Sunday, December 07, 2008

Strahan's Book Meme: Books for Christmas

From A Quiet Corner of the Web:

  1. Choose four books published during 2008 that you loved and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others
  2. Write a brief description (it doesn’t have to be much - a few words, a sentence)
  3. Post the descriptions on your blog under the title Books for Christmas
  4. Link to some suitable book retailer that you’d like to support

To keep it simple, make sure you have no direct connection to the books you’re going to blog about - no books you’ve written, edited, or published (you can blog about those another time), just books you’ve loved. And link to other posts if you see ‘em.

Here's my four books, which feature non-mainstream titles:

Nemonymous: Cone Zero edited by D.F. Lewis

Aside from the conceit that this magazine/anthology doesn't give away the names of the authors (well, they tell you which authors participated, just not who wrote this or that story), it features some really cool, off-the-top stories that tingle my sense of wonder and excitement as well as fulfilling my requirements of well-written fiction in the literary sense of the word.

Buy Here

A Field Guide to Surreal Botany edited by Janet Chui & Jason Erik Lundberg

Not quite a fiction anthology and easily disguised as a non-fiction title, this book features imaginary flora complete with vivid descriptions by talented authors and gorgeous illustrations by Janet Chui. Whether you're a fan of the prose or a fan of the artwork, this short book has its charm and appeal.

Buy Here

Clockwork Phoenix edited by Mike Allen

Another anthology that I'd like to feature, Clockwork Phoenix makes a pleasant gift because it features easy-to-read speculative fiction, especially those wary of the genre, at the same time delivering truly wondrous and stimulating stories.

Buy Here


The Ant King and Other Stories by Benjamin Rosenbaum

This was a pretty fun and very post-modern short story collection. Rosenbaum's fiction is weird but delightful and the author definitely has a unique voice.

Buy Here

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