Everybody’s posting their year-end best-of lists, and I’m tempted to do so too. But instead of looking back, I’d like to look toward the future. Hey grandpa, 2009 is done. Here’s a quick list of books I’m looking forward to reading in 2010.

Sleepless: A Novel by Charlie Huston (January). Huston takes a dip into near-future speculative territory. Added bonus: dialog with quotation marks!

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson (January). I’m already tired thinking about this book.

Yukikaze by Chohei Kambayashi (January). What is the relationship between man and the machines he builds?

The Book of Heroes by Miyuki Miyabe (January). I’ve read all of Miyabe’s books that are available in English. Why stop now?

Heavy Metal Pulp: Pleasure Model: Netherworld Book One by Christopher Rowley (February). A new series of novels based on characters and stories from Heavy Metal magazine. Target audience: Me.

The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu (March). File this one under science fiction fairy tales from France.

Backing Into Forward: A Memoir by Jules Feiffer (March). Artist and culture wit Feiffer finally delivers his autobiography.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 8 by Naoki Urasawa (March). The conclusion of Urasawa’s brilliant remake of Tetsuwan Atomu.

The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto (March). In the future machines will rule the world. Call me a misanthrope, but I can’t wait for that to happen.

Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (March). My early vote for best book title of 2010. From the author of All You Need is Kill (the best book title of 2009).

The Creeper by Steve Ditko (March). There's already a place on my bookshelf reserved for this compilation.

Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (April). Science Fiction Fantasy with a Mictlantecuhtli twist (btw: that’s the Aztec god of the dead).

Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann (April). Based solely on the cover, this is going to be one of my favorite books of the year.

Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes by Andrew E.C. Gaska, Christian Berntsen, and Erik Matthews (Spring). A novel that revisits the first Apes movie. Added bonus: cover painting by Jim Steranko.

Loups-garous by Natsuhiko Kyogoku (May). Werewolves and teenage girls collide in Tokyo. Bite me!

The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa (May). Want to get married on the moon? No problem! Otaba General Construction will build a wedding chapel anywhere you want.

Children No More by Mark L. Van Name (August). Jon Moore is a man with a little bit of nanojunk in the trunk. Lobo is a military assault vehicle with a big dollop of A.I. attitude. Their adventure continues.