Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It’s time to open nominations for our October 2013 Books of the Month. Each group member can make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination in this thread. If you would like to make a nomination, please reply to this post with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration.

Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. You can also check the group bookshelves for previous Books of the Month to see if your nomination has already been read by the group. (Being chosen as a past BotM does not necessarily disqualify a book from current consideration, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.)

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, etc., please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Friday, July 19.
• The first round of polls will open Saturday, July 20, and will run through 11:59PM PST, Thursday, July 25 (closing Midnight PST July 26.)
• The run-off polls go up Friday, July 26, and will be open through 11:59PM PST Tuesday, July 30 (closing Midnight PST January 31.)

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

FANTASY:
God's War by Kameron Hurley (Tom)
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott (Lindsey)
Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe (John)
Karavans by Jennifer Roberson (Brenda)
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (Kevin)
Prince of the Godborn: Seven Citadels Part One by Geraldine Harris (Paul)
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay (Andreas)



SCIENCE FICTION:
Shon'jir by C.J. Cherryh (Nick)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Tyler)
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu (John)
Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear (Shel)
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett (Helen)
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds (Jim)
Sundiver by David Brin (Kevin)
Idlewild by Nick Sagan (Paul)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Andreas)

I will nom.

God's War by Kameron Hurley for fantasy.

I would like to nominate Kate Elliott's Cold Magic. The last book in the trilogy just came out so I would love an excuse to re-read the whole set.

It's an alternate history fantasy set in the first half of the 19th century, where the mini-ice age never ended and the magics are thermically based. It's hard to describe but really excellent! (My spoiler free review for a better description of why I liked it.)

For Science Fiction I'll nominate Shon'jir by C.J. Cherryh.

It's No. 2 in The Faded Sun Trilogy -- We read no. 1 (The Faded Sun: Kesrith) in May. As it's only a trilogy, I don't see the point in trying to make it an actual series read. So let's see if Shon'Jir will go as a regular BOTM.

For science fiction I would like to nominate Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I looked on the master list and it was used before but back in 2002. I think this would be a good choice because the movie is coming out on November 1.

Hi everyone! New member here. Man, it's tough finding books that you guys haven't read yet :)

For Fantasy, I'd like to nominate Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist, the first of the "Latro" books. Both books are available in an omnibus version, but the omnibus is not available in e-book. (e-books are available for the individual editions).

In the Sci-Fi category, I'd like to nominate How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu.

John wrote: "Hi everyone! New member here. Man, it's tough finding books that you guys haven't read yet :)

For Fantasy, I'd like to nominate Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist, the first of the "Latro" books. Bo..."

I love Wolfe's "Soldier" ("Latro") series. Check out our CURRENT Series Read of his "Book of the New Sun" -- We are already up to the third book in the series, but feel free to jump in any time in any of the threads.

Nick wrote: "For Science Fiction I'll nominate Shon'jir by C.J. Cherryh.

It's No. 2 in The Faded Sun Trilogy -- We read no. 1 (The Faded Sun: Kesrith) in May. As it's only a trilogy, I don't see the point in ..."

I like this!
:)
Speaking if Kesrith, what shelf would I find it on.
I've looked a few times....maybe I'm just overlooking it?

Finding "Kesrith" on the bookshelf? There are several different ways. Under the title it is listed as The Faded Sun: Kesrith. But you can arrange our bookshelf by several different criteria.

If you go to the Bookshelf and arrange it by date finished, it comes up as 2013/5/31 which is about halfway down the first page:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/booksh...

Thanks.....
I guess that was better than hunting the thread.
*facepalm

I'm not going to do a fantasy nom, because I want to read God's War which has already been nominated, so I'll just put forth a SF option: Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear, which I just picked up and looks really intriguing.

I'll second Ender's Game

Just a note of clarification on previously-read books of the month:

The "Master List" of previous botm (actually two lists - one for 2001-2005 and another for 2006-2011) lists books that were read by the group way back when it was hosted on Yahoo Groups, prior to Goodreads. (The most recent parts of the second list do include books from the Goodreads era.) This list doesn't really get updated anymore. Unfortunately, the Goodreads system doesn't allow for more than one person, moderator or otherwise, to update a post, so the list became rather un-useful for a multi-mod group.

Books of the month from more recent times can be found on the group bookshelf, found at the top right of any page from within the group. It is sortable by date read, author, title, etc., and is searchable via the less-than-optimally-named "add books" search box to the upper left. Any book already on the bookshelf will be grayed out in the results list, so you know they've been read in the past couple of years. (I logged out to view the bookshelf page while not listed as a mod, and the shelf is indeed set to "only moderators can add books to this shelf," so there is no chance of accidentally adding something while searching.)

Now that I've rambled on, back to nominations! The noms list has been updated to this point, and we have two more days to submit suggestions.

I would like to nominate A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham for fantasy.

Thanks Candice for the clarification.

Can I nominate Dark Eden, it's classed as sci-fi.

Thanks Candiss.

The mobile app just doesn't show all that, so I was going in circles.
;)

I would like to nominate Karavans
by Jennifer Roberson for fantasy. My science fiction choice has already been nominated.
:)

I'm going to re-read Ender's Game whether it wins or not. So how about considering a newer SF choice from one of my favorite authors: Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds.

For science fiction I would like to nominate Sundiver by David Brin

Forgot that A Shadow in Summer was already read, so I would like to switch my nomination to Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie.

This is only book of his I have read by him because it is only one that is in mass paperback. He is one of the only big names in fantasy that the group has not read or even been nominated before.

Plus it is a stand along that most people don't go and pick up as his First Law Trilogy is his most popular I think in part due to because it is a trilogy rather than a stand along.

For fantasy I'll nominate Prince of the Godborn by Geraldine Harris. I read this in my mid teens when I was getting into fantasy - Tanith Lee and Alan Garner and Diana Wynn Jones and Jane Gaskell. I remember loving this series utterly, but I'd completely forgotten what it was called and who the author was - until I saw it on my GoodReads front page the other week, so ordered it immediately.

For SF I'll re-nominate Idlewild by Nick Sagan.

John wrote: "Hi everyone! New member here. Man, it's tough finding books that you guys haven't read yet :)

For Fantasy, I'd like to nominate Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist, the first of the "Latro" books. Bo..."

This is one of Wolfe's books that I've had for ages and never quite got around to. Tempting...

I just recently rediscovered Guy Gavriel Kay who helped 1974 Christopher Tolkien with editing the Silmarillion.

I'd like to nominate Ysabel, which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Adult Literature, both in 2008, by Guy Gavriel Kay for fantasy. It's also his bestselling novel.

For scifi, I'd like to nominate Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell which would be a valid choice for both fantasy and scifi. I didn't watch the movie last year, so I'd like to read the novel before renting the movie.

Whew... We have a big list of noms this month!

Nominations are now closed, and the polls will be up in a few minutes.

The first-round polls are up!

Science Fiction: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/87...

Fantasy: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/87...