Robert Tilendis -- Best Literature Picks of 2007

This past year's books. Quite a selection. It's really hard to spot the ones that stand above the crowed, because the crowd's so tall.

This year I have a number of contenders for top honors. I think all these reviews were scheduled to appear in 2007, but even if not, trust me -- I read them and wrote them. (Poor Arthur, our postman, gets overloaded toward the end of the year, what with our far-flung staff rushing to get their reviews caught up and in to the editors. Oh, you didn't think Arthur only handled the snail mail, did you? Of course not -- he does it all. You didn't think we'd leave that up to a mere machine!)

Interestingly enough, a substantial number of these are not "new" books, but are books I read and commented on this year, so they were, pretty much, new to me. Maybe even to you. Here they are, pretty much in alphabetical order.

The Gypsy by Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm, is a remarkable urban fantasy, tough and poetic, one that plays with time and space in a way that many writers have attempted and very few have managed successfully. Huge doses of dramatic tension, transmuted folklore, and stylistic adventure, played out through some of the most appealing (and appalling) characters ever.

John Clute's Appleseed deserves a place in our Best of Anytime, Ever list as far as I'm concerned. An entrancing story told through a pyrotechnic narrative, it's one of those that becomes even richer in retrospect than it was at the moment. This is one of those occasions when words fail me -- just find a copy and read it, and you will discover that the old truism about critics being among those who can't is not always true.

Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen is quite possibly the best fantasy series ever, or at least among the top three or four. I've been rereading LOTR recently, and Erikson does hold his own, even if I'm only halfway through the entire series. Tolkien's vision was a highly romantic one, from a time when war could still be portrayed as a heroic adventure; Erikson's story comes out of a century in which we have seen too much of the worst we can do to each other, and it pulls no punches. And he's a good writer -- I find myself rereading passages just to savor them again.

I find myself becoming interested in graphic novels again, largely due to the efforts of such artists as Garth Hinds, whose Beowulf is pretty near perfect. Unlike text-only translations of the great Anglo-Saxon epic, Hinds was able to rely on the storytelling power of his illustrations, which comes through in full measure. The text is straightforward and the drawings are beautiful. That's just about all you need.

Next is Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day. This one is staggering. Pynchon brings a broad vision to his writing, a richness that's hard to describe: a story that, in mundane terms, spans about thirty years, takes as its location the entire world, including a few places that you will not find on any map, and pulls in references to just about any time or place you can think of. Pynchon also has been, throughout his career, notable for his surreal view of life, which leads him naturally across the borders that separate "mainstream" literature from the literature of the fantastic. This is a stunning book.

There were a few story collections that stood out, both single-author and theme anthologies -- The Last Mimzy, a reissue of The Best of Henry Kuttner, which is just about the best anywhere; Connie Willis' The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories, a wonderful tour through the work of one of the most inventive contemporary science-fiction writers; and Datlow and Windling's Coyote Road, a dazzling set of variations on the theme of the Trickster. Special mention goes to Steve Berman's So Fey: Queer Faerie Fictions. Berman has put together a diverse and excellent set of stories that reinforce each other beautifully, building a resonance that lasts far past the turn of the last page. It's not just a set of stories about "fairies," but a penetrating look at the conditions of gay life.

Well, I'm already getting next year's books, and some of them look very choice indeed. I can hardly wait to get started