by Jay Wilburn
I recommend a lot of books. Each month, I compile a list of the ten books I recommended most that month. This is very unscientific. I scan my Twitter, email, articles I’ve written, and other corners of the Internet to sort my book recommendations into a countdown. People love lists and countdowns.
These authors are talented and these books were recommended based on the people asking as I tried to match a potential reader with a book I thought they’d like. Authors on this list have other great books too and you might find books you like even more than these from them in their past, present, and future catalogs of work. I usually do. This is the compilation of a year’s worth of recommendations regardless of genre, so I’m certain there is something here you’ll like no matter how small your grinchy heart still is.
I’m publishing this list at the beginning of December 2020 so that you still have time to shop. If you are looking for books on writing and creativity specifically, I wrote an article on LitReactor about those. Check that article out for the writers on your Christmas list.
So, here are my top twenty books/authors I recommended the most this year. This is not to say all these books were written this year. It just means I recommended them a lot this year. If your book or name is not listed this time, I’m sure you were number twenty-one and I’ll include many of you in a monthly list next time.
20
Catcoin by Frank J. Edler
This book is a little different. That should go without saying when Edler is the author. In a weird and wonderful way, he retells the history of cryptocurrency in a world where cats become money. We follow one of these cats through this trend in a story too strange and funny to be fiction.
19
White Picket Prison by Kelli Owen
Kelli Owen is one of a number of authors who is under recognized for her talent. This book could have easily become a copy of a number of stories that orbit this premise, but Owen very quickly establishes that she is no one’s imitator. It has a great crime fiction feel and a marvelous horror sensibility. I was glad to be reading this story the whole time I was in it.
18
John the Revelator by John Urbancik
Urbancik is my favorite short story author, but here I am recommending his poetry book. I’ve also recommended his recent nonfiction book a lot. This is a testament to how talented he is across multiple genre. People have been asking for poetry books a lot. He’s a master of the written word and serves the reader’s imagination any time he employs that power. This book delivers for fans of poetry. As I mentioned above, I’ve also been recommending his nonfiction book Ink Stained about creativity and finding inspiration in anything you pursue. Unique perspectives in that work.
17
Resisting Madness by Wesley Southard
This is a high point for Southard at this moment in his writing career. A great novella and excellent short stories from end to end. This digs into your mind, your fears, and your sense of balance. If you need to be sold on Southard as an author, I think this is the gateway into becoming a lifelong fan.
16
Allison by Jeff Strand
Is it possible to find a bad Jeff Strand book? I’ve tried my best, but have not yet succeeded in finding one I didn’t like. He has been a publishing powerhouse this year with a number of great books. This is an author work looking up on Amazon and seeing what else he has written that you might like. In this story gives his own take on this horror trope of a broken woman with great power. As usual, Strand elevates the concept and delivers a book I feel confident in recommending to horror readers.
15
The Living Dead by George A Romero and Daniel Kraus
I have read a ton of zombie stories. I’ve written more than a few myself. This novel is in its own league. Kraus completed the novel from the fragments and notes left by the late Romero, the godfather of the zombie trope. When I heard a reading from it, I could tell it was something special. When I read it, I realized that it is a must read for any zombie fan or fan of apocalyptic fiction in general. I need to write better now that I know this story exists.
14
Slaves to Gravity by Wesley Southard and Somer Canon
If this had come out earlier in the year, I’m sure it would be higher on the list because I have recommended it a lot since September. It is the kind of story a wide range of readers can connect with. I have recommended work from both of these authors separately. I wondered what they would be like as a combination. Amazing. A transcendent story that takes you to big highs emotionally with the characters and the action, but pulls no punches with the peril. I interviewed both Southard and Canon about this book and their other work.
13
The Night Silver River Run Red by Christine Morgan
I have nothing but praise for the splatter western run of books by Death’s Head Press and this addition is a masterpiece. The cover gives a better preview than I could trying to explain all the cool moments in this story. Morgan is a Splatterpunk Award winning author. I have especially liked her short fiction. I felt like up until now there hasn’t been a book that showed all her potential and talent even though everything she writes is great. This book shows the full greatness she is capable of in a huge way.
12
Prey Drive by Wrath James White
You first need to read Succulent Prey by Wrath James White. It’s a great book and Makes Prey Drive a great and immediate follow-up you need to read. This book is excellent and extreme and from an excellent and extreme author who knows how to tell the best stories. It has great character work, the internal conflict is well written, and the storytelling takes you through a dangerous world occupied by a dangerous person in conflict. Both books are masterworks in what horror out on the very limits can achieve. You need to read both of them.
11
The Triangle of Belief by Brian Keene
This book includes material that did not quite fit comfortably in The End of the Road by the same author. It explores ideas of religion, science fiction, the supernatural, our perceptions of reality, and the nature of belief in the religious, the secular, and in other contexts. No matter what you believe or doubt, the ideas and notions discussed in this book won’t contradict your system. It shows the development of our personal beliefs, doubts, and reevaluations over the course of a lifetime. I interviewed Brian Keene about this book in detail and his life, his work, and his career on my podcast here.
10
Devolution by Max Brooks
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre is a great work. If you enjoyed the World War Z novel by the same author, this should be perfect for you. It utilizes that same “investigation in the aftermath” style that slowly reveals the landscape of the horror. I’ve seen some readers who didn’t care for it, but I was hooked in until the end and recommended it a lot since discovering it.
9
Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
I knew this book was great since I read an advanced copy. This novel has received universally high praise since its release. Stephen King has mentioned the book on two occasions. It is gritty, raw, and action-packed. Every path is a surprise. The traps and choices are real. The flaws of the characters drive them forward and draw you in as a reader. This author is quickly making his mark on crime fiction and beyond. I also recommend you pick up My Darkest Prayer by this same author and every book he writes in the future. Here is a more detailed review I wrote about the book back when it was still up for preorder. I also interviewed him for my podcast here.
8
The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen
This is sort of a deconstruction of the superhero/ metahuman concept. That element of the story serves the characters’ journeys which are incredibly introspective and powerful for a young adult book. It does things with the ideas of friendship, love, and finding strength in one another that is simply amazing. There is a sequel out now.
7
Girl Like a Bomb by Autumn Christian
It’s difficult to describe how special this novel is. It involves special powers, sex, identity as a woman, and deeper levels of story around the ideas of transformation, growth, sacrifice, self-worth and more. It is an explosive story that achieves something more than any other novel I’ve read recently, something unique. I’ve recommended it to readers looking for something to break them out of a rut in their reading and their mood.
6
The Magpie Coffin by Wile E Young
This is a great novel from an author demonstrating his skills as a storyteller early in his publishing career. It is a splattery Western that leans into the genre of Wild West shoot-‘em-ups and the unflinching but bombastic dance of really well-written extreme horror and splatterpunk. It is a great Western, a great supernatural novel, and great horror. Wile E Young creates characters that have dimensions in a world with grit that can’t be real though all our senses tell us it must be. No moment in this story is wasted and no potential found along the trail is left unfulfilled. Here is my interview with Wile E Young.
5
Lovely War by Julie Berry
This recent release is something special. I love books that blend genres. There are a narrow few that do so well. There are even fewer that accomplish something amazing outside the boundaries of multiple genres. This story set during the World Wars includes elements of a period piece, a war story, romance, and Greek gods. It’s seamless. Every element is used to full effect without getting in the way of the story.
4
The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz
This is a great concept executed well. I recommend Janz as an author to a lot of people. He is his own person with a distinctive voice and at the same time, I find readers who like Stephen King, but don’t know where to expand out, have really enjoyed his work a great deal. I think it is because he is a great author who creates great stories readers find accessible. This is a good book to start on, but it would be a crime to only read one Janz book.
3
The Perfectly Fine House by Stephen Kozeniewski and Wile E Young
This book completely reverses the haunted house trope. In their world, ghosts are commonplace and it is the house without ghosts that represents the greatest terror. There is masterful world-building in this book so that you are immersed in this world and culture. The characters, both living and dead, are real, tangible, and existed before this story begins. The story is near perfect in what it shows you and when it shows you while still surprising the reader each step through the journey. Oh, the way they guide the reader through to a powerful ending. This book reinvents the ghost and haunted house story. I’ve also recommended the vampire novel Hunter of the Dead by Stephen Kozeniewski and The Magpie Coffin, a rough and tumble splattery western earlier on this list, by Wile E Young. Here is my more detailed review of this novel.
2
Good Boy by Thomas R Clark
I’ve been recommending this book all year. Dogs surviving a zombie apocalypse. It reminds me of the tone of Watership Down. Really well-written animal protagonists. Great action. It’s a quick and wonderful read. I look forward to seeing more from this author.
1
Until the Sun by Chandler Morrison
This may be the deepest vampire story I’ve ever read. We follow a character trying to find himself and escape everything into the depths of a horror world populated by vampires. The topics covered in this book are the big questions in life done in a way that does not compromise the action or the story, but adds so much to the character’s journey. I recommended this book the most this past year without reservation.
If you read all this books and you still want more, book 2 in the Vampire Christ series was just released and book 3 is on the way in 2021.
Jay's Patreon Page | Purchase Signed Books