I still have to reach Amy's finished zombie book, which I know is guaranteed awesome.

Fingers crossed.

Zombies still seem fresh to me, mostly because over the last few years I've kept up with adult books/romance, where zombies haven't really made a mark. And I haven't read any of the Pride and Prejudice-type mashups, either.

Ooo, I read Fantomas last year (I think?) and it was bananas and fantastic. Someone call Chris Nolan and tell him to get on that.

Funny, I thought I was over vampires like three or four years ago, and that the market was saturated then. Little did I know!

I'm guessing were-everything is the next big thing, because you can have sex with them, and people know what they are.

Or angels/demons, vis. that new movie coming out.

I just finished The Zombie Survival Guide, which was good, but I just started World War Z, and it's already ten times better in the first ten pages.

Dude, did you read Breathers yet? It is SO fucked up. I liked it a LOT.

One of the best books I read last year was a zombie book: The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

I read that last year, and I liked it quite a bit (except for it reminding me a lot of that M. Night Shamalayan movie whose title I can't remember). However -- and I get that this is authorial preference -- there were some aspects that I would have preferred to see fleshed out versus hitting the romance angle so hard.

I have a feeling steampunk is going to go mainstream in a big way this decade.

Leviathan is pretty kick-ass. However, when I started it, I didn't realize it was the first of 3, and the second won't be out until October 2010, and I CAN'T WAIT DAMN IT.

Seriously, though, it would be worth reading just for the illustrations alone, but the story is pretty excellent, too.

Tep, do you mean this? Because it sounds AWESOME.

However, when I started it, I didn't realize it was the first of 3, and the second won't be out until October 2010, and I CAN'T WAIT DAMN IT.

...but maybe I'll wait until the whole trilogy is done. George RR Martin has frightened me away from starting series while they're still in progress.

Also, looking at the various editions pricing kind of makes me want a Kindle. Because then I could afford to read new releases.

Tep, do you mean this? Because it sounds AWESOME.

That's the one! Given my execrable knowledge of history, the AU plot of WWI probably isn't thrilling me the way it's intended to, but the rest of it is SO COOL. There's a whole scene involving bats (not baseball; the animal) used as weapons that is the funniest, most clever thing I've read in a LONG time.

...but maybe I'll wait until the whole trilogy is done.

Westerfeld has a pretty strong track record of finishing shit quickly. He's really prolific. I think I've read almost all his YA books. He's got a crazy twisty brain that I'd just like to run around in for a while.

Anyway, I'm incapable of delaying gratification, so I had to read it right away, and so come September, I'm going to have to re-read it to prepare for Book 2.

However -- and I get that this is authorial preference -- there were some aspects that I would have preferred to see fleshed out versus hitting the romance angle so hard.

I did think that was a weakness, particularly since it sometimes made the main character seem pretty shallow. I definitely wanted to know a lot more about the sisterhood, but I also liked the way the author released little bits of information about them that made me stop and say "whoa!" I was mainly impressed by her ability to keep the tension on through the whole book, in the best tradition of the horror movie.

Book two is scheduled for March.

Steampunk is certainly the big thing in the cosplay world, at least the large sample of it that I see at DragonCon.

I definitely wanted to know a lot more about the sisterhood

This! And their role in creating the super-zombies.