Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Mike wrote: "I'm thinking something like a read (or reread) of a full series might work better as a separate ongoing event, rather than confined within a single edition of a monthly thing. So we could do the normal monthly discussions as we'd been doing, and off to the side have a different thread for our special reread of whatever...."

Well, it can't hurt to try the idea out. (Worst case, there's an empty topic. Wouldn't be the first time.) Please use this topic to discuss how it would work (pace?) and see if there would be a consensus of a core group who might be interested in re-reading & discussing a specific series.

I would be more interested in continuing series which first books I liked but need extra motivation to continue. There could be separate threads for each book (spoiler tags apply) and one for the whole series.

I also like the idea of reading books - maybe two - of the same authors, which could be set in the same world or even in different genre, one F the other SF.

We could do an experiment with a trilogy and see how that works before jumping into something bigger that could be full year project (say one book a month)

Also I kind of like the idea of suggesting the second book of a series that's already been covered by the group. That way those who already discussed the first can jump right to the second, and those that didn't read the first don't have a lot of catchup and given we vote a month or so in advance have time to prepare. It would have worked for The Dying Earth or Red Mars, both of which were read before

Andrea wrote: "We could do an experiment with a trilogy and see how that works before jumping into something bigger that could be full year project (say one book a month)"

Depending on the series, it could take considerably longer. My recent reread of The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time #5) took three months. The reread of the series as a whole began in late 2014, and admittedly I'm doing it in between other books rather than one fell swoop, I'm only five books in.

Sanderson's The Way of Kings took four months and left me feeling mentally exhausted when I was done.

Can we pick one or two series to read together in one year period? Maybe one fantasy, the other SF. Might be a good way to clean up people's series TBR list.

Oh and I agree with Andrea's trilogy suggestion. If we could have a trilogy discussion in, let's say six month, maybe that's enough time for most people.

Bumping this thread.

I am still interested in a series group read but I am a bit hesitant to commit to the full series before I even read the first book and find myself having enough interest to continue.

I am open for a reread too. Harry Potter comes to mind, or The Expanse's later books. Hell, I'll even do another stab on ASOIAF.

Anyway questions to answer:
1. Completed series or incomplete is fine?
2.. Time span per book? 1.5 month or 2 month per book?
3. Should we just nominate the series we want to read and then vote/second?

Also, if a member's nomination win the poll, I assume he/she will be responsible to facilitate the discussion.

Continuing from the other discussion - I am always up for a Harry Potter re-read. And there are probably a few other series that I wouldn't mind re-reading. Such as Wheel of Time (although, that would definitely be a slow series to do!)

I don't have any preference for a completed or incomplete series, but I'd probably prefer to start with a trilogy, so something that's either complete or has the 3rd book coming out, otherwise you're just reading two books...

I'd probably use a group series read to either re-read or to read something already on my to-read list. Unlike some of the group discussions, I'm unlikely to jump on board for something random.

As for time span, well, I think it'd probably depend on how big the books are.

Perhaps nominate series and see who's in?

Cat wrote: "Perhaps nominate series and see who's in? ..."

Or a list of series you'd be interested in (re-)reading, and look for some overlap.

It would seem wise to start with a short series, a trilogy, or a duology, even. But if enough want to read a longer series, so be it.

I expect there'd be some drop-outs as the series progressed. Might be some drop-ins, too, but the drop-outs will outnumber them.

Silvana wrote: "I am still interested in a series group read but I am a bit hesitant to commit to the full series before I even read the first book and find myself having enough interest to continue..."

It might be best if the discussion leader was re-reading, so at least someone knows they like the series and wants to re-read the whole thing. (And I think actually re-reading is important: The "I read this five years ago and liked it" comment is a start, but doesn't inspire much of a detailed conversation.)

Based on the other thread, it seems that HP gets lots of votes already (sorry, Brendan!).

I am down for a reread but I can only start later this year, around October. I guess that might be too long to wait for some people?

Other possible series for me to reread:
A Song of Ice and Fire
The Expanse
The First Law trilogy
The Lord of the Rings

While we're at it, I nominate:
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Gentleman Bastards (incomplete)
The Dresden Files (incomplete and super long)

Silvana wrote: "Based on the other thread, it seems that HP gets lots of votes already (sorry, Brendan!).."

I'm also all for waiting a bit before starting, there might be that one tournament challenge with dragons but otherwise Harry Potter doesn't quite count as a "dragon" series :)

Dune is a series I was planning to re-read, and was going to nominate that as the first classic in January. Here I would only suggest the first 3-6 books, and not the ones by the son (though I plan to read those too but don't think the group wants to read all of those), or maybe we could all read the first of the son's books just to compare and contrast.

One series I would not re-read now is A Song of Ice and Fire, though (if) when the next book comes out I may be ready for a reread to remind myself of what I read so many years ago. But for whatever reason, these books stick in my head pretty well and don't feel I really need a re-read.

One can never read The Lord of the Rings too many times.

Zelazny's Amber are all short, but as I've not read the series I don't know if it makes for a good candidate.

Burrough's Barsoom are also all short (but having almost finished reading it only now, not sure I'd want to re-read any time soon! I haven't read the Venus series yet though...). On the positive the series is free online so people wouldn't have to invest in a lot to join in a whole series read.

I'm in the middle of re-reading Pern and noticed several people posting Pern books in the "what are you reading this month" threads, but it's a big series and not sure it would lend itself to this process well. But if anyone wanted to finish the Dragonrider's Trilogy, or read the Harper Hall trilogy I'd join in the discussion since they are still fresh enough in my head.

@Elizabeth: Gentleman Bastards sounds good for me too. I wish we know when the next book will come.

I personally wouldn't join in a series that's incomplete, not much fun if we can't discuss together how it ends, or does it become a really drawn out group read, basically we automatically continue the series group read when the next book comes out? But not everyone wants to buy hardcovers so need to wait till people can get the paperbacks. But my reservations shouldn't stop others from doing such a read if they choose to.

I would like to throw in a vote for either a Pern series or Zelazny's Amber series.

Rosemary wrote: "I would like to throw in a vote for either a Pern series or Zelazny's Amber series."

I've been sitting on copies of the Amber series for awhile. I loved Lord Of Light

I'm in for the Amber series. I'm a big Zelazny fan.

Andrea - good point, that's why something like Dresden would work because by the time we're all caught up new books would have come out.

Amber would be great! count me in

Let me do a tally so far

Amber - 8
Harry Potter - 5
Fionavar Trilogy - 4
Pern - 3
Gentleman Bastards - 2
Lord of the Rings - 2
Dune - 1
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - 1
Dresden - 1
A Song of Ice and Fire - 1
The Expanse - 1
The First Law trilogy - 1

Amber, though a longish series of 10 books, is a nice choice because (1) the books are short so easy to squeeze into busy schedules (2) its definitely a classic and easy to acquire and many will already have it (3) I think the previous group read was actually for the 10-book omnibus, not sure how successful that was since I wasn't around at the time, but will definitely work better as a series read than a monthly one, and finally (4) it's getting the best response so far :)

*edit* Updated with Cat's nominations

I'd like to try the first book of Amber but could not find it in Kindle... Anyone having the same problem?

Amazon.ca has it
https://www.amazon.ca/Nine-Princes-Am...

Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Princes-A...

The entire 10 books are collected in this omnibus (not Kindle, this is a dead tree copy), and it's even 10$ cheaper in the US. 1.60$ a book.

https://www.amazon.ca/Great-book-Ambe...

I'm up for Amber, Harry Potter and Pern series :)

Thanks Andrea but there is a geo restriction, I can't purchase it. Ordering a physical copy is way too costly. Let's see later.

Silvana wrote: "Thanks Andrea but there is a geo restriction, I can't purchase it. Ordering a physical copy is way too costly. Let's see later."

Ah, you're in Indonesia! Must admit I generally assume people are either North America, Britain or Australia. Always nice to find a more international mix, though that does make it harder for some to get a hold of some books. Even Canada can't get some books people in the US can, or the price can be nearly double so I imagine it can be way worse in other countries. Maybe you'll be lucky and find it in a library or used book store.

You can add me for Harry Potter. Also I would suggest adding Fionavar Trilogy to the list of candidates since I believe it's being adapted for TV.

I'm down for the Amber series, been a very long time since i have read those.

I've wanted to read Amber for a long time but I haven't got any of the books or seen them in bookshops.

Ooh, I second Fionavar Tapestry!

Hmm... I already have Fionavar's first book so I can join that one (and see from there).

Do we need to set a deadline which series to read first for the group? Should we limit to one series or if there are more than two people interested then we could have another one?

Updated the tally.

Amber still clearly in the lead, Harry Potter following but Fionavar moving up quick (got one vote from me too as I have the books and not read them yet)

I think we should stick to one series at a time, otherwise it will spread people too thin. For example I couldn't do Harry and Amber and Fionavar at the same time unless I skipped all the regular monthly group reads. At some point we'll make a formal poll for this since while people may express interest in one series or another, one may not be able to commit at at a particular moment in time.

I think the three leaders are still good options for a first experiment though (much as I would like Pern to win, it does have more of a time requirement, unless kept to one or two of the first trilogies, there are 27 in total after all)

1 - Fionavar is only three books (or in my case one big one) so will allow us to get a feel for how this works without committing to a full year project

2 - Amber books are short, so easy to squeeze one in a month. I was thinking since that only leaves two months to complete we can add another two Zelazny's like A Night in Lonesome October (though would be best in October but that breaks up the flow...) and some other one, or maybe the first book in John Gregory Betancourt's continuation of the series The Dawn of Amber, since discussing how another author tackles another author's world could be interesting.

3 - Harry Potter are middle-grade / YA so are fast reads even if the books get progressively bigger. But since story quality degrades over time we may lose readers towards the end.

I’ll add I’ve have at least the first few Amber books on my list - at least one Hugo winner there right? Really since reading Among Others I’ve realized I need to read them.

I’m concerned about when folks will want to start as I have a big backlog currently and need a month or two to catch up (I hope)

Rachel wrote: "I’m concerned about when folks will want to start as I have a big backlog currently and need a month or two to catch up (I hope)"

I still have exactly 50 dragon books on my dragon to-read shelf with only 6 more months of the year to go, guess I wasn't going to make it through them all anyway but hoped to do a little better since it was also a list of books I already own but need to read. Too many good group reads here keep distracting me :)

Maybe what we can do is since we're halfway through the year already, take something short like a trilogy and do one every two months (maybe the months that don't have anthologies). Then next year, take something like Amber and do one a month the whole year?

Rachel wrote: "I’m concerned about when folks will want to start as I have a big backlog currently and need a month or two to catch up (I hope) ..."

I'm inspired to know that there are still people who think it's possible the "catch up" with a to-read list. :)

G33z3r wrote: "'m inspired to know that there are still people who thinks it's possible the "catch up" with a to-read list. :) ."

I break them up into multiple shelves so I can feel like I might actually "catch-up" on one of them, while at the same time starting 3 new ones...

Just a couple days ago I realized I couldn't remember all the stuff I'd dumped on my e-reader so I just created yet another one to track those, all kinds of random free stuff I've downloaded over time, probably won't even bother getting around to a lot of it, but at least on GR I have a quick way of checking what I've got and picking the next one.

One of those to-read shelves contains books I own that the group has already read and sitting there is none other than The Great Book of Amber :) In fact Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is there too (though it's my sister that owns that series but I could borrow it from her)

It might be best to only read the first 5 Amber books. They're the best & are complete. The second 5 books are fairly complete have some short stories that fill in a few blanks. Not a big deal which is a good thing since they're tough to find. The biggest deal is one short story that is also the prologue, but it isn't most of editions of the first book, only the book club edition. It can be found in other places, but those books are pretty expensive.

There are some text copies of the short stories around that aren't legal but it's one of those cases where I think they should be available & it doesn't hurt anyone to have them pirated. Probably helps. All the books that contain them are sold out, no longer published, so only used copies are available which is wrong.

Betancourt's Amber continuation should be 5 books, but is only 4. The publishing company was sold & the new publisher didn't want to publish the 5th. Betancourt told me he even offered to do a short wrap up of the 5th in an edition of the 4th, but the guy wasn't interested. So that means we're left with a cliff hanger. Very frustrating to me since I liked it. A lot of people don't. I think they're taking novels too seriously, but that's not uncommon. Actually, it's surprising that I liked them, but there you have it.

I think since I limit my e-reading severely (mostly short fiction like the Hugo nominees or Yoon ha Lee’s stuff for example) it is a bit easier to think I’ll catch up. I have multiple lists but it lt looks like after summer my ‘anticipated’ new release reads die down ... this month...too many group reads!!

Since I started reading Locus magazine reviews it’s gotten harder tho....

I think we should vote on the top few nominees. Harry Potter, Fionavar and Amber all sound great to me and I might be talked into some of the others (not all at the same time obviously).

By the way, is the series read in addition to our monthly classic read? Or does it take the place of that read?

I think it is in addition. Most (?) people don't read monthly reads and might opt for series instead.

I was also assuming it's an 'in addition' read

I haven’t been very vocal in this group for a while, largely because I wasn’t doing much with GR except adding books read. I would be up for the series read though. Amber gets my vote since it’s been on my TBR for a long time. The LOTR, Gentlemen Bastards,First Law, HP,first 4 of ASOIF and all pre 2012 Dresden would be rereads for me. I read one Pern and was not invested enough to do more. I would be open to the remaining options.

Randy wrote: "I think we should vote on the top few nominees. Harry Potter, Fionavar and Amber all sound great to me and I might be talked into some of the others (not all at the same time obviously).

By the w..."

I was thinking the obvious choice would be to use the empty slot that the anthologies don't fill every second month. There was another thread where we were trying to think of things to put there.

So I'm going to put together a poll this weekend with the leading three updated with Karen's votes (my first poll as a mod, how exciting!). Once we see which one wins we can figure out how we go about spacing them out. For example Fionavar would fit perfectly every second month in the empty anthology slot and still finish this year, but if we did Amber every second month it would take close to 2 years to complete if we did all 10. For now I'll use the 10-volume omnibus for voting but if we pick that we can decide if we'd rather keep to just the first 5 as Jim suggested.

Amber - 9
Harry Potter - 6
Fionavar Trilogy - 4

Can I vote for just the first 5 Amber books?
If we really need to finish it could be re—voted upon.

I agree. Just the first 5 Amber books. We could read the second five books next year or whenever.

Ok, so I can't start a poll on the same day I'm creating the poll so it will only open up tomorrow. I'll post up the voting thread so those who just can't wait and want to vote at midnight tonight can already go ahead

Took Rachel's suggestion and did the first 5 Amber books after all (bonus for me since I have exactly that omnibus edition!).