Ten best science fiction/fantasy books of the decade

More than a month ago, I took some of my Las Vegas bookstore owner friends to task to name the top ten books in specific genre. The challenge was not just the number – ten and only ten – but also the time frame, the last decade, 2000 to 2010. Oh, and the books had to be printed on paper.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? Despite the fact that my work is electronic, I figured people in the business of selling and trading books in brick and mortar stores should stick to that format.

The first person to respond to the request was Ann DeVere, owner for seventeen years of Plaza Books. Her customers might try to stump her but they know better. Ann’s familiarity of this genre goes beyond extensive. (I believe she’s read every one of the thousands of titles on her shelves.)

Here then is Ann’s list submission.

There have been many excellent SF/Fantasy novels published since 2000. The list below is not an order of preference since all can be considered outstanding examples of the genre.

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi -- Some of the best science fiction writing since early Heinlein. Read them all.

The Traveler (The Fourth Realm Trilogy, Book 1) by John Twelve Hawks -- This dystopian novel, beautifully written, will really creep you out. Just because you’re paranoid …

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1) by Patrick Rothfuss  --One of the best new fantasy series around.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi -- A Fantasy thriller, winner of the Hugo Award in 2010

The Final Empire (Mistborn Series, Vol. 1) by Brandon Sanderson -- The unusual premise of the series makes it well worth reading. His stand alone novel, Elantris, is also great.

The Blade Itself (The First Law, Book 1) by Joe Abercrombie -- Violence, bloody battle scenes and extremely compelling story. The whole series is great.

Faith of the Fallen (The Sword of Truth, Book 6) by Terry Goodkind -- Okay, I’m cheating. Start with the first one in the series, Wizard’s First Rule (1996)

The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy, Book 1) by Brent Weeks  -- Another good  fantasy trilogy

Fool’s Errand (Tawny Man Trilogy, Book 1) by Robin Hobb -- Continuation of the Farseer Trilogy. Another cheat. Start with Assassin’s Apprentice (1995)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, Book 1) by N.K. Jemisin -- Author’s first novel, Hugo nominee, 2011.

So sue me for leaving out Robert Jordan’s epic. I never read the second book. Same with George R.R. Martin’s series, Game of Thrones. I may revisit them at a later date, but so many books, so little time….

Don't sue me, either. Just leave a comment. And if you prefer electronic sf/fantasy, submit your own list.

Back from the unintentional delay

It's hard to believe this space has been blank for a month! Not that the delay occurred on purpose.

Yes, I decided not to blog every day, mainly because I wanted to spend more productive time on my writing. I figured to post once or twice a week. However, the unintended consequences of life and death intervened, putting the blog on the far back burner till now.

I'm about to pick up where I left off -- with the top ten novels in various genre for the past decade.

The contributors are local (Las Vegas) used and collectible bookstore owners who know the market as well as an astronomer knows the universe. (Sorry, that's the best metaphor I could come up with.)

So, look for a new post in a couple of days and thanks for coming back to read.

Top Ten Books in Ten Years: Part One

I was talking to Ann Devere, owner of Plaza Books in Las Vegas, one recent afternoon. She’d been reading the NPR online list of the top 100 science fiction/fantasy books as picked by readers.

 “That’s too wide a category,” I said. “The true test of ‘the best’ would be to narrow the selection down to a mere ten, a mere ten from the last ten years.  

Which ten books would you pick from your shelf  

(and she has over 1,000 soft cover titles) 

to take with you to that desert island? What are the ten best of the past decade?

Hard? I think so, but far more succinct and timely.

As the discussion developed, it occurred to me that this would make an interesting post. Forget the hundred. Narrow it down. Get rid of the dead wood and the also-rans.

What are the ten best genre specific books of the past decade?

Ann is a member of The Las Vegas Antiquarian Book Guild, a group of booksellers who specialize in used and collectible books. These are the people who meet, greet, and talk to the readers. These are the people who can name titles and authors and summarize plots the way a kid can recite the alphabet. These are the people who know what they like and what their loyal customers like.


What better group, I thought, to ask for input.

And who better to kick off the list than Ann Devere herself!

Thankfully, she agreed and next post, I’ll be listing Ann’s choices: Her list of the ten best science fiction/fantasy books of the decade, 2000-2010.


BTW: When you're in Las Vegas, drop in Plaza Books. Ask Ann about a title and I bet she will know if she has it in stock and exactly where it would be on the shelf.

A writer’s dilemma

When I’m in my car, I listen to the radio, either the public radio classical music station or the public radio news station, except on Sundays when I tune into the local university station for folk, blue grass, women’s voices and world music.

Every once in a while, I’ll hear lyrics to a song or parts of an interview that compel me to make a quick note for future investigation. Trouble is, to ensure I’m not totally distracted from driving, I use a self-made shorthand. Generally, I don’t have a problem deciphering my notes.

However, since my writing comes from all the busybody people who are living in my head, I also often jot down phrases, descriptions, notations, reminders, and quick summaries that would otherwise be lost by the time I get to a word processor.

These are the notes that, when I find them wedged between the seat and the console or in the glove box, or on the floor in the back seat, that I have to wonder:

Did I hear these words on the radio or did I hear them in my head?

Happened today. I grabbed a piece of paper to record a phone number. On that paper were eleven words I absolutely don’t recall writing, yet alone pulling out of my head. They are good words, deep, almost poetic, but totally useless unless I can trace their origin. I think they’re mine because they fit a plot that’s been churning for a few months but I hesitate to use them for fear they might be labeled as plagiarized.

I know I’ll never be organized enough to transcribe the notes in a timely fashion. They’ll always be waiting for me to find them and follow up as originally planned. That’s the way I am.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to use a quick grading system for these notes. I’ll use a question mark to denote something I’ve heard and an exclamation point to indicate the words are mine.

I think this will work. Now, those eleven words … I guess I’ll just have to dig deeper to find out if they come from my imagination or from the radio.

I’m not an expert but …

I’m not an expert but …

I’m not a poker expert.

I play poker – not as much as I did in the past but I play poker.

I am not a poker expert but I know how to play, I do play, and I study the game. I visit the local poker rooms here in Las Vegas, I read poker blogs, I’m acquainted with a number of professional poker players, I’ve worked for poker magazines, I’ve written for several poker magazines, and I keep up to date on what’s going on in poker news.

I write about poker in my weekly column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

I’m not a poker expert. I am a student of the game, an avid fan and a somewhat fierce competitor.

I’ve never won much money playing poker and I probably never will. I’ve never won a major poker tournament title and I am close to lousy at figuring out pot odds, implied odds, knowing how many times a pair of aces before the flop will win.

Someone posed this question to me a few years ago:

If you’ve never made a lot of money or won a major tournament, how can you write about poker?

I usually answer that with an air of smugness.

If you’re an obstetrician who happens to be a man, do you need to have a baby in order to deliver one?

The point is obvious. Serious students who do the research and study related topics can write about something they’ve never physically experienced.

Here’s an example. Let’s say your main character has just been shot. You’ve never been shot so how can you write about it? You describe the character, how she normally reacts to pain (Celia had withstood the pain of childbirth, knew what it felt like to break a bone, but she’d the pain of the bullet in her leg was nothing like either of these.)

You can go on to describe the wound; after all, you’ve seen enough gunshot wounds on television and in the movies. (She glanced at her new white blouse, watched the crimson stain of blood seep into it, looking like a bad imitation of a Rorschach test.)

You can equate the situation directly to something from the past. (Once, when she was fasting for some medical tests, as she waited for the technician, the room began to spin. She felt lightheaded, woozy, shaky, and everything around her appeared to grow dark. She’d fainted then, and she knew she was going to that again, here in the garage, as she bled from her wound.)

None of this is great literature; it’s just a group of quickly written scenarios to show that a creative writer doesn’t need to have experienced what she writes.

By the way: Nope, I'm not a poker expert but based on my studies and research, my tutorial software, and a lot of friends who play professionally, I can more than hold my own in a game.

Three cheers for: James Patterson

Ha! Take that, Publisher!

Selling 220 million books worldwide, James Patterson should be hero to all creative writers. Those 220 million copies cover a wide swath of genres.

Sure, most people think of the Alex Cross series when Patterson’s name comes up, but the man has proven that as a serious writer, he doesn’t (and we don’t) have to limit ourselves to one particular theme.

James Patterson has written children's bestsellers, young-adult books, character-driven detective novels, novels featuring strong female characters, emotion-packed family novels, fantasies … and probably a few genres I’ve missed along the way, including those in the nonfiction category. (Along the way he’s picked up some credible co-authors who always get credit for their contributions.)

Patterson isn’t the lone wolf in this matter. Plenty of other print-published writers have crossed genres successfully and continue to explore their creativity. I’ll give them due in this space as time permits.

Meanwhile …

Agents and publishers like to deal with people who fit neatly into their matrix of what they’ve (They being the agents and publishers) done all their lives. Don’t let them do it. Write the stories that capture your imagination, the plots that just won’t stop unraveling, the characters that will charm the pants off whatever age group they belong to … just write. And if you can’t find an agent or publisher who appreciates your talent and skill (it’s likely you won’t), go forth and publish eBooks!

Related articles

• A few reasons to be grateful for James Patterson (telegraph.co.uk)

Bloggers - Clean up your act, please

Image via WikipediaI have a very selective list of blogs I follow. I keep them listed here for quick access and check them out each time I post. When I visit one of these interesting sites, I check the links to sites these folks read. Intermittently, depending where I am on any task, I'll click on one, two, three, more sometimes.

I know that blogging is mostly about content itself but I have to wonder if the people who list their favorite blogs actually read anything from their lists. At least once a click, I come to a blog that hasn't seen a post in months or, worse yet, no longer exists.

I make it a habit to clean up my blog list immediately when I notice something's awry. In fact, I just deleted a listing that posted a notice about a major upgrade -- months ago!

While I'm griping, I might as well take a shot at the Zemanta list I use to find related posts that readers might want to see because obviously they're kind of guilty of the same cyber sin. I clicked on one of Zemanta's suggestions to see if it fit here -- and guess what.

Page not Found

Okay, that's all the time I have to whine. It's back to send copy to my editor for proofing and then back to the next manuscript.