Beyond Reality discussion

We may be nearing the end of summer, but it’s time to look ahead to late fall and think about what you’d like to read and discuss in November 2024 as our Books of the Month. Nominations are now open!

Each group member can make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination. 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. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

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

a. The Beyond Reality Google spreadsheet of Previous Books of the Month, available at this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...". To search for a specific title, use the "Find and Replace" option under the EDIT menu. Don't worry, you will be able to find a title but you will not be able to replace it since the spreadsheet is in "View Only" mode.

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

c. the topic threads on this page: Previous BotM Master Lists

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 is NOT necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but please keep things civil.

Schedule for nominations and polls:
• Nominations will remain open through Sunday, August 18.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Monday, August 19 and will run through Sunday, August 25.
• The final run-off polls open Monday, August 26 and will run through Saturday, August 31.

Thanks!
Kathi, for the Mods

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:
FANTASY:
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

SCIENCE FICTION:
Finna by Nino Cipri
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
River of Gods by Ian McDonald
Dauntless by Jack Campbell
Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton

Is the new AI a tool for freeing us up to become more intelligent? Or does it just make us dumber by doing so much of the work for us? If these are things we need to sit around and think about as the Chat bots begin their rule, and if we need to mix in a few muti-universes into the equation, then maybe we could read

Finna by Nino Cipri

for our science fiction selection. I nominate it.

For SF, I'll propose We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen. In the vein of this week's QotW, it looks like a mystery in a science fictional setting.

For fantasy, because I just learned of its existence and I am utterly enchanted by the title, I'll propose The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes. It just looks like such a fun romp!

Nominations needed!

For Fantasy, I’ll nominate The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. The group read it in 2013 but I’ve never read it and it’s near the top of my 2024 TBR list.

For SF, another book read by the group (10 years ago) that I’ve never read… The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin.

I guess I’m going for oldies but goodies!

For fantasy, The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker. Mostly I'm nominating this because I've wanted to read it. It is supposed to have fabulous world building, with a post apocalyptic setting and a holy war.

For Science fiction, River of Gods by Ian McDonald. Cyberpunk set in India.

One more day for nominations…

For Fantasy, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. An oldie but certainly not forgotten. While it's easy now to label it as "to Tolkien" and dismiss it but in the 80's it introduced a large group of gen. X bookworms to high fantasy.

It was in fact the first fantasy book I asked my mother to buy in 1980 and I still remember the "warehouse" grocery store (think of a Sam's/Costco back in the stone ages) where I sat in the book isle and read the first 3 or 4 chapters. Before that the only fantasy I had read was the Hobbit in a school English class.

The first book of Shannara is an excellent stand alone book with no need to read further. There was/is very few authors with his flair for linear prose.

I'm convinced to give it a shot, Brad!

Dauntless by Jack Campbell for SF

I'm voting for Fred for fantasy, so no fantasy nomination.

Brad wrote: "For Fantasy, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. An oldie but certainly not forgotten. While it's easy now to label it as "to Tolkien" and dismiss it but in the 80's i..."

I mentioned in another thread, a bunch of the Shannara ebooks (including the initial trilogy) are currently available on Humble Bundle for those who might be interested in giving it a try.

for Science Fiction.

for Fantasy.

Hmmm… tough choices! Thanks for all the nominations for our November 2024 Books of the Month! Now we get to vote!

The preliminary polls will choose which two books in each category move on to the final polls. Voting is open through Sunday, August 25.

Fantasy Preliminary Poll

SF Preliminary Poll

Today is the last day to vote in the preliminary polls for our November 2024 Books of the Month, so if you have not voted, please do! If you have already voted, you can still change your vote, if you wish.

The Fantasy poll is especially close right now!

Thanks to everyone who voted in the preliminary polls. The top 2 vote-getters have moved on to the final round, and those polls are now open. Polls will remain open through the end of August.

Please vote!

Fantasy Final Poll for Nov. 2024 BotM

SF Final Poll for Nov. 2024 BotM

Only a few hours left to vote! Make your choices now!