As the end-of-year derby continues, the Forbidden Planet books/comics/whatever else store chain from the UK has posted their lists (several, from different UK SFF folks) of the best of 2006.

Each of the people below chose up to three items each in several categories (comics, graphic novels, TV shows, movies), and their book picks are:

• George Walkley likes Tim Powers's Three Days to Never and John Scalzi's Old Man's War.
• John Freeman recommends The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly.
• Brian Ruckley lists Neal Stephenson's immense trilogy "The Baroque Cycle," The People's Act of Love by James Meek, and The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch.
• Mike Carey likes Looking for Jake by China Mieville.
• Mark Chadbourn's choice is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
• James Lovegrove recommends Word War Z by Max Brooks, Cell by Stephen King, and new editions of the classic Ray Bradbury collections R Is For Rocket and S Is For Space.
• Joe Gordon's choices are Jeff VanderMeer's Shriek: An Afterword, Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Adventures of Captain Alatriste, and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora. (He also gives some runners-up.)
• Kenny Penman lists nothing but comics, so I don't know why I even mention him.