Locus Recommended SF Readling List -- 2004

bolded and sometimes commented if I've read them.


* The Life of the World to Come, Kage Baker (Tor) -- The secret of the Company is finally Revealed. Apocalypse may be nigh.
* The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks (Orbit) -- Not yet published in the US, too poor to buy from UK
* Exultant, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz; Del Rey) -- Baxter's lost me.
* Spondulix, Paul Di Filippo (Cambrian)
* Eastern Standard Tribe, Cory Doctorow (Tor) -- Not only could it happen, it appears to be happening now.
* Stamping Butterflies, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Gollancz)
* Camouflage, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
* For Us, The Living, Robert A. Heinlein (Scribner) -- For Heinlein completists only.
* Black Brillion, Matthew Hughes (Tor) -- Clever background.
* Life, Gwyneth Jones (Aqueduct)
* The Language of Power, Rosemary Kirstein (Del Rey)
* Crucible, Nancy Kress (Tor)
* Newton's Wake, Ken MacLeod (Orbit; Tor) -- New British Space Opera, complete in one volume.
* White Devils, Paul McAuley (Simon & Schuster UK; Tor)
* Lost in Transmission, Wil McCarthy (Bantam Spectra) -- on my list.
* 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) -- Three Big Volumes, six stories, let's play shuffle-the-chapters!
* The Zenith Angle, Bruce Sterling (Del Rey)
* Iron Sunrise, Charles Stross (Ace) -- Stross is buy-on-sight. This sequel is better than its predecessor.
* 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) -- The thinking man's D&D novel. Sequel.
* Iron Council, China Miéville (Del Rey) -- Getting less enchanted with China.
* Going Postal, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins) -- Nothing wrong with Pratchett.
* 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) -- Part one of up to nine, but this storyline should be reasonably complete in book two. SF as much as fantasy. Let's see which parts of Boston Charlie was stuck in during WorldCon...
* 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)

# First Novels

* Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham (Del Rey)
* Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury) -- Thick and Victorian.
* 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) -- reading right now, no comment.
* 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)

Locus Recommended SF Readling List -- 2004

bolded and sometimes commented if I've read them.


* The Life of the World to Come, Kage Baker (Tor) -- The secret of the Company is finally Revealed. Apocalypse may be nigh.
* The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks (Orbit) -- Not yet published in the US, too poor to buy from UK
* Exultant, Stephen Baxter (Gollancz; Del Rey) -- Baxter's lost me.
* Spondulix, Paul Di Filippo (Cambrian)
* Eastern Standard Tribe, Cory Doctorow (Tor) -- Not only could it happen, it appears to be happening now.
* Stamping Butterflies, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Gollancz)
* Camouflage, Joe Haldeman (Ace)
* For Us, The Living, Robert A. Heinlein (Scribner) -- For Heinlein completists only.
* Black Brillion, Matthew Hughes (Tor) -- Clever background.
* Life, Gwyneth Jones (Aqueduct)
* The Language of Power, Rosemary Kirstein (Del Rey)
* Crucible, Nancy Kress (Tor)
* Newton's Wake, Ken MacLeod (Orbit; Tor) -- New British Space Opera, complete in one volume.
* White Devils, Paul McAuley (Simon & Schuster UK; Tor)
* Lost in Transmission, Wil McCarthy (Bantam Spectra) -- on my list.
* 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) -- Three Big Volumes, six stories, let's play shuffle-the-chapters!
* The Zenith Angle, Bruce Sterling (Del Rey)
* Iron Sunrise, Charles Stross (Ace) -- Stross is buy-on-sight. This sequel is better than its predecessor.
* 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) -- The thinking man's D&D novel. Sequel.
* Iron Council, China Miéville (Del Rey) -- Getting less enchanted with China.
* Going Postal, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperCollins) -- Nothing wrong with Pratchett.
* 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) -- Part one of up to nine, but this storyline should be reasonably complete in book two. SF as much as fantasy. Let's see which parts of Boston Charlie was stuck in during WorldCon...
* 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)

# First Novels

* Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham (Del Rey)
* Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury) -- Thick and Victorian.
* 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) -- reading right now, no comment.
* 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)