Quite a few people have been doing posts about the books they are looking forward to in 2014, which have mostly served to illustrate how little I have in common with SF&F fandom these days. However, yesterday I got asked what I was looking forward to reading. There has to be something, right? So I had a little trawl around the Internet. Here are some suggestions.

Empress of the Sun, Ian McDonald — Ian is one of the best SF authors around today. OK, so his current series is YA, but that’s no reason not to be reading him.

Red Delicious, Kathleen Tierney — Tierney is a thinly disguised Caitlín Kiernan taking the piss out of urban fantasy most magnificently. This book is the sequel to Blood Oranges.

The Gospel of Loki, Joanne Harris — Harris has a huge reputation in mainstream literature and has recently been turning her hand to fantasy. She has done a YA series using Norse mythology. This one is an adult book. And it is about Loki, who these days is fashionably cute and adorable. I want to see what Harris does with the gender-bending aspects of Loki’s story.

Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer — I have been a big fan of Jeff’s work since City of Saints and Madmen. This is new stuff. No Ambergris. I am very much looking forward to it.

Islands of Chaldea, Diana Wynne Jones & Ursula Jones — This is the book that Diana had half-finished when she died. It has been completed by her sister, Ursula. These things can be a bit embarrassing, or they can be a delight. I want to know which this will be.

The Galaxy Game, Karen Lord — This is the sequel to last year’s The Best of All Possible Worlds. I have been talking to Karen about bits of it. I’m sure it will be very good.

The Girl with all the Gifts, M.R. Carey — That would be Mike Carey, he of X-Men, The Unwritten and the Felix Castor novels. The idiocies of the bookselling industry have required him to adopt a transparent pseudonym. I’m hearing more positive buzz about this book than anything else due in 2014.

Steles of the Sky, Elizabeth Bear — Bear is one of the GoHs at Finncon this year. This is the final volume in her latest series. I need to have read all three by July. Given what people are saying about the series, I am sure I will enjoy the experience.

The Causal Angel, Hannu Rajaniemi — The other GoH at Finncon will be Hannu. This is the third (and I think final) volume in the Quantum Thief series. I loved the other two, and am looking forward to this one.

Memory of Water, Emmi Itäranta — The next big thing from Finland is likely to be this book. It did very well indeed when it was published in Finnish. It was a finalist for the Tähtivaeltaja Award and won Emmi a €16,000 young writer prize. And it has sold in translation to many markets, including English which is the hardest for any non-English book to crack.

Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor — Nnedi’s last adult novel, Who Fears Death, won the World Fantasy Award and was a Nebula nominee. Of course I am looking forward to this.

The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin — Nora is another author who is right on the top of her game right now. This should be very good.

Hurricane Fever, Tobias S. Buckell — As per the interview I did with him for Ujima, Tobias is doing more high tech, near future thrillers than SF these days. But he has a strong interest in climate science, which is of particular interest to me, so I try to keep up with what he’s doing.

We Will All Go Down Together, Gemma Files — It sounds like Experimental Film is taking longer to write than Gemma expected, but instead ChiZine will be putting out a fix-up novel of what Gemma called “Toronto Weird” stories. I found the Hexslinger books fascinating, and am interested to see what this is like.

Child Eater, Rachel Pollack — This will be Rachel’s first novel for 12 years. I have no idea what it is about, but previous novels won the Clarke in 1989 and the World Fantasy in 1997 so I have to check this out.

Radiance, Catherynne M. Valente — It’s Cat, and it is science fiction. What more do I have to say?

Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie — The sequel to one of my favorite books from 2013.

And finally, Going Gray, Karen Traviss — Yes, you read that right. It is a new non-tie-in novel from Karen Traviss. Am I excited? You bet I am. 🙂