Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hi

please read the rules.

one nomination and one second per person, try to link it and no young adult or sci fi.

This month please nominate short stories or collections. Thankyou.

I nominate Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter's Tales by Greer Gilman.

Would Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love count?

it's hard to find a short story collection where young adult or science fiction aren't mentioned :(

Bev, if I've done this incorrectly, please let me know.

This is tricky...many short stories cannot be found as "standalone" works so no links to the nominated story itself. Also could be a challenge for voters to find descriptions of stories they may like to read. But, here goes...

I'll nominate The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company:Mirrors to Last Till Kingdom Come . Authored by Yann Martel who wrote Life of Pi. (The short is not YA.)

The story can be found in The Secret History of Fantasy, a collection of short stories by nineteen well-known fantasy writers. (Several of the tales are very good.)

Here's a link to a review of the story which may help in the decision-making process. http://literary-lethargy.com/from-the...

Lára wrote: "Would Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love count?

it's hard to find a short story collection where young adult or science fiction aren't mentioned :("

Yep looks good.

Kelila wrote: "I nominate Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter's Tales by Greer Gilman."

Thanks

Monica wrote: "Bev, if I've done this incorrectly, please let me know.

This is tricky...many short stories cannot be found as "standalone" works so no links to the nominated story itself. Also could be a challen..."

Done very well Monica thankyou.

I like this one:Epic: Legends of Fantasy edited by John Joseph Adams. It has a nice mix of classics and newer authors.

I haven't read this, but thought it would be interesting.
Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy

I'll second Tales Before Tolkien and I'll nominate A Vintage From Atlantis by Clark Ashton Smith, which includes a number of his Hyperborea and Zothique stories.

How about Unfettered? Collection of short stories by different authors. It is quite long, as in I don't know how short the individual stories are.

I'll second Unfettered.

Lára wrote: "Would Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love count?

it's hard to find a short story collection where young adult or science fiction aren't mentioned :("

Seconded.

May be interesting to visit these stories to help decide whether to jump into the larger series entirely.

I third Unfettered.

So far we have nominated and seconded

Unfettered
Songs of love and death......
Tales before Tolkien.
Legends
Tales from High Hallak
Rogues
Academic exercises
I think maybe people need more time.

What about Legends? It's got a bunch of big-name authors in it which may turn some people off, but I remember really enjoying it. Edited by Robert Silverberg, but I don't remember there being any SF in it.

I nominate Shadows Beneath

Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology

Bryan wrote: "What about Legends? It's got a bunch of big-name authors in it which may turn some people off, but I remember really enjoying it. Edited by Robert Silverberg, but I don..."

I second legends

I'll add a third for Tales Before Tolkien - sounds very interesting.

Recently I've been reading a lot of serious or dark fantasy so would like to read something a little light hearted that will provide me with a chuckle or two.

Martinez, A. Lee
In the company of Ogres or
In the Company of Ogres

Gentle, Mary
Grunts
Grunts

Legends was a good read. and wouldn't mind reading it again.
There is a second and third book in the anthology series that might also be good reads.

How about Tales from High Hallack, Volume 1: The Collected Short Stories of Andre Norton by Andre Norton?

Link: http://amzn.com/B00KLOY3S0

I am halfway finished with this book. I would love for others to view it and see if we all feel the same.

I nominate:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

This is considered fantasy correct?

I second Tales from High Hallack.

I'll second The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Leviathan Wept and Other Stories by Daniel Abraham has been on my to read shelf for ages.

I will nominate Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, surprised it didn't find its way in here yet !

Rogues by the editing duo George R.R. Martin and Gardner R. Dozois. It's really good, themed around rogues/thieves/scoundrels etc. It's mostly fantasy but some stories are contemporary, I hope it's eligible. If not, I'd like to nominate Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker, I'm really waiting for a group-read of some of Parker's work. Unfettered is already seconded, I wait for more nominations.

I'll second Academic Exercises!

Forest of hands and teeth isn't a short story.

Neither is Blood Song.

Amber wrote: "I am halfway finished with this book. I would love for others to view it and see if we all feel the same.

I nominate:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

This is considered fantasy cor..."

Hi firstly this month we are trying to do short stories collections etc

Plus this book is classed as Young Adult and so would not be read by this group.

thanks

Marius wrote: "I will nominate Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, surprised it didn't find its way in here yet !"

Hi

please nominate either a short story or stories this month plus I think we may have already read this one.

Conrad wrote: "Recently I've been reading a lot of serious or dark fantasy so would like to read something a little light hearted that will provide me with a chuckle or two.

Martinez, A. Lee
In the company of..."
Which one are you nominating?

Alissa wrote: "Rogues by the editing duo George R.R. Martin and Gardner R. Dozois. It's really good, themed around rogues/thieves/scoundrels etc. It's mostly fantasy..."

Choose one to nominate please for simplicity. Thanks

I'll third: Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love.

Sorry for the mistake.
Then, if Alissa goes for Rogues, I'll nominate Academic Exercises by K.J. Parker. Otherwise I'll have to think about it.

Bev wrote: "Alissa wrote: "Rogues by the editing duo George R.R. Martin and Gardner R. Dozois. It's really good, themed around rogues/thieves/scoundrels etc. It's..."

As I said, if rogues is eligible, it's rogues, if not eligible, it's Academic Exercises. Thank you. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Just didn't want to post twice if Rogues was not eligible.

I will second Rogues

Thanks currently we have 7 seconded.

Suggestion time for the repeated problem of books that have already been discussed being nominated.

Since the older discussions have value, and many of the club members who contributed to them are still here, and there are newer members or people who have not read those titles and wish to discuss them - why not have a 'revival' vote for those topics and if enough readers want that title as a group read (repeated) the mods could sticky it.

A featured 'revival' read would not replace a new monthly read title(s) but it could, by popular demand, by cycled to the top again.


That way new reads would continue to be contributed to the archive, but a prior reads would be handled in a way that would encourage more participation when there is new demand for that book.

Just a thought....in that, new folks to the club or GR may not realize that archived threads can be reactivated with new posts.

The alternative would be to buddy read, pulling up the archived threads, so the group read itch could be satisfied.

Hi Janny
thanks for your ideas.

I have no problem with buddy reads of books previously read by members.

The reason that I wont do a revival read by nomination and vote (like the monthly read) is because it is time consuming and ultimately very few members participate. After all look how few are joining us on this thread.

May I suggest that this subject be discussed in a separate thread? Thanks.

Reminder that we only have 7 seconded items.

Bev wrote: "Reminder that we only have 7 seconded items."

7 seems plenty for a poll to me, only one can win anyway. :p

I already read one one of the current nominees, and have a number of the others ready to go in my book case, so I'm actually quite interested in this month. :)

Monica in #4 nominated a single short story from the collection The Secret History of Fantasy, is the whole book a nomination too? I second it.

Alissa wrote: "Monica in #4 nominated a single short story from the collection The Secret History of Fantasy, is the whole book a nomination too? I second it."

Yes, it is a short story. I did not nominate the entire book. I thought we were nominating individual short stories...oh well. Lots of others to choose from.

I'd like to nominate Moscow But Dreaming. It's a collection of Ekaterina Sedia's short stories, and I've been wanting to read it for a while.

And I will second Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter's Tales.

Bev wrote: "Amber wrote: "I am halfway finished with this book. I would love for others to view it and see if we all feel the same.

I nominate:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

This is consider..."


Forest of Hands and Teeth is a collection of books which is why I nominated it. Did not realize that it was young adult.

Sadly, I consider young adult fantasy worth reading. So, I will be leaving the group because there are no books that I can nominate in the group. This is my last attempt. It is a good book young adult or not.

Amber wrote: "Bev wrote: "Amber wrote: "I am halfway finished with this book. I would love for others to view it and see if we all feel the same.

I nominate:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

This..."

It is an excellent book but at over 300 pages, it is too long to be classed as a short story. You could suggest it as a buddy read.

I nominate Dreams and Shadows by C. Robert Cargill