Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It’s time to open nominations for our April 2014 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!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in 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 Monday, January 20.
• The first round of polls will open Tuesday, January 21, and will run through 11:59PM PST, Sunday, January 26, (closing Midnight PST January 27.)
• The run-off polls go up Monday, January 27, and will be open through 11:59PM PST Friday, January 31 (closing Midnight PST February 1st.)

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

FANTASY:
In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (Andreas)
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (Nyssa)
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (Tyler)
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (Marne)
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard (Kurt)
Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone (Carol)
The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan (Chris)
Green by Jay Lake (Deedee)

SCIENCE FICTION:
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (Andreas)
Gridlinked by Neal Asher (Tyler)
Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh (Marne)
The Dervish Houseby Ian McDonald (Nick)
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Helen)
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (Carol)
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (J.A.)
A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock (Deedee)
The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel (Random)

Fantasy: I don't renominate Alif the Unseen, it shall be given a fair break :) Instead, I nominate In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente won the mythopoeic award in 2008

SF: Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre nearly made it in September 2013, so I'll nominate it again :)

For Fantasy I would like to nominate Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

For sf I'll re-nominate Gridlinked byNeal Asher.

For fantasy I'll nominate Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton.

For Fantasy I'd like to nominate The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I just started listening to the audio version and am absolutely captivated.

For Science Fiction I'll nominate Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh. The short story that the book is based on is one of my favorites.

Marne wrote: "For Fantasy I'd like to nominate The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I just started listening to the audio version and am absolutely captivated."

That novel has been the topic of two other groups - it is a fantastic read. Though I wouldn't recommend it to the more action oriented folks :)

I'm going to nominate for sf what I often have in the past year, The Dervish House by Ian McDonald.

I see many nominations I really want to read, so I wont nominate anything! Good choices!

I've extended nominations for one day, as we only have four in each category as of 9AM EST, Jan 20. Expect the nominations to go up for voting tomorrow (Jan 21) around Noon EST.

I have my Spring Summer Fall reading mapped out.
More Mazalan books, and some baseball thrown in for good measure

Can I nominate for SF, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut? I read it recently - it's thought-provoking, relatively short, and free in the Amazon Prime lending library! So it goes.

I agree with Helen for Slaughterhouse-Five for science fiction.
On fantasy I say The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

I'll suggest Altered Carbon, as it came close to winning for March. I've heard it described as Sci-Fi detective noir, which is often a fun combination. I've also had several of my friends rate it 4 stars, so that's a good sign in my book.

Just a FYI--although Dreamsnake has been on my TBR list, one of the barriers is that it was first published in 1978, and when I checked, it was only available in the used book market. Surprisingly, my library system doesn't have a copy.


For fantasy, I'll suggest Three Parts Dead, an enjoyable read. Set in a fantasy world, a necromancer and her mentor have to investigate who killed a god... and hopefully resurrect him. I enjoyed it quite a bit and would be interested in what others have to say.

For fantasy, I'll nominate The Crown Tower by Michael J Sullivan. This is a prequel to his Riyria Revelations trilogy, featuring an engaging pair of thieves(Royce and Hadrian), with plenty of plot twists, humor, and swashbuckling action. I'm looking forward to reading this prequel so that I can learn more about Royce and Hadrian's entertaining exploits.

For Science Fiction, I'll nominate one of the novels that were nominated for the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award for Best Novel:

A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock

How about Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds for SF? Recently published, readily available, popular author and not something from the middle of a series.

For fantasy:
Green by Jay Lake -- book #1 of a trilogy (all in print).

For Science Fiction - just barely makes it into this genre, but a great read - State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. And have you already done Hugh Howey's Wool Saga through to the end?

How is State of Wonder science fiction?

J.A. wrote: "For Science Fiction - just barely makes it into this genre, but a great read - State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. And have you already done Hugh Howey's Wool Saga through to the end?"

I'll go ahead and let State of Wonder into the nom list for the following reasons. The general rules don't really address mainstream novels with slight science fiction or fantasy ties. But they do address "Horror" saying that "Horror is fine for nomination so long as it could be considered SF or Fantasy as well." I will treat mainstream in the same way.

The general rules the moderators use concerning placement of books is that whichever genre is higher in the genre listing of the book gets that book placed into it. "State of Wonder" has 38 listings for "Science" and 16 for "Science Fiction" and none for Fantasy. So it could squeak by as a SF book.

I have read it and remember that the characters are mostly biologists and there is a new drug discovered in a plant (tree bark) from South America that does strange things and the locals have been doing strange things with this drug for years, and now a group of American scientists want to get in on it, and that's what initiates all the commotion.

J.A. wrote: "For Science Fiction - just barely makes it into this genre, but a great read - State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. And have you already done Hugh Howey's Wool Saga through to the end?"

The "Wool Saga" question is difficult. Normally, we do not allow series reads out of order unless you can substantiate that the novel you nominate is stand-alone. There are no Hugh Howey books on our bookshelf, so we should, in theory, start with # 1 in the series. First in this series, however, is 56 pages in its paperback edition, and I'm not sure that would work for a nomination.

Please refer to FAQ's, the first thread in this folder. Thanks!

Jim wrote: "How about Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds for SF? Recently published, readily available, popular author and not something from the middle of a series."

It is not enough that my nomination of Revelation Space won enough for you to have a least something by Reynold or are you not as big of a fan of series books in general?

I'll go a head and toss in The Quiet Invasion by Sarah Zettel for Science Fiction.

I'll skip Fantasy this time around as there's already a few nominated that I would like to read.

Kevin wrote: It is not enough that my nomination of Revelation Space won enough for you to have a least something by Reynold or are you not as big of a fan of series books in general?

Au contraire, I seem to like most everything by Reynolds, stand-alone or series. But perhaps it's a bit much to have two in a row by him. So, in the interest of a broader approach, I'l withdraw my nomination in favor of Gridlinked, a book which was also previously nominated, but by a different author.

Nick wrote: "J.A. wrote: "For Science Fiction - just barely makes it into this genre, but a great read - State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. And have you already done Hugh Howey's Wool Saga through to the end?"

..."
Rather than the a Wool Saga, consider the Wool Omnibus instead. It's the complete story (made up of a number of separate sections). And it's great. Really great. I recently finished the trilogy, Shift (omnibus), and Dust.

Chris, I've been meaning to read the Wool series and didn't have a clue how it was ordered so thanks for that post.

Nominations are now closed for the April 2014 BOTM's.

The First Round of Polls for the April BOTM's are now up. The top two vote-getters will go on to the final round. Please go to the Polls link in the UR corner of the BR homepage and vote!

These polls will stay open until 11:59PM (PST) Jan 26. The next round of polling will begin on January 27.

Links to Poll Pages:

April Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

April Science Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

Jim wrote: "Kevin wrote: It is not enough that my nomination of Revelation Space won enough for you to have a least something by Reynold or are you not as big of a fan of series books in general?

Au contrair..."

Thanks for your consideration!

The Run-off polls for April 2014 are now up. They run from Jan 27 through 11:59PM (PST) January 31.

There was a tie for second place in the first round of the SF category, therefore there are three nominees in the run-off.

It's Time to Go Vote. You may click on the Polls link in the UR corner of the BR homepage, or you may use these links:

Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

SF: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...