I’m the sort of person who makes a TBR but plays with it fast and loose. This year I’ll be taking inspiration from Vintage SF Month and playing more with themes. With that in mind, there are a couple of projects I’ll be beavering away at in 2025. Here they are:

Part 1: Playing Catch-Up

Life as a reader means playing a constant game of catch-up with a dozen or more authors. There are many writers I’ll eagerly pick up a new release from, but here I’m looking more closely at books that have been out for a while, but that I haven’t yet read for one reason or another. As I continue to buy books second-hand to save money, there’s never been a better chance to finally wrap up some of these older works.

Series to Finish

Xeelee, by Stephen Baxter – Having loved the first five Xeelee books, it’s only natural that I look at getting the final three. Happily, Christmas gifts took care of the hunt, so now all I need is a chance to sit down and read Endurance, Vengeance, and Redemption. Once I’m up to date on that, the obvious next step is the linked Destiny’s Children quartet.

Series to Continue

The Grand Tour, by Ben Bova – This is the longest single-author universe I have on the books right now, and its variety of sub-series and standalones make it great for nibbling away at. They’re hard to find in the UK, but Bova’s saga is yet to let me down.

The Palladium Wars, by Marko Kloos – I’ve really enjoyed all of Kloos’ work, but stalled on Palladium Wars. I think Descent might be the last chance saloon for Kloos. If I don’t get some forward momentum in this one, I might have to set the series aside until it’s all out.

Alex Benedict, by Jack McDevitt – After two books, this series has secured itself as a favourite. Again, hard to come by in the UK, but my recent transatlantic trip turned up a few more. This is probably my most anticipated series to continue reading this year.

StarDoc, by S. L. Viehl – I’m always on the lookout for some lighter fare to break up my Hard SF reading, and StarDoc is perfect popcorn material. It’s nice to have some lower stakes space opera in between other reading.

Ongoing Concerns

Award Winners – As part of my larger project to explore the history of science fiction, I’m keeping an eye out for any book that has won one (or more) of SF’s most prestigious awards. That’s the Hugo, the Nebula, the Locus, and a few others. They’re not always winners for me, but they’re usually at least interesting in the snapshot of genre history they provide.

Black Library – Black Library marks where my physical reading and audio listening are about evenly split these days. I’ve fallen a little behind and have some catching up to do, but there are also some very interesting releases scheduled for this year. Keep an eye out for WarhamMarch 2025.

Star Trek – As ever, I’m plugging away at the Litverse. My next step will likely be a trip to Kirk’s era, but my overall priorities remain the TNG and DS9 relaunches. I actually feel like I’m making some progress on this front, which is good because I’m also running low on shelf space.

Venture SF – Finding this collection of space opera, military SF, and time travel in the wild is an unreliable prospect at best, but my eyes will always be open. One day, perhaps, I’ll have the full set. It just won’t be any day soon.

Part 2: Second Chances

They say everyone has a novel in them. I say that every writer has a bad one. Sometimes, it’s the first one a reader encounters, and that can sour a relationship very quickly. Here are three authors I’ve had a muted response to so far, but plan to give further consideration in the coming months.

Neal Asher – I have a very mixed experience with Asher to date, with a some great ideas and epic stories balanced out by a pervading sense of nihilism that turns me right off. I’m going to give his work another chance to see if I can focus more on what I like than what I don’t.

Iain M. Banks – Everybody told me that Player of Games was the best way to start the Culture series. I tried it, and was ambivalent. Banks’ reputation is so towering, however, that I owe it to myself to try another of his books. Probably a part of the culture, but beyond that I don’t know.

Greg Bear – I enjoyed his tie-in works, and his short stories were great, but Eon left me cold. I’m going to read more Bear, and am currently weighing up his standalones Blood Music and Darwin’s Radio.

Part 3: Something New

The Banks Legacy – Last April I celebrated the Best of British, and this year I want to revisit the theme. In particular, I want to look at the space opera writers influenced by and working alongside Iain M. Banks. That means Gary Gibson, Ken MacLeod, and Charles Stross are all firmly in my line of sight.

New English Library SF Collection – I’m a sucker for a collection with notes by the editors. This early masterworks range is full of books I’ve never heard of, so should be the perfect opportunity to broaden my horizons.

Short Fiction – This one isn’t as specific as some other reading goals, but I want to read more short fiction this year, both anthologies and collections. Short fiction is where the SF genre was born, after all, and I’d like to get a better idea of what’s been going on over the years.

Over to You

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on any and all of these books. There’s bound to be something I’ve forgotten or overlooked. If you’ve got suggestions or recommendations, just give me a shout in the comments.