The Best of My 2016 Reading List

Happy 2017! I hope you enjoyed the holiday season and I wish you all the very best for the new year.

My 2016 Goodreads Summary reports that in 2016, I read 40 books, not including 5 drafts of my own novel, Warlock & Wyrm.  I didn't quite finish Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings before the end of 2016, though I'm over 900 pages deep. It will be my first finished read of 2017. If you're curious as to what my reading tastes are, here is a summary of the best of what I read last year.

My personal top five (in no particular order) 5-Star-rated speculative fiction:

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, published 1992 - Science Fiction (Dystopia/Cyberpunk)
• The Martian by Andy Weir, published 2011 - Science Fiction
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King, published 2011 - Science Fiction (Time Travel/Alternate History)
• Fool's Quest (The Fitz and The Fool Trilogy #2) by Robin Hobb, published 2015 - Epic Fantasy
• Half a War (Shattered Sea #3) by Joe Abercrombie, published 2015 - Epic Fantasy

My personal independent speculative fiction favorites (again--no particular order):

• Girl on the Moon by Jack McDonald Burnett, published 2016 - Science Fiction
• Book of Fire & Shade: A Trilogy of Fated Love and Magic by Snow, published 2015 - Fantasy Romance
• A Facet for the Gem (The Tale of Eaglefriend #1) by C.L. Murray, published 2016 - Fantasy

And a few awesome non-fiction indie works:

• Indies Unlimited: Tutorials and Tools for Prospering in a Digital World by K.S. Brooks, published 2012 - Writing
• Punk Rocker presented by Brenda Perlin, published 2016 - Short Story Collection

Author Update: After a bit of a holiday break, I'm continuing to work with my editor on Warlock & Wyrm. I'm projecting to have my editor finish her review and comments in February, and then I'll incorporate my revisions and do another scrub before sending the story to my beta readers. I'm targeting a mid-2017 release.