant Princes series, The Family Trade [Amazon] will be out in November.

Time to start planning a bit of a to-be-read list re-organisation... :)

August 15, 2007 | Filed Under Books | 21 Comments

Forthcoming titles of note from Orbit UK

Orbit UK sent through their publication schedule for the next 12 months yesterday. A few titles of particular interest (personally speaking) leapt out at me from the list:

The Execution Channel, Ken MacLeod's near-future uber-dystopia will be out any day now, with an official publication date of April 5th. [Amazon]
Dead Men's Boots, the new Felix Castor novel by Mike Carey is due on September 6th. [Amazon]
Escapement, part three of the Engineer Trilogy by K.J. Parker, will be published in early December. [Amazon]
And, currently scheduled for February '08: 'Untitled Iain M Banks sf'...

Looking forward to all of those (plus the merry hell that they'll be playing with my reading schedule). And I'm sure Orbit would like me to point out that all publication dates are provisional at this stage and may be subject to potential change etc.