Beyond Reality discussion

Hi everyone,

It's time to take nominations for our December Books of the Month! As always, every member can make one SF and/or one fantasy nomination. You can nominate anything --- a new book you just read, or an old favorite, or something you're planning to read soon and would like to discuss. You can also re-nominate any book that was nominated before but didn't win the poll.

Please make your nominations, by replying to this message, before September 20th.

Stefan

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

Fantasy:

Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett (chris)
Deadhouse Gates, by Steven Erikson (anomander)
Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin (sisimka)
The Stupidest Angel A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0 by Christopher Moore (random)
The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue (mawgozjeta)
Dawnthief, by James Barclay (stefan)
Devlin's Honor, by Patricia Bray (jim)
Storm Front, by Jim Butcher (kathi)
Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris (jane)

Science Fiction:

The Female Man, by Joanna Russ (chris)
Fool's War, by Sarah Zettel (nick)
Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein (cliff)
Dayworld, by Philip Jose Farmer (sisimka)
Remnant Population, by Elizabeth Bear (random)
The Moon Maid Complete and Restored, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (mawgozjeta)

Since it's nominations for December, I'll like to nominate the following two books.

For fantasy, Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. It is the holiday season after all.

For SF, The Female Man

About Sarah Zettel’s Fool’s War, Ron wrote: "Good start, interesting characters and funky politics." Janny then wrote: "Nice to see someone giving this author a mention! Sarah Zettel's work is first rate, whether SF or fantasy." And Sisimka joined in that she had read other books by Zettel she enjoyed.

With all this praise behind it, I'll nominate
Fool's War by Sarah Zettel for sci fi.

Chris wrote: "Since it's nominations for December, I'll like to nominate the following two books.

For fantasy, Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. It is the holiday season after all.

For SF, [book:T..."

Hogfather...excellent idea for December!

Just one nomination for December,

For fantasy, Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson

Since I'll be voting for Hogfather I won't bother to nominate a fantasy book, but for sci-fi I'd like to nominate Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. I think it will be interesting to compare it to our October Sci-Fi The Forever War, which is often seen as its response.

I'd like to renominate Winter's Tale for fantasy. I'd like to nominate Dayworld for Sci Fi.

Great nominations so far!

I will accept Hogfather, even though it's going against our rule (later books in a series can only be nominated if we've read the previous books in the series), because we accepted a later Pratchett novel a year or so back. However, it would be great if someone can post some background about Death and Susan Sto Helit for people who haven't read the previous Discworld books with those characters.

Deadhouse Gates is eligible because we read Gardens of the Moon (the first book in that series) a while back, and even if we hadn't, it would work because it's one of 3 possible "entry points" into that series.

I will add a fantasy nomination later this month. I was going to nominate Imager by L.E. Modesitt Jr. but it looks like the paperback edition is only coming out in February (odd - the sequel is coming out in hardcover next month, and usually that coincides with the paperback edition of the previous book). I don't think I'll bother with an SF nomination because I'm fairly sure Starship Troopers will win. (I'll even vote for it myself!)

Shoot, Stefan I forgot about the order thing. Sorry about that. When I first read the Discworld series, it was whatever book I could get, so I never really think of them as "an orderly series". I'll be more than glad to post the infromation. Do you want it prior to voting?

Whenever is fine, really, as long as people can read it before they read the book - if it wins. Hogfather is one of my favorite DW books, with some of the most memorable quotes from the series, so I wouldn't mind re-reading it (again) at all.

You really don't need to read Hogfather in any order. The book gives you the basics

Doesn't look like this group has read anything by Elizabeth Moon yet so how about Remnant Population for Science Fiction.
It's a great character driven story with some interesting themes. I really enjoy her work and would love to see more people give her a try.

I can never seem to come up with any ideas for Fantasy. :)

Oh, I see we've already done The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, so how about
The Stupidest Angel A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0 by Christopher Moore for Fantasy.
No need to even read the other before this one and who can resist Christmas Zombies. :D

Random: great suggestion on Remnant Population! Re-read that book every couple of years.

Here are my suggestions:
SciFi - The Moon Maid Complete and Restored by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Fantasy - The Stolen Child A Novel by Keith Donohue

I'm going to add a fantasy nomination myself this time: Dawnthief by James Barclay. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my TBR pile and looks interesting. Pyr just re-released it in a lovely trade paperback edition last month, and is releasing the next 2 books in the trilogy in October and November, which I think is a truly excellent way to publish a series... not having to wait a year or more for the next book is great!

We have plenty of excellent SF nominations so I won't add one myself.

Three more days to add your nominations!

Cliff wrote: "Since I'll be voting for Hogfather I won't bother to nominate a fantasy book, but for sci-fi I'd like to nominate Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. I ..."

Great idea, Cliff. The comparison between the two is fantastic. I'll second that.

For fantasy, I'd like to nominate Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust.

Jim, Brokedown Palace is actually already our fantasy Book of the Month for November! Feel free to enter another nomination though.

Stefan wrote: "Jim, Brokedown Palace is actually already our fantasy Book of the Month for November! Feel free to enter another nomination though."

Whoops! See, it was such a good idea that you already had it!

;-)

How about Devlin's Honor by Patricia Bray then?

Got it, thanks! Anyone else, please make sure to enter your nominations before Sept. 20th.

I nominate Storm Front by Jim Butcher for fantasy. I want to read the Dresden Files but need a push to get going. And I'm curious if this series would be a good one for my dad, a voracious 88 year old reader.

I need to get back to the Dresden series too. I've got about 8 of them, but have only read the first two.

Jane you are thinking of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. The first book is Dead Until Dark.

Let me know if that's the right book - then I'll add it to the list.

Yes, "Dead Until Dark" is the first Sookie book. Excellent candy series of books.

Sookie Stackhouse
1. Dead Until Dark (2001)
2. Living Dead in Dallas (2002)
3. Club Dead (2003)
4. Dead to the World (2004)
5. Dead as a Doornail (2005)
6. Definitely Dead (2006)
7. All Together Dead (2007)
8. From Dead to Worse (2008)
9. Dead and Gone (2009)

Looks like we're going for classic SF in December.

Nominations are now closed, please take a moment to register your vote for our December Fantasy book of the month and December Science Fiction book of the month. The top two choices from these polls will go on to a run off poll on September 25th.

Thanks for voting!
Sisi.