2024: Year of Literature In Review

Rather than getting into the weeds of things like “Best Of” or “Top 10,” I prefer just to share the media I loved over the course of the year straight from the heart. In that spirit, here are 5 Short Stories and 5 Books I Loved in 2024, listed in alphabetical order.

Visit my Instagram @JMWwrites for the full posts, including Honorable Mentions.

5 Short Stories I Loved in 2024

alphabetical order, any publication year, one per author

“The Difference Between Love and Time,” by Catherynne M. Valente
from Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance

1 of 2 repeat writers from last year. If you loved Everything Everywhere All at Once, you will enjoy the writing of Catherynne M. Valente. Chaos theory and pop culture collide in an all-encompassing, big-and-tender-hearted skip across time that defies logic and linearity while remaining firmly and believably anchored in love that lends this story a deep humanity and reality. A logic all its own.

“Rabbit Test,” by Samantha Mills
from Uncanny Magazine

If there’s a theme to this year’s reading, it’s “catching up.” I’ve heard the title “Rabbit Test” so many times over the past two years it’s as if the words are breeding like, well…. This story deserves all the praise it has earned. If there’s any lesson to be learned from it, it’s that the fight for reproductive rights will always be relevant. It is 2024, “and it is never over.” Pick this up wherever you can find it. 

“Six Deaths of the Saint,” by Alix E. Harrow
from Amazon Original Stories: Into Shadow

Another story for which I am woefully behind the times. Harrow gives such incredible dimension and dynamics to the “sword and sorcery” genre that it makes me want to tell every fantasy publication that bans it to strip the warning from their submissions page. Sword and sorcery is just fine…but it can’t just be sword and sorcery to survive. The stories and the heroes gotta live and breathe and take on life of their own. Like this.

“There’s Nothing in the Attic,” by Faith Merino
from Asimov’s Science Fiction

I was left completely floored by this story from Asimov’s. For better or worse, one of the metrics for my year-end Best Of roundup is “what media am I still thinking about after all these months.” “There’s Nothing in the Attic” accomplishes so much in its succinct runtime that I haven’t forgotten it since. Open Spotify, search for the Asimov’s podcast, and give it a listen. You won’t regret it.

“Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole,” by Isabel J. Kim
from Clarkesworld Magazine

The other repeat writer from last year. Few writers have made the waves in speculative short fiction that Isabel J. Kim has. It’s not just the magical quality of her stories, but the sheer volume that has impressed readers so much. If anyone is qualified to comment on Ursula K. Le Guin’s original Omelas story, it’s Kim. Keep your eyes peeled. Her debut novel is coming from Tor soon, and the adaptation rights have already been scooped up.

5 Books I Loved in 2024

alphabetical order, any publication year, one per author

Dune, by Frank Herbert

This is a book I never thought I would start, let alone finish. The films got me more excited about the lore of Dune than I anticipated, so I figured there was no better time to pick it up and give it a shot. I took notes along the way about the differences between the book and the films on Goodreads, and the process gave me more respect for both the source material and for what a feat of adaptation the Villeneuve films have been.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Incredibly grateful to my friend’s speculative fiction book club for connecting me with some of the most beautiful literature I’ve read in the past two years. Never Let Me Go is next level even by those standards. Some of the most beautiful literature I’ve read in my life. When I was finished, I felt completely spent. If that’s the kind of experience you’re looking for in your literature, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The New One, by Mike Birbiglia

I’ve heard 80% of the material in this book before. Reading it still managed to make me emotional. The book has the added beauty of the poetry J. Hope Stein wrote while experiencing the same events from her own perspective. They make a powerful parental pair, and their vulnerability is an absolute gift. While I worried that the page would lack Birbiglia’s wit and rhythm, his cathartic comedic voice was clear with every paragraph.

The Southern Reach Series, by Jeff VanderMeer

I’ve loved the film dearly since its premiere. Only last year did I pick up the first book. I fell just as hard. This year, I picked up the second book, burned through it, burned through the third, then re-read the first book (I haven’t re-read a book in ages), all in time for the surprise fourth book’s launch in October for the original trilogy’s tenth anniversary. Nobody does weird sci-fi espionage horror like VanderMeer. Thank you, Jeff.

Tress of the Emerald Sea, by Brandon Sanderson

Yet another experience that was long overdue: reading my first Sanderson novel. I get it now. Now I get it. So many of Sanderson’s storytelling lessons are on full display here. Most delicious is how you begin with the end in mind, then design your plot with all its arcs and pitfalls to set up the journey toward the ending to be as fulfilling as possible. Well done, Mr. Sanderson. Modern day Princess Bride is right.