It Was Nice Meeting You: Top Ten New-To-Me Authors of 2012

This is a great question from The Broke and The Bookish.  I think it not only allows us to share authors who perhaps need more exposure, but it is combined with the end-of-year theme.  December often seems to be a time of reflection.  So let me share with you my new-to-me authors of 2012, in no particular order:

1. Susan Tsui (Identities)

2. Kevin David Anderson & Sam Stall (Night of the Living Trekkies)

3. Caitlin Moran (How To Be A Woman)

4. Max Brooks (World War Z)

5. Katherine Mansfield (The Garden Party and Other Stories)

6. Derek Hayes (The Maladjusted)

7. Richard Ford (Canada)

8. Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments series)

9. Veronica Roth (Divergent series)

10. Rayne Hall (Scylla and the Pepper Pirates)

I read quite a few new authors this year.  I didn’t even realize.  I thought I’d have a difficult time getting to ten, but I actually had to remove a few people.  I read some great new authors this year.  How about you?

*Clicking on the author name will take you to their website.  Clicking on the book title will take you to my post.

Night of the Living Trekkies

The lead character's name is Jim Pike.  Jim Pike!  Awesome. Night of the Living Trekkies was awesome.  Let's talk about how amazing all the Star Trek and sci-fi stuff was first.  The whole thing takes place at a Star Trek convention called GulfCon. There are costumed geeks everywhere.  They are constantly making hilarious and often relevant Star Trek references.  Many of them also introduce themselves using their "character" names instead of their real names.  Sometimes we find out their real names and sometimes we don't.  What I didn't realize until about a quarter of the way in was that each chapter title is the name of a Star Trek episode. (I've never been good at remembering names of episodes for any show.)  Somehow that made the book even better.  Every Star Trek, Star Wars, sci-fi moment had the geek in me jumping up and down.

In Night of the Living Trekkies, Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall bring the fabulousness of Star Trek together with the insanity of zombies and the zombies in this novel were great.  I'm not a huge zombie fan, but I like a well-written zombie novel, with an interesting cast of characters.  I also appreciate twists on the standard zombie mythos.  The Trekkies zombies are not your ordinary zombies.  They seem to be at first, but there is so much more.  I loved it.

If I had the time, I could have easily read the book in one sitting.  The story was engaging and the writing was fluid.  It was one fun, exciting thing after another.  Anderson and Stall knew what they were doing in creating a flawed, yet loveable hero, a kick-ass romantic interest and an intelligent sister.  The supporting cast were creative and varied.  The villains were a mix of expected (in a good way) and unexpected (also in a good way).

I think this was the first time I've read a novel written by two authors (I don't think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters counts). So I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of writing style and story flow.  After the first two chapters, I thought I'd be able to tell the difference from when one author was writing to the next, but after a couple more chapters, I knew I wouldn't be able to tell. I don't even know if they took turns writing chapters or if they were involved in each equally.  Now I'm curious.  How do collaborations like this work?

Fans of zombies and Star Trek are going to love Night of the Living Trekkies.  If you're a zombie fan, but don't know as much about Star Trek, I think you'll still enjoy the book, but some of the references might be a bit lost on you.... Or you could watch only Star Trek for a month, then you'd know everything!  I could keep going about all the great little and big things in Trekkies, but instead, I'll just say, read the book! 

When It Gets Chilly, I’ll Be Curling Up With… The Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Read List

This week’s topic from The Broke and The Bookish was easy… and yet, in a way hard…  Here are the top ten books on my fall reading list.

1.  Insurgent, by Veronica Roth

2.  Undead Reckoning, by Mike Slabon

3.  Everything’s Eventual, by Stephen King

4.  A Thousand Orcs, by R.A. Salvatore

5.  Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

6.  Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare

7.  The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Steig Larsson

8.  Bodily Harm, by Margaret Atwood

9.  Binu and the Great Wall, by Su Tong

10. Night of the Living Trekkies, by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall

Some of these books have been on my list since the Spring…even Winter…  I just can’t seem to read ten books a season (that’s 40 books a year… totally not happening).  So, though I’ve wanted to read them for ages, they just keep getting pushed back.  Plus, I’m easily distracted by other books and influenced by my mood.  There are some great, new/different books on the fall list though.  I’m saving Frankenstein for October.

What’s on your Fall list?

Top Ten Tuesdays: Top Ten Books I’m Dying To Read

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke And The Bookish. This week’s topic, pick ten books you’re dying to read.

It was difficult for me to pick just ten. I have over a hundred books that are sitting neatly in my bookcases waiting to be read. Plus, there are the books I don’t even own yet.

Except for the first book, they are in no particular order.

1. Year of the Flood, by: Margaret Atwood – I’ve been itching to read this since it was published. I almost bought it over and over again, but I was trying to be good. But I saw a stack of them at Costco last weekend, and my final bit of resistance was gone.

2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by: Stieg Larsson – I’m not dying to read this as much as a couple of my bookish friends are dying for me to read it. The copy I have is borrowed and, succumbing to peer pressure, I will read this next instead of Year of the Flood

3. Son of a Witch, by: Gregory Maguire – I’ve wanted to read this for a while. I absolutely loved Wicked and I’m going to see the musical in just over a month! I came across a copy of Son of a Witch at a used bookstore. I had to have it, especially after I bought…

4. A Lion Among Men, by: Gregory Maguire – I saw it at a different bookstore and bought it.

5. The Battle Of Jericho Hill, by: Stephen King – This is one of the graphic novels that have been written as prequels to King’s Dark Tower series of novels. Jericho is where THE big battle takes place, helping to forge the man the main character is in the novels.

6. Dead and Gone, by: Charlaine Harris – I’ve read all the books staring Sookie Stackhouse up to From Dead To Worse. After a fantastic ending, I wanted to start the next book immediately. Sadly, I don’t own this one yet.

7. The Chronicles of Narnia, by: C.S. Lewis – I know it’s more than one book, it’s seven. So maybe I’ll just say, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet. It seems like something I would have read as a kid.

8. Night of the Living Trekkies, by: Sam Stall and Kevin David Anderson – I just got it last month. A gift from my husband. He knows what I like and this book combines two of my favourite things, Star Trek and zombies!

9. Dracula, by: Bram Stoker – Classic gothic horror. The one that started all the vampire fiction, really. Written before vampires were teen dreams. Here, vampires are scary and I can’t wait to read it.

10. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini – I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was one of the best books I’ve ever read. The only reason I haven’t read it is because I don’t own it. If I somehow got a copy tomorrow, I don’t know if I’d be reading Year of the Flood or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo next.