Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It's time to open nominations for our December 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, September 20.
• The first round of polls will open Thursday, September 21, and will run through Monday, September 25.
• The run-off polls go up Tuesday, September 26, and will be open through Saturday, September 30.

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

SCIENCE FICTION:
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
This is the Way the World Ends: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Keith Taylor
Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
Blood Music by Greg Bear
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
The Fold by Peter Clines


FANTASY:
Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
The Bear and the Nightingale: A Novel by Katherine Arden
Borderline by Mishell Baker
Voice of Our Shadow by Jonathan Carroll

SF: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.
F: Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb

fantasy: Sunshine by Robin McKinley
sf: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

For sci-fi, I will nominate Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

SF: This is the Way the World Ends: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Keith Taylor.

I'll try again with Revenger by Alastair Reynolds for SF.

I have been wanting to read Blood Music for sci-fi, and The Bear and the Nightingale for fantasy

For sci fi, I recommend Naomi Alderman's The Power, which was I think the first speculative fiction novel to win the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction.

And for fantasy, I recommend Mishell Baker's Borderline. I'm not usually an urban fantasy fan, but this is getting really glowing reviews and won a Nebula for first novel and apparently represents neurodiversity in fascinating ways.

Some good recs already. i shall add to the mix by nominating:

SF: Behold the Man

Fantasy: Voice of Our Shadow

Travis wrote: "For sci fi, I recommend Naomi Alderman's The Power, which was I think the first speculative fiction novel to win the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction.

And for fan..."

The Power is really interesting!

How about

Science Fiction - The Fold by Peter Clines

I'm kind of burned out on fantasy at the moment so no decent suggestions here.

Nominations are now closed, and the polls will be up in a bit.

The first round of polls is now up and will be open through Monday, September 25:

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

Science Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

The run-off polls for December are up. Voting is open through the end of the day, Saturday, September 30.

Science Fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Fantasy (with a tie for 2nd place): https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...