This is promising to be a great (and expensive) summer/fall for new books and video games. So, I thought I’d go over some of the things I’m excitedly waiting for. Feel free to add in the comments anything else I should be excitedly looking for:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Murakami always reminds be of Jonathan Carroll (you’ve read Bones of the Moon and Outside the Dog Museum, right?) with his dreamy stories that float in and out of reality. 1Q84 is his homage to Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Troika by Alastair Reynolds. I wasn’t thrilled with Terminal World, but I’ve loved all of Reynolds other books. Hopefully it was just a one-off book that didn’t capture my attention.

Flashback by Dan Simmons. Simmons is a recently acquired taste and I loved his last book Drood. Flashback sounds reminiscent of Philip K Dick’s A Scanner Darkly.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson. This book could be Stephenson’s laundry list and I’d still buy it sight unseen. I’ve loved Stephenson’s last 7 books, so I expect the love to continue. The book sounds like his take on MMOs and might be a grownup version of For the Win.

The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown by Paul Malmont. If you haven’t read The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril already, then go and read it now. The writer’s of Doc Savage and The Shadow team up with a young writer, L. Ron Hubbard, to solve the murder of H. P.  Lovecraft. This is the sequel that teams up Asimov and Heinlein with Nikolai Tesla in WWII. This book promises to be a lot of fun.

Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson. I loved the first book in this series (Spin), but found the second book (Axis) not quite as good. As Wilson heads back for the third book, he’s adding in a time traveling prophecy that looks to make this book better than the last one.

Rule 34 by Charles Stross. Stross blows hot and cold with me. But this story of Internet policing looks interesting and I’ll definitely check it out.
 
A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin. Book 5 of A Song of  Ice and Fire where we follow the other side of events from A Feast for Crows and then continues the story from where we left off. Expect action, violence, sex, twists, turns and another cliffhanger.

Max Payne 3 by Rockstar Games. I loved the first two Maxy Payne games (although I refuse to watch the movie). With Rockstar Games riding the success of L.A. Noire, the imminent release of Max Payne 3 is being overlooked by many people. But I know several people who are looking to get back to the story of a policeman looking for revenge in a corrupt city.

Arkham City by  Rocksteady Games. I loved Arkham Asylum. It’s one of the few games that I can throw on to play for 5 minutes or 5 hours and have fun. With the sequel, the scope is expanding from an island to a full city. I’m looking forward to the game and I’m hearing they are making some much needed changes (like not having to be in detective mode all the time and miss the wonderful scenery).

What are you looking forward to?