2008: A Year in Review [John’s Take]

Continuing my annual tradition of listing the year’s best, this is a summary of my personal sf, fantasy and horror experiences for 2008.

Here are the best of 2008. These are not necessarily things that first appeared this year, they are just the things that I read, watched or listened to this year, excluding personal reading projects.

The best books I read in 2008 were:

• Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (2007)
• Laika by Nick Abadzis (2007)
• Spectrum 14 edited by Cathy and Arnie Fenner (2007)
• The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin (1971)
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (2008)
• The Affinity Bridge by George Mann (2008)
• Necroscope by Brian Lumley (1977)
• Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle (1963)
• The Watchmen by Alan Moore (1987)

The best anthologies & collections were:

• Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams (2008)
• Seeds of Change edited by John Joseph Adams (2008)
• Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds (2007)
• Mini-Masterpieces of Science Fiction edited by Allan Kaster (2008)
• Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders (2008)

The best films I watched were:

• Iron Man (2008)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• Wall-E (2008)
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Timecrimes (2007)

Read on for the longer version…

BOOKS, ANTHOLOGIES AND COLLECTIONS:

1. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams
2. Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston
3. Debatable Space by Philip Palmer
4. Three Shadows by Cyril Pedrosa
5. The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
6. Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
7. Jumper by Steven Gould
8. Griffin’s Story by Steven Gould
9. Jim Baen’s Universe #11
10. Hunter’s Run by George R.R. Martin, Gardener Dozois, & Daniel Abraham
11. Galactic Empires edited by Gardner Dozois
12. Blue War by Jeffrey Thomas
13. Laika by Nick Abadzis
14. [Various] 2007 Nebula Award Short Fiction Nominees
15. Spectrum 14 edited by Cathy and Arnie Fenner
16. Space Vulture by Gary K. Wolf and Archbishop John J. Meyers
17. Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi
18. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin
19. The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 2 edited by George Mann
20. Majestrum by Matthew Hughes
21. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
22. [Various] 2008 Hugo Award Short Fiction Nominees
23. The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers
24. Little Vampire by Joann Sfar
25. Jim Baen’s Universe #12
26. The Crystal Cosmos by Rhys Hughes
27. [Various] Chris Roberson’s Celestial Empire Stories (Part 1)
28. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 2 edited by Jonathan Strahan
29. Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell
30. The Affinity Bridge by George Mann
31. Plague Year
32. Seeds of Change edited by John Joseph Adams
33. Stalking the Unicorn by Mike Resnick
34. Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds
35. Mini-Masterpieces of Science Fiction edited by Allan Kaster
36. The Year’s Best Science Fiction #25 edited by Gardner Dozois
37. Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi
38. Pirate Sun by Karl Schroeder
39. Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston
40. Sideways in Crime edited by Lou Anders
41. Necroscope by Brian Lumley
42. Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg
43. Stalking the Vampire by Mike Resnick
44. The Living Dead edited by John Joseph Adams
45. Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
46. Sunborn by Jeffrey A. Carver
47. Hater by David Moody
48. Iron Jaw and Hummingbird by Chris Roberson
49. Extraordinary Engines edited by Nick Gevers
50. Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders
51. The Watchmen by Alan Moore

FILMS:

1. Cloverfield – Take away the gimmicky shaky camera and you have a mediocre monster flick.
2. Spider-Man 3 – Lots of good elements but sadly not put together well.
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – Yeah, totally incredulaous, but still a high nostalgic quotient.
4. Iron Man – A well-done superhero flick? What could possibly be better? Maybe…
5. The Dark Knight – Not just a good superhero flick, but also a great film.
6. Wall-E – When I hear people who didn’t get it, I tell them “What? It’s a biting social commentary on modern cosumerism and eco-negligence. What’s not to love?”
7. Light and the Sufferer – A near-identical translation of the source material, with the same problems, too.
8. Planet of the Apes (1968) – An excellent science fiction film whose social commentary still stands up today.
9. The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Felt like a decent epsiode of the TV series.
10. Transformers – Dumb fun.
11. Timecrimes – A tightly-plotted, intelligent time travel thriller.

TELEVISION:

There’s not much to report on the television front. This was the year I gave up on Heroes and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Clone Wars never held my attention for more than 3 episodes.

I’ve been enjoying Eureka, Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and especially the new X-Files clone Fringe. Oh, and Doctor Horrible was exactly the opposite.

SUMMARY

I had a very good reading year! Compared with last year, I did a much better job choosing material that suited my tastes. Some of the worst reading experiences were with short stories. I read fewer books than last year, I think because time has been at a premium. I therefore augmented my reading time with graphic novels and shorter works. I still managed to get in 51 book-related reviews done, though, which is more than I thought I’d do.

Anyway, that’s my year!