Hollow World Makes Another Best of 2014 List

@baneofkings posted the books he thought were best for 2014 on his site The Fictional Hangout. I'm honored to make his list of 25 books that he enjoyed the most.  We certainly have similar tastes since much of the books he selected, I've enjoyed as well. Here's the list:

Here's the list in text form for people who prefer to see them that way.

• 25.  Koko Takes a Holiday by Kieran Shea (Ebk 1)
• 24.  Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan
• 23.  Defenders by Will Mcintosh
• 22.  The Abyss Beyond Dreams: Chronicle of the Fallers by Peter F. Hamilton
• 21.  Sworn in Steel by Douglas Hulick (Tales Of The Kin 2)
• 20.  The Crimson Campaign by Brian Mcclellan (The Powder Mage 2)
• 19.  The Widow’s House by Daniel Abraham (The Dagger & the Coin 3)
• 18.  The Forever Watch by David Ramirez
• 17.  Shadowplay by Laura Lam (Micah Grey 2)
• 16.  The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell (Shadow Police 2)
• 15.  Glaze by Kim Curran
• 14.  The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher (The Oversight Trilogy 1)
• 13.  Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (Shattered Sea 1)
• 12.  Breach Zone by Myke Cole (Shadow Ops 3)
• 11.  Prince Of Fools by Mark Lawrence (The Red Queen’s War 1)
• 10.  The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare by Mg Buehrlen (Alex Wayfare 1)
•  9.  Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien De Castell (Greatcoats 1)
• 8.  Cibola Burn by James Sa Corey (Expanse 4)
• 7.  Our Lady of The Streets by Tom Pollock (The Skyscraper Throne 3)
• 6.  Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch 2)
• 5.  The Martian by Andy Weir
• 4.  Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• 3.  The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
• 2.  City Of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
• 1.  The Girl with All the Gifts by MR Carey

Guest Author at I Read Encyclopedias for Fun!

During the month of December, Jay Dee Archer featured me on his blog as the Guest Author of the Month.  Thanks, Jay Dee, I was honored.  As part of this series Jay asked a number of questions to both me and other authors.  Here is what we discussed:

• Which mistake or bad habit in writing is the most difficult for you to stop doing?
• Christmas is coming! In your opinion, what would be the perfect gift for a writer?
• The New Year is coming soon. What are your plans for 2015 in terms of writing?

In addition to myself a number of other authors weighed in.

H. Anthe Davis                        S. R. Carrillo Linda G. Hill Jay Dee Archer Elizabeth Rhodes Caren Rich

Jean Davis D. T. Nova Amy Morris-Jones Tracey Lynn Tobin Paul B. Spence

There were some interesting answers...most notably what most of the authors wanted was "more time." Of course, writing full-time is the best way to get such a thing. I really feel for those authors (the vast majority) who have to balance a "day job" and work.  I'm eternally grateful for all my readers who have given me this gift. I couldn't ask for anything better.

Merry Xmas - 16 Daily Deals from Orbit for the Kindle

Daily deals are the best!  Exclusive low-cost kindle books for 24-hours. On this Christmas, Orbit and Amazon teamed up to offer 16 ebooks each priced at just $2.99

(generally a savings of 70%!) I'm so pleased that Orbit included the first book in my Riyria Revelations series, Theft of Swords in today's daily deal.  Here are all the titles on sale.

Here's a list of all the titles as well:

• Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) by Ann Leckie
• Promise of Blood (Powder Mage Trilogy Book 1) by Brian McClellan
• The Remaining by D.J. Molles (Jan 7, 2014)
• Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations box set Book 1) by Michael J. Sullivan
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Parasite (Parasitology Book 1) by Mira Grant
• Charming (Pax Arcana Book 1) by Elliott James
• A Dance of Cloaks (Shadowdance Book 1) by David Dalglish
• Dirty Magic (Prospero's War Book 1) by Jaye Wells
• Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Thief's Magic (Millennium's Rule Book 1) by Trudi Canavan
• Defenders by Will McIntosh
• The Falcon Throne (The Tarnished Crown Series Book 1) by Karen Miller
• The Shambling Guide to New York City (The Shambling Guides) by Mur Lafferty
• Ice Forged (The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga) by Gail Z. Martin
• Eloise by Judy Finnigan

So if Santa brought you a kindle, or you have one and want to get some great titles, inexpensively.  Check it out...but hurry - the sale ends in about 14 hours.

Audiofile Magazine's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction for 2014

Considering how few spots there are in the various "best of" lists, I'm always amazed and honored to find my books on them. Audiofile Magazine is "the source" for keeping up on books in audio and I'm thrilled that The Rose and the Thorn made their best of 2014 list.

Here's the full rundown:

• The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (Multiple Narrators)
• The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (Narrated by Jennifer Ikeda)
• Dark Eden by Chris Beckett (Multiple Narrators)
• The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey (Narration by Finty Williams)
• Influx by Daneil Suarez (Narration by Jeff Gurner)
• Iron Man: Extremis by Marie Javins (Full Cast Recording)
• Loot of the Shanung by L. Ron Hubbard (Full Cast Recording)
• Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett (Narration by Stephen Briggs)
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds)
• The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan (Narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds)
• Salome by Oscar Wilde (Multiple Narrators)
• Skin Game by Jim Butcher (Narration by James Marsters)
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Narration by Kristine Potter)
• A Sudden Light by Garth Stein (Narration by Seth Numrick)
• The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (Narration by Neil Gaiman)
• Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Narration by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading)

I'm thrilled that the narrator for Riyria, Tim Gerard Reynolds got not one but two nods on this list. The only narrator to do so.  I'm also pleased to announce that Tim Gerard Reynolds will be on board for two new projects of mine coming up soon.  The first is The multiple book series The First Empire, and the other is Riyria Chronicles #3.  No release dates on these works yet, but I'll be sure to let people know.

Audible's Five-star favorites

One of the cool things audible does each year, is provide a list of the books that received the most 5-star reviews broken down by a number of categories. In addition they provide their "Best of Everything" indicating the books with the highest 5-star ratings regardless of category. I'm pleased to say I've made the "Best of Everything" twice.

• 2012: Theft of Swords
• 2013: The Crown Tower

While I didn't have any books hit this year, there are a lot of great ones that did, and I wanted to share them in the hopes of you finding a great new book to try.  Here's the selections for "The Best of Everything"

•  The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
• Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
• The One by Kiera Cass
• Yes Please by Amy Poehler
• Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
• Influx by Daniel Suarez
• Shattered by Kevin Hearne
• Capital by Thomas Piketty
• The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

Seeing as how I write Science Fiction and Fantasy, this list is also one I care a great deal about.  So here are this years top-rated audio books for those genres:

• The Dragons of Dorcastle by Jack Campbell
• Influx by Daniel Suarez
• Skin Game by Jim Butcher
• Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia
• Shattered by Kevin Hearne
• 299 Days: The Preparation by Glen Tate
• Tech World by B.V. Larson
• Prince Lestat by Anne Rice
• Lock In by John Scalzi
• Ex-Purgatory by Peter Clines
• The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
• The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
• Earth Awakens by Orson Scott ard and Aaron Johnson
• Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
• Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
• Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos
• The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
• Off to be the Wizard by Scott Meyer

Happy Holidays and I hope you find something great to listen to!

The Best Book That I Listened to This Year

The fine people over at audible asked me and a 23 other authors to weigh in our favorite listens and here is the answer I gave:

Here is a link to the full list.

For those that are lazy, but still curious, here is what each person picked.

• Anthony Doerr - We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
• Lisa Genova - You are a Badass by Jen Sincero
• Lev Grossman - Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming
• Michael J. Sullivan - The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
• Jennifer Probst - Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• Kevin Hearne - Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells
• B. V. Larson - Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
• Debbie Macomber - Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• Chris Bohjalian - One More Thing by B.J. Novak
• John Connolly - Light of the World - by Lee Burke
• K. A. Tucker - YOU by Caroline Kepnes
• Dan Bucatinsky - Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi
• Jasinda Wilder - Sand by Hugh Howey
• Willy Vlautin - Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
• Suzanne Young - The Dream Thieves 0 by Maggie Stiefvater
• Caroline Kepnes - Big Little Lies by Caroline Lee
• Ilsa J. Bick - Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar
• Becca Fitzpatrick - Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
• Christina Lauren - Dark Skye by Kresley Cole
• A.American - The Martian by Andy Weir
• Lisa Renee Jones - The Rookie by Scott Sigler
• Katy Evans - Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Andrew Peterson - My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni
• Kathleen Brooks - The Wrong Todd by Donna McDonald

What's your favorite listen of the year?

Audible's 2014 Best Books in Fantasy

Yep it's time for yet another "best of" list. This one brought to us by the amazing people at Audible.com. So here are their picks for the Best Fantasy of 2014.

The full list includes:

• Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson narrated by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading
• The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories by R. A. Salvatore with multiple narrators
• Prince Lestat: The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice narrated by Simon Vance
• The Book of Life: All Souls, Book 3 by Deborah Harkness narrated by Jennifer Ikeda
• The Magician's Land: The Magicians, Book 3 by by Lev Grossman narrated by Mark Bramhall

Some fantasy showed up on some of the other lists as well, including:

Listener Favorites:

• Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
• Written in My Own Heart's Blood: Outlander, Book 8 by Diana Gabaldon
• Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files, Book 15 by Jim Butcher
• Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Editor's Picks:

• The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey
• Dark Eden by Chris Becket
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Series Conclusions:

• The Book of Life: All Souls, Book 3 by Deborah Harkness narrated by Jennifer Ikeda
• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
• The Magician's Land: The Magicians, Book 3 by by Lev Grossman narrated by Mark Bramhall

So go grab some earbuds and give a listen, there's these and plenty more good listens over at audible.com.