Read and Appreciated in 2003

An Editorial Year’s Best List

By Jeff VanderMeer

Originals · Listmania! 2003 · January 7, 2004

6. Kalpa Imperial, Angélica Gorodischer, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin

(Small Beer Press, 2003)

An elegant “mosaic novel” from one of Argentina’s finest fantasists. Small Beer deserves high marks for taking the risk of putting out this book.

7. Journeys Beyond Advice, Rhys Hughes

(Sarob Press, 2002)

An insane collection of stories in which Hughes transcends pastiche while obviously riffing off of authors such as Clark Ashton Smith, William Hope Hodgson, and others. The long novella “The World Beyond the Stairwell” is particularly stunning.

8. Gazelle, Rikki Ducornet

(Alfred A. Knopf, 2003)

A sensual portrait of a time and place (Cairo) as Ducornet continues to stretch and refine her talent. Ducornet, as always, displays an amazing control of style and eye for detail.

9. Broken Angels, Richard Morgan

(Gollancz, 2003 and Del Rey, 2004)

Morgan’s second novel was not quite as good as Altered Carbon, although it contained many of the same trade marks. Still, an excellent effort and one that may grow in stature upon a re-read.

10. In Springdale Town, Robert Freeman Wexler

(PS Publishing, 2003)

This sly, slim book works its effect gradually and through a wry subtlety, the core of the book an event that cannot fully be explained. The first book from an accomplished and original stylist.

Nonfiction Top 10

Note: Unlike my fiction selections, most of my nonfiction reading was of books not published in 2003.

  1. Winter in Majorca, by George Sands
  2. Surrealist Subversions: The Surrealist Movement in the United States, edited by Ron Sakolsky
  3. Things That Never Were, by Matthew Rossi
  4. The Spanish Civil War, by Antony Beevor
  5. The Paradise of Cities, by John Julius Norwich
  6. Platypus, by Ann Moyal
  7. The Best of Myles, by Flann O’Brien
  8. The River’s Tale: A Year on the Mekong, by Edward A. Gargar
  9. The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet, by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius
  10. The Case of the Persevering Maltese: Collected Essays, by Harry Matthews

Graphic Novel Top 10

Unlike my fiction selections, most of my graphic novel reading was of books not published in 2003. My favorite graphic novels publisher of 2003 was Humanoids Publishing. They continue to push the envelope.

  1. The Frank Book, by Jim Woodring
  2. The Nikopol Trilogy, by Enki Bilal
  3. The Incal, by Jodorowsky and Moebius
  4. V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore
  5. Box Office Poison, by Alex Robinson
  6. Stray Toasters, by Bill Sienkiewicz
  7. Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror, by Junji Ito
  8. Orbiter, by Warren Ellis with Colleen Doran
  9. From Cloud 99, by Yslaire
  10. Top Ten (Books 1 and 2), by Alan Moore