Jonathan Strahan, editor of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 5 and this year's excellent Legends Of Australian Fantasy anthology has shared his top ten science fiction and fantasy books of 2010 with us.

Check out his picks below. A big thanks to Bruce Gillespie, editor and publisher of fanzines SF Commentary, Steam Engine Time (with Jan Stinson) and Scratch Pad for his help in organising this list.

dervish_house The Dervish House
Ian McDonald

The Dervish House centres on Istanbul in 2025. Turkey is part of Europe but sited on the edge, it is an Islamic country that looks to the West. The Dervish House is the story of the families that live in and around its titular house, it is at once a rich mosaic of Islamic life in the new century and a telling novel of future possibilities. - Publisher synopsis.

under_heaven Under Heaven
Guy Gavriel Kay

For two long years Shen Tai has mourned his father, living like a hermit at the edge of the Kitan Empire, next to a great lake where a terrible battle was fought between the Kitai and the neighbouring Tagurans years before; a battle for which his father -- a great general -- was honoured, but never recovered from, and where the bones of 40,000 soldiers still lie exposed. - Publisher synopsis.

kraken Kraken
China Miéville

A dark urban fantasy thriller from one of the all-time masters of the genre. Deep in the research wing of the Natural History Museum is a prize specimen, something that comes along much less often than once in a lifetime: a perfect, and perfectly preserved, giant squid. But what does it mean when the creature suddenly and impossibly disappears? - Publisher synopsis

quantum_thief The Quantum Thief
Hannu Rajaniemi

Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy - from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars. - Publisher synopsis

all_clear Blackout/All Clear
Connie Willis

In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with Blackout - a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds - great and small - of ordinary people that shape history and, alarmingly perhaps, the future. All Clear is the sequel to Blackout. - Publisher synopsis

I_shall_wear_midnight I Shall Wear Midnight
Terry Pratchett

Teen witch Tiffany Aching returns for a new Discworld adventure - along with her ever-present allies, the Nac Mac Feegle. Tiffany Aching, the young witch from The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith is back in a new adventure featuring Discworld characters both familiar to fans (like Granny Weatherwax) and new (meet Wee Mad Arthur, the Nac Mac Feegle on the City Watch). - Publisher synopsis.

who_fears_death Who Fears Death
Nnedi Okorafor

Born into post-apocalyptic Africa to a mother who was raped after the slaughter of her entire tribe, Onyesonwu is tutored by a shaman and discovers that her magical destiny is to end the genocide of her people. - Publisher synopsis.



cyroburn Cryoburn
Lois McMaster Bujold

Dispatched to investigate an immortality company's attempt to expand into the Barrayaran Empire, troubleshooter Miles discovers a generational conflict over resources before finding a young boy with a passion for pets and a dangerous secret. By the Hugo Award and Nebula Award-winning author of Brothers in Arms.

charles_yu How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Charles Yu

Charles Yu delivers his debut novel, a razor-sharp, ridiculously funny, and utterly touching story of a son searching for his father . . . through quantum space–time. Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally.

surface Surface Detail
Iain M. Banks

The dazzling new Culture novel from a modern master of science fiction - a tour de force of brilliant storytelling, world-building and imagination. It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It begins with a murder. And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit.

See our full range of Science Fiction and Fantasy books.

Our other 'best of 2010' lists: