Bill Crider — Author

There are several SF novels that that I like to go back to, but probably the one I’ve read the most is Bester’s THE STARS MY DESTINATION.  When I was a kid, this one really got me with the full “sense of wonder” blast.  I didn’t know that it was a retelling of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, and I didn’t care.  It had everything, adventure, romance, the blue jaunte and really cool writing pyrotechnics.   It still seems fresh to me today.  I don’t even have to reread it now.  All I need to do is think, “Gully Foyle is my name, and Terra is my nation.  Deep space is my dwelling place, and death’s my destination.”  After that the whole book comes back to me.  But darn it, after writing this, I still want to read it again.  Quant suff!  On the other hand, maybe I’ve read Matheson’s I AM LEGEND more often.  The best “last man on earth” book ever, and one of the best titles.  Or maybe it’s Simak’s CITY, or . . . .

Scott A. Cupp — Author

So, the question is what science fiction/fantasy/horror title do I keep returning to, over and over?  Rather than give one title, I will go with one of each category.

For science fiction, I would normally discuss NOVA by Samuel R. Delany or THE LAST STARSHIP FROM EARTH but I have discussed those at some length in the Forgotten Books segment recently enough that, while acknowledging them, I will mention another great title.  WAY STATION by Clifford Simak features the pastoral science fiction setting which I have mentioned on more than one occasion.  In this title, our hero Enoch Wallace, a Civil War veteran, is a caretaker of a galactic way station, a spot where many races have to pass on their way to other places.  As a result, Enoch is kept perpetually young which means he can have little human interaction, which generally suits him fine.  Much of the action in the book takes place when people begin to notice that someone has lived in the same place for a very long time and begin to investigate.  I first read this book in 1966 and I loved it then.  I have probably read it 7 or 8 times and each time it reminds me what a craftsman Clifford Simak was.

For Fantasy, I’ve read THE LORD OF THE RINGS more times than I care to count, but that was mainly in the 1960′s.  Passing that title, I would like to mention John Crowley’s LITTLE, BIG.  This is the story of Smoky Barnable and his one true love Daily Alice Drinkwater and the great sweeping house called Edgewood which is larger inside than out and crosses between our world and Faeire.  The book is a slow laconic look at their life in this magic place and even features a Special Guest Villain!  I love this book and much of Crowley’s work.   In a similar vein is Charles deLint’s MOONHEART which ranks a very close second here.

For Horror, I am tempted to list DRACULA by Bram Stoker or THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson.  But, again, these are easy titles to list so I will go with a favorite – THE MONK by Matthew Gregory Lewis, a classic of the Gothic period that is more a stew than a single novel.  So much goes on, it’s hard to keep track of it all.  There is blasphemy, rape, murder, Satanic rituals, and more adventure than one man should ever have.

Jeff DeCuir — Musician, Hyperbubble

I keep coming back to LOGAN’S RUN.  It could be a book about pop music: Everyone lives in a giant bio-dome shopping mall with top 40 hits by beautiful young bands constantly being pumped into the food court.  Non-contact cyber sex and recreational drugs are encouraged, however smoking is banned. Pop stars wear stylish crystal implants in their palms which display their age, blinking red hot while they’re in their prime, and turning black at age 21. Once their shelf life expires, they drop from the charts,  play a reunion concert and are killed by the laser show.

To avoid this fate, many hide their age with plastic surgery, but are ultimately caught.  Others become “Runners” and attempt to escape the dome, seeking a legendary club in San Antonio called Sanctuary, where musicians 21 and up are not only welcome, but on the guest list. Runners Logan 3 and Jessica 6, find Sanctuary, where they meet Keith Richards, who is smoking like a chimney, and Afrika Bambaataa who speaks telepathically with Bootsy Collins while programming a drum machine with the secrets of  the universe.  The song “Hyperdome” , from Hyperbubble’s second album is inspired by Logan’s Run. Neat book. Cool movie. Silly TV show. Awesome soundtrack.

John Picacio — Illustrator

My choice is George R.R. Martin’s A GAME OF THRONES (1st book of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series).

I can’t say that I’ve been a lifelong fan of this book and its series, but I can say I am now. I’m currently illustrating the 2012 calendar for George R.R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series, which will be published by Bantam and available sometime in latter 2011. I’ve been working on this project for the last year or so, and while doing it, my copies of A GAME OF THRONES, A CLASH OF KINGS, A STORM OF SWORDS, and A FEAST FOR CROWS have been marked up, dogeared and manhandled more than any other books I own. I know these books better than just about any novels I’ve ever read because I need to know them intimately to pull off the work I’m doing. Yes, there is a much-anticipated HBO TV series coming in 2011, but don’t get on board for that hype alone. Get on board because these books are as good as epic fantasy can be at the highest level. They’re emotional, infuriating, heart-pounding, heart-wrenching and worth every minute you invest with them. Start with A GAME OF THRONES, and when the fifth book, A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, releases next year, you can thank me then.

Crystal Shedrock – Doctor Who Fans Unite

My choice is THE HUNGER GAMES Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This trilogy is extremely new in the SciFi realm, but I love these books. Once I finished the final book in the series, I have yet to pick up another book because I felt nothing else could compare.

These three novels shall remain on my bookshelf forever, unless I am rereading them. It spoke to me on many levels. I understood the mindset of the main character. It is a dystopian novel that really makes a very bold statement about our society and the possible path we could head down in the future. Granted many dystopian novels make prevalent commentaries on society, but this one hits a little closer to home. Just scroll through the top tv shows or videos on youtube right now and ask yourself how far away are we from having our own Hunger Games?

Mike Fisher — Goofa Man Productions

As long as you mentioned fantasy, then I guess the most reread book for me is that staple of high school English classes, Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM. Has a more effective satire ever been written?

The evil allure of political power and its trappings is brilliantly and heart-breakingly portrayed. Strong-hearted Boxer gave every ounce of himself to the Rebellion, but those bastards didn’t give a damn about him…

Some of that crap they make you read in high school is pretty good!

Paul Vaughn — Techno-Geek

There are several books I have reread in recent years. I had to read THE LORD OF THE RINGS again when the movies came out. Susanna Clarke’s JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL was so good I had to reread it almost immediately, the same goes for Pynchon’s MASON & DIXON. The ILLUMINATUS TRILOGY with it’s connection to everything from Atlantis to Lovecraft to Rock-and-Roll also draws me in repeatedly.

But the series of books that will always bring me back are Frank Herbert’s original DUNE series. I originally read the first book, DUNE, as a teenager and it was easy to identify with protagonist Paul, the 15-year-old with complex messiah issues. The son of a planetary governor, Paul’s family is shipped to the desert planet Arrakis, know by the natives as Dune, that is the only source of Melange, the mind-altering spice that is the most valuable commodity in the universe. What follows is an incredible tale of politics, religion, ecology and culture that has spawned a movie, two SciFi Channel miniseries, video games and even an Iron Maiden song.

The original trilogy, DUNE, DUNE MESSIAH and CHILDREN OF DUNE, is classic enough, but the extension of the series through GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE, HERETICS OF DUNE and CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE is unlike anything you have read. The scope of the story, over thousands of years of societal manipulations, defines the word “epic.” I have not read the more recent sequels and prequels published since 1999 and don’t really intend to, the seminal six will always hold a special place in my mind and on my shelf. I’ll have to read these books, experience the grandeur and deceit all over again, at least once a decade.

Sanford Allen — Author and Musician

I read Anthony Burgess’ dystopian A CLOCKWORK ORANGE more than a dozen times between age 14 and 18, making it my most reread book. Part of it, I suppose, is that I was a disaffected youth drawn to the protagonist’s delinquency. I also was eager to unlock the Burgess’ fictional Nadsat slang, in which the book is written. Most significantly, though, the book made me think about the nature of evil and free will in profound ways.

The Reality Dysfunction

The holiday season is over, and you’re looking to return at least one well-intended gift.  What should you get to replace it?  How about The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton? The Reality Dysfunction is the first book in Hamilton’s trilogy Night’s Dawn. It is the 27th century, and the human species has begun a great diaspora throughout the galaxy. New technologies have enabled humans to side-step Einstein’s cosmic speed limit allowing us to colonize worlds light-centuries away. Disease and genetic defects are things of the past, and new “bitek” (short for biotechnology) even allows for “affinity” (telepathy) between those who choose to have the affinity gene spliced into their DNA.

Enter Lalonde. A backwater planet rich in natural resources but completely untamed. Lalonde is one of nine hundred planets that Earth has colonized or has begun to colonize. Life on Lalonde is brutal, low-tech, and hard. The colonists have only a few years to get their homesteads up and running before economic collapse is certain, but something is watching them. Something evil. Not long after settling in (in the roughest of terms), the reality dysfunction begins. The dead begin to come back to life. Not dead bodies, mind you. No, the dead begin to return to the realm of the living by taking over bodies still enjoying life. Thus begins a battle mankind has never even dreamed possible.

The dead return with strange powers which baffle the technologically advanced living, and as they return, certain specific dead people return, like Al Capone. Killing the  host of the dead spirit has the unfortunate side-effect of slaying the host him or herself. The death of the host only then adds to the amount of people trying to come back from the void which is the afterlife. The problem is easy to see. Also, the only goal the dead have is staying alive once they attain a living host. They will commit any act, regardless of how heinous, to stay newly alive.

The problem on Lalonde is not the only problems facing the human race in the Night’s Dawn trilogy. There are aliens. For the most part, humans have encountered alien species which are either so far beneath us in terms of technology that we cannot be bothered much with them or technologically advanced races which take only a passing interest in us.  Two aliens species, the Tyrathca and the Kiint, belong to the governing body of humanity—the Confederation. In fact, the Kiint seem like our best possible hope for a solution as they claim their species has faced its own reality dysfunction—and survived. The Confederation is concerned with the safety of humanity and its allies. But starships with the fire-power to take out small planetoids becomes nothing more than frustrating when facing the return of the souls of the dead.

The Reality Dysfunction is a fast-paced read. Space battles happen in real-time. Readers learn how space warfare occurs at speeds which boggle the human mind. The horror of facing the return of the dead through the medium of the bodies of the living earns the book its back page teaser: “Space is not the only void…” The trilogy is enjoying a reprint.  The first American release broke each book in the trilogy into two books. These were The Reality Dysfunction: Emergence and Expansion. The other titles The Neutronium Alchemist: Consolidation and Conflict as well as The Naked God: Flight and Faith were conflated as well.

So, what was the best genre-related (SF/F/H) item you enjoyed in 2009. This does not have to be something that came out this year, just something you read/watched/played and really dug. Book, TV, Movie, Album, Game, Comic…whatever. Drop us a comment and let us know.

John Picacio

Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist by James Gurney: My favorite art book of 2009. Despite the title, it’s not a ‘how-to’ book as much as it is a window into how a great illustrator solves problems and makes pictures. Gurney offers the kind of practical info that all illustrators, novice to professional, covet when they talk shop or visit each other’s studios. His writing is concise, generous, and personal, and he’s a great example of the truism that great artists never stop learning. His book feels less like a “voice of authority” laying down absolutisms and more like a friend inviting you into his studio for the day. I wish it was available in hardcover because it’s a keeper.

Sanford Allen

26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson. I’m going to cheat and name something that was released in 2008. I rationalize this in two ways: First, so uninformed am I that I wasn’t aware of its existence until this year. And second, it won the 2009 World Fantasy Award for best short story. “26 Monkeys” is about a woman who buys a travelling monkey show then tries to figure out the secret behind the primates’ nightly disappearing act. But, as with other great short stories, it’s about more than that. Namely learning to work through grief and loss. As shitty as 2009 was for many of us, “26 Monkeys” has special resonance for that reason. And there, I suppose, is a third way to rationalize my cheat. Read it online at Kij’s website.

Mistah Pete – Left Foot Red Productions

Film: if you miss 80s action movies like I miss 80s action movies, you must see Punisher: War Zone, out now on DVD. The most subversive Hollywood action movie since Robocop. All blood and neon and exploding chest cavities, but fun. If you’re of an artsy stripe and can get past the subtitles, I strongly endorse Tokyo! It’s one of those anthology movies, where three directors make short films about their favorite city. Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, Joon-ho Bong: if you’ve seen anything by the famous first and last ones, you know how incredible it is when I tell you that the middle one is just as groovy. And The Men Who Stare at Goats is one of those divisive movies that some people love and some hate. Despite the Star Wars references, it’s not strictly science fiction. It purports to be docu-drama. Me, I don’t care if it’s true; there’s psychic phenomena, a cast I’d go gay for, and it makes me laugh at 80s cock-rock in a whole new way, and that’s enough for me.

TV: Television has become so much better than movies. If you watch Mad Men or Dexter or Battlestar Galactica, that’s probably not news to you. But what might surprise you is how much better kiddie TV has become. Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack are two new fantastical entries from Cartoon Network that are not just amazing to watch, they give you hope that a generation of children will grow up demanding their entertainment be this good. Coming soon is Adventure Time! which promises to make me just as giddy.

Comics: Scud: The Whole Shebang is a collection of Rob Schrab’s incredible series, Scud the Disposable Assassin. He started it in the early 90s, then quit, leaving fans with an impossible cliffhanger. This new volume includes the entire run, along with the final four issues that wrap the story up ten years later, in a most satisfying way. You start reading for the zombie dinosaurs and robot sex and psychotic devil-worshipping American forefathers, but you stick around for the story of a killer robot in love. This is one of the great achievements in funnybooks, and it’s finally available in one big volume.

Crystal Shedrock-Rangel, President – Doctor Who Fans Unite

David Tennant/Doctor Who: Looking back on 2009, the one thing in the Sci-Fi realm that stands out in my mind is that this is our last year with David Tennant as Doctor Who. Tennant cemented himself in the hearts of many fans after portraying the 10th Doctor for the last four years. Season 4 ended with a spectacular finale and left the Doctor without a companion. Beginning at the end of 2008, the BBC ran a series of specials throughout the year: The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead and Waters of Mars. Though many fans loved these specials, I felt that they were missing something. Could it be that the news of Tennant leaving skewed my opinions or does the Doctor just function better with a regular companion? Now at the close of 2009 we find ourselves standing at the end of time itself. Part 1 of The End of Time aired on BBC America last Saturday night and part 2 airs this upcoming Saturday. This is Tennent’s farewell with Matt Smith waiting in the wings to take his position as the 11th Doctor.

Though we will be losing Tennant, the series will be taken over by Steven Moffat as head writer and executive producer. Moffat wrote the award winning episodes, Blink, The Girl in the Fireplace and The Empty Child, to name a few so the Doctor’s prospects look good. Part 1 of The End of Time left me guessing, but I didn’t find myself reaching for a kleenex. I am very curious to see where outgoing writer Russell T. Davies is taking this story line because right now I have no idea. He has a lot of questions to answer in part 2. For a complete review of Part 1 check out Geek Speak.

Doctor Who Fans Unite is not going to let Tennant leave without a proper farewell. On January 20th we will screen both Parts 1 & 2 of The End of Time at The Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes. It will be an event not to miss. We will be celebrating his departure with blow out bash. There will be: Trivia Contest, 10th Doctor Era Costume Contest, Special Doctor Who Art, Shirts, Buttons and Adipose will be for sale.

Frank Zieglar - KiDDandGEEZER

I watched Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica this year. I don’t have cable television, so I got the DVD’s from the San Antonio Public Library and watched everything they had on both. I never watched the original Doctor Who as a kid, but this new series makes me wish I had. Now my teenage daughter considers herself a Whovian. One of these days we’ll make it a showing at the Drafthouse. I did, however, watch the orginal Battlestar Galactica as a kid and it helped me appreciate the new version even more. Now if I could only get my daughter to watch it…

I loved the Watchmen movie that came out in March. I’ve been a fan of the graphic novel for years now, and thought the movie was very well done. Faithful to the source (mostly) while still being it’s own independent creation. Last but not least was Star Trek. I thought this movie was so well done, including lens flares. Sure, there were a few minor things to overlook, but this movie ROCKED! One of my favorite scenes is Spock (Zachary Quinto) fighting with Kirk, because it feel like I was a kid watching a young Leonard Nimoy again.

Michael Mehl – Fotoseptiembre USA

Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue: The best example of SF/F/H I’ve seen (but not read) in a long time.

James Hartz – Film Classics Productions

Doctor Who: I recently became hip to Dr. Who this past year via my friend’s involvment in Dr. Who Fans Unite. I came into the series cold. All I knew about it was that is about a time-travelling alien who has adventures throughout the universe. I saw one episode (“The Girl in the Fireplace”) and was hooked. The show is stylish, witty, and most of all, fun, which is something you don’t see in a lot of sci-fi these days. Dr. Who embraces its silly campiness and still manages to deliver heartfelt stories with well-developed characters. One of the best things about the show is that it doesn’t condensend to it’s audiaunce. Dr Who throws a lot of high concepts out there very quickly without getting bogged down by explaining every little thing or holding the viewer’s hand. Dr Who brings you along for the ride instead of just watching it.

Paul Vaughn

I finished (sorta) two great series of books this year. Kim Stanley Robinson‘s excellent Mars Trilogy: Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. These books present the concept of colonizing and terraforming Mars in brilliant detail with compelling characters. Spanning more than 200 years, the series follows the three aspects of humanities efforts on Mars, from colonization by an elite hundred (Red Mars) to terraforming (Green Mars) and finally to the long term results (Blue Mars).

Along a different tact, I also read George R.R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series…at least all of the books that are out. The first four books (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows) spin an intricate tale of a noble family’s struggle to survive in an epic fantasy world filled with treachery, intrigue and just enough of the fantastic. Each chapter follows a specific character and I was continually spurred to get back to favorite characters only to discover that every character is fascinating. I found myself talking to the book, not believing where the story was going but unable to set it down. The last book of the series, A Dance with Dragons is long overdue, but with HBO filming an adaptation due to air in 2010, Martin should have heavy incentive to get the book out the door.

Jeff from Hyperbubble

The Mighty Boosh by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding: First off, any show that draws inspiration from The Goodies is already on the right track. The Mighty Boosh pick up where The Goodies, at their peak (the Kitten Kong episode), left off and then crank the volume up to eleven. Their TV series has gotten braver and weirder with every episode, and has now reached a point where anything can happen. The show is impossible to describe in a paragraph, so I’ll use the age-old “recipe” bit: Put Gary Numan in a blender with Monty Python, add a dash of Flight of The Conchords, sprinkle gently with The Mahavishnu Orchestra, top it off with Freddie Mercury’s hairstyle from Queen II, and you’re still only halfway there. There was some stiff competition this year from Tim Exile’s album Listening Tree, but the Boosh boys make the top of my list for their excellent cast, costuming, concept, and for televising the ultimate sci-fi synthpop band, Kraftwerk Orange.

The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge

The storyline is a familiar one:  Azoth, a street urchin in the city of Cenaria, claws his way out of poverty and despair while suffering numerous setbacks  and facing difficult moral decisions along the way.  What distinguishes Weeks’ story from so many others is that Azoth’s path doesn’t follow the high road, but instead involves training under Durzo Blint, the city’s most dangerous assassin.  Our hero must find ways to justify his brutal actions and deal with their consequences all while attempting to be a “better” man than his master.  Along for the ride are some well-developed secondary characters, a few brushes with destiny, and some of the nastier demons I’ve seen in the genre.  But there are a few minor flaws as well.

At times the dialogue felt a bit forced.  The heated arguments and political discourse were fine, but those few times that the characters attempted to show any affection towards one another seemed cliché.  I found myself rolling my eyes when a child proclaimed that “kissing is gross” or when a conversation between young lovers dissolved into a tickling match.  Likewise, some of the talk from royal figures occasionally came off a bit stilted.  These moments felt as though I had seen or read them many times before, and not just in the genre.  Thankfully, these moments are few and far between.  Heroic deeds and despicable atrocities keep the action rolling, and fully developed secondary characters keep the story from being too focused on just one character.

French cover of the first book

In fact, these secondary characters have such interesting backgrounds that I found myself wanting to know more about them.  Weeks briefly describes several different cultures in his world, and many of his characters come from places vastly different from Cenaria.  His world of Midcyru is so intriguing that one almost feels that he could have exploded this trilogy into several more books à la Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen or R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire epics.  It is a sign of good world building when a reader is left imagining more of an author’s realm, and I found myself desiring more stories from some of his other kingdoms.

Thankfully, Orbit Books has offered Weeks another three-book deal, and he will be returning with more adventure from Midcyru.  The next series, starting with The Black Prism, will take place twelve years after the Night Angel trilogy, and should feature some of the surviving characters from the first three books.  I look forward to seeing how Weeks will flesh out his already interesting world, and to seeing how he develops as a writer in the years to come.