Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It’s time to open nominations for our June 2013 Books of the Month. Yes, we are thinking of the lazy days of summer already, even though Spring has not officially arrived. But to keep 2 months ahead, giving the lowly reader time to get a book and arrange a reading schedule...Here we go!

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!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, etc., please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group.

We'll take nominations until March 20th, then set up the first round of polls, which will run until March 25th. The run-offs will then start on March 26th and end on the 31st.

Thanks!

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

FANTASY:

The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers
Walking The Tree by Kaaron Warren
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey
Brown Girl in the Ringby Nalo Hopkinson
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint

SCIENCE FICTION:

The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks
Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

fantasy: The Drawing of the Dark

I love Tim Powers books, only read two, and this sounds very good.

Sci-Fi: The Time Ships

Its a sequel to The Time Machine which im sure we know the story if we havent read the book. I know i grew up with the movie on TV every few months.

Ok everyone. Remember, you are not allowed to nominate a book unless its on my to-read shelf. ;)

Sci-Fi: Gateway

Written by Frederik Pohl. It's a fascinating story about alien spaceships that won just about every sic-fi award when it came out in 1977, and it's still interesting today. The start of the Heechee series. Gateway

Random wrote: "Ok everyone. Remember, you are not allowed to nominate a book unless its on my to-read shelf. ;)"

'Like'

R.A. wrote: "Sci-Fi: Gateway

Written by Frederik Pohl. It's a fascinating story about alien spaceships that won just about every sic-fi award when it came out in 1977, and it's still interesting today. The sta..."

id love to read that.. ive read
The Space Merchants and thought that was great. Gateways on my tbr

From my to-read list...

Fantasy:

Walking The Tree

This book got some outstanding reviews when it first came out and a number of people whose opinions I value recommended it to me--I think it's on the literary side, might be fair to call it "eco-fantasy"?

SF:

Grimspace

This just jumped out at me from the bookstore shelf--looks like SF with some action, some interesting ideas...what more could you ask for?

Fantasy: The Night Circus Received critical acclaim upon its release and spent several weeks on the best seller list. The story involves a circus, magicians, and a dark setting. I've been meaning to check it out for ages.

Sci-Fi: A Scanner Darkly. Philip K. Dick -- classic sci-fi containing awesome invention and good old social commentary.

Margot wrote: "Fantasy: The Night Circus Received critical acclaim upon its release and spent several weeks on the best seller list. The story involves a circus, magicians, and a dark setting. I've been meaning t..."

A Scanner Darkly was the book of the month for January.

How about The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks for SF if it's okay to name a Culture novel?

Kevin wrote: "Margot wrote: "Fantasy: The Night Circus Received critical acclaim upon its release and spent several weeks on the best seller list. The story involves a circus, magicians, and a dark setting. I've..."

As Kevin points out, A Scanner Darkly was our BOTM just two months ago, and therefore is not eligible for nomination at this point. The thread is still open for added discussion if you wish to chime in. Margot, I'll post your fantasy nominee and feel free to make another sci fi nom if you wish.

Jim wrote: "How about The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks for SF if it's okay to name a Culture novel?"

Since I've joined BR, we have read Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games in that order. But then, last year, we skipped and read Surface Detail. I think we all realized that the "Culture" books were stand-alone enough to be read out of order. So I'll put The Hydrogen Sonata into the nom list.

I'll nominate Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey for Fantasy in order to equalize the noms at 4 each.

This is the last day for nominations. I will probably not post the polls until around Noon EST (9AM PST)tomorrow. I'll accept nominations up until the polls are posted.

Since there are only four noms for each category, I'll throw a couple of titles into the hat.

I was expecting Marty to pop in and nominate this one again, but since that hasn't happened, I'll do so, because I'm all wound up to read it now. :) For SF, I'll suggest a perpetual Beyond Reality bridesmaid - Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress.

For Fantasy, I'll nominate the Locus-award winning Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, an author it seems the group has never read.

Nick wrote: "I'll nominate Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey for Fantasy in order to equalize the noms at 4 each.

This is the last day for nominations. I will probably not post the polls until around Noon..."

This book was THE very first fantasy book I ever read. Way back in high school it fell into my lap for a book report and I was hooked on fantasy ever since.

Nick wrote: "I'll nominate Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey for Fantasy in order to equalize the noms at 4 each.

This is the last day for nominations. I will probably not post the polls until around Noon..."

Oh man, don't get me started with how much I absolutely adore Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books ;)

I have been craving a magical realism fix, so I am nominating Dreams Underfoot, the first of the Newford series.

For sci-fi I will nominate Only Forward

Candiss wrote: "For SF, I'll suggest a perpetual Beyond Reality bridesmaid - Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress."

Okay, now I'm torn. I nominated The Hydrogen Sonata, which I am enjoying, but I've wanted the Kress book to win before also.

Maggie wrote: "I have been craving a magical realism fix, so I am nominating Dreams Underfoot, the first of the Newford series.

For sci-fi I will nominate Only Forward"

Ack! I really want to read this one. Thanks for making my choice more difficult! ;)

The Nominations are now closed and the polls are up! The nominators have really made it tough for us this time! Scratch your head a while...

and then go vote!

Nick wrote: "As Kevin points out, A Scanner Darkly was our BOTM just two months ago, and therefore is not eligible for nomination at this point."

Oh, weird. I scanned the group bookshelf and didn't see anything from Philip K. Dick but obviously should have searched more specifically.

Margot wrote: "Nick wrote: "As Kevin points out, A Scanner Darkly was our BOTM just two months ago, and therefore is not eligible for nomination at this point."

Oh, weird. I scanned the group bookshelf and didn'..."

Yeah, searches are weird sometimes. If you arrange the bookshelf by author, you'll find that there are 5 Philip K. Dick titles on our old rosters. Any of them would be eligible for nomination as long as it was felt that it had been long enough since their last BOTM posting, which we usually call 1 to 2 years ago. Two months was just too soon.

The thread for A Scanner Darkly is still up, but will drop into the "Past BOTM's" folder at the end of this month. Even there, you can still open it up and make comments, if you wish.