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 Devil’s In The Details

Today on Names: A New Perspective I bring to you friend and author Chris F. Holm, whose urban fantasy/crime-pulp novel Dead Harvest has been one of my favourite reads of the year. The book launched earlier this year and the sequel, The Wrong Goodbye, came out just a couple days ago!! If it is half as awesome as Dead Harvest then it’ll be another top read for me and I look forward to getting around to it. And here’s Chris on what the names of his characters in these novels mean.

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.

Names: A New Perspective

As I briefly mentioned in my August Report, I’ve been hammering out a series of guest posts on the blog, all written by debut authors of this year and the last and the one before. The topic is how the names of characters and places and other things within their novels (and other works where appropriate) fit into their setting, their relevance and their power. My own (old) thoughts on the matter can be found here and here. Here are the details of how I’m approaching all these guest posts.