Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It's time to start taking nominations for our November 2011 Books of the Month! As always, each member can make one SF and/or one fantasy nomination by replying to this post with the title, author and genre of the book(s). 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. You can also check the group bookshelves for previous Books of the Month to see if your nomination has already been read by the group. (Being chosen as a past BotM does not necessarily disqualify a book from current consideration, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.)

• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group, but feel free to assert your enthusiasm for any nomination all the same.
• Friendly discussion/debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Nominations will remain open through August 20th, and the first round of polls will go up on August 21st.

Thanks!

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

FANTASY:

The Etched City, by KJ Bishop (paul)
The Briar King, by Greg Keyes (dirk)
The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History, by John M. Ford (helene)
The Sorcerer's House, by Gene Wolfe (random)
Of Blood and Honey, by Stina Leicht (kerry)
City of Bones, by Martha Wells (candiss)
Viriconium, by M. John Harrison (richard)
The Magician King, by Lev Grossman (sarah)
The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus, by Margaret Atwood (maggie)
Dragon Prince, by Melanie Rawn (kevin)


SCIENCE FICTION:

Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi (marty)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson (shel)
Idlewild, by Nick Sagan (paul)
Nothing Human, by Nancy Kress (jim)
The Dragon Never Sleeps, by Glen Cook (dirk)
Survival, by Julie Czerneda (kernos)
Only Forward, by Michael Marshall Smith (richard)
The Dark Beyond the Stars, by Frank M. Robinson (random)
Sundiver, by David Brin (kerry)
Macroscope, by Piers Anthony (ron)
Embassytown,by China Mieville (sarah)
Ringworld, by Larry Niven (kevin)

For science fiction Agent to the Stars and for fantasy Dragon Keeper I Still have them and still haven't read them. :)

Marty, as someone pointed out last month, I think Dragon Keeper is not a good place to start. It's nr. 1 in a series, but that entire series is a sequel to the Liveship books, which in itself is really best read after the Farseer books. So I think the first Liveship book would be acceptable as a nomination, but Dragon Keeper isn't. Do you want to nominate something else instead?

Also, I just realize, Agent to the Stars was Book of the Month here in 2009. That doesn't disqualify it, but it may not get many votes from people who were around back then. Let me know if you want to keep that nomination.

Ok. I definitely do not want to nominate the Liveship. So withdraw the Hobb. But I would like to leave Agent to the stars. It didn't seem too far out of the running last month.

I'd like to nominate The Adoration of Jenna Fox for SF - it's a YA book that I've just picked up a copy of, and I've heard great things about it.

I don't have a fantasy nomination at the moment - will come back if I think of something else.

I don't see that it has been nominated before, so I'll offer up Probability Moon by Nancy Kress for SF. Hope this is okay. It's the first book in a three book series, but seems to stand on its own quite well.

I should learn to think things through before pulling the trigger. I suddenly realized a better nomination from Nancy Kress might be Nothing Human. For one thing, it's a stand-alone and might be a better one for a group read. However, it may also be harder to find copies. I got the idea that I should read it during a visit some time ago to the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. It took me a while to track down a copy.

So now I'm not sure. Maybe I should just leave my nomination as is.

Let me know what you decide on, Jim :) I haven't read either of them so can't really help out.

hey guys. my noms are:

fantasy - The Etched City by KJ Bishop

scifi - Idlewild - by Nick Sagan

(have read the first but been wanting to re-read it for ages and had the second on my TBR shelf forever!)

Stefan wrote: "Let me know what you decide on, Jim :) I haven't read either of them so can't really help out."

Okay. I'll bite the bullet and nominate Nothing Human. It's a challenging read (IMHO) and makes good use of the author's inclination toward the examination of genetic engineering scenarios.

Jim wrote: "Stefan wrote: "Let me know what you decide on, Jim :) I haven't read either of them so can't really help out."

Okay. I'll bite the bullet and nominate Nothing Human. It's a challengi..."

I recently discovered this novel and put it atop Mt. TBR. I'd be happy to read it, should it win. (I had previously only heard of her Sleepless series, beginning with Beggars in Spain.)

For Science Fiction, I would like to nominate The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook. It just looks really cool. It's about immortal ships policing the galaxy and maintaining the status quo until influences from outside their 'jurisdiction' cause disruptions. It's a space opera with plenty of aliens, 'houses' (a la Dune), constructs, battles and other fun stuff!

It's also one of the less obvious choices, so it's gotta be good!

For Fantasy, may I nominate The Briar King by Greg Keyes. It's the first in a four book series. I still have to read the final book, but I really enjoyed the first three.

It's a quite atmospheric high fantasy with some horror elements and some very interesting 'critters'.

For SF, I'd like to nominate Survival book 1 of the Species Imperative Series by Julie E. Czerneda

For SF I'd Like to nominate Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith after a couple of nominations for other groups I've realized that this is a book that deserves a reread.
Chilling in it's imagery and yet a storyline that keeps you guessing the entire way through.
People way better than me have reviewed it, so please have a look at it and decide.
Can't think of a fantasy title at the moment but promise to have a think.

The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook is on my TBR pile and I liked very much Julie Czerneda's Survival : it had a feel of Marco Polo'travels among wonders, it was great fun and I'd re-read it with pleasure. I'll second either one. Now, that makes two SF books and none F : quite annoying!

I'd like to nominate The Dragon Waiting : A Masque of History by John M. Ford for fantasy .This is sort of alt history but I won't dare add anything after Zelazny : "A thunderclap of a book, a thing of blood and magic".

Wow, all these books I have never heard off before.

I'd like to nominate

The Sorcerer's House by Gene Wolfe for fantasy. This has been on my radar for ages but I've not yet gotten around to reading it. I've heard a lot of great things though.

The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson for Science Fiction
This is an older classic that I fell in love with the first time I read it. An interesting social structure, bit of a mystery, as well as supporting both sides of the 'is there other life out there' question. Its currently out of print, but cheap copies seem to be readily available.

A nice batch of nominations so far. Keep them coming!

I'd like to nominate Sundiver by David Brin for SF and Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht for Fantasy.

For Fantasy I'd like to try Viriconium by M. John Harrison.
Been on my TBR shelf much too long, and by an author who's SF I've always enjoyed.
Worth a punt anyway.

For Fantasy, I'd like to nominate City of Bones by Martha Wells. (Please note this is not the YA series book by the same name but by a different author.) It's got a non-Euro-based world, unusual magic, ancient ruins, exploration, genetic engineering, menacing cults, and complex characters in a complex world, written by an author who is also an anthropologist.

I don't think I'll nominate anything for SF, as there are already quite a few noms, and I can't decide what I'd put on the table, anyhow.

I second Sundiver by David Brin. It is the first in his uplift series. The second entry in the series, though not a sequel, is fantastic too (Startide Rising)!

I second Richard's nomination of "Viriconium", and for SF I will follow up a discussion elsewhere and nominate Piers Anthony's Macroscope.

Isn't Viriconium a collection of novels and short stories?

It looks like it, Dirk. Here's our rule about omnibus editions (from the FAQ):

2- A full omnibus (a book with more than one novel in it) may only be nominated if the novels are individually out of print -OR- if the total number of pages is no more than 500 pages.

If the individual books are still in print, it may be better to nominate the first one of those. If not, the omnibus edition is acceptable. Can the person who nominated this investigate and let us know? Thanks.

I came here to nominate, but when I looked at the books already nominated, and see so many already nominated by my favorite authors that I haven't read yet .... :0) .... I've just picked up a copy of Of Blood and Honey, this one looks really good and I'll be reading it sooner rather than later anyways. Same thing with Survival, and I've had a copy of Sundiver sitting around here for so long that the pages are turning yellow. Good nom's, everyone, and I'll wait until next month to do any nominations.

Dirk wrote: "Isn't Viriconium a collection of novels and short stories?"

The Pastel City is the first book in the sequence. I've just had a quick look on Amazon UK and can only see used copies for sale.
The Fantasy Masterworks omnibus is still available new from Amazon but at 562 pages does break the 500 page rule.

Is it too soon to nominate Embassytown for SF?
And The Magician King for fantasy?
I'm about to read both.

Sarah Pi wrote: "Is it too soon to nominate Embassytown for SF?
And The Magician King for fantasy?
I'm about to read both."

Got a shiny new copy of Embassytown just itching to be read, so go for it Sarah.

I second Kerry's nomination of Of Blood and Honey :)

Kevin wrote: "Wow, all these books I have never heard off before."

Isn't it wonderful? :)
I initially joined Goodreads to help expose me to new authors and books in these genres. I've discovered all sorts of new things since I've joined this group just from the monthly nominations. :D

Just had a look at Stefan's updated list. If Viriconium is allowed shouldn't it be in the Fantasy nominations, I'd like to keep my nomination of Only Forward for SF.

Cheers.

Richard wrote: "For Fantasy I'd like to try Viriconium by M. John Harrison.
Been on my TBR shelf much too long, and by an author who's SF I've always enjoyed.
Worth a punt anyway."

emphasis added

Thanks Denae, you're an HTML wizard.

Okay, fixed Viriconium - if the first book is out of print, then the omnibus is eligible, regardless of how big it is. And I moved it to fantasy.

(Sorry about that, I caught some type of nasty summer flu, which is really bad timing as I have 3 books I need to read and review in the next week or so. Bleh. Anyway, I think I have all the nominations in the right place right now, but please double check and let me know if anything else looks wrong.)

I have a fantasy nomination...The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood

Magician King is the second book in that series.

Some PR for the book I nominated. It has really cool cover art by John Berkey. Check it out: The Dragon Never Sleeps.

I know, it's a bit sad....

Machavelli wrote: "Magician King is the second book in that series."

Yes, and the group read 'The Magicians' in June, so the sequel should be eligible.

Colleen is correct: sequels are eligible if we read the previous book(s) in the series, and we just read The Magicians.

Last call for nominations! I'll set up the first round of polls tomorrow, so if anyone has more nominations, send them in today.

I like to nominate for science fiction: Ringworld by Larry Niven, and for fantasy Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn.

looking forward to the vote. not sure if i'm actually going to vote for my own noms ;D

I always love to hear that --- shows that we have a good batch of nominations, when people don't end up voting for the books they nominated themselves!

It's a good thing we don't need to 'second' on this thread. Otherwise I would have had to retract my vote for Sundiver and re-vote for Ringworld. I love Ringworld.

Dammit, Dirk. I thought I had your vote. :)

I've wanted to read Brin's uplift books for ages (only read Earth by him so far) so this seemed the perfect way to get started.

Kerry wrote: "Dammit, Dirk. I thought I had your vote. :)

I've wanted to read Brin's uplift books for ages (only read Earth by him so far) so this seemed the perfect way to get started."

You never know. Could be you still have my vote. I'll be voting for my own nomination. HOWEVER: if, at the last minute, I see that my nomination isn't in the running at all and, say, Sundiver is in second place, trailing by one vote... and depending on where Ringworld is situated, obviously :)

I've only read Sundiver and Startide Rising by Brin, and I enjoyed both tremendously. I have a copy of The Uplift War on my shelf so I'll be digging into that soon. Go for it!

I have read all six of the uplift books - they're awesome :)

Hi everyone,

Nominations are now officially closed.

The first round of polls for our November Books of the Month are up. Please go vote!

Fantasy: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/53...

SF: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/53...

The top two from each poll will move on to the run-off polls, which will start on August 26th.

Stefan

Hi everyone,

I've just set up the run-off polls.

Fantasy: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/53...

SF: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/53...

Please go vote!

Stefan