Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone!

It's time to open nominations for our September 2013 Books of the Month. Each group member can make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy namination 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 nominated book 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 idn't win in the polls in previous months!
-- For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books is series, etc., please see the group FAQ.
-- Seconding isn't necessary in this group.
-- Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
-- Nominations will remain open through Wednesday, June 19.
-- The first round of polls will open Thursday, June 20, and will run through 11:59PM PST, Tuesday, June 25 (closing Midnight PST June 26.)
--The run-off polls go up Wednesday, June 26 and will be open through 11:59PM PST Sunday, June 30 (closing Midnight PST July 1.)

Thanks!

NOMINATIONS SO FAR

SCIENCE FICTION:
Conquerors' Pride by Timothy Zahn
The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
Idlewild by Nick Sagan

FANTASY:
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers
Waylander by David Gemmell -- see mssgs 16 & 19 below concerning series info and why this is considered an independent story
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay
Greenmantle by Charles de Lint

id like to nominate Conquerors' Pride by Timothy Zahn as my sci-fi choice. Ive enjoyed any book he has written and think this would be a good choice.

I'd like to nominate Redshirts by John Scalzi for SF; I've had it on my kindle and been meaning to read it for a while. It's supposed to be pretty funny; the title refers to the anonymous Star Trek crewmembers in red shirts who never seem to make it back from away missions.

For fantasy, I suspect most of you have read this already but it's worth a shot, Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. Another one I've had on my shelf for a while.

Tyler wrote: "Icarus hunt by timothy zahn

diamond age by Neal Stephenson"

Hi Tyler,

Night Train to Rigel, The Icarus Hunt, and The Diamond Age all have SF listed as their leading GR genre. According to our rules each member of BR may nominate 1 SF and 1 Fantasy for each month's BOTM. Which of these three would you like to nominate as the SF choice?

I would like to nominate Dreamsnake

Maggie wrote: "I would like to nominate Dreamsnake"

I will have to put "Dreamsnake" in the Science Fiction nominations as that is its overwhelming GR classification. I hope this is what you wanted.

Everyone, please try to tell whether your nomination is for SF or Fantasy. If there's ever a question, we go by Stefan's precedent to put the nomination in its most popular GR genre category.

for fantasy can i please recommend the excellent Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers

Pickle wrote: "for fantasy can i please recommend the excellent Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers"

You certainly can.

In a desperate attempt to shorten my to-read list, I'm going to nominate . . .

Science Fiction
Eifelheim - This is already on the group's shelves, but its listed as having been read over 4 years ago, so I don't feel guilty for nominating it again. :)

As for Fantasy
Would The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman be acceptable? Its official release date is tomorrow and its a real date and not an estimate. If not, I'll pass on the Fantasy nomination as I don't have anything else I really want to read at the moment.

sorry about that. I'd like to nominate The Icarus Hunt by timothy zahn as my sci-fi choice.

I'd like to nominate Waylander. It's the first of the Waylander novels by Gemmell. Waylander also called the Gray Man is a feared assassin who has in his past caused great harm (very great) and now lives with the consequences.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I'd like to nominate Waylander. It's the first of the Waylander novels by Gemmell. Waylander also called the Gray Man is a feared assassin who has in his past caused great harm (very great) and now..."

Hi Mike,

I would have to nominate "Waylander" in the "Fantasy" category. I hope this is what you intended.

However, "Waylander" is number 3 in a series. As a general rule we don't nominate books in series out of order unless it's a series of definite "stand-alones" such as the "Culture" novels of Iain Banks. I see Legend listed as number one in the series. Did you intend to nominate it?

Random wrote: "In a desperate attempt to shorten my to-read list, I'm going to nominate . . .

Science Fiction
Eifelheim - This is already on the group's shelves, but its listed as having been read over 4 years

Would The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman be acceptable? ..."

I've got this question out to Stefan. We'll see what he says.

Well my husband just grabbed the audio version from Audible this morning. Ebook versions are also available for immediate purchase so looks like it should be good.

Random wrote: "Well my husband just grabbed the audio version from Audible this morning. Ebook versions are also available for immediate purchase so looks like it should be good."

In double checking the FAQ's I see (no. 6Q under GENERAL RULES) that books cannot be nominated unless they have a print format. So we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the print version indeed comes out. Other than that, it looks good to go.

Waylander is only 3 if you consider all Gemmell's Drenai novels one series starting with Legend. Then there are 9 books but they aren't all interlocked in a continuous series. They're more like Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books made up of multiple small series that take place in an overall story that can then tie together.

Waylander is the first in the Waylander series that is placed in the Drenai saga. You don't have to have read Legend Or The King Beyond the Gate.

It is of course up to the Mods and I won't complain either way.

Waylander

Just let me know.

Random wrote: "Well my husband just grabbed the audio version from Audible this morning. Ebook versions are also available for immediate purchase so looks like it should be good."

Hi again Random,

My mistake. It looks like your "Tomorrow" is actually "Today" as you sent your first message yesterday. Amazon has the book listed as available in hardcover and paperback. So, unless Stefan pipes up with an objection, it will be on the nomination list soon.

And you know, it would have taken me maybe 5 seconds to verify print editions this morning when I did my last post. I just so rarely think about any others other than electronic.

BTW - the audiobook of The Ocean at the End of the Lane is narrated by Neil Gaiman, who is an excellent narrator.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Waylander is only 3 if you consider all Gemmell's Drenai novels one series starting with Legend. Then there are 9 books but they aren't all interlocked in a continuous series. They're more like Mic..."

To complicate matters further, it looks like when the different novels were omnibus'd, "Waylander" ended up being Tale #4. In Drenai Tales: Volume One and Drenai Tales: Volume Two, the GR descriptions make it evident that the different "Tales" are indeed different, independent stories. So I'll go ahead and put Waylander on the nominations list.

Gemmell had several groups of tales set in what sort of amounted to different lands. I'm a big Gemmell fan. I don't think I've ever read a book of his I don't like.

How about River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay for Fantasy for September? I guess this is a nomination. Hope it's in the right place.

I'll nominate Idlewild by Nick Sagan for SF, because I've been meaning to read it for ages, and for fantasy Greenmantle by Charles de Lint, because I think he's one of the finest fantasy authors - or any authors - around and I think everyone should read him.

Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "I'll nominate Idlewild by Nick Sagan for SF, because I've been meaning to read it for ages, and for fantasy Greenmantle by Charles de Lint, because I think he's one of the finest fantasy authors - ..."
Second Idlewild for SF
and
River of Stars for fantasy please.

So many great nominations! Looks like we'll have enough to do the usual initial poll, then run-off polls for the two top vote-getters.

There is still time to nominate! I probably won't get around to setting up the first poll until Thursday morning, so you can nominate until then (even though officially I said that nominations would close at midnight tonight).

People, stop adding books to my tbr!

Nominations are now closed. Go vote!

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/16...

As it turns out, we had enough nominations to have a preliminary poll (which will end at 11:59PM, June 25) followed by a run-off of the top two (which will begin on June 26 and end at 11:59PM, June 30) -- the way we usually do things.