So amidst all the lists at the end of the year, we wanted to focus on some of the books we’ve read that we really think need a bit more love and attention. I asked each of our contributors to highlight a few of their favorite reads of the year that they feel fell under the radar. Some of these rated high enough to make our Best of 2015 list, and some of them were nominated/ranked in the list we used for the Best Of list, but just didn’t quite make the final cut. Books that only one of us read were at a bit of a disadvantage. So this is a great chance for each of us to highlight books we felt were wonderful reads and deserve another mention as the year draws to a close.   BOB’S PICKS         LISA’S PICKS           LYNN’S PICKS             STEPHENIE’S PICKS           TAMMY’S PICKS   .  

  One of the perks I’ve found with working with several bloggers is that we can cover more books than we have time to read on our own. So, when it came time to make our Best of 2015 list, I decided to ask each of the contributors to submit a ranked list of their favorite books (yep, I’m mean like that. Choosing favorites can be hard, ranking is even harder). I then used a scaled points system to calculate an over all list. So, the end result features a variety of books that either several of us agreed belong in the top 10, or books that perhaps just one reviewer read, but placed in their high on their ranked choices of the year. With so many great choices we had to expand our collaborative list past just 10 books to 25. Since our blog started late in the year, many of these books do not currently have reviews here. But we do plan on adding them, so keep your eye out. So here it is, Speculative Herald’s list of our absolute favorite books from 2015! And because I like to get straight to the good stuff, I am listing them in order starting with…

  With temperatures falling and leaves dropping, it’s time to brace our selves for winter. And honestly? What better way to beat the cold than with a good book? So, we have selected a set of books that make us think of winter, letting us experience the bitter cold while we are safely curled up under a blanket with a warm drink.                                                                                                

Welcome to The Speculative Herald’s inaugural post! As a very quick introduction, The Speculative Herald is a new collaborative blog made of up established bloggers. You can see who we are over on the About Us page. We have come together to create a common site to really highlight the newest and upcoming books in speculative fiction. This will be a great week with reviews for the latest/upcoming releases from Jim Butcher, Margaret Atwood, Brandon Sanderson, Kameron Hurley and more. And we figured what better way to introduce ourselves than to let you know what books we are really looking forward to for the rest of the year. So here it is, each of our picks for upcoming 2015 releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on! What books are you excited for? What did we miss? (as much as we wanted to, we couldn’t list everything!) BOB’S PICKS                   This Gulf of Time and Stars by Julie E. Czerneda As much as I’m looking forward to a 3rd title in her Night’s Edge fantasy series, it’s nice to see Julie returning to the world that made her a household name. The King’s…