SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

The poll for theme is over, and the winner is "Hugo or Nebula Award winners". (Edit: The theme is "winners", so nominations can only be for books that won.)

With that in mind, it's time for some nominations. This thread begins now(which should be early morning for our Euro members) and will end in 24 hours.

The 7 nominations with the most votes will go onto the poll for July SciFi Pick.

Here is how we'll do it this time around:
* Each member is allowed to post once to nominate a book and once to Second(third/fourth/etc) a nomination. No other discussions or off-topic posts will be allowed(I feel weird saying that).

* If you nominate a book, be sure to check availability(amazon, b&n, borders, etc). If it isn't readily available, it gets disqualified.

* Make sure any book you're going to nominate hasn't already been read by the group.

* You must include the link to the GR page for the book you're nominating.

* You must include a blurb about the book.

So here's an example of a nomination:


The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Military SciFi telling the tale of interstellar war between humans and Taurans. Touted as an exploration of the horrors of the Vietnam war through the filter of space opera.

If The Forever War is really your vote, I'll second it. LOL. Have been wanting to read it.

The Forever War
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Military SciFi telling the tale of interstellar war between humans and Taurans. Touted as an exploration of the horrors of the Vietnam war through the filter of space opera.

The Native Star by M.K. Hobson

2010 Nebula nominee. An American western with steam-age technology, magic, zombies, intrigue and adventure.

Been wanting to read this one since I saw it in the store, and great reviews!

I would like to nominate Speaker for the Dead

What can we assume about an alien species? How much intervention in their development should we make? What compromises need to be made to share a planet with another intelligent species? These are some of the issues touched on in this book.

I second Leguin.

I would like to nominate The Big Time by Fritz Leiber, although it might be tough to find. Reach back to the oldies but goodies!

My nomination-

Camouflage
by Joe Haldeman

From Booklist;
In 2019, a mysterious, egg-shaped artifact is discovered on the ocean floor off the coast of Samoa. Denser than any known material, the object defies all attempts to either break through or communicate with it. Marine biologist Russell Sutton, whose last major feat was raising the Titanic, takes charge of the excavation, hoping to make a fortune by capitalizing on the artifact's probable extraterrestrial origin. Sutton little suspects that his destiny will soon intertwine with a pair of shape-shifting--and apparently immortal--aliens. One, known as the changeling, has been on Earth millions of years, assuming every identity from shark to human being, and slowly learning to love. The other, called the chameleon, has excelled in warlike roles and delights in killing. Neither knows of the other's existence, but their slowly merging paths will meet in a stunning climax that determines their ultimate fates--and that of the artifact. Award-winning sf veteran Haldeman proves as engaging a storyteller as ever, especially given this book's irresistible premise and page-turning action.
Carl Hays. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.

Released 2004 Camouflage won the Nebula in 2005. It is a great example of how well Haldeman writes. I have read it a couple times and it is always fresh.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

Kara wrote: "
The Native Star by M.K. Hobson

2010 Nebula nominee. An American western with steam-age technolo..."

are we going with nominee too instead of winners only?

I would like to nominate To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer.

It's an oldie as well, winning the Hugo in 1972. The first of the Riverworld series, Sir Richard Burton wakes up after his death on a world consisting of one ongoing river, one of billions of "resurrected" people. Richard decides to seek the headwaters to see if he can find out what's going on and runs into various people and situations along the way.

I nominate Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson.

Partial Description (more on the GR page for this book):

One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives. . . . As Tyler, Jason, and Diane grow up, a space probe reveals a bizarre truth: The barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time is passing faster outside the barrier than inside--more than a hundred million years per year on Earth. At this rate, the death throes of the sun are only about forty years in our future. . . . Life on Earth is about to get much, much stranger.

Boradicus-you only can nominate one!

Oops, I see you already read The Dispossessed. I've deleted my nomination information.

I would post information for Powers, but it's fantasy and these are science fiction nominations.

I want to nominate The Windup Girl. I loved that one!
A dystopian future Thailand is the setting for this novel where food shortages due to plant disease have created 'calorie' companys. Thailand is struggling to NOT come under the companys control. Anderson Lake is the undercover calorie man in Thailand, surrounded by characters who have their own agendas. Can anyone's hopes survive this competition?

I second Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card.

I nominate Gateway by Frederik Pohl.

A space station is found in solar orbit containing mysterious alien artifacts, many made of curiously glowing blue metal. When someone discovers how to make the small spacecraft travel out to a distant star system and back using preprogrammed coordinates, the station becomes a treasure-hunter's dream. This is the story of one such prospector.

The computer games based on this series were a ton of fun a decade or so ago. I've been meaning to read the original novel that started them all.

I'll second Speaker for the Dead. I'll second To Your Scattered Bodies Go because Philip Jose Farmer is weird and interesting and I actually own the book, so why not.

I third Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. I just finished Ender's Game a couple weeks ago, so I've been looking forward to Speaker for the Dead.

If I don't nominate do I get two seconds? No?

Ok, well then I second Spin but I would also second The Windup Girl if I could do that.

I second Gateway. I read it a long time ago, and would enjoy reading it again.

I nominate Cyteen, by C.J. Cherryh. It won the 1989 Hugo for Best Novel.

Cyteen, the titular planet, is the seat of Union government, Union being one of the two main human polities in this setting. It's also the home of platytheres, creatures which are the source of a substances which allows for the extension of the human lifespan, and Reseune, a science research facility whose specialty is psychoengineering. Reseune creates genotype and phenotype combinations which satisfy human space's labor shortage: everything from soldiers to researchers to manual laborers.

In Cyteen, Cherryh shows us personal human struggles within the larger problem of a society trying to remain stable as it is confronted by tense post-war relations without and civil unrest within. It's simultaneously wonderfully original and a homage to books like Brave New World and Dune.

It is in print as a large trade paperback. If you go the used route, make sure you don't end up with one of the mass market editions; check ISBNs. The mass market editions are only 1/3 each of the full novel.

I will second Spin. I don't do OSC for his politics... I know, I know, but its my personal decision

3rd for The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Suz wrote: "I would like to nominate To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer.

It's an oldie as well, winning the Hugo in 1972. The first of the Riverworld series, Sir Richard Burton wa..."

I second To Your Scattered Bodies Go. I have the series but haven't made the time to read it.

Philip Jose Farmer's tale of the RiverWorld. Any series that has Mark Twain and Hermann Goering!!! as heroes can't be wrong.

We've read The Windup Girl and Stranger in a Strange Land, so they're disqualified.

I nominate Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

This is a chronicle of the exploration of Mars with some of the most engaging, vivid, and human characters in recent science fiction. Robinson imagines brilliantly about the science of terraforming a hostile world, analyzes the socio-economic forces that propel and attempt to control real interplanetary colonization, and imagines the diverse reactions that humanity would have to the dead, red planet. (stolen from the publisher's write up)

And I second Cyteen by CJ Cherryh

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

The 1960 Hugo Award winner for Best Novel. More then just a military Sci-Fi novel, the book is famous (or infamous) for the social and political views throughout the narrative.

I'll 2nd Gateway by Pohl. Although.... Red is a fantastic beginning to great series....umm...I'll stay with Gateway. -grin-

Gateway was already seconded by Suz, Brett, so you can still change your second to Red Mars. If you want ;)

I'll use my second on Red Mars.

Red Mars sounds great to me!

Brad wrote: "Gateway was already seconded by Suz, Brett, so you can still change your second to Red Mars. If you want ;)"

Okay..if you insist...I suppose I'll second Red. -grin-

It is a great trilogy with a follow-up novel that kind of tells how things end up years afterwards. I couldn't stop talking about these books when I first read them and I still recommend them as often as I can. In fact, it's past time to re-read them!

your suppose to second and third and fourth the books in this new voting method. The book with the most! votes gets added to the 7 we will poll on.

Nenangs wrote: "Kara wrote: "
The Native Star by M.K. Hobson

2010 Nebula nominee. An American western with st..."

I don't think this is eligible, since it's a nominee and not a winner, but, if it is eligible, then I'll second it.

I second Cyteen

I nominate American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I'm in the middle of it and need to put down all the other books and finish it.

Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a mysterious stranger offers him a job. But Mr. Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than is possible, warns that a storm is coming -- a battle for the very soul of America . . . and they are in its direct path.

One of the most talked-about books of the new millennium, American Gods is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an American landscape at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. It is, quite simply, a contemporary masterpiece.

I'll also third Spin, it sounds good.

Qylie wrote: "your suppose to second and third and fourth the books in this new voting method. The book with the most! votes gets added to the 7 we will poll on."

How many books can we vote for then? Normally we only get two votes, one nomination and one second. Now we get four? Or more? And it's already difficult to keep track of which books are already seconded by the time we get to them. Keeping track of the thirds and fourths will be even worse.

Gateway was seconded twice, for instance. Does that mean it is thirded?

Second American Gods.

I second Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

Darn good book, but don't ever bother with the piece of filth movie.

I will second To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer

Andre wrote: How many books can we vote for th...

Pretty sure that Qylie is just being exuberant and that that's not official. :) Or I'm misreading what she wrote, which is very possible.

Andre wrote: "How many books can we vote for then? Normally we only get two votes, one nomination and one second. Now we get four? Or more? . . ."

You were right the first time, and Qylie is right too. We each only get two votes (i.e., one nomination and one second), but each book can get many votes (i.e., thirds, fourths, etc.) if multiple people second it. The seven books with the most votes make it into the poll.

Well, this thread sure got full. :P

First off, please refrain from off-topic or conversational posts in here. It sort of gets in the way of the business at hand. Thanks :)

Secondly, the theme is "Hugo or Nebula Award Winners". So in order to qualify, the book has to have actually won.

Lastly, yes, you get two posts. One to use if you want to nominate, one to use to vote on a nomination. The 7 nominations with the most votes get put on the poll.

You may think this sounds rather redundant, but here's the reasoning. We get a ton of nominations and if we did this for only the first 7 nominees a lot of peoples nominations would be left out, which tends to cause a stir. This way we get more room for nominations and can still whittle it down to 7 for the poll.

Aha. I thought we got a second, and a third and a fourth, and just assumed we got votes all the way to seven. But we only have our actual nomination and one vote or "second." Got it.

I would think that American Gods would be classified as urban fantasy, not Sci-Fi. Plus, we've already read it in the group.

Oh. I'd wondered about that, but trusted someone else's nomination. In that case... I nominate The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov.

In the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of Earth's Sun—and of Earth itself.

Only a few know the terrifying truth—an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun. They know the truth—but who will listen? They have foreseen the cost of abundant energy—but who will believe? These few beings, human and alien, hold the key to Earth's survival.

I second Red Mars

Maggie wrote: "I want to nominate The Windup Girl. I loved that one!
A dystopian future Thailand is the setting for this novel where food shortages due to plant disease have created 'calorie' comp..."

I second this.

I wanted to drop back a bit and find an older book to nominate...of course that means I have to be sure it's available. I was torn between :

Dorsai! 1960 Hugo Award
In a universe where human kind has spread across the stars different groups have developed different cultures largely based on what is offered by the planets on which they reside. The Dorsai (also the planet's name) live on a world that offers little in the way of resources so they have become humanknd's premiere mercenary warriors.

And :

The Claw of the Conciliator 1981 Nebula Award
More of a science fantasy and part of The Book of the New Sun 1-4 which made me wonder if it would be disqualified as part of a series...

Both are available on Amazon (either in compilation volumes or used) and I found both on ABE books for as little as $1 (plus shipping). So if either is seconded I'll leave it up to the "powers that be (hi Ala)" as to eligibility.

I second Gateway!

If I may I will third the disqualified The Native Star, I just bought it & want to read it anyway and nominate

Blackout by Connie Willis

In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds—great and small—of ordinary people who shape history. In the hands of this acclaimed storyteller, the past and future collide—and the result is at once intriguing, elusive, and frightening.

Mike, Claw is actually book two in the series, and we haven't read book one( The Shadow of the Torturer) yet. So I'm afraid that Claw isn't eligible.

And since Shadow doesn't look like it's won either award, it wouldn't be eligible either.

Sorry.