The Dervish House Tops SF Site's Readers' Choice: Best Read of the Year: 2010

SF Site has posted their Readers' Choice: Best Read of the Year: 2010 and Ian McDonald's The Dervish House tops the list at # 1! They say:

"This is a novel of near-future Istanbul. It begins with a suicide bomber on a crowded tram, and follows the lives of 6 very different people whose lives are all affected by this incident, and whose paths intersect. One witness to the bombing thereafter begins to see djinni and saints; a young invalid witnesses the event through the eyes of a BitBot monkey, and witnesses someone else also spying remotely; this boy shares his concerns with a disgruntled professor who has been forced into retirement; another woman is delayed by the blast in her effort to get to a job interview and consequently takes a job that involves her in a nanoware company; an antique dealer is set on a quest to find a man mummified in honey -- something that may exist or may be mere legend -- while her boyfriend is planning a stock-market scheme of unprecedented proportions. The tightly plotted story takes place over a brief period of time in a confined setting, the sprawling metropolis of Istanbul. But it is McDonald's writing and his handling of character that led SF Site readers to choose The Dervish House as the best book of 2010."

Meanwhile, time to update this page again.

James Enge: a considerable amount of imagination

Cover art by Dominic Harman

From Dominic Cilli's review of James Enge's This Crooked Way at SF Site, which focuses on the episodic nature of the novel:

"James Enge has shown a considerable amount of imagination in his writing of This Crooked Way. His decision to structure the book using this uncommon method of narration that I described above is certainly not anything groundbreaking for an author, but it was refreshing and impressive. Not only does it work exceedingly well as a vehicle to tell Enge's story, but it shows, that at a very early stage in his career Enge isn't afraid to take a risk. It appears that Enge isn't going to be just another fantasy author churning out volume after volume of rote fantasy written in the same sing-song style he knows he can be successful with. He is willing to take a chance and grow as an author and he deserves to be praised for it.  ....Furthermore, This Crooked Way has more than enough in it to keep readers entertained throughout. All the stories contained within the novel have something to keep readers intrigued and it looks like James Enge is creating a very dark and entertaining universe in which to write his Ambrose novels. His magic system contains elements of science, logic and manufacturing all combined together and gives This Crooked Way some very intriguing and believable supernatural aspects. ...a smart and entertaining read. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to recommend This Crooked Way to my friends and James Enge is certainly an author I would keep my eye on in the future"

SFSite's Best of 2009: 3 Outta 10 Ain't Bad

Greg L Johnson's Best of 2009 at SFSite includes Ian McDonald's Cyberabad Days (#8), Kay Kenyon's City Without End (#5) and Paul McAuley's The Quiet War (#3).

Very proud of all our authors, and proud that Pyr has three books among this top ten list.