This year I read 111 books, novelettes, graphic novels, or SF magazines, with a total of 29,784 pages. It was a good year for new releases, and I intend to focus on retro reads next year. Joining for the third annual Favorite Reads podcast is Judge Marc Rothenberg. We finally got on board with reading some of the same books so this is a long one.
Podcast about favorite reads 2023
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There is an episode that I reviewed most of the books I read: Podcast where I reviewed every book I read in 2023
Best reads of 2023!!!
1. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Nayler’s combination of SF fandom, knowledge of science, and intergovernmental experience created a literary unicorn. One unbelievable alchemy of thought and talent spit out this incredible masterpiece that shook me to my core. The Mountain in the Sea was preaching to the choir with me, I already shared many of the views that came across, but it was a beautiful feeling to read it. A science fiction novel that had so much to say is not rare but one that does it with skill, style, and heart in equal measure is a pretty special treat.
2. Infinity Gate by MR Carey
A space opera that never leaves earth. One of the things that makes a Dune, Thrones Trek, or Wars franchise so vast and effective is the scope. MRC by creating this multiverse model and with the Pandominion MRC has created a galaxy. For this novel and his characters to encounter his version of Klingons, Borg, or The Empire his characters never have to leave Earth. He can build a thousand worlds and species all on earth.
It is an absolute narrative magic trick to develop a universe in 500 pages that feels as lived in as any franchise with decades of world-building.
3. Meru by S.B. Divya
Meru is more than just a science fiction story, Diviya has stated in interviews that is wanted to point to a future where survival of species happened. She was resisting the many negative dystopias that the genre is overflowing with. That doesn't mean she is blind to the risk we face in the future. in Meru salvation comes in the form of humanity's evolution into alloys something led by technology.
4. Neom by Lavie Tidhar
In the Golden Age this was a tactic that was required of authors, but it is a rare tactic now. Neom is more interconnected but that golden age feeling filled me with joy while reading. In the afterword, Lavie points to Cordwainer Smith as a major influence but the Dickian vibe drips off the page. I want to point out I don’t make PKD comparisons lightly, there are lots of works influenced by PKD movies. The things that make his books Dickian are things only true Dickheads will pick up. The half-step off reality that comes close to satire. The humor is a key element of this. The themes of religion, and reality in the mirror reflected from this future is what PKD did so well.
5.Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
So the first question I have to answer. Is the hype real? One hundred pages and I was hooked and having the same problem putting it down. Whalefall keeps you engaged and turning pages for a variety of reasons. As crazy as the set-up, Jay our hero's survival minute to minute is so impossible that shutting the book gets harder as the story goes. A preposterous concept so well executed it is Incredible. One of the best horror novels of the year, and this year has had some great stuff.
6. The Future is Female Vol 2 edited by Lisa Yaszek
These are stories of second-wave feminism, they explore environmentalism, post-male societies, first menstruation, and the nitty-gritty of being a woman. Common in fiction now, to find fiction about the experience of women, but sadly revolutionary in a genre that fairly or unfairly is painted as a boy's club at the time. Yaszek's books make clear women were ALWAYS there.
7. Vertical by Cody Goodfellow
this would make an incredible movie, just like the scene of Tom Cruise hanging off the building of Mission Impossible was nail-biting, a whole movie of it done right could be crazy good. We don’t need to wait for it. We have to story already playing out in this novel with the unlimited budget of your imagination. Cody Goodfellow is a wordsmith hell-bent on giving you the literary feeling of looking over the of high-up building. Now imagine that building starting to crumble apart. Vertical is an action thriller that works on the page.
8. Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi
Boys in the Valley will be one of my top reads of the year. I respect Philip Fracassi's work ethic on the page and in the world. The passion for writing and creation shows up on his tour but most importantly it shows up in every page of his work. Boys in the Valley has everything it needs to become a bonafide historical horror classic
9. Suborbital7 by John Shirley
This novel is Apollo 13 meets Blackhawk Down." This description of Suborbital7 is an absolute go-order for me as a movie. I can immediately see that concept working as a movie. As a novel, the concept is all in the execution as a novelist has to get details, upon details right. It has to be well-researched and written with a certain power.
10. Dreck by Cliff Jones Jr.
Dreck blurs the lines. “Dreck: Part Drug, part nanotech, part biological material…all the taste and appearance of black strap molasses.” It may be that I know Cliff is a PKD fan but there sly easter egg-ish references to a fictional Phil. I am not complaining this is a feature, not a bug. I would say Dreck: Part Surreal, Part humor, part science fictional material… all the taste and appearance of a PKD nightmare all wrapped into a unique and modern voice. Is it dreampunk? If Cliff says so I can live with the label because I was a big fan of this novel.
Honorable mentions:
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
Earthdivers (Graphic novel) by Stephen Graham Jones
Juicy Ghosts by Rudy Rucker
Head Cleaner By David James Keaton
No Gods for Drowning by Hailey Piper
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology Edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Retro-Reads:
False Dawn by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro One of the great features of this novel is there is no sense ever that people are coming together to rebuild, or even put together a small community. People are fucked, they will stay fucked, and if you are lucky you might get a few weeks hiding in a house eating canned foods or hunting skinny, dying animals who are fewer and fewer in between. Hope is not a thing.
In the bleakest Meet-cute in the history of stories, Thea runs into a former pirate who is running away from his old gang with his gang-greening cut-off arm pinned to his jacket.
The Word for World Is Forest Ursula K. Le Guin
Demons by John Shirley
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
Worst read of the year:
Point Ultimate by Jerry Sohl : Sohl didn’t think we were going to party like it was 1999, he thought we would be living plague ravaged communist dystopia. None the less Bantam put on the cover “1999 - incredible and prophetic - the story of a U.S.A. conquered and Freedom from the Stars.” Yes, this novel about a communist dystopia is like a Q message board, or a Fox news segment woven into a goofy 50 SF narrative featuring Robot waiters, bartenders , flying cars, and motor vehicles called Turbos because the future.
PKD:
The Divine Invasion
Non-fiction reads
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell this is the most important book of the year, maybe the century so far. Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry of the Future made the same point. If you don’t want your desperate pleas for action in your own self-interest to keep the world sustainable for your children to have science-fictional aspects then here are the facts. Told with personal stories of travels in the warming Arctic, the story of the mother who baked to death in her apartment, and young families who were fried to death on the hiking trails serve as a wake-up call that will not get the attention that T-swift got for going to a football game.
After Engulfment: Cosmicism and Neocosmicism in H. P. Lovecraft, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, and Frank Herbert by Ellen J Greenham
The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy Moiya McTier
Writers of the 21st Century Philip K. Dick Edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Joseph D. Olander
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