The Machine Was a Vampire
Host Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Dan Moren, Glenn Fleishman, Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, and David J. Loehr
In this six-hundredth episode of The Incomparable, recorded across two separate sessions, we talk about a whole bunch of novels—namely, our picks for the best SF/F novels of the first decade of The Incomparable, the 2010s! For our purposes, we’re designating the “decade” as 2010-2019. Along the way, we may ponder the most important question a reader should ask: Are there Zeppelins?
Listen to this episode (1 hour, 55 minutes)
Show Notes
Round One:
- Scott - The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
- Dan - The Rook - Daniel O’Malley
- Glenn - This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
- Jason - Among Others - Jo Walton
- Aleen - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
- Erika - A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers
- David - The Human Division - John Scalzi
Round Two:
- Scott - My Real Children - Jo Walton
- Dan - Caliban’s War - James S.A. Corey
- Glenn - The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstein
- Jason - 11/22/63 - Stephen King
- Aleen - The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal
- Erika - The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
- David - The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - P. Djeli Clark
Round Three:
- Scott - Luna: New Moon - Ian McDonald
- Dan - Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
- Glenn - The Magician’s Land - Lev Grossman
- Jason - A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
- Aleen - The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
- Erika - Borderline - Mishell Baker
- David - The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi
Round Four:
- Scott - Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City - KJ Parker
- Dan - Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance - Lois McMaster Bujold
- Glenn - The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
- Jason - Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
- Aleen - Strange Practice - Vivian Shaw
- Erika - Libriomancer - Jim C. Hines
- David - Day of the Doctor - Steven Moffat
Round Five:
- Scott - New York 2140 - Kim Stanley Robinson
- Dan - City of Miracles - Robert Jackson Bennett
- Glenn - The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - N.K. Jemisin
- Jason - Gnomon - Nick Harkaway
- Aleen - Hollow Kingdom - Kyra Jane Buxton
- Erika - Delia’s Shadow - Jamie Lee Moyer
- David - Noir - Christopher Moore
Also Mentioned/Not Picked (Compiled by Listener AJ):
Glenn:
- Uprooted - Naomi Novik (also Jason, Erika)
- Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
- How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Charles Yu
- Exhalation: Stories (including The Lifecycle of Software Objects) - Ted Chiang
Scott:
- Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee
- Barsk - Lawrence M. Schoen (also Jason)
- Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
- Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone
Dan:
- Gideon the Ninth (but not so much Harrow the Ninth) - Tamsyn Muir
- The Martian - Andy Weir
- The “Penric and Desdemona” series of novellas, starting with Penric’s Demon - Lois McMaster Bujold
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman (also Aleen)
- The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
- Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett
Jason:
- The Galaxy and the Ground Within - Becky Chambers (also Dan)
- The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter - Theodora Goss
- Tiamat’s Wrath - James S A Corey
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers (2020s)
Aleen:
- The Ghost Bride - Yangsze Choo (also the Netflix series)
- The Caledonian Gambit - Dan Moren
Erika:
- The Midnight Bargain - C. L. Polk (bonus 2020s pick!)
- Summer in Orcus - T Kingfisher
- Terminal Alliance - Jim C. Hines
- School for Sidekicks - Kelly McCullough
David:
- Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang (also kind of Glenn, on his blog)
- The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu
- Blackout (but maybe not All Clear, which is the second half of the same book?) - Connie Willis
- Six Wakes - Mur Lafferty
- Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse
- Alif the Unseen - G Willow Wilson
- The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
- The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley
