“When they give you things, ask yourself why. When you’re grateful to them for providing the things you should have anyway, ask yourself why.” – Lady in Blue, rebel broadcast
Locus Online has posted my Twelve Overlooked Books from 2006. Couldn't resist the fecund opening.
Out of curiosity--how many books on the list had you already heard of or bought?
JeffV
posted by JeffV @ 7:52 PM
12 comments
I write fiction. My latest novel, Shriek: An Afterword, is now out in the US, published by Tor. I'm currently co-editing a series of anthologies with my wife, Ann, who is also the fiction editor of Weird Tales. We have three cats, all of whom have eccentric personalities. Soon, I will be moving to WordPress and my happiness will be complete.
12 Comments:
Three:
Big Fat Little Lit edited by Art Spiegelman & Francoise Mouly (this showed up in my PO Box in a hard-addressed envelope from the New Yorker)
Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth by Ben Peek (ooh, how I hate him; don't own a copy of this yet)
Strange Birds: Inspired by the Artwork of Lisa Snellings-Clark by Gene Wolfe (only because Lisa and I are working on a project together and I found it on her website)
Not counting the ones I've seen you personally mention elsewhere, six: Williams, Clute, Walker, Peek, Fairy Tale Review, and Jansson.
I've heard of Teeth and The Unblemished, but not read them.
Also, I have Twenty-six Lies And One Truth. I really really hate... no, love it. Love it! Excellent, I concur on the brontosaurus too!
Alas, I only knew of two - one being JOhn Clute's, which I haven't been able to read yet and the other the Tove Jansson which actually came out in the UK several years back when I was working for the Evil Empire.Still, the point of this is to flag up stuff people might never notice - I love it when I come across something I like this way.
Three. And if you'd asked me yesterday it would have been two since I just finished reading Strange Horizons's review of The Darknening Garden before I stopped over here. I had come across The Unblemished before also, though now I can't remember the context (was it on this blog?). And I'd found out about Peek's book through the Nightshade forums.
The one that sounds most intriguing of the (to me) new ones has to be The Wizard of the Crows--I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for that now. Strange Birds and Teeth also peeked my curiosity.
Two: the Wolfe/Snellings and the Peek.
Four. I'm pretty sure John Updike reviewed The Wizard of the Crow in the New Yorker, by the way. That's probably more attention than all the rest of the titles on the list put together got.
James--Ya, agreed. But a lot of genre readers have never heard of it.
JeffV
Two. One of which, The Unblemished, I've read.
Thanks for this column, Jeff. I've heard of five, read one (The Unblemished). Online columns and blogs are at their best when introducing new, great fiction to the world.
Well, I think you own the record. Of course, each of you could produce a list of 6 to 12 books I've not heard of from 2006. It does help that stuff is coming in from all sides, though--as reviewer, editor, etc.
I didn't read comprehensively in 2006 so I thought it unfair to do a best-of-year piece.
JeffV
Well, I was waiting for Wizard of the Crow for about 6 months before it came out. I'm familiar with The Orphan's Tales (I keep meaning to create sketches of puppets for Catherynne- it's slow going). I'm familiar w/The Summer Book, Snake Agent, Little Lit & Under my Roof. I didn't know that Conrad Williams had a new book out -thanks for the tip -I just ordered it from the library.
As for the others...well I don't read much short fiction beyond some of my few faves like George Saunders. I order anthologies from the library, but I rarely get around to reading more than a few of the stories in each collection before I have to return it.
By the way, thanks for all the recommendations over the years!
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