End of the Year Blues 2022 and Protean Depravity Best Books of the Year

 

The year 2023 is almost upon us with who knows what fresh terrors and here we are on its brink... Before making that jump, though, let's go over a short wrap-up of my past reading year and finally announce the winners of 2022.

So first, off to the books I haven't even mentioned here on my blog because they don't really fit in thematically; you will find in this first section some highlights and honorary mentions from genres that are either not speculative fiction and fiction or just not horror enough; my world tour reads, one self help book, memoires and such.

2021 was the year I discovered the Sri Lankan/Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai and in 2022 I expanded the discovery; although The Hungry Ghosts, which was loosely based on his own life story of migrating to Canada was a little triggering for me and not exactly my cup, I loved his Mansions of the Moon, an alternate history focusing on Siddhartha's wife Yasodhara and her own way to enlightenment.  

This was also the year I discovered Haruki Murakami and although I'm by no way a Murakami expert (yet!), I thoroughly enjoyed Novelist As a Vocation and Sputnik Sweetheart. I was so impressed by his honesty and humility in the former book that I already put a library hold on various works of his.

In the Shine & Shadow World Tour Reads I got the chance to read the enchanting Malaysian tale The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo, a cute historical novel of two young people trying to solve a mystery and their ways crossing in mysterious ways; for Australia The Yield by Tara June Winch, which was a slow-burning, heart-wrenching account of the history of an aboriginal family; the gender-role questioning Kürk Mantolu Madonna (Madonna in a Fur Coat) by Sabahattin Ali for Turkey, a discussion I had the honor of moderating; Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai for India, which was a slow, melancholy family story, and finally, part also tragic, part sweet and quirky I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez for Chicano Lit.

I learned to understand trees with Das Geheime Leben der Bäume (The Secret Life of Trees) by Peter Wohlleben and cried with the children in Michelle Good's account of the Canadian Indian residential school system, Five Little Indians. I dived into deep depressions with Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human. I was guest in a Harlem housing complex in Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana and at a Penobscot Indian Reservation with Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty. In Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar I felt with a trans boy in Little Syria, NY who lost his mom and Samra Habib told me about her life as a queer Muslim in We Have Always Been Here. I felt rage reading about Henrietta Lacks, whose cancer cells revolutionized medical research but no one bothered telling her family (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot). In The Sum of Us Heather McGee showed me how much money her government pays to maintain racist structures. With Because Internet, Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch I hope to have expanded my linguistic knowledge and, finally, with The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi I hope to have learned a few skills to make my life easier. I would unconditionally recommend all these titles.

Some of these titles were so good they even made it into the final list below, even though they're not my usual alley of horror/horror adjacent/sf.

I want to make two additional points before going over to the annual selections: First, I want to thank my former employer the Otherland Bookstore Berlin for providing me review copies and letting me write for their awesome newsletter (subscribe!), thus feeding my addiction. So appreciated, thanks guys. I'd also love to thank the authors who reach out and send review copies of their work or give interviews or just appreciate their readers. I love these interactions and collaborations and I love their books!

Second, concerning my annual selection, all runners up could have been and already are champions, they were all that good.

This all being said, let the drumroll begin, here is the Protean Depravity Selection of the Best Books of the Year 2022!

Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Best Novel of the Year 2022

Mary: An Awakening – Nat Cassidy

A History of Wild Places – Shea Ernshaw 

Just Like Mother - Anne Heltzel

How High We Go in the Dark – Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Doloriad – Missouri Williams 

 

The winner is...

 

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu!

 

I tried to keep the definition of horror a little broader this year in the sense that not every book in the top five is a horror book per se but each of them deals with a kind of horror; misogyny, loss of control over one's life and body, forced motherhood, pandemic/post pandemic and cataclysm/post-apocalypse. It was a very tough call and I could easily say for each of these five that they are my favorite book of the year 2022, but in the end, I had to make a choice and that choice is How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu because of the empathy and heart with which it touches upon themes that have affected us, hurt us and occupied our minds the last couple of years.

Congratulations, Sequioa Nagamatsu! 👏👏👏👏👏

 

Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Freakiest Book of the Year 2022

Patricia Wants to Cuddle - Samantha Allen

All's Well – Mona Awad

The Pisces – Melissa Broder

Let No One Sleep - Juan José Millás

Liarmouth – John Waters

 

 The winner is...

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen!

 

Sex with fish? A bird-woman driving around Madrid in her newly purchased taxi? A sassy scammer who makes a living off stolen luggage from the airport? A pain-ridden drama teacher refusing to stage the Scottish Play but ending up making a deal with three Scottish blokes herself? A lesbian cryptid who reacts badly to stress in her life? The freaky is strong with this year 2022 and, this already being a hard category to choose from, that caused many a sleepless night...

It was the cryptid that got me in the end because Samantha Allen's debut about the fictional "Bachelor" show "The Catch" and the contestants on a remote island meeting unexpected life forms was hilarious, touching and very very enthralling.

Congratulations to Samantha Allen for writing 2022's freakiest book! 👏👏👏👏👏

 

Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Best Novella of the Year 2022

Rosebud – Paul Cornell

Sair Back, Sair Banes – Anthony Engelbretson

Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing - Hailey Piper

Flowers for the Sea – Zin E. Rocklyn

One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve – M. Shaw

  

 

The winner is...

 

One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve by M. Shaw!

I admit that some time towards the end of the year I realized that I had read very few novellas and hurriedly stacked on novellas at some point and started novella-reading like a champion (I have to say in my defense that they're not very prominently advertised), but in the end it was the very first novella I have read this year that made the first place. One Hand to Hold was so compactly perfect that I already want to re-read it just talking about it!

Congratulations M.Shaw! 👏👏👏👏👏 

 

Protean Depravity Runners-Up for Best Anthology of the Year 2022

Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories - ed. Andrew Cull and Gabino Iglesias

Best Horror of The Year Volume 13 - ed. Ellen Datlow

Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous - ed. Ellen Datlow

Antifa Splatterpunk - ed. Eric Raglin

Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology - ed. A.R. Ward

 

The winner is... 

 

Antifa Splatterpunk, edited by Eric Raglin.

 

To be honest, this was an even closer call than in the other categories but in the end there were a bigger number of stories that blew me away in Antifa Splatterpunk than in any of the other anthologies. But I am loving the totality of my anthology selection this year! I'm also so happy there are people coming up with various original ideas of anthology themes and can't wait to see what else editors will think of in the future. I favored Antifa Splatterpunk not only because the authors did a great job, but also because of the necessity and timeliness of the main theme and the way different authors interpreted it so eerily.

Hooray for this great anthology! 👏👏👏👏👏

 

Protean Depravity Best Collection by a Single Author of the Year 2022

Parallel Hells – Leon Craig

Tenants from the Downstairs - Sidik Fofana

Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted – RJ Joseph

Night of the Living Rez – Morgan Talty

The Black Maybe - Attila Veres

 

The winner is...

 

 

The Black Maybe by Attila Veres

 

I'm super impressed by how high quality, how focused and well-written all runners up for the single-author-collections this year are. The Black Maybe is just totally up my alley and ticked all my boxes: twist on the Lovecraftian, weird stories, non-American setting, unconventional punch-in-the-gut horror. Congratulations, Attila Veres, The Black Maybe is the Protean Depravity winner of Best Single Author Collection of the year 2022! 👏👏👏👏👏 

On a last note and as usual, here is the space for all the best books I couldn't read this year. Because no matter how many pandemics come and go, no matter what post-apocalyptic lifestyle you prefer to adopt and no matter what gigantic amounts you read, there will always be some books that remain. Here they are... The Didn't Read Books can still compete in the following year if I manage to read them.

Protean Depravity Best Books I Didn't Read in 2022

A Different Darkness - Luigi Musolino

The Bangalore Detectives Club - Harini Nagendra

Black Lake Manor - Guy Morpuss

Reluctant Immortals - Gwendolyn Kiste

The Pain Eater - Kyle Muntz

 

 

Huzzah to all winners and non-winners!

I hope you survive the festive season and wish you a great reading year 2023!