Blue Blood Top 10 Books of 2011

2012 is just barreling along already, so it is time to share my top literary picks for 2011.

The Panama Laugh by Thomas S. Roche

Best zombie novel ever. Thomas S. Roche‘s sorta first novel The Panama Laugh is a really great read. The book is equal parts old school men’s adventure and modern cutting edge counterculture. The Panama Laugh is, well, laugh-out-loud funny with a witty mercenary protagonist and slow shambling zombies used as tiger cat toys. I could quibble about the editing on the second half of the book, as contemplation of such quibbles made me a little slow to write up this terrific tale of a modern biological warfare-induced zombie epidemic. The Panama Laugh is a brilliant fresh take on the zombie genre, satisfying from a classic horror perspective and from a current page-turner thriller one. Some of the coolhunters who read Blue Blood would do well to option this book for the big screen.

Aloha from Hell: A Sandman Slim Novel by Richard Kadrey

The latest installment in Richard Kadrey‘s excellent hitman from hell Sandman Slim series does not disappoint. Taking a great supernatural revenge story, wrapping everything up in a very satisfying way at the end of book one, and then writing two more stay-up-all-night reads in the series is a remarkable accomplishment. Stark rampages through Los Angeles and otherworldly spots, talking tough and kicking ass and somehow always leaving both bloodshed and good deeds in his wake. Urban fantasy with a delicious bite.

Rule 34 by Charles Stross

The title of the newest novel from prolific genius Charles Stross is Rule 34. This is from 4chan’s Rules of the Internet. Rule 34 states that: “There is porn of it. No exceptions.” Rule 34 is sort of a sequel to the high tech thriller Halting State, or at least set in the same world. Charles Stross has extrapolated a world with near future crime and near future policing, each evolving to exceed the pace of the other. The book has plenty of pervery and serial killer hitman hostility to keep the titillation level high, but, like all of Stross’ work, Rule 34 has a really intelligent take on how the world might look a couple decades from now. He elegantly weaves threads of technology, economics, politics, and popular culture together to create such a believable world.

Welcome to Bordertown: New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands

The first Bordertown books made an indelible impression on me. These were tales set in a magical city of all cities. I had graduated from animal stories to science fiction some years before and then to dating more recently. I was familiar with the shared world concept, partly from Thieves’ World and partly from a steady diet of Dungeons & Dragons and Tunnels & Trolls. But I was also living in Europe and, so long as I maintained a 4.0 GPA, my parents were not overly strict about curfews or me hanging out with girls in low-cut outfits and boys in leather jackets. The Bordertown books were some of the first places where cool and disenfranchised collided with bookish and disenfranchised and it resonated deeply with a whole generation of readers. Although urban fantasy is a common genre these days, it is mostly populated by stories of boy-meets-girl, with little else going on. So I am extremely pleased to see a new Bordertown book for a new generation of readers who might need a bit of nuance in their fiction. Bonus points for Cory Doctorow doing such a masterful job of integrating internet culture in the world of the Borderlands.

The Gentleman’s Hour by Don Winslow

Don Winslow started out writing erotica and working as a private investigator, and he is best known for his fast-paced gritty crime thrillers with complex characters. The Gentleman’s Hour is the sequel to Dawn Patrol. Usually, sequels seem to be less strong than their predecessors, but 2011 was apparently the year of the quality sequel. The gentlemen of The Gentleman’s Hour are hardened and dangerous, but they are humanized by their preference for peace and their love of simple pleasures. This book is a combination murder thriller and exploration of California surfing subculture.

Your Voice in My Head by Emma Forrest

Emma Forrest‘s novels are chock full of cutting, club kids, suicidal ideation, and vampires. Yet, she never seems to get classified as gothic. My theory is that this is because she tabloid-famously banged Colin Farrell for a while. A funny thing about her novels is that they are very readable, but somehow leave a lot of readers, myself included, feeling vaguely sick and sad and not liking the main characters. How surprisingly refreshing that her memoir Your Voice in My Head should have such an appealing main character. The little pieces of herself in her fictional protagonists were somehow not enough, but I found her very likable as the entirely present narrator of her own actual life experiences. The book is a eulogy for her late shrink, so, yeah, gothic stuff.

Carnal Machines by D. L. King

If someone anywhere puts together an anthology of steampunk erotica, Blue Blood will definitely receive a review copy of it. I believe this is written into some steampunk bylaws somewhere. As it should be. D. L. King, however, actually edited the anthology that everybody else meant to. Too many people just glue some gears on it, but this anthology actually gets its steampunk right and takes it to the next level. King has a collection of talented writers presenting all of the steampunk tropes you’d want, while never slacking on the hotness.

Zero History by William Gibson

I’m including William Gibson‘s Zero History on the basis of the paperback first being published in 2011. William Gibson’s Neuromancer was a book so good that it changed the course of my life. William Gibson remains the only celebrity I was so impressed by that I choked upon meeting him. So I fear I probably read his work with too critical an eye. I felt like Spook Country started with great characters, spent a few hundred pages tracking a package, and wrapped with a great vignette. So I was nervous about reading Zero History and, for the first time ever, didn’t actually read a William Gibson book some time between the week it was released and months before it was released (‘Cause one of the best parts of my job is that I get review copies of a lot of stuff.) Anyway, although some people might hope the panopticon of Zero History is science fiction, it really is not. The book is a bit of slice of life, starring financiers of pop culture and aging hipsters. Nobody captures the details of cool better than William Gibson. The story here is perhaps a bit besides the point, but the fine focus on subjects ranging from boutique hotels to pop-up fashion is truly beautiful writing.

Teeth: Vampire Tales by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

If you like vampire tales, nobody does better genre anthologies of this sort than Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. Euthanasia, yearning for light, and a nice (but no excessive) dab of romance.

Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan (Volume One)

This hard-to-find retrospective of short fiction by Caitlin R. Kiernan is happily out for Kindle as well now. Kiernan’s work always stands out in collections with other authors. I like her inclusion of people I recognize, including sorts of characters who too rarely show up in fiction — gothic, underground, dark. A whole tomb of her work is not exactly a feel-good read, so you might want to read this a bit at a time, like a strong spice. This is well-written work with a unique and literary perspective, but be prepared for a lot of suicidal ideation, viscera, and general spooky mayhem.

Brand New Cherry Flavor by Todd Grimson

Readers of Blue Blood magazine in print may recall Brand New Cherry Flavor, as we covered it there. Todd Grimson is having all his books re-released. Brand New Cherry Flavor features an artistic stabby female protagonist with friends in occult places. Hollywood chick lit meets gritty supernatural thriller, with a literary bent.

Yes, I know my top 10 goes up to 11. I’m feeling Spinal Tap. Or something.

Shortlink:

Posted by Amelia G on February 29, 2012. Filed under Books, Headline. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry