Publishers Weekly, apparently not content to wait until the end of the actual calendar year to call a close to 2007, has just named its Best Books of the Year. Here is their selection in the science fiction/fantasy/horror category, with apologies to those poor authors who might have a book seeing publication in the next eight weeks.
- Inferno edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor)
- Acacia by David Anthony Durham (Doubleday)
- Ilario: The Lion's Eye by Mary Gentle (Eos)
- In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor)
- Bright of the Sky: Book One of Entire and the Rose by Kay Kenyon (Pyr)
- The Name of the Wind: Book One by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW)
- The Winds of Marble Arch by Connie Willis (Subterranean)
- Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Morrow)
- Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe (Soft Skull)
- The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander (Holt)
- Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan (Knopf)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic/Levine)
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Levine)
- Robot Dreams by Sara Varon (Roaring Brook/First Second)
Comments (4)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday November 06, 2007 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
I haven't seen the PW piece, so I'm not sure how all of this was phrased exactly, but the fact that they're releasing this list now doesn't mean that they're ignoring stuff being released in the next eight weeks. Because of the way publishers send out advance review copies, PW will have seen books coming out in December a month or two ago. So this list in theory *does* incorporate everything through the end of the year. (And at least one book on the list--INFERNO--is scheduled for a Dec. release.)
Posted by John Joseph Adams on Tuesday November 06, 2007 at 6:42 AM at 6:42 AM
I was going to say the same thing JJ Adams does above. INFERNO is not out till December 10th and luckily it was reviewed by PW a few weeks ago. 
Posted by Ellen Datlow on Tuesday November 06, 2007 at 9:45 AM at 9:45 AM
Thanks for the insight. And congratulations, Ellen! 
I guess I'm still dubious, though. I know books are passed around before publication - we receive some of those ourselves - but have they read ALL releases due out? Even if they did, it still seems too early for a list like this. If I remember correctly from last year, B&N and Amazon should be publsihing theirs this month as well. Thogh I suspose one positive side effect of such an early posting is increased sales for those books that sre still on the shelves or will be there soon...
Posted by John on Tuesday November 06, 2007 at 10:46 AM at 10:46 AM
They may not have read all the releases, but they've read all the ones they're going to. They've already moved onto 2008 releases, so they might as well make final pronouncements on 2007 ones.
Amazon did already release their list, or at least *a* list:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_5833062_6/103-9293701-7367063?ie=UTF8&docId=1000158751&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=left-3&pf_rd_r=1MEYRTG7TV3WVMTSKZVQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=324316001&pf_rd_i=383166011
Posted by John Joseph Adams on Tuesday November 06, 2007 at 7:51 PM at 7:51 PM