SFFWorld's Favorite Book Published in 2012 - The Voting Poll!

[Rob B]

With 2012 coming to a close, we can start compiling what members of these forums thought was the best Speculative Fiction book(s) published in 2012.

As in the past we will keep this simple, save for some changes to eliminate past problems of the same book winning in multiple years. Without further ado, here goes the rules:

1. You actually read the book between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012
2. It was FIRST widely published in English 2012. In other words, you can’t include the mass market paperback release of a book initially published in hardcover the previous year. For example, Among Others by Jo Walton was first published in US Paperback in 2012, but the US hardcover was published in 2012 so it is not eligible for this year’s poll).
3. If the book was published by a small press publisher / self-published prior to 2012 and received a wider release through one of the Big publishers this year.
4. Books that previously were in the top 10 in voting are ineligible, see year listing at bottom of post.

This topic resides in the Fantasy/Horror forum, since it is the forum with the most traffic. However, all genre books under the above criteria will be eligible: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror and all combination of the three. I will be posting an announcement/topic to the whole site to get people who normally don't visit the fantasy forums to come here and post their choices.

Pick five (5) books you enjoyed the most. Points will be doled out as follows – 8 points for the best book, 4 points for 2nd best book, and 3 point for 3rd best book, 2 points for the 4th book and 1 point for the 5th book, such that:

1. Book A by tms0 8 points
2. Book B by Mark 4 points
3. Book C by Rob 3 point
4. Book D by Dag 2 point
5. Book E by PeterWilliam 1 point

We can run this thing through the end of January, and I'll add up the votes/points and post the results in February.

Some other things to keep in mind:

• Keep it only to your top 5 books.
• If you feel only 3 or 4 books make your cut, that is fine.
• Don't start a discussion explaining why you disagree with a person's choice... there are other topics for that... just post your top 5 and leave it at that. (I will be printing this whole thing once voting closes and I don’t want to have to go through reams of paper containing explanations)
• Make sure you post in order of Preference... and if you post 7 favorites... only the top 5 will be used for voting tabulations. I know this is common sense... but trust me... it does and has happened.
• Moderators/Admins WILL be deleting any large explanations as to why people chose their top 5 books.
• Moderators/Admins will also delete any titles beyond 5
• You can list a TIE for one of the five places; however, the points will be divided between the books. i.e. if you place The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells and 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson as tied for 3rd place, each book will only get 1½ points

Publication dates:

• Amazon.com will tell you the publication date - people do ask.
• The book itself will have the publication date - again, people do ask
• Locus Online's Forthcoming books for 2012 (Continued here)

If you have any other questions of a book's eligibility PM a mod/admin.

Have fun with this!

Previous winners:
For the past results follow the links below:
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2002
2001

Rob

[Mark Lawrence]

I didn't read many books published in 2012, but two very good fantasies were:

The Wind Through The Keyhole - Stephen King
Control Point - Myke Cole

[kcf]

1. Dancing with Bears by Michael Swanwick
2. Control Point by Myke Cole
3. Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson
4. Sharps by K.J. Parker
5. Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell


They may not count, but honorable mentions go to Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed and Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear

[suciul]

1. Sharps by KJ Parker
2. The Hydrogen Sonata by IM Banks
3. The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks
4. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
5. The Air War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[Skynjay]

1. Sharps by KJ Parker
2. The Kings Blood by Danial Abraham
3. The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron
4. Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

Granted, this represents everything I have read published this year.

[Randy M.]

1. Caitlin Kiernan, The Drowning Girl
2. Laird Barron, The Croning
3. Stephen Jones, ed., A Book of Horrors (anthology)
4. Steve Rasnic Tem, Deadfall Hotel


Like Skynjay, this sums up what I read this year that was published this year. But these were solid reads and could easily have been my top four if I'd read twice as many 2012 publications.

One caveat: Guy Endore's The Werewolf of Paris would go in as number 2, but isn't eligible for inclusion since it was first published in 1933. I mention it because it was republished this year and it has been some time since it was republished in an affordable, widely-available edition.

Randy M.

[Spears&Buckler]

1. Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
2. Caine's Law by Matthew Stover

[Westsiyeed]

1. The Troupe - Robert Jackson Bennett
2. Jack Glass - Adam Roberts
3. Railsea - China Mieville
4. The Wind Through the Keyhole - Stephen King
5. Caliban's War - James A Corey

Very hard for me to pick between the first three.

[Ninefingers]

1. Talulla Rising - Glen Duncan
2. Red Country - Joe Abercrombie
3. The Twelve - Justin Cronin
4. The King's Blood - Daniel Abraham
5. Redshirts - John Scalzi

[Heather Myst]

1. Percepliquis - Michael J. Sullivan
2. The Blinding Knife - Brent Weeks
3. King of Thorns - Mark Lawrence
4. Red Country - Joe Abercrombie
5. Besieged - Rowena Cory Daniells

[Snook]

1. "Red Country" by Joe Abercrombie.
2. "Red Knight" by Miles Cameron.
3. "Kings of Morning" by Paul Kearney.
4. "Drowned Cities" by Paolo Bacigalupi.
5. "The Rise of Ransom City" by Felix Gilman.

[slindeman]

1. Hide Me Among the Graves - Tim Powers
2. Zeuglodon - James P. Blaylock
3. Railsea - China Mieville
4. Percepliquis - Michael J. Sullivan
5. The Red Knight - Miles Cameron

[Pointed]

1. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
2. King of Thornsby Mark Lawrence
3. Control Point by Myke Cole
4. The Red Knight by Miles Cameron
5. The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennet

[sullivan_riyria]

I think I only read 2 books that had come out in 2012 (Besides my own which of course I won't count)

• Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
• Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole

Both very enjoyable reads.

[Danogzilla]

Wish I had gotten to more books published this year.

1. Red Country - Abercrombie
2. Hydrogen Sonata - Banks
3. Percepliquis - Sullivan
4. King's Blood - Abraham
5. Caliban's War - Corey