Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Welcome to FBR's 2023 Monthly Reading Challenge!

February’s Challenge: Read as many novellas/short stories as you can!

February is not the month to focus on finishing series or reading a bunch of tomes. No, it’s far to short for such high ambitions. But devouring a bunch of short books to make you feel like you’re making a ton of progress - now THAT we can do! Give your 2023 reading goals ahead start with some of these amazing tales we all keep meaning to read…

Feel free to create your own tracker thread in this folder (or update one you already have), then share the titles you’ve selected for this challenge in the comments below!

I had the theme for this month picked out before starting the Wayward Children buddy read… lol if only January were the short month.

I have a list at work that I’ll update here with next time I’m at my desk. I’m looking forward to getting more ideas on novellas from everyone else’s lists.

I was thinking the same thing about the Wayward Children.

A couple days ago I finished Nothing But Blackened Teeth which is a novella. I thought it was okay but not earth moving and gave it 3 stars.

As I’m counting all my mount got challenge completions in jan for the full year, I don’t see why I can’t do the same for this one haha.

Murderbot
Penric & Desdemona - I think I'm behind by 2 on this one.

Penric & Desdemona 7+-ish
Wayward Children 7?
Fractured Fables: A Spindle Splintered now & A Mirror Mended in June
Seanan McGuire stuff from Patreon & Website: https://seananmcguire.com/icshorts.php

Elder Race
The Kraken's Tooth
City of Songs
The Burning Light
Where the Drowned Girls Go
Uncanny Collateral
Blood Tally

I’m sure I’ll think of more.

Caroline - your comment is gone, but if you see this, it’s up to you! I’m using February to make a concerted effort on novellas, but have decided I’m going to count progress if I read them anytime in 2022. You can choose how strict you want the rules to be.

Sorry it took me a bit to respond. Please let me know if you have any questions. :)

What is considered a novella? After having just finished volume 2 of the wandering inn every book feels like a novella in comparison right now lol.

Julian wrote: "What is considered a novella? After having just finished volume 2 of the wandering inn every book feels like a novella in comparison right now lol."

novellas are around 200 pages?... the spreadsheet measures it at 100-250 pages I think?

Short stories are under 100 pages?

I am really enjoying looking for ideas for February's challenge. I haven't read a lot of novellas that are fantasy and will be checking out what others are reading. Some that I might try are:

Where the Drowned Girls Go
Elder Race
What Abigail Did That Summer
Silver in the Wood
Infernal Parade
Fireheart Tiger
The Ghosts of Sherwood
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Penric's Demon
A Dead Djinn in Cairo

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Caroline - your comment is gone, but if you see this, it’s up to you! I’m using February to make a concerted effort on novellas, but have decided I’m going to count progress if I read them anytime ..."

Thanks, Niki! I just deleted it, because I had decided not to count it :) Since my comment, I found lots of other short stories I want to read now and the short story collections which I put there earlier will keep me busy anyway :)

Thanks for this challenge btw I really enjoy it! :D

RachelG. wrote: "I am really enjoying looking for ideas for February's challenge. I haven't read a lot of novellas that are fantasy and will be checking out what others are reading. Some that I might try are:

[boo..."

There's a buddy read set for March 3, 2022 for [book:A Master of Djinn|52504334] which is set after the two short stories and the novella (A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Angel of Khan el-Khalili and The Haunting of Tram Car 015), so I figured reading those in February is perfect to decide on joining the buddy read :)

Caroline wrote: "RachelG. wrote: "I am really enjoying looking for ideas for February's challenge. I haven't read a lot of novellas that are fantasy and will be checking out what others are reading. Some that I mig..."

I really enjoyed The Black God's Drums by the same author and gave it 5 stars. I am planning to do the same as you and see if I enjoy this series.

Ooooh love this challenge!

Here's my initial list - I'll have to check out some of your lists to add to it. Already added the short story to read before A Master of Djinn (thanks Caroline!)

Anthologies and Collections



The Book of Dragons
The Devil Delivered and Other Tales - Steven Erikson
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth - J.R.R. Tolkien



Penric's Demon - Lois McMaster Bujold
A Dead Djinn in Cairo - P. Djèlí Clark
Uncanny Collateral - Brian McClellan
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead - Tom Stoppard
Elder Race - Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Empress of Salt and Fortune - Nghi Vo

I like this challenge. I didnt realize i had so many novellas in my tbr and thats a nice way to read them before i leave them collecting dust

And they were never heard from again (yarnsworld novella) Sorrows Isle
In shadows we fall
Murderbot (3-6)
The sorcerer of wildeeps
Servant mage
A taste of honey
The gentleman's guide to getting lucky
The bloody chamber and other stories
Odd and the frost giants
Penric and des (4-11)
Wayward children 7:  Where the drowned girls go
the greenhollow duology
Portland hafu
sylvie asleton and the shrikes curse

I like this challenge. I've had these on my to-read list for ages. Now I'll actually read them!

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
-Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
-Secret History
-The Eleventh Metal
-The Hope of Elantris

Professional Integrity

The Friendship

Delirium: Debt Collector Episode One

Small Magics
-Of Swine and Roses
-Grace of Small Magics
-Curran's POV #10 -Prequel to Magic Breaks
-Grocery Lists

Dang, I already read a bunch of novellas in January xD

But yay I've been loving novellas lately... Pool of contenders:
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
A Dead Djinn in Cairo
The Angel of Khan el-Khalili
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
The Tea Master and the Detective
The Black God's Drums
The Ballad of Black Tom
Where the Drowned Girls Go

Heh, half of those are by P. Djèlí Clark

Here's a list for me:



Later
Joyland
The Colorado Kid (reread)
Gwendy's Button Box (reread)
Gwendy's Magic Feather
Gwendy's Final Task
The First Quarry
The Big Sleep

The King Must Fall (anthology)
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (collection)

I don't read a lot of shorter stories unless they're attached to a series I'm reading which reminded me I'm planning on reading Mistborn Era 2 this year. So...

Mistborn: Secret History - Brandon Sanderson
The Eleventh Metal - Brandon Sanderson
Uncanny Collateral - Brian McClellan

Technically I also have Murderbot in my TBR but I'm not ready to commit to that yet.

I love Murderbot and Pen & Des! Sadly I'm all caught up.

Stealing all these ideas from y'all--most are on my TBR already:
The King Must Fall (anthology)
Uncanny Collateral - Brian McClellan
The Empress of Salt and Fortune - Nghi Vo
A Dead Djinn in Cairo - P. Djeli Clark
The Angel of Khan el-Khalili - P. Djeli Clark
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 - P. Djeli Clark
The Black God's Drums - P. Djeli Clark
Servant Mage - Kate Elliot
Wayward Children series - Seanan McGuire
A Spindle Splintered - Alix Harrow
Elder Race - Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Kraken's Tooth & City of Songs - Anthony Ryan

Others on my TBR:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories - Ken Liu
The Dream Gatherer - Kristen Britain
American Hippo - Sarah Gailey
Word Puppets - Mary Robinette Kowal
Road Brothers - Mark Lawrence
Remote Control - Nnedi Okorafor
Sunreach (Skyward Flight: Novella 1) - Sanderson
ReDawn (Skyward Flight: Novella 2) - Sanderson
Evershore - Sanderson
The Original - Sanderson & Kowal
Lux - Sanderson & Bohls
Children of the Nameless - Sanderson
Dark One - Sanderson
White Sand, Volume 3 - Sanderson
The Dispatcher - John Scalzi
John Golden: Freelance Debugger - Django Wexler

I'm pretty overbooked for Feb though, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to squeeze in between all the BRs. I think I'm going to set my goal to 4 for this month.

I really enjoy novellas and short stories as introductions to authors I haven't read yet. Again, I love seeing everyone else's lists!

I forgot about Uncanny Collateral and the Sanderson Novellas - adding...

Perfect timing for this as I just took out a couple of shorter works from Hoopla the other day.

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Masquerade in Lodi by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold
Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Looking at everyone’s list I’m definitely going to be adding to mine.

Hiya, I'm new in a group and I have to say that read few short reads will be perfect for me. Just finished 'The virgin's lover' by Philippa Gregory (my 13th read this year) and anything shorter than 400+ pages will be a blissful change. Don't think I read any of titles given above, so will add them to my TBR list and check if I have anything so far which can be added as reading idea :)

I thought maybe 'Snapshot' and 'The emperor's soul's by Sanderson could be good for this challenge.... And a 'Winter wyvern ' by Todd McCaffrey.

Monika wrote: "I thought maybe 'Snapshot' and 'The emperor's soul's by Sanderson could be good for this challenge.... And a 'Winter wyvern ' by Todd McCaffrey."

Welcome to the group! I loved both of those Sandersons - they'll be perfect as refreshers after such a long book.

Monika wrote: "I thought maybe 'Snapshot' and 'The emperor's soul's by Sanderson could be good for this challenge..."

Those are two if my favorites.

To be honest ladies, I didn't read any of them yet, but have them on my list TBR and will read them this month :)

A bunch of Elizabeth Peters books are on Audible Plus. Cozy mysteries that are around 200 pages.

Tammie wrote: "Those are two if my favorites."

Ditto that! I think Emperor's Soul might be my all-time favorite novella. Well, that and Borders of Infinity

@Soo--Elizabeth Peters--is that the Cadfael author?

Hey, anyone who is doing the Draconis Memoria BR--there's Sandrunners too!

I don't know how I fell down this rabbit hole but so far I am doing the exact opposite of this month's challenge. Tackling a reread of Malazan and then I also have the wandering inn and the Expanse lol

Julian wrote: "I don't know how I fell down this rabbit hole but so far I am doing the exact opposite of this month's challenge. Tackling a reread of Malazan and then I also have the wandering inn and the Expanse..."

LOL Hey--there's all the Expanse novellas! And the compilation book comes out soon.

Started 'Fool's Danegeld', I hope this one can be classify as short book :)

@Nirkatze I hadn't considered those! So far I've only read the first book in the series so not sure how spoilery it would be to read some of the novellas right now (primarily looking at the prequel novellas shown in goodreads)

If you've read the first book, then you're safe to read Drive, and The Butcher of Anderson Station.

The Churn is Amos' backstory. You can read it really any time after meeting Amos--though I'd recommend reading it before book 5, as his past comes into play there. If you want to go in to book 5 blind without knowing his past, you could wait until afterward too. I found it nice to know, and I'd recommend reading it now after book 1. It gives really nice Amos insight.

Gods of Risk is between book 2 & 3.

The Vital Abyss spans time from before book 1 up to book 5, and the character introduced doesn't really come into play until book 7. I'd probably read it...mmm...after book 4 or 5.

Strange Dogs is before book 7, and Auberon after...book 7-8 ish--Auberon also follows up on some characters from The Churn, so make sure you've read that long ago by now.

I don't have the RPG, so I haven't read Flight of the Cassandra, but I understand that's a pre-book 1 timeline.

Looking forward to the collection coming out in March! I have my copy preordered.

Tammie, nope. They were different people and died in different years. XD

Going by author profile pages.

Don't know if i will be able to get on this. I may get to Elder Race by the end of the month if i get some time

This has been a bit of a chaotic month

Don't worry Filipe! Check out Niki's clarification on the [rules page]:

I should clarify that, while each month will have a theme to help focus your reading efforts, all books listed and completed by the end of the year still count towards challenge completion. For instance, I've listed way more books in January than I can complete in one month, but will be making a concerted effort, then will be referring back to it throughout the year, aiming for 100% completion.

All progress is good progress!

So even if you don't read the short stories by the end of Feb, they still count as long as you finish this year!

Well then i do have a few:

Elder Race
Prosper's Demon
Inside Man
The Slow Regard of Silent Things
The Emperor's Soul
Dawnshard
Ogres
Sandrunners

Well not really finished in Feb but on less short on the list

Filipe wrote: "Well not really finished in Feb but on less short on the list"

good job! I'm hoping to read my first one off the list in march lol.

Updated for our short story marathon in February 2023. Best of luck!! :)

I'm planning to marathon Penric and Desdemona this February... at least the first few since the series has 11 books.

Yanique wrote: "I'm planning to marathon Penric and Desdemona this February... at least the first few since the series has 11 books."

I don't usually read alot of short stories, but I seem to be planning to, this year...

Between wanting to read all the shorts I'm behind on, during the October Daye re-read (there are like 40+, including all those from Patreon)... the Laundry Files ones (there's around 4-5, I think... few early on, then Escape from Yokai Land)... 20+ compiled into 2 anthologies of the Jack Nightingale series), the 2 Dresden Files anthologies (we did Side Jobs in January and are doing Brief Cases in May, I think)... and a few others like The Lesser Devil & Mother of the Year... it's alot more than usual...

BUT... I'd also like to read the Penric & Desdemona books... I've read 6-7 of them before... alot used to be on Audible Plus/Escape/Romance... especially now that there's an 11th book, and it's a full-length novel... this series has been growing for awhile... I didn't expect it to last this long, honestly...

EDIT: Looks like I own 1 outright, 5 are on Audible Plus still, and the other 5 are on Hoopla (all 11 are, but hoopla uses monthly credit limits)... and #10 is the full-length one...

To further muddy the waters, tho, the series has publication order and chronological order to consider... Audible lists them in chronological order... Hoopla lists them in publication order...

Publication ----- Chronological
Demon -------- Demon
Shaman -------- Shaman
Mission -------- Fox
Mira ---------- Lodi
Fox ----------- Mission
Limnos -------- Mira
Raspay --------- Limnos
Vilnoc ---------- Raspay
Lodi ----------- Vilnoc
Thasalon ------- Thasalon
Shadows ------- Shadows

Fox & Lodi are the issue, slotting in in between Shaman & Mission, back near the beginning of the timeline...

Yanique wrote: "I'm planning to marathon Penric and Desdemona this February... at least the first few since the series has 11 books."
I’ve had those on my TBR for ages, and if only I had read The Curse of Chalion and the World of the Five Gods series I would join you. Alas I’ll have to hold off on the Lois McMaster Bujold binge for now.

They're technically the same world, but very different, I think... most of the World of the Five Gods books are quite different... iirc, the first 2 are relatively connected, then the third book takes place decades in the past, and then the Penric & Desdemona books are centuries in the past, when people had a better understanding of demons?...

EDIT: did a google/wikipedia search, and I was wrong about the timing of the 3rd book... it takes place before the Penric & Desdemona shorts... I was right about the first 2 books being the latest in the timeline tho...

I know I have no shortage of novellas in my TBR to check out.

Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf
Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders
The Court of Lightning
Even Though I Knew the End
In the Vanishers’ Palace
Nine Goblins
No Man's Land
Sisters of the Vast Black

And plenty more…

Timelord Iain wrote: "They're technically the same world, but very different, I think... most of the World of the Five Gods books are quite different... iirc, the first 2 are relatively connected, then the third book ta..."

Thanks Iain for looking into it.
Yeah, I saw that they are prequels, and can be read separately. But since I never know how connected/tangential the stories are, I usually prefer to read in publication order. I don’t like to miss out on worldbuilding lore.

Mel wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "They're technically the same world, but very different, I think... most of the World of the Five Gods books are quite different... iirc, the first 2 are relatively connected, ..."

Sooooo are you reconsidering?