Top Ten Books I'm Excited To Read in 2012

There are lots of books that have already been published that I'm looking forward to this year but I've had a little look round forthcoming titles and picked 10 that I will be doing my best to get my paws on. Publishers, please get in touch if you'd like to send me a copy of your 2012 catalogue (paper or PDF). Please note that the descriprions below are taken from publicity material and are not my own opinions.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

The Long Earth
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
(Doubleday)
21/06/12


2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Junior cop Sally Jansson is called out to the house of Willis Lynsey, a reclusive scientist, for an animal-cruelty complaint: the man was seen forcing a horse in through the door of his home. Inside there is no horse. But Sally finds a kind of home-made utility belt. She straps this on - and ‘steps’ sideways into an America covered with virgin forest. Willis came here with equipment and animals, meaning to explore and colonise. And when Sally gets back, she finds Willis has put the secret of the belt on the internet. The great migration has begun...

Apocalypse Cow
Michael Logan
(Doubleday)
10/05/12



Forget the cud. They want blood...an outrageously original and anarchically funny take on the ‘zombie apocalypse’ - and joint winner of the first Terry Pratchett ‘Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now’ prize...

The Snow Child
Eowyn Ivey
(Headline Review)
16/02/12



A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska. Jack and Mabel hope that a fresh start in 'Alaska, our newest homeland' will enable them to put the strain of their childless marriage behind them. But the northern wilderness proves as unforgiving as it is beautiful: Jack fears that he will collapse under the strain of creating a farm, and the lonely winter eats its way into Mabel's soul. When the first snow falls, the couple find themselves building a small figure - a snow girl. The next morning, their creation has gone, and they see a child running through the spruce trees. Gradually this child - an elusive, untameable little girl who hunts with a fox and is more at ease in the savage landscape than in the homestead - comes into their lives. But as their love for the snow child and for the land she opens up to them grows, so too does their awareness that it, and she, may break their hearts.

To Be a Cat
Matt Haig
(Bodley Head)
02/02/12



Barney just wants to escape. To find another life... Being a cat, for example. A quiet, lazy cat. Things would be so much easier - right? Barney's about to discover just how wrong he is. Because he's about to wake up as a cat - and not just any cat. Gavin Needle's cat... A fast, exciting story from the winner of the Gold Smarties Award, with illustrations from the brilliantly dark and mischievous Pete Williamson.

The Calling
Kelley Armstrong
(Atom)
05/04/12



Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the sign of what she truly is - a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly anyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents including local bad boy Rafe, with whom she shares a dangerous, powerful secret. Now, Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. After a terrifying helicopter crash, they find themselves stranded in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home. But can Maya really trust her friends? And can she learn how to control the frightening new gift she has discovered before it controls her?

666 Charing Cross Road
Paul Magrs
(Headline Review)
15/03/12


Shelley didn't expect her posh new boyfriend Daniel to be enthralled by the quintessence of evil. She's preoccupied with the surprise success of Bessie, the oddly lifelike centrepiece of her Manhattan museum show. Her great-aunt Liza is busy ordering spooky old books from the dusty vaults below Charing Cross Road, while her friend Jack prefers brand-new books and his brand-new lover. When a little leather book arrives, Liza finds it repellent, but doesn't realise it's stained with vampire blood - until too late. Its arcane magic brings Bessie to life, and gives Daniel unimaginable power.

The Age of Miracles
Karen Thompson Walker
(Simon & Schuster)
21/06/12
What if our 24-hour day grew longer, first in minutes, then in hours, until day becomes night and night becomes day? What effect would this slowing have on the world? On the birds in the sky, the whales in the sea, the astronauts in space, and on an eleven-year-old girl, grappling with emotional changes in her own life?

Fury's Kiss
Karen Chance
(Signet)
02/10/12
I really don't have any info on this one except it's the next Dory instalment!

Thirteen
Kelley Armstrong
(Dutton)
24/07/12
I always look forward to the next Women of the Otherworld instalment (I don't know what I'll do when it finishes, waaaah). I'm not sure if the publisher is correct for the UK as they are usually Orbit here. Actually I think this might be the last one! I hope Kelley turns her hand to another series, be it fantasy or crime, I'm sure it will be excellent.

And finally an as yet unnamed young adult novel by Terry Pratchett due out on 06/09/12. Tiffany Aching grew up in the last of her novels so I wonder if it will be a new Discworld character or a standlone book. Oh the excitement!