Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It’s time to open nominations for our October 2012 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.)

General guidelines:
• 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.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Wednesday, July 18.
• The first round of polls will open Thursday, July 19, and will run through 11:59PM PST, Tuesday, July 24 (closing Midnight PST July 25.)
• The run-off polls go up Wednesday, July 25, and will be open through 11:59PM PST Monday, July 30 (closing Midnight PST July 31.)

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

FANTASY:
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Jim)
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (Shel)
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks (Kevin)
Vellum: The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan (Random)
The Wild Road by Gabriel King (Janny)
Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny by Martin H. Greenberg (editor) (Jim)
The Etched City by K.J. Bishop (Paul)


SCIENCE FICTION:
Invader by C.J. Cherryh (Shel)
The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel (Random)
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (Kevin)
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway (Paul)
Grass by Sheri S. Tepper (Candiss)

I generally just follow the SF nominations, but am motivated to nominate Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs for fantasy. Nominally a YA offering, this is a very clever and absorbing tale of unusual children stuck in time. It is embellished by the use of actual photos of unknown subjects which fit the character profiles. Fascinating. Everybody I know who has read this has loved it.

I've been wanting to read that one, Jim. It looks like it's going to win the geography-based theme read for September in one of my non-strictly-sff groups (for location: Wales,) so I'll most likely be reading it, anyhow.

I really liked Miss Peregrine's Home... will be interesting to hear what everyone else thinks if it's chosen!

I'll propose A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny for fantasy, because I've been wanting to read it again. It's a classic, very funny, and since it's written so that each day in October is its own (short) chapter, it might be fun to read a chapter a day to make it last the month.

For SF, I'll propose Invader by CJ Cherryh, since we read Foreigner recently, I really enjoyed it, and want to continue with the series.

For fantasy, I would like to nominate The Black Prism, which I read over the 4th of July. I really enjoy it.

Just looked, and the Zelazny is no longer in print (which is a shame!). Does that disqualify it, Stefan?

My library has a copy

For Science Fiction lets try The Quiet Invasionby Sarah Zettel

For Fantasy I'm going to try Vellum: The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan

Why? Because they both sound good and I've been wanting to read them for a long time. :D

And while I'm at it, I vote that all future monthly selections have to be taken from my To-Read list so I might have a chance of the number of books going down instead of going up. ;)

Random wrote: "And while I'm at it, I vote that all future monthly selections have to be taken from my To-Read list so I might have a chance of the number of books going down instead of going up. ;)"

I feel your pain! :)

Random wrote: "For Science Fiction lets try The Quiet Invasionby Sarah Zettel

For Fantasy I'm going to try Vellum: The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan

Why? Because they both sound good and I've been wanting to..."

I loved The Quiet Invasion!

Since that would get my vote, for SF, I'll nominate a fantasy that's quite different than the norm:

The Wild Road by Gabriel King - it's a supernatural tale with feral cats playing the lead - extremely well done and quite unpredictable. The fun part: it's a collaboration between Jane Johnson, once senior editor at HarperCollins UK, and M. John Harrison, whose SF has been enjoyed by this group. The blend of talent is quite impressive, and the story not at a whit sentimental, even if animals are the protagonists.

For science fiction I would like to nominate Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds because I just bought the book about a month ago. This would give me more of a reason to read the book.

Shel wrote: "Just looked, and the Zelazny is no longer in print (which is a shame!). Does that disqualify it, Stefan?"

From the FAQ: 4- Out of print books can be nominated, but please take a moment to check if the book can easily be found second-hand (on Amazon, Alibris...).

So I think you're good, Shel. :)

Cool! :)

I'm a real fan of A Night in the Lonesome October, but it is a bit tough to get. I read it every October & have a set of notes for it because the allusions are so far reaching.

I'd like to suggest a short story book. Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny which is a collection of short stories by some top notch authors. Gaiman, Benford, Andre Norton, Silverberg, Brust & more wrote for it. I just finished Gaiman's story which he wrote about Larry Talbot, one of the main characters in 'Lonesome October'. His afterword is fantastic. There are 34 used copies starting for a penny on Amazon, so it's easy to get.

I'll offer The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway in SF and (drumroll please) KJ Bishop's The Etched City in fantasy.

Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Nominations are closed, and the first round of polls are going up right now. I wasn't going to nominate anything this month, but we only ended up with 4 SF noms, and we usually have a solid 6-10. So I'm tossing SF Masterwork Grass by Sheri S. Tepper into the ring to bring us up to 5 SF choices.

Please go vote!

I loved The Wild Road, there was a sequel too, although it didn't end as though it needed one.

I found The Wild Road as an e-book on the web so it is now on my reader

I'm glad that both of my nominations are winning right now, but it may be a different story once its down to two.

The run-off polls are up now and will remain open through 11:59PM PST Monday, July 30 (closing Midnight PST July 31.)

No link for tie breaker???

Christine wrote: "No link for tie breaker???"

I didn't even think to put a link in this thread, as this is the old (closed) nomination thread. And I already pestered everyone with a broadcast email with the link in it and didn't want to push it. ;)

But here is the link to the one-day tie-breaker poll: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/69...

Oops! I'm sorry, folks... I thought I had (and I certainly intended to) include a direct link to the tie-breaker poll in the broadcast email, but I managed to omit it. Sorry to confuse things...

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/69...