So far I’ve been impressed with the calibre of horror novels released over the past twelve months, some from authors I’d never heard of before, and others from authors I already knew and loved. Below are a few of the highlights from my reading list this year.
In my opinion, Hugo Award winner Will McIntosh is one of the most underrated speculative fiction authors writing today. What I find most appealing about his work is that although his novels are often expanded from earlier short stories, he never writes the same book twice. Other than falling under the comprehensive umbrella of “soft” or social science fiction, his four adult novels to date — Soft Apocalypse, Hitchers, Love Minus Eighty, and Defenders — bear little resemblance to one another in terms of themes or subject matter.
For many, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a time for making resolutions. For book lovers, it’s a great opportunity to start setting reading lists for the year ahead. Here (in order of publication) are some new science fiction, fantasy and horror titles that I can’t wait to get my hands on next year.
Continuing the trend he started last year with Horrorstor, a haunted house novel set in an IKEA-esque furniture store, Grady Hendrix’s new satirical horror novel, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, takes on another classic trope: demonic possession.
If you’ve stumbled across this blog, like me, you’re probably drawn to strange, high concept ideas. (When it comes to fiction, my motto is “The weirder, the better!”) The title comes from a conversation between two of my favourite writers, Lost and The Leftovers showrunner and co-creator, Damon Lindelof, and the man who needs no introduction, the King of Horror himself, Stephen King. During the course of their interaction, Lindelof jokes (in response to frequent criticism) that if he doesn’t rein his imagination in, his work has a tendency to veer off into what he calls, “Crazy Genre Mystery Town”.
As a writer, voracious reader, and devout watcher of speculative fiction, Crazy Genre Town is not only where I live, but where I escape to as well. I hope you’ll join me in exploring this brave new world through science fiction, fantasy, and horror book and entertainment reviews and discussion.
I’ll leave off with a quote I have always loved, from W.B. Yeats’ “The Celtic Twilight”, that sums up my feelings on the speculative genre:
“Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart longs for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet.”
CRAZY GENRE TOWN 