Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It's time to open nominations for our May 2016 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. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. 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.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

and/or

b. these threads:
Master List of Previous Books of the Month 2012-Present
Master List of Previous Books of the Month 2006-2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, 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, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, 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 Thursday, February 18.
• The first round of polls will open Friday, February 19, and will run through Tuesday, February 23.
• The run-off polls go up Wednesday, February 24, and will be open through Sunday, February 28.

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

SCIENCE FICTION:
Lexicon by Max Barry (Louise)
The Blue World by Jack Vance (in print in omnibus Jack Vance SF Gateway Omnibus: Big Planet / The Blue World / The Dragon Masters and Other Stories) (Jaro)
Time Salvager by Wesley Chu (Tad)
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner (Mary)
Persona by Genevieve Valentine (Justine)
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (Kevin)
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (Nick)
Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton (Pickle)

FANTASY:
The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long (Mary)
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (Louise)
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (Jaro)
This Census-Taker by China Miéville (Tad)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (Frank)
Jurgen by James Branch Cabell (Wastrel)
The Scar by China Miéville (Jim)
The Vagrant by Peter Newman (Justine)
Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick (Kevin)
Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell (Pickle)

The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long. A fantasy that enters a world of fae perils.

I would like to nominate Lexicon by Max Barry for Sci Fi, and Half a King (again) by Joe Abercrombie for Fantasy. I have read the first few pages of both and am hooked straight away.

FANTASY: Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, a swashbuckling adventure I've long wanted to read.

SCIENCE FICTION: The Blue World by Jack Vance. One of his standalone works of imaginative anthropology. (Available in print in Jack Vance SF Gateway Omnibus: Big Planet / The Blue World / The Dragon Masters and Other Stories)

I'll nominate Time Salvager by Wesley Chu for Sci Fi. This is a fun combination of time travel and dystopia with interesting characters and a lot of action. Really interesting world-building.

I'll nominate This Census-Taker by China Miéville for Fantasy. This is a twisty, perspective shifting fantasy with a surreal atmosphere. Great writing, keeps you on your toes and has a great ending.

Fantasy (?): The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

For SF, These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. A disastrous landing starts with the struggle to survive.

Well, since it attracted some interest last time, I'll try nominating it again: Jurgen , by James Branch Cabell.

Why should we read this?

- Neil Gaiman, Robert Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, F Scott Fitzgerald and Mark Twain have all counted Cabell among their favourite authors. Ursula Le Guin and Michael Moorcock have also praised the book.

- Cabell's novels, and in particular Jurgen, published in 1919, were seminal early works of the fantasy genre before the genre really existed - Cabell was the foremost fantasist in the world for at least a decade. He may not have had the influence of a Tolkien or a Howard, but he has helped shape the genre - particularly the more intellectual/literary side of sword and sorcery (Leiber, Vance, Moorcock) and the comedic side.

- If you 'get' his sense of humour, he's hilariously funny, at least at times.

- Despite being a light-hearted comedy romp, Jurgen also manages to sneak in some proper literature. Cabell was spoken of at the time as a potential Nobel nominee; Jurgen was called (wrongly, as it turned out!) the most immortal American novel since Huckleberry Finn.

- Although he still has fans among authors and afficionados (like Gaiman, who listed Cabell's entire cycle first on a list of his top ten books), he's now largely forgotten by the public. And that's not fair! So help a dead author's reputation out!

- When Jurgen was published, the printing plates were seized by the police, the book was banned for two years, and Cabell was prosecuted for indecency by the Society for the Prevention of Vice. Who doesn't love a good banned book?


I should also explain what it is, since most of you probably haven't heard of it. It's a whimsical fantasy about a middle-aged pawnbroker in the middle ages, who one morning says a kind word about the devil... and as his reward, his wife is abducted by supernatural forces. Although he's rather happy about this (Jurgen is one of the original fantasy roguish antiheroes), he eventually decides that it's his duty to "do the manly thing" and go on a quest to rescue her... though he doesn't mind taking a roundabout route if necessary. His adventures span space, time and dimensions; Merlin, Satan, and Helen of Troy all feature. Somehow, it also manages to be a tragedy about the human experience.

Stylistically, it combines early 20th century wit with the trappings of mediaeval romance. Names that spring to mind are T.H. White, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse, and Terry Pratchett. Despite its age, and although it's recognisably of its time, it still feels very modern and relevant.

It's probably not the best fantasy novel ever written... but it may be the greatest fantasy novel that hardly anybody has read!

EDIT: oh, some technical details:
- this is for FANTASY
- the novel is out of copyright, so should be available cheaply or even (in digital form) for free, although I'm not making any promises...

Jaro wrote: "FANTASY: Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, a swashbuckling adventure I've long wanted to read.

SCIENCE FICTION: The Blue World by Jack Vance. One of his stand alone works of imaginative anthropology."

I won't nominate an SF book because I think the Vance novel is an excellent choice.

For fantasy I'll beg the question regarding whether it would be okay to nominate The Scar by China Mieville. This isn't exactly a sequel to Perdido
Street Station, which was a previous selection, (all new characters, same world milieu) so I'm hoping it's okay.

I would like to nominate The Vagrant by Peter Newman for fantasy.

For SF, my nomination is Persona by Genevieve Valentine.

Someone besides me is interested in Jurgen? Let's make it happen!

Thanks for so many responses! I was getting a bit worried we'd hit Thursday's deadline with only a couple of choices.

I'll sort through these and update the first post in the morning.

I'll nominate Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick as I know a lot of readers will like this book, but many has nor read it yet, which I don't understand.

I'll nominate The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick since its a bestseller because of the Amazon prime show.

Jurgen is my nomination for fantasy. It sounds intriguing.

Oops. Just figured out the The Scar has already been a selection. So I'll withdraw it.

Jim I haven't looked at how long ago we read The Scar, but having read it before won't automatically disqualify it if it long enough ago.

I would like to recommend the 2nd book of the Epic of Ahiram series -Wrath of the Urkuun, by Michael Joseph Murano.

Jim wrote: "Oops. Just figured out the The Scar has already been a selection. So I'll withdraw it."

The group read it back in 2012, so it's been several years. You're welcome to nominate it again now, if you like, as the group has many members who weren't with us back then. The book has just as much a chance at winning as any other, between new members, re-readers, and members who didn't read it last time and would like to.

You are also welcome to nominate the next book in the (loose) series or make another nomination entirely. :)

Richard wrote: "I would like to recommend the 2nd book of the Epic of Ahiram series -Wrath of the Urkuun, by Michael Joseph Murano."

Richard, as the group hasn't read the first book in the series, I'm afraid the second book doesn't qualify as a group read possibility. Do you have an alternate nomination?

Candiss wrote: "Jim wrote: "Oops. Just figured out the The Scar has already been a selection. So I'll withdraw it."

The group read it back in 2012, so it's been several years. You're welcome to nominate it again now, if you like, as the group has many members who weren't with us back then. The book has just as much a chance at winning as any other, between new members, re-readers, and members who didn't read it last time and would like to.

You are also welcome to nominate the next book in the (loose) series or make another nomination entirely. :)"

Okay. I'd like a chance to read it with some purpose & motivation. So I guess I'll throw it back in as a nomination. Thanks.

Although I love Jack Vance and would like to see his work become one of our choices, I am currently intrigued with the following, so I will throw it in as a Science Fiction nomination:

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

SF: Children of Dune --admittedly a bit selfishly because I'm already reading it as part of my full re-read/read of Dune and expanded series. But it's a great book and worthy of discussion on its own merits, yes?

FANTASY: This has been burning up my to-read shelf way too long: Moebius Arzach 1


Candiss wrote: "Hi everyone,

It's time to open nominations for our May 2016 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 ..."

Philip wrote: "SF: Children of Dune --admittedly a bit selfishly because I'm already reading it as part of my full re-read/read of Dune and expanded series. But it's a great book and worthy of discussi..."

Philip, as the group has never read #s 1 and 2 in the Dune series, I'm afraid #3 can't be nominated. We would have to start with #1, which admittedly could engender a lot of good discussion.

As for your fantasy nomination - as far as I can tell, the group has never read a graphic novel as a book-of-the-month selection. The FAQ we inherited from Stefan doesn't cover graphic novels, either, so it's not much help here. (It mentions horror as the only thing outside fantasy and sf fiction that can be nominated, and then only if it's a fantasy-horror or sf-horror.) I would still be open to the group discussing whether they'd like to include graphic novels in the running, HOWEVER: in this particular case, I must be a wet blanket and veto your nomination, as it doesn't seem to be readily available in print at the current time, being available used at Amazon for $26 and out of stock internationally via Book Depository. Pity, as I'd like to read it! I've heard nothing but good things about it and the author.

Have you other nominations you would like to make instead?

Edit to add: My boyfriend, upon hearing me pronounce "Arzach," did an excited semi-sprint to his bookcase and produced the book for me. The first thing I notice is that it has no words in it, other than the title, being page after page of textless graphics. So unlike many (most, I'd say unscientifically) graphic novels, I'm not sure we could even call it a group "read."

I'll wait to see if you have other noms. :)

For sci-fi
Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton

Ive been reading a few of his books, usually door stops of 1000+ pages but this is a lot smaller than the usual, more fast paced and not the usual plethora of characters.

Fantasy
Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell

Ive read the Rigante series and it was great, ove also read some of the Drenai series and again very good. This is a three book series so would be keen to read.

lol:) Candiss "excited semi-sprint".

I always enjoy Candiss' commentaries.

Candiss wrote: "Philip, as the group has never read #s 1 and 2 in the Dune series, I'm afraid #3 can't be nominated. We would have to start with #1, which admittedly could engender a lot of good discussion."

I can scarcely believe it's never been a selection. Maybe next month. Hmmm.

Nominations are now closed, and the polls will be up shortly.

The first round of polls are up. Voting will be open through Tuesday, February 23.

Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Science Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

The run-off polls for May are open. You can vote through Sunday, February 28.

Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Science Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

I'm currently reading Jurgen now, and I'm sad it didn't make it into the run-off, but it's terribly funny! Thanks again Wastrel for the heads-up.