The Journal of Rockett Science

Answer: A crapload more Star Wars novels than I thought.

My addiction to the Legacy of the Force series led me to read other Star Wars novels while I waited for the next book to come out. But it also prompted me to read more adventurously in science fiction and fantasy than I had in a while, leading to some real gems.

This was also the year I joined the Gravity’s Rainbow Death Pact, in which a group of friends and fellow travelers across the Internet all started reading the massive and often bewildering Pynchon classic at the same time. And I emerged victorious.

January

The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey Into The Disturbing World Of James Bond by Simon Winder (I rarely read nonfiction. This was some wonderful nonfiction right here.)

Podcasting For Dummies by Tee Morris and Evo Terra

The Big Book Of The 70s by Jonathan Vankin

February

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston (And so it begins. I picked this one up because I’ve always relied on Aaron Allston to deliver fun SF page-turners. The problem is that he is one of three authors on this series. So to get to the next Allston book, I have to read the previous two non-Allston books in the series, and repeat each cycle until it’s done.)

Overclocked by Cory Doctorow

Time’s Black Lagoon by Paul Di Filippo

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss

The Word For World Is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin (I’d been meaning to read this for decades. No exaggeration.)

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Tempest by Troy Denning

March

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Exile by Aaron Allston

Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston

Star Wars: X-Wing: Iron Fist by Aaron Allston

April

Three Days To Never by Tim Powers (He just gets better and better.)

The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine

Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader by James Luceno (The author won me over with a description of what it’s like for Darth Vader to be in this big, bulky suit. At every moment he is excruciatingly uncomfortable. No wonder he chokes people a lot.)

May

A Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart (What the hell? I have no memory of reading this book.)

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path Of Destruction by Drew Kapyshyn

Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command by Aaron Allston

June

Buddy Does Seattle by Peter Bagge

Welcome To Sunday by Christopher Webber

Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby (I love Nick Hornby. The only reason that I haven’t yet read everything he’s written is that I don’t want to come to the point where there’s nothing left for me to read.)

July (Gravity’s Rainbow Death Pact begins)

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

August

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (Excellent military SF. He’s got a great blog, too.)
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

September

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss

Ex Machina: March To War by Brian K. Vaughan

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman (Heard his interview on The Sound of Young America.)

October

The Braindead Megaphone: Essays by George Saunders (Also heard his interview on The Sound of Young America. Here’s my favorite piece from the book.)

Beluthahatchie And Other Stories by Andy Duncan (Crazy Waldropian stories. Must find more by him.)

Star Wars: Legacy Of The Force: Inferno by Troy Denning

November

The Professor’s Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert (A graphic novel about mummies in love in Victorian England.)

Echo Burning by Lee Child

December

In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (FINISHED!)

The Lies Of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Oh, this was a good find. Pushed on me by my wife, it’s fantasy in the vein of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories – something that’s almost never done well. This was fantastic.)