Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

It's that time of the month to nominate what space opera books we'd like to read as a group in September. Up this month we have the following categories:

READER PICK: Dead trees is where it's at for the Reader Pick, which should be widely available in both paperback and ebook at most chain bookstores and public libraries. Books can't be exclusive to Kindle Unlimited since we're a global community.

INDIE PICK: This is for those newer, edgier books where the author has to do it all. Books that have been published by a micropress that helps you upload the thing, but YOU otherwise do the work and marking are okay, or if you got your backlist back, still qualify.

YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK: This is where YOU guys help me indoctrinate set a good example for my teenagers and hook them up with good books that won't make them roll their eyes. That means: Must be written FOR a young adult and STAR a young adult protagonist (age 17 or less) and not have been published any earlier than the year 2000 AD (yeah, I know you all think Heinlein is young adult, but the Y2K kids think he's sooooo 1966).


(If the cover looks like this, chances are a teen will spurn it...)

Since it's hard to find purely space opera YA books, any sci-fi book that has a strong space or space-yearning element will probably be acceptable. Gotta still have spaceships and aliens.

Drop your nomination into the thread below and, on the first of the month (or so), we'll spin it through Random.org to pick three brand new group reads.

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

P.S. - drive-by spam nominations not allowed, so if you're not an active member, we reserve the right to disqualify anything fishy.

For YA: Half Way Home by Hugh Howey
I know it's marketed as YA but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet so I can't attest to it's overall YA-ness.

For Indie: Defiance by Lucas Bale
The group actually read the first book in this series maybe a year ago. While technically a sequel, this one features a different plot and different characters, and then everything is tied together in the 3rd one (sort of -- there's a 4th and final one on the way)

Annnnd...I'm always terrible at Reader Picks because I just read so much Indie. I may have an idea later or vote on someone else's suggestion.

For Indie: Seeing Red by Patty Jansen (yes, I'm still nominating it!)

For YA: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman

And for Reader: Peacemaker by Marianne de Pierres

For indie:
Liberty by Alasdair C. Shaw, its kinda reminding me of Brain-ships.

YA: Mars Evacuees (Mars Evacuees #1) Sophia McDougall

Reader: A Soldier's Duty (Theirs Not to Reason Why, #1) by Jean Johnson *i am a broken record for this series.

Will update when I have decided. :D

Indie: Liberty looks interesting but I haven't read it yet. I'll second it though.

Reader: The Agent Gambit by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. IMO the best entry point for space opera lovers to the Liaden Universe. There are multiple good entry points to that set of books of course. First third of it is free as Agent of Change.

YA: Fledgling by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Another good entry point to the Liaden Universe books, suitable for YA. Ebook is free.

for adult: The January Dancer by Michael Flynn
for YA: Red's Planet: Book 1: A World Away from Home by Eddie Pittman

I'd like to go old school SF Masterworks for the Reader Pick and suggest The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

I will also nominate The Stars My Destination for reader pick.

Thanks everybody! I'm off to go randomize the nominations!