Neuromancer by William Gibson

Details:

Published in 1984 by Ace Books.

I read it in 2011.

Awards:

It was the first book to win the Science Fiction "Triple Crown":

The Nebula Award

The Philip K. Dick Award

The Hugo Award

From the Publisher:

Case was the hottest computer cowboy cruising the information superhighway--jacking his consciousness into cyberspace, soaring through tactile lattices of data and logic, rustling encoded secrets for anyone with the money to buy his skills. Then he double-crossed the wrong people, who caught up with him in a big way--and burned the talent out of his brain, micron by micron. Banished from cyberspace, trapped in the meat of his physical body, Case courted death in the high-tech underworld. Until a shadowy conspiracy offered him a second chance--and a cure--for a price....

First Line:

The sky was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel.

Alternate Covers:

The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer

Details:

Published in 1995 by Puffin Books.

Best guess, I read it in 1997.

Awards:

Newbery Medal of Honor

From the Publisher: 

Zimbabwe, 2194: General Matsika's three children steal out of the house on a forbidden adventure--and disappear. Their parents call in Africa's most unusual detectives: the Ear, the Eye and the Arm. Their mission takes them from underbelly of the city to swaying top of the Mile-High Macllwaine Hotel. Yet the children stay just out of their reach. The evils of the past, the technology of the future, criminals with plans far beyond what anyone can imagine - can the Matsika children escape from the heart of it all?

First Line:

Someone was standing by his bed, a person completely unlike anyone Tendai had ever met.

Alternate Covers:

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

Details:

Published in 1992 by Clive Barker.

I read it in 1998.

From the Publisher:

Mr. Hood's Holiday House has stood for a thousand years, welcoming countless children into its embrace. It is a place of miracles, a blissful rounds of treats and seasons, where every childhood whim may be satisfied...


There is a price to be paid, of course, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by Mr. Hood's wonders, does not stop to consider the consequences. It is only when the House shows it's darker face -- when Harvey discovers the pitiful creatures that dwell in its shadows -- that he comes to doubt Mr. Hood's philanthropy.


The House and its mysterious architect are not about to release their captive without a battle, however. Mr. Hood has ambitious for his new guest, for Harvey's soul burns brighter than any soul he has encountered in a thousand years...

First Line:

The great gray beast of February had eaten Harvey Swick alive.

Alternate Covers:

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Details:

Published in 1999 by Simon & Schuster.

Best guess, I read it in 2000.

From the Publisher:

It's a familiar story: In spite of the obstacles put in her way by her wicked stepmother, Ella goes to the ball, sweeps Prince Charming off his feet, and is chosen to be his bride. Now she's comfortably ensconced in the palace, awaiting marriage to the man of her dreams. It's happily ever after time, right?


Wrong! Life for Ella has become an endless round of lessons and restrictions; even worse, Prince Charming turns out to be more like Prince Boring. Why can't she talk with him the way she can with Jed, her earnest young tutor?


Slowly, Ella comes to realize she doesn't want the life she fought so hard to win. But breaking her engagement proves more difficult -- and dangerous -- than escaping her stepmother's tyranny.

First Line:

The fire had gone out, and I didn't know what to do.

Alternate Cover:

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Details: 

Published in 1997 by Harper Trophy

Best guess, I read it circa 1998.

Awards:

Newbury Medal of Honor

From the Publisher:

How can a fairy's blessing be such a curse?


At her birth, Ella of Frell was given a foolish fairy's gift—the "gift" of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day or chopping off her own head!


But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. She goes on a quest, encountering ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, fairy godmothers, and handsome princes, determined to break the curse—and live happily ever after.

First Line:

That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me.

Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick

Details:

Published in 1991 by William Marrow and Company

Reprinted in 2011 by Orb Books (the version I read and the cover seen above)
I read it in 2012.

Awards:

Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1991

From the Publisher:

From author Michael Swanwick—one of the most brilliantly assured and darkly inventive writers of contemporary fiction—comes a masterwork of radically altered realities and world-shattering seductions.


The Jubilee Tides will drown the continents of the planet Miranda beneath the weight of her own oceans. But as the once-in-two-centuries cataclysm approaches, an even greater catastrophe threatens this dark and dangerous planet of tale-spinners, conjurers, and shapechangers.


A man from the Bureau of Proscribed Technologies has been sent to investigate. For Gregorian has come, a genius renegade scientist and charismatic bush wizard. With magic and forbidden technology, he plans to remake the rotting, dying world in his own evil image—and to force whom or whatever remains on its diminishing surface toward a terrifying and astonishing confrontation with death and transcendence.


This novel of surreal hard SF was compared to the fiction of Gene Wolfe when it was first published, and the author has gone on in the two decades since to become recognized as one of the finest living SF and fantasy writers.

First Line:

The bureaucrat fell from the sky.


Alternate Covers:

Ohai, fancy meeting you here

I work at a publishing company and have spent a lot of the last two years looking at book blogs. I figured it was time I join the club. This will be both a place to remember all the books of my past, as well as to track and review the books of my present.