Fresh Starts

I got this idea from the excellent Rap Sheet who in turn picked the meme up somewhere else. Here's what The Rap Sheet has to say -

"For the last couple of years, I’ve taken up a task originally proposed by Brian Lindenmuth, now of Spinetingler Magazine. He suggested that, in December, book bloggers should compile lists of authors whose work they’d read for the first time during the preceding 12 months. This might encourage others to try something new as well."

I like the idea of this meme and although I've not read that many authors that are totally new to me during the past year, here are a few that have stuck in my mind.

The Millenium Trilogy - Steig Larsson - I held out on reading this author for a long time as I didn't think the books could live up to all the hype. However I powered through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am currently on the finishing stretch of The Girl who played with Fire. I'm eager to get stuck into the third book as the first two have been utterly compelling.

Citadel Run - Paul Bishop - this one comes from 1987 and was written by my good friend The Bish. It's an LA set Cop thriller and the author being an LA cop himself produces authentic prose but never forgets that in a novel such as this the suspense is the most important thing. I'll be reviewing this on The Archive sometime in the new year and would recommend it to anyone.

Sherlock Holmes and the war of the worlds - Manly and Wade Wellman - this book that put Holmes amongst H G Wells's alien invasion was great fun. Published by Titan Books it is only one of a series of Holmes adventures written by other hands and placing Holmes in literary worlds created by yet other authors. I've not read any of the others but this one worked really well.

.44 - H. A. DeRosso - this one was first published in 1953 but I found a 1988 Leisure edition in  bargain bin at the local supermarket. It's a western, my favourite genre, and tells the story of Dan Harand who is hired to kill a man but then turns on the mystery man who hired him for the job. The book read really well and carried me along from page to page and I read the entire book in one sitting. I will be looking for more of the author's works.

Well that's my list, not really that long I know, but as I say these are authors that were completely new to me. Most of my reading tends to be from writers I've previously read and I've decided that my New Years Resolution is to next year read one totally new author (to me that is) every month, so next year's list should give me twelve books to shout about.