My Favorite Novels of the Decade!

So I read over 1,000 books in the last decade and I decided to honor the novels, I had two novellas's I considered Honorable mention to Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle, The Warren by Brian Evenson. Here are my top 13 books of the decade. Mostly Science Fiction and horror but those are my favorite novels.

13. Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor is one of the best and strongest voices working in Science Fiction today. Her storytelling skill is top-notch that perfectly balances world building, characters, and plotting, all those elements are woven through her work with great attention to detail. She writes African themed Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy and Magical Realism for both adults and YA readers. This is fantastic Afrocentric space opera. I know it was three novellas but I am cheating and considering them one novel.

12.Birdbox by Josh Malerman

Forget about the movie and the meme that it became. I read this book far before all that. This book is so well written it lives up to the amazing hyperbole, and the first 50 pages have a terror and paranoia that would have been impossible in the film. I have enjoyed all the Malerman books but this was one of the best reading experiences I had of this decade and I feel sorry for the readers who did not have this experience before the movie. The movie is good but the book is a masterpiece.

11.Little Heaven by Nick Cutter

Death cults, monsters and lots of gritty supernatural tone. The Cutter novels always get compared to Stephen King but this novel has more Clive Barker and Robert McCammon in its DNA than King. I would also argue the setting and characters give it more of a Cormac McCarthy feel than King. With the structure and dialogue, an argument could also be made that Tarantino was an influence. I LOVE the monsters in this book that was clearly influenced by the Jim Jones death cult. While the Troop gets all the hype from the Nick Cutter books this is the one that connected with me.

10.Song my Enemies Sing by James Reich

I just had this in my 2019 list but I love Reich's retro Mars world-building and meta look at pulp sci-fi. I think this book has lots of levels that are cat-nip for a sci-fi reader/scholar such as myself. Part of the genius of this novel is Reich doesn't appear to let his 21st-century existence take away from his experience tell a story that is like a bubble out of time. This not the real Mars but the one we remember from the pulps. Genius piece of work.

9. The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts:

I loved Freeze-Frame Revolution in part because of the massive cutting edge mind expanding ideas but also the human core of characters who development is not ignored. Watts has a biting tone and it is clear if you listen to interviews with him he is not in the routine of taking shit. This is a masterpiece of science fiction and the Generation Ship subb-genre. The Freeze-Frame Revolution is a mind bending science fiction novel that packs in more ideas and story into it's 192 pages than some novels three times its length. One of the hardest parts of space based hard sci-fi is for the writer to express the scope and size of the universe. When we look into the universe the distance and amount of years are beyond what most stories can contain. We can talk about distances that stretch thousands of light-years and journeys that would last thousands if not millions of years but it is a different challenge to create a narrative with such scope. That is the cool thing about this novel - it doesn't shy away from this reality.

8.This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

I mean this is a genre book. It is finely written enough to be enjoyed and loved beyond the genre ghetto as say China Mieville or Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow was. Not just as Science Fiction but as literature that said the concept is such that the genre bonfides are undeniable. That concept, by the way, is just the tip of the iceberg of cool gee-whiz ideas. Hemmingway's Iceberg theory of writing is put to amazing use here.

7.Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn:

A murder mystery influenced by Leguin's Dispossessed is a perfect way for Carrie Vaughn to explore issues related to reproductive rights, ecological and social justice issues. First of a series and the second is equally as good. I am way down for this series. It also won the PKD award and thus Carrie was the first interview we did on Dickheads.

6. Unamerica by Cody Goodfellow

Goodfellow can break unwritten rules and get away with it. For example, no one should get away with paragraphs that are basically lists of elements that make up a setting. Goodfellow does this all the time in this novel Hatch’s introduction to Unamerica walking in has a long list of the various things he sees. They generally work. Goodfellow is one of the smartest writers of my generation and it is impossible for me to read his work without marveling at his skill, intelligence, and ability on page after page. Unamerica is the best thing I have read this year and I have read a few masterpieces already. This is a must-read for fans of weird fiction that lives on the border of science fiction and Horror. Goodfellow's most assured work is a dystopia not to miss.

Speaking of Dickheads podcast interviews:

5.The Silence by Tim Lebbon:

It should be noted that I read this book before A Quiet Place or the Netflix film based on this novel. Infact when I saw the trailer for A Quiet Place my first thought was "Wow they nailed The Silence!" I know the movie was not very good but the novel is perfect. It was one of the best edge of my seats reads in this decade. There is part that the movie totally got wrong that just broke my heart when I read this book. My reading experience was very powerful. Simple but perfectly told. It is better than A Quiet Place on many levels.

4.Haunt by Laura Lee Bahr:

Haunt is a strange and beautiful LA noir that feels to me like a lost David Lynch movie with dark supernatural underpinnings. First conceived as a very adult choose your own adventure novel Bahr does amazing things with the plot of this novel using the various choices that you as the reader might consider and showing you the various paths this story takes. This book is pure genius. Wonderland book award winner of 2011.

3. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson: While scientists and engineers often say that someday we will be able to make these journeys this novel is 466 pages of Robinson calling bullshit on the Generation Ship novel.

These thinkers are just looking at the nuts and bolts of the travel time and propulsion. What Aurora does is look at the science not only of the travel but biological, ecological and sociological. Because that kind of journey will be affected by all those things. Some science fiction readers might find KSR's point of view to be a total downer. A surprise after the uplifting story and message at the heart of 2312. The reality is this novel when you boil it all down is this: Earth is a starship, and it is the only one we as a species can count on. Aurora is an epic Science Fiction novel with a simple message one important enough for me to call it a masterpiece. I was blown away.

2. Immobility by Brian Evenson

This is a strange and unsettling novel, that is so powerfully written it has a spooky feeling throughout. It is all done with a subtle tone, and no wasted words. Evenson is not so in love with his words and never overwrites, he writes with a tight control rarely since in genre work that is also considered “high lit.” It doesn’t remind me of any other book immediately but if pressed to make a comparison I would have to say a cross between Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with a little bit of a THX 1138.

1. A Matter of Blood (Dog Faced Gods book #1) By Sarah Pinborough

(AKA:released in the US as Forgotten Gods)

While Pinborough has gone on to become a bestseller for female focused thrillers like Behind her Eyes (Series coming to Netflix soon)she cut her teeth in horror. This was sold to me as a darker Repairman Jack style series. this novel is set in very dark times a very near future dystopia of future Britain that survives an economic collapse by surrendering to a mysterious cabal known as “The Bank.” The atmosphere of the novel has a dark surreal feel, I pictured everything with a grey filter that made Oregon winters seem like Southern California. Weird crime and Dystopia are the tip of the ice berg here. I love Pinborough thrillers but I love when she does dark world building like Death House or this trilogy.