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On December 27, 2018, Tor.com published an article by James Nicoll entitled 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year. Via his personal site, James is my primary source for high-quality (and entertaining) SF/F reviews. He's been a professional reviewer for many years, reads very widely, and recommends books outside of the established set of authors. This list is therefore a bit different than the typical lists from major publications and may feature more books one hasn't already heard of. Note that it's limited to one work per author.
The original article includes a short description of each work explaining why James picked it. Those are very much worth reading.
The list preserves the order of the original, which is in alphabetical order by author last name (but with The Interior Life under Dorothy Heydt rather than the original publication author name of Katherine Blake). It omits The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe since it's a musical work rather than a book. "St. Ailbe's Hall" by Naomi Kritzer is short fiction (a novella, I believe).
| Katherine Addison | The Goblin Emperor | 8 out of 10 |
| Joan Aiken | The Stolen Lake | |
| Hiromu Arakawa | Fullmetal Alchemist | |
| Hitoshi Ashinano | Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō | |
| Margaret Atwood | The Handmaid's Tale | |
| Donna Barr | Stinz: Charger: The War Stories | |
| Elizabeth Boyer | The Sword and the Satchel | |
| Rosel George Brown | Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue | |
| Lois McMaster Bujold | The Mountains of Mourning | 6 out of 10 |
| Emma Bull | War for the Oaks | |
| Octavia E. Butler | Wild Seed | |
| Jacqueline Carey | Naamah's Curse | 9 out of 10 |
| Raphael Carter | The Fortunate Fall | 9 out of 10 |
| Becky Chambers | The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet | 9 out of 10 |
| Joy Chant | Red Moon and Black Mountain | |
| Suzy McKee Charnas | The Vampire Tapestry | |
| C.J. Cherryh | Gate of Ivrel | 5 out of 10 |
| Zen Cho | Sorcerer to the Crown | |
| Jo Clayton | Diadem from the Stars | |
| Susan Cooper | The Dark is Rising | 8 out of 10 |
| Kara Dalkey | Genpei | |
| Aliette de Bodard | Servant of the Underworld | |
| Pamela Dean | The Secret Country | 6 out of 10 |
| Samuel R. Delany | Dhalgren | |
| Diane Duane | The Door into Fire | |
| Corinne Duyvis | On the Edge of Gone | |
| Kate Elliott | Spirit Gate | |
| Sylvia Louise Engdahl | Enchantress from the Stars | |
| Mary Gentle | Golden Witchbreed | |
| Molly Gloss | The Dazzle of Day | |
| Lisa Goldstein | A Mask for the General | |
| Nicola Griffith | Slow River | 9 out of 10 |
| Barbara Hambly | Those Who Hunt the Night | |
| Elizabeth Hand | Winterlong | |
| Zenna Henderson | Ingathering | 7 out of 10 |
| Katherine Blake | The Interior Life | |
| P.C. Hodgell | God Stalk | |
| Nalo Hopkinson | Brown Girl in the Ring | |
| S.L. Huang | Zero Sum Game | 7 out of 10 |
| Tanya Huff | Blood Price | |
| Monica Hughes | The Keeper of the Isis Light | |
| Kameron Hurley | God's War | |
| Emmi Itäranta | Memory of Water | |
| N.K. Jemisin | The Fifth Season | 8 out of 10 |
| Diane Wynn Jones | Cart and Cwidder | |
| Heather Rose Jones | Daughter of Mystery | |
| Janet Kagan | Hellspark | |
| Lee Killough | A Voice Out of Ramah | |
| Naomi Kritzer | St. Ailbe's Hall | |
| Katherine Kurtz | Deryni Rising | |
| Ellen Kushner | Swordspoint | 9 out of 10 |
| Madeleine L'Engle | A Wrinkle in Time | 6 out of 10 |
| Justine Larbalestier | Magic or Madness | |
| Ursula K. Le Guin | The Dispossessed | 8 out of 10 |
| Ann Leckie | Ancillary Justice | 10 out of 10 |
| Tanith Lee | Don't Bite the Sun | |
| Yoon Ha Lee | Ninefox Gambit | 7 out of 10 |
| Megan Lindholm | Wizard of the Pigeons | |
| Malinda Lo | Adaptation | |
| Elizabeth A. Lynn | Watchtower | 6 out of 10 |
| R.A. MacAvoy | Tea with the Black Dragon | |
| Julian May | The Many-Colored Land | 7 out of 10 |
| Sandra McDonald | The Outback Stars | |
| Maureen F. McHugh | China Mountain Zhang | 8 out of 10 |
| Vonda N. McIntyre | Dreamsnake | 7 out of 10 |
| Patricia A. McKillip | The Riddle-Master of Hed | 6 out of 10 |
| Hope Mirrlees | Lud-in-the-Mist | 7 out of 10 |
| Judith Moffett | Pennterra | |
| C.L. Moore | Jirel of Joiry | |
| Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Certain Dark Things | |
| Pat Murphy | The City, Not Long After | |
| Linda Nagata | Vast | |
| Andre Norton | Galactic Derelict | |
| Naomi Novik | His Majesty's Dragon | 7 out of 10 |
| Noriko Ogiwara | Dragon Sword and Wind Child | |
| Rebecca Ore | Outlaw School | |
| Nnedi Okorafor | Lagoon | |
| Tamora Pierce | Alanna: The First Adventure | |
| Marge Piercy | Woman on the Edge of Time | 5 out of 10 |
| Rachel Pollack | Godmother Night | |
| Christina Rossetti | Goblin Market | |
| Diana Rowland | My Life as a White Trash Zombie | |
| Joanna Russ | The Female Man | 6 out of 10 |
| Erika L. Satifka | Stay Crazy | |
| Elizabeth Ann Scarborough | The Healer's War | 8 out of 10 |
| Melissa Scott | Five-Twelfths of Heaven | 8 out of 10 |
| Nisi Shawl | Everfair | |
| Mary Shelley | Frankenstein | |
| Joan Slonczewski | A Door into Ocean | |
| Mary Stewart | The Crystal Cave | |
| James Tiptree, Jr. | Up the Walls of the World | |
| Megan Whalen Turner | The Thief | |
| Joan D. Vinge | The Snow Queen | 6 out of 10 |
| Martha Wells | All Systems Red | 8 out of 10 |
| Elizabeth Willey | The Well-Favored Man | |
| Liz Williams | Banner of Souls | |
| G. Willow Wilson | Alif the Unseen | |
| Chelsea Quinn Yarbro | Ariosto | |
| Fumi Yoshinaga | Ōoku: The Inner Chambers |
Some entries in this list are manga. In those cases, I have a single entry for the series as a whole, but may separate that entry into multiple lines if I read the manga and review individual volumes.
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