Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It's time to open nominations for our May 2018 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 Sunday, February 18.
• The first round of polls will open Monday, February 19, and will run through Friday, February 23.
• The run-off polls go up Saturday, February 24, and will be open through Wednesday, February 28.

Thanks!


NOMINATIONS SO FAR:


SCIENCE FICTION:
Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin
What I Didn't See: and Other Stories by Karen Joy Fowler
Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds
The High Ground by Melinda M. Snodgrass
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance


FANTASY:
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
First Watch by Dale Lucas
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. Been wanting to read this since ages. Also one of the critically acclaimed new canon novels.

For fantasy I will nominate Dying of the Lights by George RR Martin. Looks spacey/SFish but just reading the synopsis, it looks like fantasy.

For Science Fiction: What I Didn't See: and Other Stories by Karen Joy Fowler

In mainstream books like We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and The Jane Austen Book Club, Fowler has proven to be a great proponent of sci-fi, especially women in sci-fi. She is one of the founders of the James Tiptree, Jr. award, and has participated in editing many collections from that prestigious contest. What I Didn't See: and Other Stories is a collection of hers which contains two nebula award winners and is labelled sci-fi on Goodreads.

For Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, a BOTM for this club back in 2002. Perhaps time to revisit.

Great idea to revisit the Le Guin classic. I just happen to have a fresh copy in hand as well as an omnibus edition with all three tales. My spouse is busily traversing them as of now.

For SF I will nominate Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds. Available as a trade copy now. A tale about the "Glitter Band". Should be intriguing.

For Science Fiction I'll nominate Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines.

This is a funny SF story about janitors who end up as the only people left on a big space ship and have to end up saving the day, both for the ship and potentially all humanity. It is very funny, but also has a great SF story and plenty of action.

For fantasy I'll nominate The Fifth Ward: First Watch by Dale Lucas.

This is a fun fantasy series debut. Sort of a buddy cop movie in a fantasy setting. Lots of action, humor, and a good mystery to solve. Book 2 in the series comes out this summer.

Silvana wrote: "Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. Been wanting to read this since ages. Also one of the critically acclaimed new canon novels.

For fantasy I will nominate Dying of the Lights by George RR Martin. Looks spac..."

G.R.R. Martin was overwhelmingly a sci-fi writer before he got into the Song of Fire and Ice series. Dying of the Light is listed 2 to 1 as Science Fiction in GR's mainpage genre list, so I think we will have to count it as such.

I would nominate it myself, only I just nominated a sci-fi. I encourage anyone who will to nominate the Martin for sci-fi. Silvana, you or anyone else can then nominate another Fantasy candidate.

Sunshine by Robin McKinley. An alternate history/contemporary fantasy with an unusual twist on vampires.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff: high-stakes interstellar chase.

Hmm... Can I nominate Thrawn as fantasy instead? Star Wars is Space Fantasy.

If not, then I'll nominate Nalo Hopkinson's Skin Folk and other stories for my fantasy pick.

The Gone World

scifi -The Prefect
My favourite of all the books within the Revelation Space uni. A sequel came out last month Elysium Fire

@Pickle: Do we need to read Revelation Space first?

My nominations are Roses and Rot by Kat Howard for fantasy.

For SF, The High Ground by Melinda M. Snodgrass.

Silvana wrote: "@Pickle: Do we need to read Revelation Space first?"

Not really. But it couldn't hurt. My own suggestion as a "prerequisite" would be "Galactic North" a set of short stories which give an excellent view into the Revelation Space milieu.

Silvana wrote: "@Pickle: Do we need to read Revelation Space first?"

No i wouldnt say so but Revelation Space & House of Suns have been past reads so that was one of the reasons i chose The Prefect.

Since the movie news, I have been wanting to read A Wrinkle in Time for fantasy.

and for science fiction I nominate Dandelion Wine, because it is so dang cold here that I need a summery book!

For sci-fi I nominate Tales of dying earth by Jack Vance.

Jim wrote: "For SF I will nominate Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds. Available as a trade copy now. A tale about the "Glitter Band". Should be intriguing."

Ill reply to my own note to say that I see this book as a stand alone episode in the "further adventures of Prefect Dreyfuss". If it is deemed to be a sequel to The Prefect, I will gladly withdraw the nomination.

Jim wrote: "Jim wrote: "For SF I will nominate Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds. Available as a trade copy now. A tale about the "Glitter Band". Should be intriguing."

Ill reply to my own note to say that I ..."

Jim, I read through some Goodreaders' reviews, and although they say the book can be read as a standalone, they also say that reading it without having previously read the first book will cause one to miss important details re: character development and such.

Since Pickle nominated the first book in the cycle, The Prefect, I think we should let that one stand as the representative of this particular Reynolds series this time. Did you want to nominate another book?

Candiss wrote: "Did you want to nominate another book? "

Thanks Candiss. No, I think I'll be satisfied to just endorse Pickle's choice of The Prefect. I found it to a great read, myself.

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

Here are the first polls for May:

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

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

Vote now through February 23.

The run-off polls for May are open. You can vote through February 28.

There was a tie for 2nd place in SF, so we have three titles to choose from.

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

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