10 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

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This week’s prompt is: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024. I had quite a lot of choice with this because I mostly read stand-alone contemporary fiction so I went with the authors I read more than one book from this year, and then when I ran out of those I picked the ones that impressed me the most and I may seek out more from them.

1. Iain Reid – I read We Spread and Foe this year and both were great weird fiction! I’m hoping to read more from this author and would love recommendations for similar!
2. Steven Erikson – the author of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series which I did not enjoy. I had a feeling before reading, based on what my partner had told me about this author and the books that I wouldn’t like it… and that initial assumption was correct! Now we know!
3. Eliza Clark – Penance stunned me and I’m interested to read more from her!
4. Adrian Tchaikovsky – I read Children of Time and tried to read Alien Clay. I really admire this author’s imagination but his books are not character-driven enough for me.
5. Amanda Montell – I knew of Amanda from her appearances on the iWeigh podcast and I think I had listened to an episode or two of her podcast Cultish at some point. I audiobook-ed her books Cultish and The Age of Magical Overthinking both this year and found they both rather shallow and thinly researched (I’d say both books have “podcast vibes” – it’s that level of research). I preferred the latter definitely, but I’d hesitate to strongly recommend either, and I’ll probably not listen to any more.
6. Brene Brown – I’d heard of her from when Daring Greatly blew up years ago, and with my Spotify Premium I listened to that and I read I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t). The mechanisms and role of shame in my life were not something I had considered much before and now I do think about it often, so I got something out of her ideas. However, they’re extremely American books and I found it hard to relate to most of her examples (UK culture has different nuances), plus there was quite a focus on the shame mothers feel but barely a mention of the shame childfree women are subjected to.
7. Martha Wells – the author of Murderbot! I love Murderbot, they’re so fun! I think she has written other things so I might check some of those out, maybe.
8. Claire Douglas – a friend recommended this author after I loved Lisa Jewell, but I haven’t gotten on with Claire Douglas’ work. I read Then She Vanishes and The Woman Who Lied and both were too predictable for me, I don’t like to see every twist coming from the first chapter of the book (or blurb in one case!).
9. Jessica Knoll – I liked Bright Young Things a lot, and appreciated its critical perspective on True Crime media. I had a look at The Luckiest Girl Alive but reading through reviews I’m not sure if I’ll try reading it.
10. Jane Alexander – A User’s Guide To Make-Believe was one I picked randomly from the audiobooks in my library and turned out to be a great read! I can see on Goodreads she has one other book, so I might try that at some point.