Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It’s time to open nominations for our December 2011 Books of the Month. Each group member can make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination in this thread. If you would like to make a nomination, please reply to this post with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration.

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 Tuesday, September 20th, and the first round of polls will go up on Wednesday, September 21st.

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:


FANTASY:
The Magician King - Lev Grossman (Helen)
The Dragon Waiting : A Masque of History - John M. Ford (Hélène)
The Light Ages - Ian R. MacLeod (Paul 'Pezter')
Rainbow Abyss - Barbara Hambly (Janny)
Northern Lights (UK) aka The Golden Compass (US) - Philip Pullman (Richard)
Orphans of Chaos - John C. Wright (Kevin)
Voyage of the Shadowmoon - Sean McMullen (Ron)
Of Blood and Honey - Stina Leicht (Kara)

SCIENCE FICTION:
Survival - Julie E. Czerneda (Hélène)
The Quiet Invasion - Sarah Zettel (Janny)
The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi (Kevin)
Spin - Robert Charles Wilson (Richard)
His Master's Voice - Stanisław Lem (Ron)
The Sky Road - Ken MacLeod (Paul 'Pezter')
Embassytown - China Miéville (Candiss)
Time's Edge - J.M. Dattilo (Helen)

The Magician King - I think we all know who by etc! I've got my copy ready to go. We nearly had it last month, which due to the vagueries of time will actually be in 2 months.

I'll try again with Survival by Julie E. Czernedafor SF and The Dragon Waiting : A Masque of History by John M. Ford in Fantasy.

fantasy: The Light Ages by Ian R MacLeod, an alternative history, steampunk and magic book that has been compared to China Mieville.

SF: The Sky Road, one of Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution books, which are connected but non-sequential.

Oh, and I don't think the two authors are related...

Nor are they related to Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Chris wrote: "Nor are they related to Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.

Sorry, couldn't resist."

of course not, as there can be only one!

(and having seen the sequels, i always think there should have been only one...)

Man, I never heard any of these authors, expect Lev Grossman. I need to catch up.

Paul "Pezter" - I read the series page for the Fall Revolution series, and while it does suggest they don't have a strict order, it does say that the book you've nominated is an alternate future for the first two books. I don't know how confusing that may or may not be. Have you read them? Anyone else want to weigh in? (I've left this nom off until we have more input.)

for SF, I'd like to nominate The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel - it's got great concepts/superb writing - a unique alien civilization - and on top of great SF, excellent characters.

for fantasy, I'd like to nominate The Rainbow Abyss: The Sun-Cross Series - a first book in a quite EXCELLENT duology that crosses a fantasy world with the WWII Nazis who did in fact investigate black arts - it's an older work, but very tight - with Hambly's usual depth of characters and beautifully written fantasy world on the one side, crossing through a dark moment of our history seen from a very unique perspective. Of Hambly's works, which always have incredible depth of character, and lovely writing - this one is outstanding and one of my favorites. (It was also available as an ominbus, once, at least from the SF Book Club.) People who like Guy Kay would very likely enjoy this story, too.

Candiss wrote: "Paul "Pezter" - I read the series page for the Fall Revolution series, and while it does suggest they don't have a strict order, it does say that the book you've nominated is an alternate future fo..."

I've read the all, and completely out of order. I'd say no knowledge of the other books is required, but i'd be happy to hear anyone else's thoughts on that.

Janny, I note that your fantasy nom is available for both Kindle and Nook, even though it is, as you say, an "older" series. :) I just wanted the group to know that, because for some odd reason, Amazon does not have the Kindle edition linked to the paper editions' page as they usually do. (I love that so many older works are being reissued electronically now, which might introduce them to a newer generation of readers.)

Candiss wrote: "Janny, I note that your fantasy nom is available for both Kindle and Nook, even though it is, as you say, an "older" series. :) I just wanted the group to know that, because for some odd reason, ..."

Thanks for looking this up, Candiss - SOME of these 'older works' were just written way ahead of their time...and got buried for no good reason, whatsoever. There are readers, now, looking for a more adult slant to their fantasies - and departures from the mythic quest...and many of that sort of work would find more than a niche readership, now. My take, anyhow.

GR blurb for Rainbow Abyss just grabbed me!

I would like to nominate a book written by a new first time author that came out by back in May, The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.

Ok here goes.

For SciFi : Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

And

For Fantasy : Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, also known as The Golden Compass.

Another attempt to fight back against my TBR shelf and fill some woeful gaps in my reading with these two highly praised books.

Spin is on my TBR too. This is starting to be a trickier vote!

Richard wrote: "Ok here goes.

For SciFi : Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

And

For Fantasy : Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, also known as [book:The Golde..."

I will second Northern Lights, since I just got a copy a week ago.

Why did they change the name of The Golden Compass?

Christine wrote: "Why did they change the name of The Golden Compass?"

Just had a look at Philip Pullman's official website and apparently it was published in the UK by Scholastic in 1995 as 'Northern Lights' and then by Knopf in the USA the following year as 'The Golden Compass'.

Absolutely no idea why. Anyone else better informed?

Wikipedia saves the day again. Anyone interested in the name change should look here

For fantasy I would like to nominate a book that I just found at the library, Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright.

American publishers said you wouldn't get what it was about if it stayed as Northern Lights and that the gadget should be re-named. They also changed philosopher's stone to Sorceror as you wouldn't know what a philosopher was. It amused us tremendously - sorry!

Helen wrote: "American publishers said you wouldn't get what it was about if it stayed as Northern Lights and that the gadget should be re-named. They also changed philosopher's stone to Sorceror as you wouldn't..."

I was irritated about the Philosopher/Sorceror change...how silly. Philosopher's Stone sounds much better, and it has a historical basis. Furthermore, Northern Lights makes more sense in context AND sounds nicer. *sigh* I hate it when publishers/producers/etc. dumb something down in some way, assuming that a specific group won't "get" it...and I really hate it when I'm part of said group. How insulting!

There seems to be a bit more to the story, at least for the Golden Compass, then just thinking we wouldn't get it:

"For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels were known as The Golden Compasses. The word Compasses referred to a pair of compasses—the circle-drawing instrument—rather than a navigational compass. Pullman then settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and continued to refer to the trilogy as The Golden Compasses. Like the eventual title for the trilogy, the original title The Golden Compasses comes from a line in Milton's Paradise Lost.
[...]
In the United States, in their discussions over the publication of the first book, the publishers Alfred A. Knopf had been calling it The Golden Compass (omitting the plural), which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because the device superficially resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials as the title of the trilogy. According to Pullman, the publishers had become so attached to The Golden Compass that they insisted on publishing the U.S. edition of the first book under that title, rather than as Northern Lights, the title used in the UK and Australia."


And they didn't think Americans wouldn't know what a philosopher was, they thought that children wouldn't want to read a book with the word philosopher in it. Because most kids aren't familiar with the Philosopher's Stone, so wouldn't make the connection to alchemy, and would just think philosophy = boring.

I do wish they'd kept the original name for it, though.

Thanks Colleen, I should have expanded further in my previous post rather than just lazily sticking a badly formed link in it.

Sorry Richard - I didn't see your earlier post.

No need to be sorry Colleen, genuine thanks for doing the job I should of done in the first place. Laziness is one of my many failings, that and going on too much. Being aware of the one just made the other worse.

Cheers.

It is stupid and insulting to all readers. I always think whatever the author wanted should be what happens. There's a book that came out Sept (?) that has a different title for us - something about a straight razor?? Can't remember, it's somewhere on my TBR.

Helen wrote: "It is stupid and insulting to all readers. I always think whatever the author wanted should be what happens. There's a book that came out Sept (?) that has a different title for us - something abou..."

Ah, I think that would be Low Town, aka Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure, by Daniel Polansky. I read it was another publisher decision. I wonder if the author originally wanted the "straight razor" title, but the publisher thought the US and Canada (who both get "Low Town") wouldn't buy something with that in the title? (I have to say I think the shorter/simpler "Low Town" has a nicer ring to it. The other one seems too long and doesn't really roll off the tongue.) It seems both odd an potentially confusing.

That is it! I confess the term Low Town means nothing to me. Publishers have too much power.

Well, just for a change of pace, how about some nominations? For science fiction I suggest Stanislaw Lem's novel His Master's Voice, possibly Lem's finest work. And for fantasy I nominate Australian Sean McMullen's Voyage of the Shadowmoon, first book in the Moonworlds saga, light, funny, fastmoving, swashbuckling fun.

Today is the last day for noms, everyone. If you want to toss a book or two into the ring and haven't already, now's the time!

Er...correction. Today, as in Tuesday the 20th, is the last day for noms. How did I get up Monday morning thinking it was the 20th? *sigh*

I'd like to re-nominate Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht. A new author and the book has good reviews... as Courtney Schafer wrote,
"...the Sidhe and fallen angels with the gritty reality of life during the Troubles in 1970s Ireland."

I'm going to go ahead and list Paul 'Pezter's (Wow...very iffy to try to make a possessive out of your handle! ;) ) SF nom of The Sky Road by Ken MacLeod. I did enough research to be satisfied that they are meant to be standalone-friendly. If someone else has read them and has strong objection, let me know.

Of Blood and Honey sounds interesting. I think it'll get my vote. :>

I think I'll nominate last month's 2nd-place finisher, Embassytown by China Miéville, for SF, since we are running a bit short (numerically) on SF entries this month.

Time's Edge is a lovely sci-fi read that I'm happy to nominate if we're short. The authors are husband and wife and are on GR so might join us if invited.

Candiss wrote: "I'm going to go ahead and list Paul 'Pezter's (Wow...very iffy to try to make a possessive out of your handle! ;) ) SF nom of The Sky Road by Ken MacLeod. I did enou..."

Pez is fine (or Pezter, Pezski, your Pezness...)

:D

El Pezerino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing?

(Sorry, random drive-by Lebowski quote)

(And - thank you Candiss for keeping the group running while I'm buried in work!)

If you say "The Pez abides," one may have to resort to violence...

Ron wrote: "If you say "The Pez abides," one may have to resort to violence..."

i never even considered it. ahem.

Nominations are closed, and the first-round polls are going up!

Polls are up; Go vote!