The Incomparable Mothership

600: The Machine Was a Vampire


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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?

2010s book draft

Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Dan Moren, Glenn Fleishman, Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign and David J. Loehr

Show Notes & Links

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
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                          The Incomparable MothershipBy Jason Snell

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