Okay, some of this falls into the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre and some into Horror and some just into slightly different. I put it all pretty much together on my shelves - I figure if a ghost appears or a starship or something creepy tries to get you, then you are talking surreal. It works for me, and I even have a couple of DVDs to recommend too.

A Soul in a Bottle by Tim Powers. This was an early Christmas gift to me. I have Powers' new book Three Days to Never on my Christmas list, but the combination of a ghost story, a mysterious first edition book of poems and Hollywood Boulevard all made it sound very irresistible. Plus Subterranean Press had JK Potter do the illustrations and the very ethereal photo collages are stunning - if the pictures were on glossy paper the book would have been way spendy (other than a reasonable $22) but boy - I bet they would be amazing. As it is, the story is riveting and makes you wonder - it's not at all creepy but is definitely a ghost story. The ending has a great twist - it's perfect but whoa! It's a great gift, for yourself or someone you care about.

Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton. Okay, you've heard about Anita Blake and Merry Gentry (you've heard me admit to my own guilty pleasure) but this collection of Hamilton's short fiction is really different and not at all the erotica type collection that the cover photo suggests. Fans of her work will enjoy it alot (there are two Anita stories - the first is all zombie, no vampire and no sex at all - the second a tad bit sexy but more about the story than the sex), but fans of any spec fiction will be surprised I think by how broad her interests are. You've got sword and sorcery, magic in the time of knights and kings, a merman and a fabulous tale about a woman with no official magical power who marries into a family of wizards - and proves to be completely what they needed. You will pick favorites here - everyone does in short story collections - but overall I think it is quite even and fun. And the cover is sexy as hell, so if you want to send a message - this might be the way.

Retrieval Artist novels by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I am slowly making my way through this series and it is just one of the best sci fi/mystery series I have ever read. Miles Flint is a P.I. who specializes in finding people who have been "disappeared". It's set far in the future, Miles lives on the Moon and there are all sorts of aliens to think about and meet. But what's great is the mysteries are largely old fashioned - kidnapped children, a death on the moon marathon, etc. Great police procedure, Miles is complex and confused and the Sci Fi portion is fabulous. Most of the books are out in Mass Market pb - and you must start at the beginning with The Disappeared. Wonderful stuff.

How We Got Insipid by Jonathan Lethem. This is a small pricey volume from Subterranean Press - and only from Sub Press. The first story is about a couple of kids in the future dealing with some very creepy virtual reality (very prescient I thought) but the second is what really sold it for me. "The Insipid Profession of Johnathan Hornebom" is about a professor who seems to be haunted or something - he doesn't know for sure - and so he goes looking for a P.I. to keep an eye on him and figure out what is going on. Here's the PI - Harriet M. Welsch. Okay, I'm done now. Everyone who needs to know why this story rocks will know. (There's more here in my initial entry about the book.)

Od Magic by Patricia McKillip. I reviewed this book a couple of months ago for Bookslut and was very impressed by it. It's so lush and gorgeously written, so absolutely beautiful. I don't really know how to describe it. The story seems straightforward enough - magic has become political and is controlled, even in the school of magic. But there is a quarter of the town that is known for being a bit more permissive and it is there that a circus comes to town and all sorts of plotlines converge. It's a traditional story of magic that will certainly strike modern readers as having many sly references to contemporary times. I though it was lovely and shows McKillip at her best. (Which is saying something!)

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. Okay, by now most folks know that Hill is Stephen King's son but I didn't when I reviewed this book and I loved it then, and I'm still blown away by the collection. Hill does a great job of writing scary but not obviously scary. You get the creeps but not the gore, if you know what I mean. He nails the first story dead on - it's about the editor of a horror magazine who maybe lands the submission of a lifetime - or maybe just takes a very very wrong turn. The ending is so great - one of those moments when a reader wants to thank a writer for doing it the hard way and not making it simple and stupid. There are a ton of very good stories here - again you will love some more than others - but the novella at the end, "Voluntary Committal" is Alice in Wonderland torn onto its side. This is about a boy who is not okay that builds a world out of boxes down in the family basement. Over the years his brother begins to suspect there is something more than just idle building going on down there and then a bully gets involved and then....well all sorts of things happen. Just remember - not all those trips through the looking glass are good ones. Hill recently won the World Fantasy Award for best novella for the story and he deserves it. Great collection for horror or fantasy or just lit fans.

Alabaster by Caitlin Kiernan. Another collection I recently reviewed and then wrote about even more indepth here are my site. Kiernan writes great dark short fiction but Alabaster is really outstanding, even for her. It is the story of monster hunter Dancy Flammarion's life and is also a look at what angels are (and what monsters are) and who is truly good and bad among us. There is so much here - so much southern gothic, Florida/Georgia dark and creepy and kudzu covered goodness that it's hard to describe. I loved the story of Dancy's mother and the psychotic murderous society ladies and the roadside zoo and damn - the whole freaking thing. Kiernan writes hard and heavy and struggles a lot to get the words on the page (at least it seems that way from reading her journal) but boy, is she good. Dark - but good. Get this for the goth lovers, they'll eat it up.

Cory Doctorow writes on all things techno-geekish and strange and fun over at boing boing and his books seem to reflect the same sort of fascination with so many things that one wonders how it all gets brought together in the end. But boy - does it ever. I read and reviewed Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town in a haze of "I can't believe this". It's the story of a man whose mother is a washing machine and father is a mountain. Honest to God. It's our world, Alan is normal and engaging and a delight to spend time with and the parallel storyline of bringing free wifi access to the people of Toronto is very interesting reading. Mostly though this is about Alan coming to terms with some very complicated family issues and the girl next door - a girl who needs rescuing in the most dangerous way possible. Cory also wrote the fabulous Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom all about the future of Disney World and for folks who grew up there (like me) it's a pure delight. It's a sci fi thrill ride about the Hall of the Presidents and the Haunted Mansion - really. Oh and Dave McKean did the cover for Someone Comes to Town - GORGEOUS. Okay, enough said - great books, very original author.

Dave McKean is also one of the major creative forces behind the movie Mirrormask, along with Neil Gaiman. This is a fantasy story partly set in our world with Helena, whose family owns a small circus and whose mother has fallen mysteriously ill. It is also in the world of the White Queen however, a place that Helena finds herself one strange night and learns that without her help the balance between light and dark will be broken. There's a mystery, a very bad lady, and a big challenge between good and evil. The film is a combination of live action and CG and it all fits so seamlessly - but that's what you would expect from McKean. If you are familiar with his artwork at all then you will know what to expect here and the story is pure Gaiman. I fell in love with the visual aspects of the movie first - it's so damn pretty (it reminds me of the same sort of vision that McKillip creates with words in Od Magic), I just couldn't resist it. I also found Helena to be very appealing - her artistic side comes out big time in the story and she is so creatively portrayed - I just think this would be a wonderful film for any teen girl to see. For adults who like their fantasy rich and thoughtful, it's a winner. And for artistic types - well this will send them to the moon, I promise.

Finally, I lucked into finding Inside His Dark Materials last year and I feel like I had no clue what was going on in the Philip Pullman series until I watched this. There's so much here about the three books, what Pullman meant to convey with his stories, his own thoughts on the books and looks at stage productions and all sorts of imagery from the stories. It's mostly a geek fest I guess but I found it to be very helpful in really appreciating the books on the deepest level. The Dark Materials trilogy is one of the more significant series I have read - ever - and this DVD really helped me to understand them as completely as I can.

I also recommend anything by Charles de Lint - ANYTHING! He is at the forefront of the whole urban fantasy trend and one of my all time favorite authors. Start with the short story collections and go on from there. Be forwarned though - he is addictive and there are many many books to buy for the new fan.

I'll touch on YA fantasy on another day and tomorrow...maybe natural history? We'll see!