Since 6 months have passed during t he year, there are a lot of "Best of 2012 (So Far)" lists coming out. You won't find me putting out one because I rarely read new titles so early, but since I've been reading books nominated for the big 3 fantasy & science fiction book awards - the Nebulas, Locus & Hugo Awards - I thought it would be fun to look ahead at titles that might be nominated in 2013 (i.e. published in 2012), and add them to my reading list. I checked out the "best of lists" at Amazon, Kirkus Reviews, plus a few blogs, and came up with 10 titles I would like to read - excluding young adult books, just to make it easier to get down to a manageable number.

10 Fantasy and Science Fiction Books Published in 2012 {on My Reading List}

The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1), NK Jemisin. (Fantasy). Loved The Kingdom of Gods, which was nominated for a 2011 Nebula Award for Best Novel..
In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law, and the Gatherers, the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe ... and kill those judged corrupt. (Amazon| Goodreads)

The Shadowed Sun (Dreamblood #2), NK Jemisin. (Fantasy). Gujaareh, the city of dreams, suffers under the imperial rule of the Kisuati Protectorate. A city where the only law was peace now knows violence and oppression. And nightmares: a mysterious and deadly plague haunts the citizens of Gujaareh, dooming the infected to die screaming in their sleep. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Railsea, China Mieville. (Fantasy). Can't say I get Mieville's books, but his last one, Embassytown, won a Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one's death and the other's glory. (Amazon| Goodreads)

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller. On the "Best Of 2012 So Far" lists by both Amazon & Kirkus Reviews.
Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles, who is 'best of all the Greeks' - everything Patroclus is not. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast friendship. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed. (Fantasy). Seems to be a favorite of bloggers.
The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, land of djenn and ghuls, Khalifs and killers, is on the brink of civil war. To make things worse, a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. And it's up to Doctor Adoulla Makhslood to solve them. (Amazon| Goodreads)

The Rook, Daniel O'Malley. (Fantasy)
"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Every Day, David Levithan and Alex McKenna (Narrator)
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. There's never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. It's all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with--day in, day out, day after day. (Amazon | Goodreads)

Rapture (Bel Dame Apocrypha #3), Kameron Hurley. (Science Fiction). I read the awesomeness that was book 1 & plan on reading book 2, then this one.
After years in exile, Nyxnissa so Dasheem is once more a bel dame, part of a sisterhood of elite government assassins trained to a cut a target's head off without remorse. But the end of a centuries-long war has thrown her native land of Nasheen into turmoil. A huge influx of unemployed--and unemployable--young soldiers have brought Nasheen to the brink of civil war, even as an alien spaceship stations itself in orbit above the capital. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Year Zero, Rob Reid. (Science Fiction).
Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it's a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news. (Amazon| Goodreads)

Devil's Wake, Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due. (July 31, 2012). I was looking for speculative fiction books by authors of color that were recently published, and found this.

What happens when an unprecedented infection sweeps the world, leaving the earth on the brink of the Apocalypse? But this infection goes far beyond disease. Beyond even the nightmare images of walking dead or flesh-eating ghouls. The infected are turning into creatures unlike anything ever dreamed of ... more complex, more mysterious, and more deadly. Trapped in the northwestern United States as winter begins to fall, Terry and Kendra have only one choice: they and their friends must cross a thousand miles of no-man's-land in a rickety school bus, battling ravenous hordes, human raiders, and their own fears. (Amazon| Goodreads)