SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases discussion

Let's start our next monthly nomination. I think we once again will limit with 2020 works only.

Each member can nominate up to one SF and one fantasy book, preferably novels

Nomination's deadline Oct 7th

SF: For this month I actually had a novella in mind instead of a novel.

Although I know that some of you have less positive experiences with Claire North, her latest novella gathers a lot of 5*-reviews.
Just read them and decide if you want to give this book a try or not.

I definitely will!
It's already on my e-reader, waiting to be read.
Btw it's only € 2 (or $ 2,34 for Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Harmony-... ).

Sweet Harmony

Fantasy: First I thought to nominate following book:

We Ride the Storm

But I don't know if this book really qualifies, because although it has been officially published by editor Orbit in 2020, it was already self-published in 2018.

So, for this genre I choose the debut novel from actor Luke Arnold (who I don't know, but apparently is known for his lead role in Black Sails ?).

What really appeals to me in this urban fantasy is the mentioning of the fact that this book will be loved by readers of Ben Aaronovitch, Jim Butcher and Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
As I really love Pratchett's humour, I'm very curious to discover this relatively unknown book!
And the described atmosphere seems to accord really well to the (darker) period of the year 😉

The Last Smile in Sunder City

For SF I nominate City Under the Stars. I only know Gardner Dozois as editor and publisher, so I'm curious to actually read something co-written by him.

For Fantasy I nominate Master of Poisons, which I think already has been nominated sometime somewhere. I still like the cover.

I think We Ride the Storm should qualify because it's been thoroughly revised and edited since its previous publication in 2018 (including changes to story and characters).

Eva wrote: "I think We Ride the Storm should qualify because it's been thoroughly revised and edited since its previous publication in 2018 (including changes to story and characters)."

Thanks for this additional info, Eva!
If someone wants it to be nominated, be my guest 😉
I'll always read all of the books I mention in these nomination-threads, so for me it is all the same 😄

I'm nomming The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Kalin wrote: "I'm nomming The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson."

Cool! I had no idea he had a new novel coming!

Kalin wrote: "I'm nomming The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson."

Not going to nominate anything but I want this one to win since I am curious.

So, the current list of nominations and who nominated:
1. Fantasy
The Last Smile in Sunder City - Tau
Master of Poisons - Gabi
Piranesi - me
We Ride the Storm - Eva

2. SF
Sweet Harmony - Tau
The Ministry for the Future - Kalin
City Under the Stars - Gabi
Crownchasers - Eva

*Tau* wrote: "But I don't know if this book really qualifies, because although it has been officially published by editor Orbit in 2020, it was already self-published in 2018...."

If we take Hugo guideline for eligible works (note, we are not required to, if the majority decides, we can nominate):

3.4.2: Works originally published outside the United States of America and first published in the United States of America in the previous calendar year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards.
3.4.3: In the event that a potential Hugo Award nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an additional year by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the intervening Business Meeting of WSFS.

So 2019 are fine, but not 2018, unless they are sufficiently remade

Oleksandr wrote: "3.4.2: Works originally published outside the United States of America and first published in the United States of America in the previous calendar year shall also be eligible for Hugo Awards.
3.4.3: In the event that a potential Hugo Award nominee receives extremely limited distribution in the year of its first publication or presentation, its eligibility may be extended for an additional year by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the intervening Business Meeting of WSFS.

So 2019 are fine, but not 2018, unless they are sufficiently remade "

Thank you so much for the clarification, Oleksandr!


Oleksandr wrote: "(note, we are not required to, if the majority decides, we can nominate)"

I'll stick to my second choice The Last Smile in Sunder City, then there's no problem at all 😉

Personally I can't imagine more "substantial" edits than changed storyline and characters, as well as a changed chapter order and other edits. That's also why Goodreads marks it as "first published in 2020".

The Hugo guidelines concerning this are: "If a work is published in a revised version, is it again eligible for a Hugo?
If the revision is substantial enough, yes. Some revised works have received a second nomination when they were sufficiently different from the original. For example “Beggars in Spain” by Nancy Kress won a Hugo as a novella in 1992 and was nominated again as a novel in 1994. The novel was substantially longer than the novella, and both the voters and the Hugo Administrators believed that this qualified it as a separate work. It is quite hard to say in advance how different a revised work has to be, but a good rule of thumb is that it should be obvious to an ordinary reader that the work has been substantially altered. We can’t rule on individual cases in an FAQ, but if a revised work gets enough nominations to appear on the ballot it is unlikely that the Administrators would overrule the judgment of the voters."

So, to me it sounds as if this would definitely be eligible. Don't you agree?

I agree

I agree. Should I add it to the list as your SF nominee, Eva?

Oleksandr wrote: "I agree. Should I add it to the list as your SF nominee, Eva?"

Just fyi: it's grimdark fantasy, no SF 😉

And for those who want to read it:
- epub (€ 0,99): https://www.bol.com/nl/p/we-ride-the-...
- Kindle ($ 1,16): https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Storm-Reb...

Other deals for approximately € 1/$ 1 can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Oh, this sale is perfect timing!

Since everyone seems to agree, I'd like to nominate it for fantasy, please. :-)

For SF, I nominate Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer because it sounds like a fun adventure with lots of banter.

Eva wrote: "Oh, this sale is perfect timing!"

Well, it was also one of the reasons I thought about that book in the first place 😉
As I've already said before: it's not because books are new that they're all expensive.
With more than 3.800 books on my TBR-list I just wait till there are good deals out there to buy them 😄

Eva wrote: "Since everyone seems to agree, I'd like to nominate it for fantasy, please. :-)"

All fine by me, of course!
That way there's a 2/3 chance that the book of next month is one of those I already wanted to read anyway 😋

Ok, adding the nominees. I myself nominate Piranesi for fantasy

Oleksandr wrote: "Ok, adding the nominees. I myself nominate Piranesi for fantasy"

Okay, that becomes a 2/4 chance then 😋
Just kidding 😉
Piranesi is also on my TBR-list btw!
But I'll just wait until it drops under € 15 for the e-book (I often don't even pay that for my paperbacks).

Yes, I feel the same: would love to read Piranesi, but even in Kindle format it's still over 11 EUR (and not on Storytel), plus I already once bought her first book and haven't had an opportunity to read it yet. I always feel very reluctant about buying more than one book from an author I haven't tried yet, so I'm going to tackle Jonathan Strange first before Piranesi (hopefully) goes on sale during Christmas time.

Eva wrote: "I always feel very reluctant about buying more than one book from an author I haven't tried yet"

Same here, Eva 😉

With a question of dropping the price I'm undecided: it was just launched, so if price goes down most likely it failed as a enthralling story to create a hype. And f it is not that interesting - do I want to read it?

I'll set up polls in a few hours - your last chance to nominate something!

Oleksandr wrote: "With a question of dropping the price I'm undecided: it was just launched, so if price goes down most likely it failed as a enthralling story to create a hype. And f it is not that interesting - do I want to read it?"

That's one way of looking at it, Oleksandr 😉

But you could also see it this way:

Some books are just way too overprized

Not saying that the authors don't deserve to be paid well!
But it's a reality that they only get a little fraction. You know: the promotion also has to be paid and so on. The books that cost most, are often promoted via various channels and you see them almost everywhere (even too often at my taste).

People are very predictive and influenceable creatures.
When a book gets a lot of attention, most of them will automatically assume it must be a good book and they'll be more likely to read it.
As when a book doesn't have a lot of exposure, reviews, ratings, ... most of us will not be inclined to read it. Of course, I'm not like most people and adore to discover new gems. But it's a fact that people who think like me form a minority.

So when you put it this way, the following questions arise: Is it really a good book or is it simply hyped by promotion? And do I want to read a book that's maybe not worth my time and money?

The price could be dropped as a way of promotion too.

Although I love SFF, you have to admit that these genres are undervalued by the great public. Literature and thrillers are more likely to be talked about on book websites.

So SFF-authors and publishers have to find ways to promote their books.
They can either do that in 'big money style' by promoting them everywhere and give a fortune to PR (and thus elevating the prices).
Or they can try to create a buzz by collecting good reviews. And one way to convince people to pick up their books (and hopefully review them) is to lower the price temporarily. Another way to do that is to place them on NetGalley or other similar websites.

Form your own network which you can rely on.

With millions of worldwide users, Goodreads is the perfect place to find people whose reading taste accords well to your own.
So if they're enthusiast about a lesser known book or one that has its price dropped, you know that you're good.
In the case of We Ride the Storm I based myself on the reviews of Petrik, Adam and Lukasz. Maybe that I'll not give it as much stars as they did, because I seldom read grimdark. But as they all gave 4* or 5*, I know that at least I'm in for an interesting read 😉

The polls are out:
Fantasy
SF

Polls' results are out!
SF The Ministry for the Future
Fantasy Piranesi

I'm looking forward to "The Ministry for the Future" and perhaps I'm re-reading Piranesi with the group since it was short.