Hit my target of 52 books read for the year. You know what? I love reading. Completely trite to say so, but there it is. Several times throughout 2025, while I was lying on my couch (a battered yet fiendishly comfortable decades-old from my student years) I would rest the book on my chest and think: this is the life.
I treat reading as part of my job as a writer – and financial penury aside – I’m truly fortunate to be a part of this profession.
Over the past few years I’ve worked on the fitness of my reading brain. It’s definitely a thing, and it’s absolutely something you can lose. Doomscrolling social media, with an infinity of content to consume, and an ocean of AI slop to fall into – it’s all too easy to lose those precious few spare hours of the day.
It’s hard to avoid those distractions, but it’s an enormous relief if you can do so. Every evening, and every Sunday, I ban myself from screens. When I do, the million voices clamouring for attention subside, and I find myself relaxing, destressing, and fumbling my way back to the present, to the here and now.
The analogue brain – the one required for deep reading – is better at critical thinking, deep thought, and imagining. The good news is that if you’ve allowed your reading fitness to atrophy, you can always get it back. Our brains are forgiving creatures. We can poison them for years with ragebait and Instagram reels, but just a few weeks of self-awareness and discipline, and you’ll be back on track.
So as a cyberpunk writer, let me implore you: worship not the neon gods of the algorithm, lest they take your soul in exchange for the eternity of content they provide. Return home, dear reader: books are always faithful, and will never sell your data.
Right. I’ll briefly cover my non-reading cultural consumption – as was inferred, I didn’t watch much in the way of streaming or film this year, but of what I did watch, Conclave (2024), Cobra Kai Season 6, part 3 (2025), White Lotus Season 1 (2021), North Water (2021), and The Long Walk (2025), were the stand-outs. 
My favourite of these was probably North Water, a BBC production with a truly excellent cast. The Long Walk was way better than it had any right to be, and for mine one of the best Stephen King adaptions out there.
But you’re here for books. So:
In rough order, below are my top ten reads for 2025 (plus three re-reads). #1-#4 and #9 and #10 are probably correct, #5-#8 could be shifted up or down a slot depending on the day.
You’ll note I put the nationality of the author alongside each entry. I do this partially as a way to make sure I’m not just reading American fare (I don’t say this as a slight to my US friends, but rather to note that because of the constant carpet bombing of American culture over all of our lives, consuming only American stories is a very easy trap to fall into), partly to make sure I am reading some Australians, and partly to encourage myself to read authors from outside the West. Not as a box-ticking exercise, not to have the most social media-friendly list, but rather because why would I deny myself? All these great works of literature out there, waiting to be read, from all over the world, so why would I ever limit the scope of my reading? Which is to say, I’ll be sure to read more non-Western and women writers in 2026, and I’m looking forward to it.
As for 2025, the ten below are excellent, and I’m glad I encountered this rich array of stories. From 1843 to 2025, genre fiction and literary, I had a great run this year. I open every book hoping it will change my brain, or make me want to never put it down, or immerse me in a strange new world (or, optimally, all three), but alas, it is rarely so. However, to get 13/52 (including rereads), this year was a stellar batting average.
Here we go:
1. All the Pretty Horses (1992), by Cormac McCarthy (American)
One of the best prose writers of the last hundred years, deservedly a giant of American literature. I have close to zero interest in horses, or the US-Mexico border region, but here I was enthralled, from beginning to end. McCarthy is deeply philosophical writer, who takes simple stories (in this case, a teenage boy running away to Mexico to find work as a cowboy) and elevates them to the sublime. A masterpiece.
2. The Player of Games (1988), by Iain M. Banks (Scottish)
This is the year I properly discovered Iain M Banks. I’d read Consider Phlebus some time back, liked it well enough, but not so much I wanted to dive into the rest of his Culture series. The Player of Games changed everything.
The story, in brief: a man who has devoted his whole life to playing games (Jernau Gurgeh) is asked by the Culture to travel to the Empire of Azad, a civilisation based on a fiendishly complex game. The winner of the game becomes emperor. It’s an insane idea but Banks makes it completely believable. A dark, fascinating, and multi-layered book.
3. Five Decembers (2021), by James Kestrel (American)
Five Decembers is part gripping noir detective story, part historical fiction, all parts fucking awesome.
Taking place over five Decembers, starting just before Pearl Harbour in 1941, we follow detective Joe McGrady as he travels from Hawaii, to Hong Kong, to Japan in search of a killer. The author has clearly done a lot of research, and gets all the details right. Unputdownable.
Along with #4, below, this was my surprise favourite of the year. The cover makes it seem as though it’s a pulpish, cliched noir. Don’t be fooled.
4. A Christmas Carol (1843), by Charles Dickens (English)
A classic, sure, but was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It’s heart-warming and affecting, when I rarely look for either in a novel. It’s moralistic, which again I’m not much interested in, either.
But I loved A Christmas Carol. It’s over 150 years old, but still had the power to make me laugh and make me feel. Enthralling, too – I finished it in one sitting.
5. The Last Kingdom (2004), by Bernard Cornwell (English)
This is an easy and entertaining read. If you like a good page-turning historical about Vikings, Saxons, and shield walls, then this one is for you.
6. Jade City (2018), by Fonda Lee (Canadian)
East Asian fantasy setting. Triad (equivalent) internecine warfare. Elegant, clear, low-magic system. Morally grey characters. Oh yeah, this is my wheelhouse.
7. The Will of the Many (2023), by James Islington (Australian)
It is great to see an Australian author doing well on the global stage. I bought this in part to show my support, and in part to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss is justified. James constructs a well-thought out world, with a cool magic system (that doubles as social control), in a setting strongly influenced by the Roman Empire. A huge book (240k), but I smashed through it.
8. The Scour (2025), by Richard Swan (English)
I blurbed this (see below), and for good reason. It’s a great novella. Richard has found a rare formula here: fantasy that yet works in a shorter form. As his main character (Vonvalt) is a detective (as well as judge), this opens up the possibility of stand-alone mysteries. The excellent Grimdark Magazine published this, and I hope they continue to commission these one-offs from Richard in the future. 
Richard Swan’s new fantasy novella, The Scour, features his trademark sharp dialogue, well-drawn characters, and elegant system of magic. But more than any of these things, we have in The Scour a compelling mystery, one that will have the reader eagerly turning the page to see how our protagonist, the legendary Sir Konrad Vonvalt, unravels the threads of a harrowing crime.
9. As I lay Dying (1940), by William Faulkner (American)
While a classic, this originally did not make my top ten. I thought the novel too bleak, unnecessarily cynical, with an unsatisfying ending. However, a week after I finished I was still thinking about it.
As I Lay Dying tells the story of an impoverished family’s travails as they try to transport their recently-deceased mother’s corpse, by wagon, to her distant hometown.
Technically a very impressive novel, and I can see why it was ground-breaking at the time. Multiple point of view characters (15), all with a distinct voice, all rendered in vernacular, sometimes in stream-of-consciousness. A very challenging book for the reader, yes, and thus not for everyone.
10. Use of Weapons (1990), by Iain M. Banks (Scottish)
A tougher book than The Player of Games, and much like As I lay Dying, did not originally make my top ten. Yet, again, I was still thinking about the book long after I put it down. I looked back on Goodreads to see if I’d written a review, and my only comment was: “Truly fucked up.”
I stand by that, and after you’ve read The Player of Games, I recommend you read this.
Rereads:
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), by George Orwell (English)
I had to reread this as I was asked at the last minute to teach ‘The Novel’ at my local university, when the course convenor had to leave suddenly half way through semester. Still one of my all-time favourites, still disturbingly relevant to our world today. One thing that stood out this time around was Orwell’s world-building. His only science fiction novel, yet his imagined future of 1984 was detailed, well thought-out, and terrifyingly immersive.
- The Heroes (2011), by Joe Abercrombie (English)
I think I enjoyed this even more the second time around (it’s my favourite Abercrombie, and one of the great fantasy novels). Joe is a master of the battle scene. He understands that action in literature is not cinematic, but rather close-up and chaotic, in the heady and terrifying confusion that is hand-to-hand combat. His characters are vivid – and while never really ‘likeable’ – compelling. I very rarely reread books, but was glad I did so here.
Oh and for the record, I am on team Gorst.
- The Lord of the Rings (1954), by J. R. R. Tolkien (English)
This felt like a first read. The first time I was so young (probably too young) that I’d forgotten pretty much everything about the novel, and had all of those memories supplanted by the films.
Look, the world-building is immaculate and some of the scenes simply breathtaking (you shall not pass). There is a lot of talking and walking, especially for a modern readership, but this is a deserved classic that spawned a genre.
In summary
I had no new books out this year, though did have a novella in Asimov’s Magazine. I will include that novella in a new short story collection I plan to release early next year.
I had a good year for awards, with The Escher Man being nominated for a Ditmar, and Ghost of the Neon God winning the prestigious Aurealis for Best Science Fiction Novella, and the Ditmar for
Best Novella. It’s extremely rare for a work to win both the Ditmar and Aurealis, so it was gratifying to see it receive such high plaudits.
Unfortunately, Ghost of the Neon God has struggled with sales. I can’t account for it, given the near-universal praise it has received on Goodreads, by reviewers, and in the awards ecosystem. It is – according to the above – the best of Australian SF, and yet flies completely under the radar. I put this to my publisher, pointing out that it, and 36 Streets, had won both the Aurealis and Ditmar, and that perhaps they could be bundled together as a sale, showcasing some of the best of Australian SF (and I feel a bit gross saying this about my own work, and it is gross, but if an author can’t be an advocate for themselves, no-one will).
Titan Books agreed, and have put both books together as omnibus edition (eBook only). So if you’ve yet to partake of either, then here is your chance.
Speaking of 36 Streets, it just got its first translation (Russian). The cover art they’ve done is gorgeous (seriously – click to enlarge on the image, left).
For 2026, I have a science fiction book currently on submission at all the publishers (fingers crossed), and a short story collection also on submission. If the latter is not picked up (likely, given how hard a sell collections are), then I plan to make my first foray into self-publishing. Finally, I’ve just finished the first draft of a fantasy novel. That’s right – I’m trying my hand at a new genre, and am quite excited about that project.
Okay, thank you for persisting this far, and if you have: good luck and good fortune for 2026. Read books, watch good films, listen to the stories of others, and tell your own.
Cheers
