Five Bubble Book Club discussion

A placeholder for ideas of themes to 2021.
Traditionally (I am still not used to this word), we have a Hugo month in August and a long read in December-January, all other months are currently open for suggestions.

Some theme ideas (mostly from older threads):

- "*punk" -- cyberpunk, steampunk, biopunk, dieselpunk, etc.
- "Caper" -- a clever, funny crime story.
- "New Weird" or "Weird Western"
- "Sword & Sorcery" -- or "Sword and Singularity" if people prefer the more modern form.
- Light space opera -- having recently done Iain M. Banks and Peter F. Hamilton, perhaps an easier or funnier read might be in order.
- "Time travel"
- "Humorous SF/F"
- "Alternative History" -- Since we did alternative US history a while back, this should be non-US-oriented.
- "Secret History" -- "And now you know... the rest of the story!"
- "Non-Western societies" -- or in sf or fantasy.

We need to do another World 🌍 travel one, just for the boost of morale.

OK, I think we got our Q1 fixed. now the schedule looks like this:

Q1 (Feb, Mar, Apr)
- Caper (relatively easy theme, plenty of choices)
- World travels. (still deadly, but we can dream)
- Western (we definitely haven't done that one)

Q2(May, Jun, July)
?
?
?

Q3(Aug, Sep, Oct)
Hugo
?
Halloween

Q4(Nov, Dec, Jan)
?
Long read

I just encountered an interesting trope that could be a good topic: "the city as character." (One example used was Scott Lynch's city, Camoor.)

Suggestions would include:
City Come a-Walkin' -- proto-cyberpunk
The City & the City -- a surreal police-procedural
Elantris -- my favorite Brandon Sanderson novel
The City, Not Long After -- quintessential San Francisco
Ombria in Shadow
Thunderer
Dhalgren

Agreed, City is such a good topic. We can even narrow it down a bit and make it fancier, like "a tale of two cities". Books like Elantris would qualify.

Another topic I want to revisit is superhero. We need a good angle though.

For June, I'm thinking to do something kids related because of Children's Day.
It could go either in the direction of children's book (gonna be a hard sell), or stories with children as main characters (such as the The Institute we read previously)

Books appropriate for Children's Day:

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer -- not only about kids, but the upbringing of three young ladies features prominently.

Most of Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novels are horribly dated, but two are still excellent reads: The Rolling Stones and Tunnel in the Sky.

Almost anything by Diana Wynne Jones would do, but I'd particularly suggest Archer's Goon for this topic.

And potentially one I have not read: La Belle Sauvage, first of the sequels to the His Dark Materials trilogy.

My wife suggests: Childhood's End, one of the classic works of science fiction, and Mothership, which is wickedly funny.

As I said, King got a list for this topic
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/1...

July is our last theme month before Hugo.
I'm thinking "Bonnie and Clyde" or "My crime partner" for books featuring couples. Basically the Romance should be pre-installed.

Got a bit stuck here, the list I came up with so far:
Howl’s Moving Castle
The Princess Bride
Legacy
Beren and Lúthien

The Death of the Necromancer fits.

We got two more themes for this year.
I want to try a couple of sub-genre we haven't touched yet.
For example:
Climate fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate...
Portals: https://thoughtsonfantasy.com/2015/12...

Cli-fi books I know:
The Windup Girl -- the best cli-fi book I know; also an outstanding example of Biopunk. It has a taut plot, hard science, outstanding world-building and characterization. (Although his other recent work is equally applicable, especially The Water Knife and Ship Breaker.)

Fallen Angels -- hilariously funny novel of science fiction fans saving downed astronauts from a "Green" US government during an ice age. Not to be taken seriously, but a good romp.

New York 2140 seems to be a serious take on the sinking city caused by climate change (as far as I have read). Some find Kim Stanley Robinson's writing long, dull, and overly serious, and sometimes lacking believable characters; I haven't read enough to have a firm opinion.

Flood -- complex, long novel about sea level rise. It's half of a duology. My problem is that nothing I've read by Stephen Baxter had good characterization. Everything he writes has diamond-hard science, but not fully fleshed-out people. Note: I have not read much of Flood or any of its sequel, Ark.

Enjoy!

One more cli-fi YA option, a fantasy:
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit -- a YA book translated from Japanese, in which (to paraphrase) "to prevent the drought, you must kill the water demon living in the Second Prince, by killing him!" Now it's up to a mercenary spearswoman to save the Second Prince and solve the mystery of what grows within him. Solid world-building, characterization, and plot. And not your typical cli-fi. Ebook available.

And FYI: Moribito was made into an excellent anime series. (Suitable for and approved by those who don't generally like anime.)

Some favorite portal stories:
Magician: Apprentice is the first book of Raymond E. Feist's Rift War trilogy. Two worlds are joined and war erupts. I recently read this and was surprised by how much I liked it. Good plot, excellent world-building and characterization. Maybe a bit slow, depending on how you feel about long epic fantasies. Highly recommended, especially in conjunction with its sequel, Magician: Master.

This Alien Shore -- explores FTL travel by fissures into another space, when there are creatures which like to eat us and only special pilots can avoid them. This elaboration of that idea (originally from The Game of Rat and Dragon) is a techno-thriller combining cyberpunk, inter-species politics, coming-of-age, and a guild which controls interstellar travel. Highly recommended.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm -- what happens when a portal from our world is established to a fantasy world: Pilgrim Parties go on corporate-run questing tours! A complete send-up of the fantasy genre by the inimitable Diana Wynne Jones, author of The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land and many other works. (Her Howl’s Moving Castle would also do nicely as a portal story.)

We read 14 a while back, but Peter Clines' sequel The Fold directly addresses portals and I liked it better.

The Algebraist is also about space portals which provide FTL. It's also about deep secrets, gas giant species and the historians who have to slow time to work with them, invasion, space battles, and spies. A classic work of New Space Opera by Iain M. Banks, and it is not a novel of The Culture. No Kindle ebook, but an audiobook is available on Audible.

Two more excellent Portal stories:

Gateway -- a classic science-fiction novel; I can't believe I forgot to include it. Decent characterization with real, complex feelings, solid world-building, a gradually revealed plot with a punch, and lucid, workman-like prose, adding up to far more than the sum of their parts. I'm not generally a fan of Fred Pohl's solo writing, but this one I liked.

Finna -- a laugh-out loud novella of portals to other worlds that appear in a (thinly-disguised) IKEA chain, the downtrodden workers who have to deal with them (and each other), and the potential for hope and healing in the midst of carnivorous furniture, cloned hives of store assistants, and other strangeness. It's short, it's Kindle edition is cheap, there's an audiobook, and it's the most uplifting story I've read in a long time. Highly recommended!

And after the cli-fi poll came out, Neal Stephenson's new novel, Termination Shock, was announced for a mid-November release. And it's a cli-fi novel! We are clearly in tune with the Zeitgeist. ;-)

Given Stevenson's recent hit-or-miss record, I only suggest savoring the irony -- we have several known-good books on the poll. That said, I will be interested to read Termination Shock at some point.

Awesome recommendations as usual, thanks Rob!