Ho Ho Ho!!!

Ahead of my end of year favourite reads I don my Santa Costume to suggest to you the wider long list of great reads. It’s been a great year for novellas and these make fantastic presents for you or your loved ones. Yes you do deserve a book!

So lets begin

Broken Paradise by Eugen Bacon — Runalong The Shelves - a deliciously weird and lyrical mix of SF and fantasy with god like beings joining forces and battling one another in surprising ways

Ashes of the Ancestors by Andrew Knighton — Runalong The Shelves - super smart clever mix of SF and monastic life. The clues of why ghosts survive in this place also has a huge amount to day to us about being ruled by the past and nostalgia for it.

The Night Begins by Abigail F Taylor — Runalong The Shelves - a road trip into horror and a family reconciliation that definitely doesn’t go as planned.

Miasma by Jess Hyslop — Runalong The Shelves - a fantastic surprising tale of love, family and taking on the powerful. A writer to watch.

The Lies We Tell Ourselves by LK Kitney — Runalong The Shelves - a maritime set fantasy novel of secrets and revenge and much more to enjoy.

Virgin Land by Chloe Smith — Runalong The Shelves - an inventive SF tale which challenges the ideals of frontiers and colonisation that really impressed me

Pomegranates by Priya Sharma — Runalong The Shelves - the legend of Persephone used to discuss climate chnage in a truly brilliant piece of storytelling.

A Candle for Malka by Louise Carey — Runalong The Shelves - now this is a really impressive mix of themes on siblings, religion, green washing space exploration and cosmic horror to add the cherry on top!

The Last Night At The Star Dome Lounge by M R Carey — Runalong The Shelves - and here alternate realities, magic and a B&B with a slice of horror. This will keep you on your toes!

And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky — Runalong The Shelves - magical world with a wardrobe? Nah not that one a darker and funnier tale of portal fanatsies awaits and a very very enjoyable one too!

The Dust of the Red Rose Knight by James Bennett — Runalong The Shelves - and for a bawdy queer take on Arthurian fantasy this tale is well worth your time.

Linghun by Ai Jiang — Runalong The Shelves - s simply superb tale of the only place where ghosts are real - the human beings though who are alive are more frightening. Jiang is an author you need to get hold of. This is stunning!

The Iron Children by Rebecca Fraimow — Runalong The Shelves - robotic nuns, war, and a traitor in the team. What more does anyone need? A smart intelligent and imaginative tale to grab hold of!

I Am AI by Ai Jiang — Runalong The Shelves - and Jiang has this smart tale that tells us about the dnagers of productivity and burnout. Told you a writer to watch!

Telling The Bees By Emma K Leadley — Runalong The Shelves - a really impressive SF thriller of bees, hidden memories and a well handled poly relationship. I was very impressed

Between The Blood And The Sun by Jennifer R Donohue — Runalong The Shelves - a fantastic atmospheric weird western horror that has a well handled mystery and final scene to enjoy.

Wild Spaces by S L Coney — Runalong The Shelves - a bittersweet tale of a family torn apart when their grandfather arrives. Cosmic horror and growing up collide in this lyrical nightmarish tale.

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das — Runalong The Shelves - a love letter to fantasy that also tells a magical tae of growing up; exploring your family history and a touch of love too. beautiful reading

The Fractal Series - Episodes - Europa by Allen Stroud — Runalong The Shelves - I’m very much a fan of Stroud’s Fractal series and this six part monthly novella series is proving a great way for new authors to join the series too. Start here and gobble the rest up1

The Death I Gave Him By Em X Liu — Runalong The Shelves - Hamlet in an SF style tale of AI , family drama and so much more. beautiful dark and very intelligent. It holds up to the play very well.

The Leaves Forget by Alan Baxter — Runalong The Shelves - a very gripping horror tale half told by letters telling us a story that makes us very worried then a desperate road trip to save a life. Very impressive!

Despatches by Lee Murray — Runalong The Shelves - a WW1 tale that explores the horror of war as - game for the powerful but here with cosmic horrors pulling the strings

They Shut Me Up by Tracy Fahey — Runalong The Shelves - its a supernatural feminist tale that surprised and delighted me. Brilliant storytelling!

The Ghost In The Bone by Mike Carey - A Felix Castor Exorcism — Runalong The Shelves - I have hungered for a new Felix Castor story for years and years and my favourite scouse exorcist finally returns in a very fine locked room mystery with added ghosts.