Read and Appreciated in 2004
A Year’s Best List
1 2
Nonfiction
The Phantom World (a.k.a. Dissertations sur les apparitions des anges, des démons et des espirits, et sur les revenans et vampires de Hongrie, de Bohême, de Moravie et de Silésie), Augustin Calmet
If you like to read the struggles of a skeptical clergyman to try and reconcile his rationality, his religion and various reports of vampires, ghosts and monsters written in the 16th century, I can recommend no finer book.
Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, Jeremy Black and Anthony Green
A good, concise and informative resource about the mythologies that thrived between the two rivers.
Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires, Michael E. Bell
The story begins with Bell being told about Mercy Brown, a young girl in 1892 who was believed to have become a vampire, and it expands like kudzu from there. Highly recommended.
The Other God, Yuri Stoyanov
If there’s a single better resource for the traditions and trends of religious dualism, mythology and occultism of the double god phenomenon, or the way each has influenced mainstream religions, then I can’t think of it. Readable and lucid while still packed with information, this is a great introduction into topics such as Seth worship, Zoroastrianism, the Bogomils or Orphism.
The Field Guide to Lake Monsters and Sea Serpents, Loren Coleman and Patrick Huygens
Do I even need to explain why I recommend this book? It’s got a 30 foot long otter in it.
The Beast Within, Adam Douglas
This one can be hard to find (I found it buried in a used book store) but it’s as good a source on werewolves in popular culture and folklore as I’ve ever found.
Geek Confidential, Rick Klaw
I get more out of Rick’s essays every time I read them. His interview style is first rate, his essays consistently entertaining and at times profound, and he likes apes.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas S. Kuhn
A simply wonderful explanation of, as an example, two different scientists can run the exact same experiment, get the exact same findings, and only one of them will realize that the whole world has changed. From the death of the phlogiston to the birth of quantum theories of light, this one’s great to explain why what we often deride today as superstition was, for the time, actually good science.
Fiction
The Troika, Stepan Chapman (excerpt)
Okay, I need to reread this book before I even try and sum it up for you, but trust me, it’s good.
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Robert E. Howard
I’m a sucker for Howard, and outside of Kull, Kane is my favorite of his creations, a badass Puritan with a vengeful streak a mile wide.
The Best of C. L. Moore, edited by Lester Del Rey
Some really good stuff in here, which I’m embarrased to admit I had not read.
Lost Pages, Paul Di Filippo
I reread this one all the time for inspiration purposes.
Declare, Tim Powers
It’s got British spies, Biblical-themed weirdness, and it’s actually really good.
Cronopios and Famas, Julio Cortázar
Worth it for “The Instruction Manual.”
Mother London, Michael Moorcock
One of my favorite books ever, finding this in my local used bookstore was an omen.
