Flying in Place by Susan Palwick (Tor) has my vote for the best first novel of the year—as well as for one of the very best novels of the year, period. It is a beautiful, brutal, but ultimately redemptive tale that no fantasy reader should miss.
The runner-up for best first novel is Photographing Fairies by Steve Szilagyi (Ballantine); a fantasy/mystery novel involving Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous fairy photographs.
Other interesting first-novel debuts in 1992: Unicorn Highway, by David Lee Jones (AvoNova); a gentle midwestern fantasy set in 1947; and Demon Drums, by Carol Severance (Del Rey), fantasy set in the South Seas by an author who has distinguished herself previously with a handful of memorable short stories.
The “Best Peculiar Book” distinction goes to The D. Case or the Truth About the Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens, Carlo Fruttero, and Franco Lucentini (HBJ), a strange and wonderful novel about a conference of literary detectives— Holmes, Nero Wolfe, et al.—who compete to solve Dickens’ unfinished mystery. The runner-up is Augustus Rex, by Clive Sinclair (Andre Deutsch, U.K.); an intelligent, peculiar, but surprisingly successful work in which Swedish playwright August Strindberg rises from the dead after making a deal with Beelzebub and becomes, of all things, a hero uniting Scandinavia.
Other titles published in 1992 that are particularly recommended:
Imaginary-World Fantasy:
Zimiamvia: A Trilogy by E. R. Eddison (Dell). An omnibus volume by this master of the language includes his classic works Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and The Mezentian Gate, with a new introduction and notes by Paul Edmund Thomas and a foreword by Douglas E. Winter. This edition contains never-before-published text from the unfinished third novel. If you haven’t yet read Eddison . . . well, shame on you.
Chronicles of the King's Tramp #3: The Last Human by Tom de Haven (Bantam). This ends, more or less, a fantasy trilogy that is witty and surprising, a distinct cut above the rest.
Beldens Fire by Midori Snyder (Tor). As with the de Haven book above, this is the third and final volume of a distinctive and superior trilogy, rich with subtlety and fascinating characterization.
Songs of Earth and Power by Greg Bear (Legend, U.K.). An omnibus volume of Bear’s two excellent contemporary magical fantasy novels The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage, with some new text.
Domes of Fire by David Eddings (Del Rey) and The Magicians of the Night by Barbara Hambly (Del Rey). These two authors are among the best writing series fantasy, and are a good argument against quick dismissal of the series form.
The Avengers by Louise Cooper (Bantam). This adventure fantasy, the last of Cooper’s “Chaos Gate” trilogy, has a very nice Moorcockian touch.
The Last of the Renshai by Mickey Zucker Reichert (DAW). A coming-of-age fantasy with a Norse flavor and memorable characters; and Lightning’s Daughter by Mary Herbert (TSR), standard adventure fantasy set among nomadic clans, but told with a fresh voice. Neither of these authors sets out to write High Literature, they set out to tell entertaining tales—and have succeeded.
Urban Fantasy:
Spiritwalk by Charles de Lint (Tor). Canadian writer de Lint returns to the magical-house setting of Moonheart in the Urban Fantasy novel Ghostwood, published in this fat volume with three connected shorter pieces.
Elsewhere by Will Shetterly (Tor). A novel from the Borderlands “punk fantasy” series; Shetterly has used the magic-and-rock-and-roll setting to tell a poignant story about a young man’s search for his brother, and himself.
Historical Fantasy and Alternate History:
The Sheriff of Nottingham by Richard Kluger (Viking). A recasting of the Robin Hood legend with a sympathetic sheriff based on a real historical figure: complex, detailed, and fascinating.
The Angel of Pain by Brian Stableford (Simon & Schuster, U.K.). Excellent dark fantasy set in nineteenth-century London.
My Sister the Moon by Sue Harrison (Doubleday). Set in Alaska in the eighth century B.C.
The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen). Bujold draws upon Renaissance Italy and the biography of Cellini to create an entertaining tale of political intrigue.
Lion of Macedon and Morningstar by David Gemmel (Legend). Good historical adventure fantasy set in ancient Greece.
The Empress of the Seven Oceans by Fiona Cooper (Black Swan). A literary fantasy set in the seventeenth century.
Resurrections from the Dustbin of History by Simon Louvish (Bloomsbury, U.K.). A political “alternate history” fantasy set in 1968.
The Lost Prince by Bridget Wood (Headline, U.K.). Dark fantasy mixing Celtic myth with a grim future Ireland.
Byrons Child by Carola Dunn (Walker). A peculiar confection in which a modern historian goes back to Regency London and becomes involved with Lord Byron’s daughter.
Fantasy from Other Traditions:
The Painted Alphabet by Diana Darling (Houghton Mifflin). A beautifully produced little book based on a Balinese epic fantasy poem.
The Gates of Noon by Michael Scott Rohan (Gollancz, U.K.). A mix of contemporary fantasy, Indonesian myth, and adventure on the high seas.
Last Refuge by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Bantam). Darkly humorous Asian fantasy.
Oriental Tales by Robert L. Mack (Oxford University Press, U.K.). Two fantasy novels published in one fat volume along with two shorter works.
The Chalchiuhite Dragon by Kenneth Morris (Tor). A lost fantasy classic, loosely based on the Quetzalcoatl legend, brought into print more than fifty years after the author’s death.
Blades from the Willows by Huanzhuloushu, translated from the Chinese by Robert Card (Wellsweep, U.K.). The first volume in this Chinese fantasy/martial arts series from the forties.
Arthurian Fantasy:
The Grail of Hearts by Susan Shwartz (Tor). Shwartz mixes the Grail legend and the Fisher King with history of the Crusades and Jewish lore.
Herself by Fay Sampson (Headline, U.K.). A historical fantasy about Morgan Le Fay; Book V of “Daughters of Tintagel.”
The Camelot Chronicles edited by Mike Ashley (Carroll & Graf). A fine collection of eighteen Arthurian stories including seven original to the volume.
Grails: Quests, Visitations and Other Occurrences, edited by Richard Gilliam, Martin H. Greenberg, and Edward E. Kramer (Unnameable Press). A collection of Arthurian and other stories produced in a lavish edition.
Humorous Fantasy:
A Sudden Wild Magic by Diana Wynne Jones (AvoNova). Witty, silly, magical adult comedy from a terrific author best known for her excellent YA fantasy novels.