Pace Jonathan Strahan, here’s me linking four new books published in 2008 which I think everyone should get or give at Christmas. I suppose this counts as a meme.

An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham (a/k/a ). This is the third volume in his Long Price quartet, and it’s one of the most stunning books I’ve ever read. You really need to read A Shadow In Summer and A Betrayal In Winter to get the full effect, but trust me, you’ll never look at fantasy the same way again. Intelligent, agonizingly emotional, and a hell of a lot of fun.

The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt. Deep time steampunk, basically, using the tropes of English history in some pretty amazing ways. This book is great, good fun.

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. Strange, entertaining post-apocalyptic fiction that owes a lot more to Bill Gibson and Phil Dick than it does to Walter Miller or Pat Frank. I love the sheer, raw style of this book as well.

Nation by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett doing what he does so very well, with a youthful protagonist and a somewhat alternate version of our world. As so often with him, the storytelling is delightfully lateral. Sort of a postcard from a brighter version of post-colonialism, while also being intensely personal.