Authors and Agents Choose their Best of 2022

Ex-Lit Chick Ed Crocker asked four traditionally published authors, three self-published authors and three literary agents for their favourite reads of the year. Here are the results….

S D Sykes

S D Sykes is one of the world’s most acclaimed historical writers and the author of the critically revered Oswald De Lacy series, mysteries set in the tumultuous decades of the plague-infested fourteenth century

My favourite book of this year was Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t the sort of novel I would normally pick up to read - (as I tend to head for crime fiction, historical or psychological thrillers) but a good friend had recommended it to me. It's a wonderful, involving read about a woman coping with her mental illness and the break down of her marriage. But don’t let that put you off! It’s honest and funny - and so very beautifully written. I’ve spent a long time thinking about the characters since I finished the novel, which is always the sign of great writing. They just stay with you - particularly the relationship between the main character and her sister and mother. It’s so well observed - both painful and comic at the same time. I laughed out loud many times. Meg takes on a difficult and dark subject, and gives us a novel that is ultimately hopeful. I loved it.

Daniel T. Jackson

Choice: 11.22.63 by Stephen King

Daniel T. Jackson is a fantasy novelist whose acclaimed self-published debut, Illborn, is many critics’ pick for best fantasy of the year. You can order it and pre-order the sequel, Aiudel’s Sin, here


My favourite book of the year (by a country mile) was 11.22.63 by Stephen King. I absolutely loved its blend of time-travelling historical fiction, thriller, and love story. King's writing creates 50s and 60s USA in a way that makes the reader feel like you are living in the era. Absolutely wonderful book.

Harry Illingworth

Book Choice: Bad Actors by Mick Herron

Harry is a literary agent and director at DHH Literary, specialising in crime, thriller, and SFF.

Not many are playing the game as well as Mick Herron, indeed not many are even reading the same rulebook. The Slough House series continues to go from strength to strength and Bad Actors is every bit as sharp and wonderful as we’ve come to expect from a writer in full control of his craft.

Tom Hindle

Choice: Alias Emma by Ava Glass

Crime writer Tom Hindle’s successful debut novel A Fatal Crossing came out this year and his Agatha Christie-style follow up, The Murder Game, is released this February. You can order A Fatal Crossing here and pre-order The Murder Game here

 One of my absolute favourite new reads of 2022 has to be ALIAS EMMA, by Ava Glass. Britain’s answer to Jason Bourne, fresh-faced agent Emma Makepeace is tasked with escorting a reluctant high-value target across London. Moving on foot and with a team of ruthless Russian assassins in tow, if she can’t deliver him safely to MI6 before the sun comes up, they’re both dead. Hard-hitting and relentlessly paced, this modern spy thriller packs a serious punch. Emma’s next mission can’t come soon enough.

Stacey Thomas

Choice: The Facemaker by Lindsay Fitzharris

Stacey is a debut novelist whose highly anticipated first book The Revels, a witchy historical novel set in the English Civil War, will be published this summer by HQ. You can pre-order it here

 

My favourite book of the year would have to be Lindsey Fitzharris’ The Facemaker. I mainly read non-fiction for research purposes but picked up The Facemaker on a whim. I was completely taken in by Fitzharris’ account of Harold Gillies, a plastic surgeon who worked to rebuild the faces of wounded soldiers during WWI. The Facemaker reads as vividly as a novel, and even now, I can remember how exciting it felt to read and how much I wanted to capture some of Fitzharris’s energy into my own work. Highly recommend reading this important book.

Laura Bennett

Choice: Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August

Laura Bennett is an SFF agent at the Liverpool Literary Agency.

I read a lot of amazing books this year so it was hard to choose but I'm going with the Last Gifts of the Universe by Rory August. Definitely a strong contender for proof of self-publishing being a viable alternative and a great way to find authors. Thoughtful, emotional and with wonderful relationships, and stayed with me for a long time after reading it. And a space cat!

Tom Mock

Choice: HMS Surprise by Patrick O’Brian

Tom is a novelist whose acclaimed self-published debut The Long Nights, an urban fantasy and psychological horror, reached the semi-finals of the eighth SPFBO, the premier literary contest for self-published fantasy. You can order it here

My truly favourite read from this year was H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O’Brian, the 3rd book in his Aubrey/Maturin series. A daring, thrilling, humorous, tragic, and intensely human book from one of the 20th centuries greatest writers. I was transported yet again to another world and time.

 I haven’t read as many indies as I intended to this year, but of those I finished, A Troll Walks Into A Bar by Douglas Lumsden was far and away my favorite. A fun and surprisingly inventive noir fantasy, I found myself routing for the down on his luck, private eye protagonist as he fended off troll sized problems on his latest case.

Adam Simcox

Choice: The Last King of California by Jordan Harper

Adam Simcox is a successful filmmaker and critically acclaimed novelist whose novels, The Dying Squad and The Generation Killer, are parts one and two in a ground-breaking supernatural crime series with the final one, The Ungrateful Dead, coming this July. You can pre-order it here

The Last King of California by Jordan Harper is hard-boiled California crime fiction with dialogue so sharp it could cut glass. I absolutely destroyed it in two sessions and used as inspiration for the latest book I'm working on. I'd read 10 pages before sitting down to write, as it had exactly the feel and tone I was going for.

Helen Lane

Choice: The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport

Helen Lane is a writer of fantasy and horror and a Literary Agent at the Booker Albert Literary Agency.

 

The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport was powerful and exciting and just hit all the right notes for me. Close seconds would be: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout and Hide by Kierstin White (Editor’s note: Typical book obsessive, has to have a second and third and fourth choice…)

John Palladino

Choice: Legacy of the Brightwash by Krystle Matar

John is a fantasy novelist whose self-published debut The Trials of Ashmount, part one of the Tragedy of Cedain tetralogy, came out this year to critical acclaim – you can order it here

 

Legacy of the Brightwash is a pretty dark novel that isn't afraid to hide from some very grim events (and for me, the grimmer the better) and characters who are all very interesting and unique.

Over to you readers - head to our socials and let us know your choices!

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Julia’s Top Reads of 2022