The Conference of the Birds, by Peter Sís: The Year's Best Argument Against eReaders

Evan Cohen / petersis.com

Look at the troubles happening in our world! 
Anarchy – discontent – upheaval! 
Desperate fights over territory, water, and food! 
Poisoned air! Unhappiness! 
I fear we are lost. We must do something! 

Though the words might sound like a campaign commercial¹, they’re not. Instead, they appear early in The Conference of the Birds, based on an epic poem by the twelfth-century Persian poet Farid Ud-Din Attar (as translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi). This is not the first retelling of that tale: there is even a stage play. However, this is the first version constructed around the illustrations of renowned artist Peter Sís – and it is a wonder to behold.

Dead Again? "The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes"

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes - Marcus Sakey

The naked man regained consciousness on a rocky beach, half-frozen; barely aware that he was human. He warmed himself in a car he found nearby; a luxury BMW registered to someone named Daniel Hayes, from Malibu, California. It was then that he realized he did not know who or where he was...

...yet once he'd checked into a cheap motel, he seemed to know exactly when "Candy Girls" would air on FX - and that the pretty brunette playing Emily was someone he ached for. In narrowly escaping a local Barney Fife, he discovered he had awakened in Maine, he was the Daniel Hayes who owned the car, and cops nationwide were on the lookout for him and the silver Beemer. He just didn't know why...