Novel - Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) A young girl is offered her heart's desire by Baba Yaga and goes on a quest in an alternate world. But that's only the bare bones of the plot; the beauty, as usual, is in Ursula's characterization and worldbuilding -- including, in this case, a were-house and a Regency society of sentient hoopoes, and that's not the oddest thing she encounters by any means.
Novella - The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) A young woman's best friend from childhood is kidnapped, and she goes to get him back. On the way, she finds out a lot about herself. Again, there's a lot more to it than that, but I have trouble describing the ineffable, wonderful weirdness of Ursula's writing -- I end up breaking down and flailing helplessly.
Series - Emberverse, S.M. Stirling, Prince of Outcasts Massively ambitious post-apocalyptic epic with great characterization and a lot of exploration of the way different societies would form in the aftermath of the complete collapse of civilization. Unfortunately, the current book is not the one to start with; you really need to have read The Golden Princess and The Desert and the Blade first to have a good feel for what's going on. And this is the third major story arc of the series!
- October Daye, Seanan McGuire, Once Broken Faith Urban fantasy with elves and other fae creatures. A lot of political maneuvering, seriously scary situations, and Toby is usually trying to solve a mystery while keeping herself alive.
- Raksura, Martha Wells, The Edge of Worlds Amazing worldbuilding, and characters who are human enough emotionally to be understandable, but with a completely different culture similar to that of bees. Lots and lots of trope inversion/subversion around gender issues, and plenty of interactions with people from different cultures -- I think we've seen more races in the Raksura books than we saw in all of Star Trek! If you like these, Wells has a Patreon and she's still posting Raksura short fiction there, although the 2017 novel is going to be the end of this series.
- Young Wizards, Diane Duane, Games Wizards Play The series that Harry Potter only wishes it could be. Wizards are the caretakers of the universe, and their Great Enemy is no less than the personification of Entropy itself. High adventure with lots of discussion of the ethics of magic. One of the recurring characters is high-functioning autistic.
- Alpennia, Heather Rose Jones, Mother of Souls On a much less epic scale, this is alt-historical fantasy set in an imaginary 17th-century Europe with magic, and lesbian romances portrayed with an eye to the difficulties such women would have faced during the period in question. There are only 3 books in this series (the other two are Daughter of Mystery and The Mystic Marriage), so it would be fairly easy to catch up on if you're a fast reader.
Related Work - Making Conversation by Teresa Nielsen-Hayden A collection of favorite posts from the Making Light blog. Includes the classic essay "Slushkiller" about the many reasons why a story submission may be rejected, plus discussions of online trolls and the moderation of fora, con-running, knitting, and general miscellany.
And of course I'll be nominating you guys under this category. I discovered you via last year's nominations, and I've been very happy with what I found here.
no subject
Novel
- Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)
A young girl is offered her heart's desire by Baba Yaga and goes on a quest in an alternate world. But that's only the bare bones of the plot; the beauty, as usual, is in Ursula's characterization and worldbuilding -- including, in this case, a were-house and a Regency society of sentient hoopoes, and that's not the oddest thing she encounters by any means.
Novella
- The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)
A young woman's best friend from childhood is kidnapped, and she goes to get him back. On the way, she finds out a lot about herself. Again, there's a lot more to it than that, but I have trouble describing the ineffable, wonderful weirdness of Ursula's writing -- I end up breaking down and flailing helplessly.
Novelette
- "Polyglossia" by Tamara Vardomskaya
http://giganotosaurus.org/2016/03/01/polyglossia/
Language geekery and cultural interactions FTW!
Short Story
- "A Hundred and Seventy Storms" by Aliette de Bodard
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/hundred-seventy-storms/
- ".SUBROUTINE:ALL///END" by Rachael Acks
https://www.shimmerzine.com/subroutineallend-by-rachael-acks/
- "Razorback" by Ursula Vernon
http://www.apex-magazine.com/razorback/
- "The Jaws That Bite, The Claws That Catch" by Seanan McGuire
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/jaws-bite-claws-catch/
- "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar
http://uncannymagazine.com/article/seasons-glass-iron/
- "The Story of Kao Yu" by Peter S. Beagle
http://www.tor.com/2016/12/07/the-story-of-kao-yu/
- "The Evaluators" by N. K. Jemisin
https://www.wired.com/2016/12/nk-jemisin-the-evaluators/
(They're short. Just go read them.)
Series
- Emberverse, S.M. Stirling, Prince of Outcasts
Massively ambitious post-apocalyptic epic with great characterization and a lot of exploration of the way different societies would form in the aftermath of the complete collapse of civilization. Unfortunately, the current book is not the one to start with; you really need to have read The Golden Princess and The Desert and the Blade first to have a good feel for what's going on. And this is the third major story arc of the series!
- October Daye, Seanan McGuire, Once Broken Faith
Urban fantasy with elves and other fae creatures. A lot of political maneuvering, seriously scary situations, and Toby is usually trying to solve a mystery while keeping herself alive.
- Raksura, Martha Wells, The Edge of Worlds
Amazing worldbuilding, and characters who are human enough emotionally to be understandable, but with a completely different culture similar to that of bees. Lots and lots of trope inversion/subversion around gender issues, and plenty of interactions with people from different cultures -- I think we've seen more races in the Raksura books than we saw in all of Star Trek! If you like these, Wells has a Patreon and she's still posting Raksura short fiction there, although the 2017 novel is going to be the end of this series.
- Young Wizards, Diane Duane, Games Wizards Play
The series that Harry Potter only wishes it could be. Wizards are the caretakers of the universe, and their Great Enemy is no less than the personification of Entropy itself. High adventure with lots of discussion of the ethics of magic. One of the recurring characters is high-functioning autistic.
- Alpennia, Heather Rose Jones, Mother of Souls
On a much less epic scale, this is alt-historical fantasy set in an imaginary 17th-century Europe with magic, and lesbian romances portrayed with an eye to the difficulties such women would have faced during the period in question. There are only 3 books in this series (the other two are Daughter of Mystery and The Mystic Marriage), so it would be fairly easy to catch up on if you're a fast reader.
Related Work
- Making Conversation by Teresa Nielsen-Hayden
A collection of favorite posts from the Making Light blog. Includes the classic essay "Slushkiller" about the many reasons why a story submission may be rejected, plus discussions of online trolls and the moderation of fora, con-running, knitting, and general miscellany.
And of course I'll be nominating you guys under this category. I discovered you via last year's nominations, and I've been very happy with what I found here.