Old & New: What Will You Be Reading in the New Year? READING RECOMMENDATIONS FROM WORLD WEAVER PRESS Editors & AUTHORS

Amalia Dillin, author of Forged by Fate, Beyond Fate, Helen of Sparta, and others recommends:

I read a lot of good books this year, and I think the one I need to recommend is Hand of Fire by Judith Starkston. Technically it's historical fiction but it incorporates elements of what might be considered fantasy to some readers -- it's impossible to retell Homeric myth well without the gods! Starkston takes on the story of Briseis, fleshing her out, and tackling her relationship with Achilles, and hands down, this was the best take on Achilles in fiction I've ever read. (This book comes complete with talking horses, too!)

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Editor of forthcoming Covalent Bonds anthology, Trysh Thompson recommends: 
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Life Without Harry—The title really had me fooled, I was thinking this would be some YA coming-of-age thing, moving on without a brother or security stuffed animal. Still, I picked this up because it was by new RMR author Sara Dobie Bauer, and I was on a mission to read all the things. Boy was I in for a surprise when, not only was it not a coming-of-age YA, but rather a story to which I could completely relate: a writer who struggles for inspiration and who had a very hard time handling things when her favorite fictional series, Harry Potter, finally wrapped. As someone who cried when her favorite character in Harry Potter died, I know all too much how wrapped up one can get in the wizarding world and despair at its conclusion, so it was refreshing to read a piece that carried the story on a bit longer, and this time, in America. With flying brooms, magic wands, Fluffy, and Hogwarts, there’s a little something for every Harry Potter fangirl. If that’s not your style, at least there’s the cute photojournalist to fall in love with.  

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Larry Hodges, author of forthcoming Campaign 2100, recommends:

Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin. Anyone not in a coma the last few years has heard of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, but many have not stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, he might have written previous novels. I recently read one of his best, Tuf Voyaging. Originally published in 1986, it's basically a series of related short stories that cover the adventures of the highly eccentric Haviland Tuf, a giant, overweight, pale, vegetarian food-loving, cat-loving, hyper-honest genius who becomes the owner of the Ark, a 30-kilometer ancient ship with incredible ecological engineering capabilities. Tuf's do-goodism is constantly misunderstood as he travels the galaxy, alone other than his feline companions, solving planetary problems and righting wrongs, often with controversial solutions and over the objections of those he is helping. It's both a fascinating character study and an environmental satire, and a hoot to read.

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Kristina Wojtaszek, author of Opal, Char (forthcoming), and contributor to Fae, Scarecrow, and Specter Spectacular, recommends: 

Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales told by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon. Despite my age, I often find myself entranced in the children's section of the library, with or without my children!  Some children's books are so poignant, so universal in their message, and so beautifully rendered, that it is like a form of meditation to read and reread them.  This is one such volume, a collection of tales with historical, racial and feminist value -- add in the decadent illustrations, and this book is almost too rich to digest all at once.  The language is wonderful -- a throw back to the ways in which the stories were once told, Uncle Remus style, with occasional Gullah or Creole language flavoring the text (and well explained where the meaning is less than obvious).  This isn't your typical selection of myths and fairy tales.  How often have you read of an African American Cinderella taken under the fin of a dark and kindly mermaid; a Voodoo Vampire woman who ends up in jail; or a sullen little girl who outsmarts the devil with a wicked sense of humor?  My favorite story is "Who You!" which begins as fluid and rhythmic as a poem: "One way-back day, in a reach among the hills, lay a lowland shady.  And in this hollow was a cabin all by itself.  In the cabin was a whole hum and sigh of younger and elder women..."  Women who's gossipy, uncharitable ways lead to an eerie shapeshifting that explains the "who you!" call of owls.  In addition to the fantastic, the author includes true stories from well respected African American women who lived through some of the most transformative times in our country's history, as well as her own sweet story of the lasting tale her mother told to pull her through a fearful event.  Her Stories is a masterpiece of language and art, with tales that will fill the soul and haunt the mind, and illustrations you'll wish you could frame and hang on your walls.  It's the perfect book for the artist, the poet, the historian, the woman, the dreamer, and yes, the child in us all.

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Jenn Lyons, author of Blood Chimera, Blood Sin, Blood City (forthcoming), recommends:

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire. I read this over the summer (okay, fine, I read this in a single afternoon and evening, in one go, because I couldn't put the damn book down). It's really more like a collection of short stories united together into a meta-theme, about the ghost of a murdered young woman who is forced to wander the open roads of America as a hitchhiker. Tapping into urban myths and legends of the American highway gothic, from demonic cars to witches who specialize in freeway magic, I found everything about this book to be a delight. I finished it wanting there to be a sequel and wanting the sequel to be out now -- it was a very fun read indeed.​

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A. E. Decker, author of The Falling of the Moon, recommends:

A Darker Shade of Magic, by V. E. Schwab, Naoki Urasawa's manga series Monster, Matt Fraction's Hawkeye comic, Lois Leveen's Juliet's Nurse, Richard Gleaves' Jason Crane series, Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear, Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown, and Naomi Novik's Uprooted. And while it's not a reading recommendation exactly, I also suggest all fantasy lovers play Dragon Quest: Inquisition, which gives you a beautiful, magic and danger-filled world to romp around in.

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Rebecca Roland, author of Shards of History, Fractured Days, and The King of Ash and Bones, recommends:

One of the most memorable books I read this year was Superposition by David Walton. Superposition is Law and Order with Schrodinger's cat thrown into the works. The quantum physics mystery reveals itself along with the murder mystery, and there's plenty of action. The science is well explained and enhances the story. There were several twists, and I didn't know who the murderer was for the majority of the book. This is a satisfying story from both a science fiction and mystery standpoint.

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Bascomb James, editor of Far Orbit, Far Orbit Apogee, and Last Outpost (forthcoming), recommends: 

This year my reading list consisted of a handful of novels and more than 700 short works. While I enjoyed most of what I read, The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories clearly stands out from the pack.  As a Grand Master of science fiction, you’d expect her award-winning stories to be great, and they truly are. However, the afterward notes and the three speeches included in this collection are worth the price of the book. Her 2006 WorldCon speech on “Books, SF, and My Life among Them” is a moving must-read for any SF reader or author. My favorite stories were the classic “Fire Watch” set in St. Paul’s Cathedral during the Blitz, “All Seated on the Ground” about an alien visitation, and the poignant “Last of the Winnebagos.” Connie excels in crafting people-centric stories that happen to be set in a speculative fiction environment. I recommend this book for SF fans and just as importantly, to those of you who hate, Hate, HATE science fiction. It’s that good.

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Susan Abel Sullivan, author of Haunted Housewives, and The Weredog Whisperer, recommends: 

Hiding from the Reaper and Other Horror Poems by Odyssey Grad Michael Potts. Michael Potts is a master of finding a macabre twist for his poems. Each poem is a delicious little morsel best read at least twice. Disturbing, thought provoking, and sometimes darkly humorous, HIDING FROM THE REAPER will keep you coming back for more like a sinfully satisfying box of dark chocolate, and once gone, will have you wishing for more. My favorite was "Uncle Clark's Change," where Uncle Clark is not quite himself anymore. Other favorites include, "Black Moths," "Cleaning Prey on Thanksgiving Day," "Drama Queen Karma," "Wish Granted," and "Scaling and Cleaning" and the wickedly humorous "Bagging Prey." 

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Cheryl Low, author of Vanity in Dust  (forthcoming), recommends: 

Blood Chimera by Jenn Lyons has to be one of the oddest and most action packed urban fantasies I’ve read in a while. The first person is hilarious, the descriptions rich, and the characters verging on psychotic. At first this book reads much like any other detective novel, until the supernatural edge starts coming out and when it does come out—it is unrelenting. It becomes a landslide of new/old creatures and one event after another. I really enjoyed this one and it had me laughing more than once.

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Rhonda Parrish, editor of Fae, Corvidae, Scarecrow, and Sirens (forthcoming), recommends: 

If I could only recommend one both that I read this year I would choose Sing Me Your Scars by Damien Angelica Walters. Sing Me Your Scars is a collection of twenty short stories and perfectly exemplifies why Damien is one of my favourite short story writers on the planet. Her prose is lyrical and her themes a beautiful balance of heartbreaking, redemptive and tragic with a feminist flavour. To quote my Goodreads review, "This collection is filled with achingly beautiful stories, delicious prose and haunting characters. You're going to want to read it again and again and a-freaking-gain." If you're not already a fan of Damien's, you will be by the time you've finished this book.

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Sarena Ulibarri, editor of Fractured Days and Char (forthcoming), recommends: 

Far Orbit Apogee. The cover image of Far Orbit Apogee accurately mirrors the tone of this collection: a spacesuit-clad explorer striking a triumphant pose at the edge of a cliff. These space adventure stories are fun from start to finish, and will take you to the moon, to strange new planets, and to the long stretches of space in between. My favorite stories include “Masks” by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks, a tale of interstellar courtly intrigue with a prince who must never remove his mask, and “N31ghb0rs” by Eric Del Carlo, a fascinating exploration of artificial intelligence and the kind of neighbors that drive one to extremes. Editor Bascomb James does a great job of contextualizing each story within the history of science fiction, and placing together stories that belong together without being repeats of the same idea. In this anthology, we have Nebula nominee James Van Pelt and Writers of the Future finalist Julie Frost alongside first-timers like Keven R Pittsinger and Nestor Delfino. I would recommend this anthology both to long-time science fiction fans and to those looking for a good introduction to twenty-first century science fiction.

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With so many good books out there, what will you be reading in 2016? What did you read in 2015 and have to recommend to everyone to pick up in the coming year?