Going through 51 weeks’ worth of reviews, one thought struck me above all others: “Geez, we covered a ton of books this year.” You’d think that’d make it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, but no. These books below stuck out for a reason – click any of the links to read our original reviews.

Best in Fiction
For those of you among the BOOKGASM faithful, this should come as no surprise: Paul Malmont’s THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL made our summer, and nothing else came close before or since. Paying tribute to pulp fiction in a literary style, Malmont excites while eliciting emotion – no easy task – and emerges with the year’s best made-up read, ironically about real-life writers most would think unworthy of such a showcase. Their loss, your gain. We simply cannot wait for Malmont’s next.

Runners-up: James Morrow’s criminally ignored bizarro fantasy THE LAST WITCHFINDER, Hard Case Crime’s one-two punch of Seymour Shubin’s WITNESS TO MYSELF and Max Allan Collins’ THE LAST QUARRY, David L. Robbins’ inexplicably overlooked thriller THE ASSASSINS GALLERY, Joseph Wambaugh’s welcome return with HOLLYWOOD STATION, Christopher Fowler’s addictive whodunit TEN SECOND STAIRCASE and Scott Smith’s horrific (in a bloody good way) THE RUINS.

Best in Non-Fiction
Quite simply, MANHUNT: THE 12-DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN’S KILLER by James L. Swanson redefines the non-fiction historical work in his ever-thorough, ever-thrilling account of the before, during and after of President Abraham Lincoln’s death at the hands of the delusional John Wilkes Booth. Can something this action-packed and suspenseful (not to mention non-boring) really be true? Damn straight. It’ll make you want to take a semester-long course in the subject, although such a thing would be needless, as Swanson tells you everything you need to know – and, no, you haven’t heard it all before.

Runners-up: David Shenk’s THE IMMORTAL GAME looked at the history of chess, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler’s THE MONSTERS revealed the true story behind the creation of Frankenstein and Erik Larson’s THUNDERSTRUCK threaded together the seemingly unrelated tales of the inventor of the radio and a doctor turned wife-murderer.

Worst in Fiction
Even without all the extended description of solos in prog-rock songs that basically gives you a snapshot of the author’s entire music collection, WOLF’S TRAP by W.D. Gagliani would still get a failing grade for taking a sure-fire concept – werewolves – and letting it go limp. I hate to pick on such a nice guy, but it’s such a bad novel.

Runners-up:
Joseph Finder’s KILLER INSTINCT and Brad Meltzer’s THE BOOK OF FATE were two thrillers that just plain annoyed (but Finder sent me a Christmas card anyway), Jeffrey Anderson tried to get all Michael Crichton in SECOND GENESIS and editors John Gregory Betancourt and Sean Wallace’s HORROR: THE BEST OF THE YEAR 2006 EDITION left us thinking, “If that was the best, this genre is fucked.”

Best Anthology
We knew James Patterson can’t write. We didn’t know, however, that he could assemble an excellent anthology in THRILLER: STORIES TO KEEP YOU UP ALL NIGHT. Billed (wrongly, I say) as the first all-thriller short-story collection, it boasts contributions from such heavy hitters as Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Lee Child, David Morrell, Ted Bell, Steve Berry, Brad Thor, James Siegel and F. Paul Wilson, which leads us to…

Best Short Story
Was there any short story more downright enjoyable than F. Paul Wilson’s “Interlude at Duane’s,” Repairman Jack’s drugstore siege from the aforementioned THRILLER? Maybe the über-clever “Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong,” also by Wilson, from Subterranean Press’ RETRO PULP TALES, edited by Joe R. Lansdale.

Best Guilty Pleasure
WWE Books seems like an oxymoron, but judging from Rudy Joseph’s wrasslers-as-spies adventure BIG APPLE TAKEDOWN and Dan Madigan’s hardcore horror tale SEE NO EVIL, it’s spinning genre gold.

Best Indie Endeavor
The boys and girls of Omnibucket proved the small press can play as well as – and, in this case, better than – the big boys with the zombie art ‘n’ fiction anthology BRAINCHILD. And now this impressive work is all sold out, so you should’ve listened to us back when we first told you about it.

Nicest Surprise
As Tim Downs’ PLAGUEMAKER and Frank Perretti and Ted Dekker’s HOUSE proved, Christian fiction doesn’t have to place its emphasis on the “Christian.” Telling a story instead of proselytizing, both give the genre a good name.

Meanest Surprise
What’s with the disturbing trend to start a series, but end the first book with absolutely no resolution? And make us wait more than a year for the follow-up, by which time we’ll have forgotten all the details? Yes, I’m looking your way, Christopher Golden’s otherwise agreeable THE MYTH HUNTERS.

Best Thing to Happen to Comics
DC’s SHOWCASE PRESENTS editions put Marvel’s equivalent ESSENTIAL line to shame. Though still black-and-white reprints of old comics, SHOWCASE goes the distance with better print quality, better paper and – let’s be honest – better books to feature. The more obscure, the better – witness HOUSE OF MYSTERY.

Worst Thing to Happen to Comics
The magazine known as CRYPTIC. Its contents are only partially comics, but oh, geez, does it stink. I’d suggest getting a professional editor, proofreader and graphic designer, but an injection of sodium thiopental would be better.

Books That Didn’t Make 2005’s Best List, but I Kept Thinking About in 2006
Why? Because they were just fun, dammit. If you find yourself in need of a good Vegas caper, a superhero revisionist tale or a dose of pure escapist adventure in 2007, read John Goodger’s THE DRUPERMAN TAPES, Tom De Haven’s IT’S SUPERMAN! or Matthew Reilly’s 7 DEADLY WONDERS, respectively. –Rod Lott

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