Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It's time to open nominations for our June 2017 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. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. 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.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

and/or

b. these threads:
Master List of Previous Books of the Month 2012-Present
Master List of Previous Books of the Month 2006-2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, 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, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, 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, March 22.
• The first round of polls will open Thursday, March 23, and will run through Monday, March 27.
• The run-off polls go up Tuesday, March 28, and will be open through Saturday, April 1.

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:


SCIENCE FICTION:
Arkwright by Allen Steele (Chris)
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson (Joey)
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (Phil)
The January Dancer by Michael Flynn (Mary)
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi (Silvana)
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (David)
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter (Pickle)
Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (Nick)
Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells (Justine)
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Piers Rippey)



FANTASY:
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (Phil)
The Queen's Necklace by Teresa Edgerton (Mary)
The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan (Silvana)
Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell(Pickle)
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Justine)
Vellum by Hal Duncan (Random)

For fantasy, I'll nominate Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher. It has a lovely fairytale quality, with well rounded characters.

For science fiction, I'll nominate Arkwright by Allen Steele. I haven't read it, but it's shown up on several lists of 2016 best science fiction.

For science fiction, I will nominate Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. I have not read it, but it sounds interesting.

Titus Groan for fantasy.
The Stars My Destination for sci fi.

Fantasy: The Queen's Necklace by Teresa Edgerton. A continent-sweeping plot that encompasses magic and a long ago tyrant race.

SF: The January Dancer by Michael Flynn Action, adventure, and philosophical questions in a far future galaxy

Fantasy: The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan
Scifi: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

Spin for Sci Fi

Sc-fi: Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships

fantasy: David Gemmells Lord of the Silver Bow

This used to be a go-to nomination for Fantasy for me -- but now the book has miraculously transferred over into the Science Fiction category by getting more votes on its GR homepage in SF, and it has a new (since the last nomination) paperback edition. So......

For Science Fiction, I will nominate Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler, a story of the old American west about a stranger with no name who wanders into a NW mining town -- only this time it's not Clint Eastwood, it's a very strange woman with some strange (fantastical? science-fictiony?) qualities.

For SF I would like to nominate Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells. It just came out, so I haven't yet read it, but it looks really good.

For fantasy I would like to nominate Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which came out last year and has been getting absolutely solid reviews.

I'd like to nominate New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson for SF.

Due to problematic scheduling, I won't be able to get the polls up until tomorrow, so you have all day today yet to make nominations. I changed the dates accordingly in the first post.

On that note, we have far fewer fantasy noms than science fiction right now. So if anyone has a suggestion for fantasy, let us know!

How about Vellum by Hal Duncan for Fantasy.

I've been meaning to read it for a while. It seems to have split reviews. People either love it or hate it. At the least it should lead to some interesting discussion. :)

I've already nominated one, but if we need another to round out the polls, how about The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden.

Nominations are (finally) closed. Polls incoming.

Chris, unfortunately Summer in Orcus doesn't qualify, as it's ebook only at the moment. I'm sorry I couldn't look this up and notify you earlier (in time for you to make a different suggestion) but I haven't been able to get online.

Here are the first polls:

SF: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

F: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

The run-off polls are open:

SF: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

F: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Candiss and I are both having issues with getting online right now. As things are set up, the polls are scheduled to finish tonight (April 1). Therefore, the welcome to April will be put off until tomorrow. (Cross fingers.)

Hi Nick and Candiss, since The Waking Fire won I took the liberty of asking Anthony Ryan for Q&A. He left me his email address so can any of you contact him directly? I figure maybe the mods would be more suitable. Thanks!

Silvana wrote: "Hi Nick and Candiss, since The Waking Fire won I took the liberty of asking Anthony Ryan for Q&A. He left me his email address so can any of you contact him directly? I figure maybe the mods would ..."

Sure. You can send an email address to me. The Waking Fire will be a BOTM in June, so that is when Anthony Ryan would have to be available.