Best of the Best Part 2

I last did something like this in July for the six months from January 1st all the way to June 30th. This list is for July 1st and all the way through to December 30th (the last day doesn’t count!). As I mentioned at the end of that list, this isn’t going to be regurgitation of my “Reading Awards” page, but something more varied. The list takes into account everything I’ve read in the last six months.

Let’s see what makes the cut and which comes close then!

Best Debuts of 2012

This year has been an excellent year for debuts, whether it’s science fiction or fantasy or historical fiction or urban fantasy or noir or western or young adult or whatever. Some truly amazing authors have made themselves known, and many of these have gone on to impress with second novels also released this year. In this blog I take a look at the debut novels of the year that I just loved and would recommend far and wide to everybody.

I didn’t actually read that many debut novels this year (from 2012), so the list is going to be unfortunately small – only eight in total, which is why I’m going to do a straight list rather than a Top 6 and 6 Honourable Mentions as I had initially planned.

So let’s have at it, yeah?

NANP: The Naming of Things

Today’s guest on the blog is author Lou Morgan who had her debut novel Blood and Feathers published a few short weeks ago by Solaris Books (my review). Blood and Feathers is similar to The Collector novels by Chris F. Holm in content, being about angels and demons, but it has a much different perspective on them, and the protagonist is a well-and-truly-alive woman rather a man dead for like the last 50 years or so. Lots of possibilities and exciting things that make Blood and Feathers an awesome novel to read and Lou Morgan a name to watch out for in urban fantasy fiction. Most of Lou’s characters have really fun names and here’s what she had to say about them.

The Names Schedule

Last time I announced that I had gotten in touch with a few debut authors from this year and the past about a series of guest posts for the blog – Names: A New Perspective. This was borne out of my fascination and interest for how I name things in my fiction, and how published authors do it as well. All the relevant details are all in that first post. Over the last few days I’ve received all the entries for the first wave of posts and I just wanted to share the schedule with all of you. The response has been excellent and I can’t thank the authors enough for their own interest.