Fantasy Book Critic: Fantasy Book Critic’s 2008 Review/2009 Preview

I've been doing recommendations on my website HERE for years, so it's easy for me to name off the best books I read in 2008. Some of them are even recent, though I'm also doing things like finally getting around to reading Connie Willis. In more or less the order I read them, this year's favorites:

1) “Goblin Quest” by Jim C. Hines (Marie’s Recommendation)
2) “The Secret History of Moscow” by Ekaterina Sedia (Marie’s Recommendation)
3) “Old Man's War” by John Scalzi (Marie’s Recommendation)
4) “The Magicians and Mrs. Quent” by Galen Beckett (Marie’s Recommendation)
5) “A Companion to Wolves” by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (Marie’s Recommendation)
6) “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell (Marie’s Recommendation)
7) “To Say Nothing of the Dog” by Connie Willis (Marie’s Recommendation)
8) “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld (Marie’s Recommendation)

ON THE HORIZON FOR MARIE BRENNAN:

On my own slate for 2009 is my Stuart faerie disaster novel, “In Ashes Lie”. It's a stand-alone sequel to “Midnight Never Come”, which was my Elizabethan faerie spy novel; it takes place the following century, during the English Civil War, Great Plague, and Great Fire. (Hence “disaster novel.”) That comes out in June, though I think its UK release date might be May. On my end of things—writing instead of publication—2009 is currently wide open; there are several directions I might be going in, and I don't know yet which one will win out. I've got a number of ideas I'm very excited about, ranging all over the spectrum, and I can't wait to get started on them!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marie Brennan is the pseudonym for Bryn Neuenschwander. Her bibliography includes the “Warrior/Witch” duology, numerous short stories and her third novel, “Midnight Never Come”. Marie holds an undergraduate degree in archaeology & folklore from Harvard and is now pursuing a PhD in anthropology & folklore at Indiana University. For more information, please visit the author’s Official Website.

NOTE: For more author responses, please visit Fantasy Book Critic's 2008 Review/2009 Preview index HERE.