Suggested Summer Reads 2016

OK: so you’re jetting off to that holiday destination* and plan to do some serious reading. But the usual newspaper articles on such matters rarely cover the books we love – you know, Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction.

So, at SFFWorld we try to help when it’s needed.

Ever happy to help, here’s Mark’s suggestions. They’re not exclusive, and they’re not in order of importance, but they are recent and should be easy to get hold of. Mark’s tried to reduce it to a couple for each genre (you know he finds that difficult, right?) but he also thinks that there’s at least one here you’ll like. (Had he not read them already, he’d be stacking them up, ready to go with him…**)

Have a great holiday.

————————

Science Fiction

The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter & Alastair Reynolds

Here’s one that’s decidedly old school SF, with a good helping of ‘sensa-wunda’ but given a contemporary twist by two of the best current British SF writers. Big ideas over a long timespan.

The Long Way to an Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

And talking of Sir Arthur, here’s an Arthur C. Clarke Award nominee. Do you want a fast-paced, fun SF romp with mismatched Firefly-like characters set against a universe full of aliens? This one’s good fun, big on SF tropes and pleasingly optimistic about Humanity.

See also Allen Steele’s Arkwright and Andrew Bannister’s  Creation Machine.

Fantasy

Hope & Red by Jon Skovron

A real feel-good Fantasy novel, less Grimdark than many. Hope & Red is high on the comfort factor and a cracking good read. Heroes, heroines and pirates in a world of gangster politics and biomancers.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

What’s this – a Hugo nominee? With pirates, dirigibles and an intelligent cat? This was actually one of our highlights of last year – all three reviewers loved it – but it is recently out in paperback. Fast paced, steam-punky fun.

See also Bradley Beaulieu’s Twelve Kings and Seth Dickinson’s The Traitor, both just out in paperback.

Horror

The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone (SFFWorld review pending)

You know when you’re on holiday and staring at that ‘thing’ crawling up the wall in your hotel room? Are you ever afraid to go to the bathroom ‘just in case’? This one ramps up the horror factor. You’ll never look at an arachnid in the same way again. The only disappointment was the sudden ending, but up to that point it’s a scary ride, even for those of us who claim not to be scared of such things!

See also Joe Hill’s The Fireman. Rob liked it much more than I did, but despite my own issues, it’s still a good holiday read.

*(and apologies to those in the Southern Hemisphere about to enter the grips of Winter.)

**What is Mark taking to read over the summer? It may change, but

• The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan
• Heart of Granite by James Barclay
• Night Without Stars By Peter F. Hamilton

are all high on the pile/on the Kindle….

Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook on LinkedIn