Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. We usually talk about a bookish topic, in which we all talk about a bookish topic and have fun making lists. This week, we’re looking at authors we read for the first time this year.

I’ve done quite well for exploring new authors this year: I’ve read 23 authors for the first time (some of whom I’ve promptly run out to read more by, because they made such a good impression). Of these, my favourites – in no particular order – are:

 

Yoon Ha Lee twitter | website | Goodreads

I first encountered Lee’s flash fiction, where fox spirits led me astray and whisked me off to other worlds with amazing economy of words. I was instantly hooked by his space opera debut. I can’t wait to see what Yoon Ha Lee writes next.

 

Mark Gelineau & Joe King twitter | website | Goodreads

These gentlemen teamed up to write 8 engrossing fantasy novellas – the Echoes of the Ascended – but are currently on hiatus after listening to all of us who said ‘this is amazing, we want MORE of it’. I hope to hear news of the resultant novel next year.

 

Adam Rakunas twitter | website | Goodreads

His hilarious, hard-boiled spacepunk debut won my heart for having too much fun, but frankly just following Adam Rakunas on Twitter is an entertainment in itself.

 

Ellen Kushner twitter | website | Goodreads

It took me far too long to get around to reading Ellen Kushner’s work, and I’ve made up for it by consuming as much as I could cram in my eyeballs this year (wait. What? Never mind, sticking with it now). She has been incredibly gracious and supportive of the absurd amount of public flailing I have done over her characters.

 

Emma Newman twitter | website | Goodreads

Alt regency feminist urban fantasy. Cutting edge space opera. The most spectacularly fabulous coats. Tea and jeopardy. If you haven’t been paying attention to Emma Newman, now’s a good time to start.

 

Margret Helgadottir twitter | website | Goodreads

Margret has spent much of the past year editing short stories collections, but was kind enough to send me a review copy of her debut novel, which I loved. I shall be quietly watching for whatever she turns her hand to next.

 

Silvia Moreno-Garcia twitter | website | Goodreads

Silvia Moreno-Garcia creates  perfect nuggets of concepts that I can’t resist, and *cough* the cover art is always divine *cough* so I picked up her first two novels this year. I loved her latest; I’m yet to read her first, because I’m saving it.

 

Zen diPietro twitter | website | Goodreads

I picked up Zen diPietro’s Translucid on a whim, and have had a grin on my face ever since. Also, her website is called Women of Badassery – clearly we were always going to get along just fine.

 

Laura Lam twitter | website | Goodreads

I heard Laura Lam read from False Hearts at the Super Relaxed Fantasy Club (you haven’t been? You should, if you’re local). She is a lovely lovely lady with fabulous hair, but crucially, I was entranced by the reading and adored the book. I’m very excited to read more in the same world.

 

Dave Hutchinson twitter | website | Goodreads

It turns out Dave Hutchinson has been writing for years, but 2016 was the year I picked up Europe in Autumn after staring at it in bookshops for 2 years. Don’t be like me. Don’t put it off.

 

I’ve no idea what 2017 will hold, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

Who have you discovered this year?