Set the Time Machine to "Future Awesome"

One of the most valuable things about social media blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc? Yeah, sure, the camaraderie, the photos, the links, catching up with that dude you spoke to exactly once in 10th grade, blah blah blah.

But what I really love are the tips on forthcoming books. Stuff that is weeks, months, maybe even years away... but makes me all twitchy, wanting to get my paws on them immediately. There is no book more tantalizing than the one you can't read right thisverysecond.

So, in no particular order -- and with no attempt whatsoever to be "complete" -- here are a few books I've heard about that have me drooling:

The Damned Highway, by Brian Keene and Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse). I'm a Hunter S. Thompson fan. I'm a Brian Keene fan. And I'm sure after this novel, I'm going to be a newly-minted Nick Mamatas fan. Look at that Ralph Steadman-inspired art above. I mean... seriously. They had me at "gonzo horror."

Fatale, by Jean-Patrick Manchette (New York Review Books Classics). Manchette wrote a dozen acclaimed crime novels in French. Only two translated into English, and I adore both of them. This will be the third, and I would probably surrender a finger or kidney to be able to read it right now.

(Oh, and while I'm at it: Fantagraphics will be publishing a graphic novel adaptation of Manchette's The Prone Gunman called Like a Sniper Lining Up His Shot. This is a good year to be a Manchette fanboy.)

Reggie Jackson Wanted to Kill Me, by Robert Ward (Tyrus Books). The subtitle is "Collected Essays of American Tough Guys," but I'd argue that Ward is one of the toughest of all. Ward gave a little taste of this collection at a Bouchercon panel last year, and he absolutely killed the audience. Literally. Bludgeoned every single person to death with his brain.

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, by Sara Gran (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Every so often, Gran turns her hand to a new subgenre... then totally owns it. With Come Closer, it was modern-day demonic horror. With Dope, it was 1950s junkie PI noir. Now she's sending a 1980s girl detective into post-Katrina New Orleans, and even better, this appears to be the start of a new series. There's never enough Gran on the shelves.

The Pack, by Jason Starr (Ace). Following his crime/horror graphic novel hybrid The Chill, the Dark Prince of Noir is now apparently ready to really bare his fangs. Ten bucks Starr's werewolves ain't going to be moping around, bummed that some sparkly vampire stole their dame.

The Informant, by Thomas Perry (Otto Penzler). One of the best hit man novels ever is Perry's The Butcher's Boy, which was first published in 1982. The Informant will be the second sequel, following 1992's Sleeping Dogs. Not only is Perry one of our finest thriller writers, he is also a cruel, cruel tease.

Robopocalypse, by Daniel H. Wilson (Doubleday). Just because it sounds absolutely mental.

Flashback, by Dan Simmons (Reagan Arthur Books). Much of a very fucked-up near-future USA is in the grip of a drug that has its users literally living in the past. As a man slightly obsessed with nostalgia, I can see the appeal.

Tabloid City, by Pete Hamill (Little, Brown). Newspapers/New York/Cops/Murder/Hamill... really not needing much more convincing this pick this one up.

Also: Little, Brown will be bring out George Pelecanos's back catalog in handsome new trade paperback editions. That means I'll have a chance to re-read the Nick Stefanos trilogy, the D.C. Quartet... all of the brilliant stuff that got me hooked on Pelecanos a decade ago. Can't wait.

Again, this is not complete -- just what I've added to my shortlist recently. What are you guys looking forward to?

(To put it bluntly: I NEED MORE TIPS.)