The Year's Best SF via Readercon On Our Shelves Now

If you're a science fiction reader, you probably know ReaderCon. If you don't know it, it's an annual conference of science fiction and fantasy literature that takes place every July in Burlington, Mass. I attended this weekend and came back with lots of critics picks for the top science fiction and fantasy of the year. These are all available on our shelves now.

John Connolly's Burning Soul is a supernatural thriller and the latest in a series, but it stands alone just fine.

China Mieville's "linguistic apocalypse" (Mieville's words) Embassytown is hard science fiction about an alien world and a very special form of communication. It's also a personal favorite of mine.

Mieville's latest, Railsea, is also a lot of fun. A takeoff on Moby-Dick, it's young adult friendly and a very absorbing book.

Tim Powers' Hide Me Among the Graves is historical fantasy about the Rosetti family and what one critic at ReaderCon called "the best fantasy of the year." It traces the "secret history" of the family between the lines of history.

N.K. Jemisin's The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun were described as having "great worldbuilding". Inspired by ancient Egypt, critics called them "multilayered" and "wonderful."

Kristin Cashore was described as "the most thoughtful writer today for young adults" and her latest, Bitterblue, was a critics' favorite in both print and audio.
Other books on the critics' best list that we have in stock include

• A Dance with Dragons, the latest in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin,
• Deadline, by Mira Grant,
• Blue Remembered Earth, by Alastair Reynolds,
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson,
• Caliban's War, by James Corey,
• Reamde, by Neil Stephenson,
• The Drowing Girl, by Caitlin Kiernan,
• Some Kind of Fairy Tale, by Graham Joyce,
• The Cold Commands, by Natalie K.  Morgan,
• Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear, and
• The Shape of Desire, by Sharon Shinn.

So come by and shop some SF!