Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

To keep things simple gonna just recreate all the regular challenges we had from last year as it seemed impossible to tell which one had actual participants and which didn't. Let me know if there is a new one you think people would enjoy

Historian Challenge
Graphic Novel Challenge
Subgenre Focus Challenge
Standalone Challenge
Explorer Challenge
Awards Challenge
Female Author Challenge
Short Story Challenge
Series Completist Challenge

Here is this year's BINGO card for reference:


The ones I plan to keep:
Alternate form
Anthology
Award Winner
New-To-You Author
Published before ??? (I'll pick some date)
Published in 2023
Book that was Free (since that's just the center square)
Translated from another language

Let me know which of these are catching your eye, or toss out some new ideas.

Genres:
High Fantasy
Hard Sci-Fi
Speculative
Space Opera
Epic Fantasy
Young Adult
Middle Grade
Urban Fantasy
Humour
Romance
Mystery
Apocalyptic / Dystopian
Optimistic / Utopian
Non-fiction SFF
Fantasy of Manners

Authors:
Female Author
Male Author
LGBTQ Author
Author of Color
By a favorite author
Indigenous
With a disability
Non-English author (kind of same as "Translated")
Indie Author

Features:
Female/Male/etc protagonist
Non-human protagonist
Some kind of fantasy creature (dragon, unicorn, demon, god)
Features some SF creature (alien, AI)
Features some kind of job (librarian, doctor, ruler, cop/detective)
Immortality
Time Travel
Distant Future/Past
Parallel/Portal Worlds
Alternate Timelines
Non-Western Country or Culture
Set in a real, non-English-speaking country
Military SF
Near Future
Social SF
Religion
Mythology
Fairytale / folklore
Colony
School
Lost civilization
Generation ship
Features a character with wings/tail/other unusual feature
Tech/Magic run amok
Bio/Nano-tech
Talking animals
Virtual Reality
A holiday (Christmas, Halloween, something specific to the world)
A station or an inn
Telepathy/Psychic
Invasion
Clone/Doppleganger

"Punks":
Steampunk/Gaslight
Cyberpunk
Silkpunk
Solarpunk / Clifi
Biopunk
Decopunk
Atompunk
Dieselpunk
Gunpowder/Flintlock Fantasy (not really punk but goes with the rest)
A punk character :D You know the kind with spiky green hair and piercings and probably in a band and stuff


"Metadata":
Number of pages
Short story/novella/novelette
Beautiful cover
Cover that is -some colour-
Debut novel
Standalone novel
Last book in a series
Omnibus
SF/F Translated from other than English
Made into a TV show or movie
Media Tie-in
Shared World (multi-author series)
Pre-20th Century SF/F
SF/F Graphic Novel
Complete a duology/trilogy
E-book / Audiobook
A special letter or word in the book title
Published in a certain month of the year
Prequel / Sequel

I would like to see Space Opera, Reread and Start a New Series

I sure enjoyed this challenge this year, so I'll be game for whatever you pick! These are all good ideas.

Maybe instead of pre-20th century, we could do pre-WWII? Or pre-1930?

Tony wrote: "I would like to see Space Opera, Reread and Start a New Series"

Two of those are perfect for my reading plans, the third not so much but since my readings plans is all fantasy, having a specific SF one will force me to keep a little variety. Now I just need to find some fairies or elves in space...

I was planning to use the Published before ??? and picking something less restrictive than than pre-20th century. WWII might be good, adds an extra 45 years (if we count end of the war) to what people can pick.

Andrea wrote: "Tony wrote: "I would like to see Space Opera, Reread and Start a New Series"

Two of those are perfect for my reading plans, the third not so much but since my readings plans is all fantasy, having..."

I'm sure you can find a space-based fantasy that will count as space opera 😁

I was thinking of "the oldest sci fi/fantasy book in your TBR pile" the one you added in 2016 or whatever, but now that I'm trying to write it out, it's rather cumbersome, so nevermind. heh heh.

I was thinking "by a favorite author" or even "lesser known work by a famous author"

I was doing some research and discovered that Elfpunk is a thing:

https://bookriot.com/elfpunk/

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Huh...and I've got 12 of the books on that bookshelf on my to-read (and a few on my already read)

Elfpunk is a subgenre of urban fantasy in which traditional mythological creatures, such as faeries and elves, are transplanted from rural folklore into modern urban settings.

There's a whole bunch more punks here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpu...

Formicapunk...Rococopunk... LOL "Nowpunk" :D Think the Nowpunk will get really confusing a few decades from now though, perhaps not the best of names, unless it just adjusts to the current period.

I'm seriously tempted adding the Elf Punk...since it's still vague enough that it isn't hard to find a match. You can't read Shannara for it but there's a whole ton of urban fantasies where a Fairy or Elf shows up, in fact a good percentage of non-Shannara books I have fall under that though I see a couple on the list that don't belong (like An Enchantment of Ravens, highly recommended but it doesn't take place in modern society, its just a regular fairy fantasy)

Very cool find!

You definitely have to add this category, since I read the Book Riot article and added 4/5 of the books mentioned!! The fifth one only didn't make it b/c my library system doesn't carry it! Another thought I had - how about a category for the 2nd book of a series you've started and never got back around to? That'd be a help to me! *grin*

Georgann wrote: "You definitely have to add this category, since I read the Book Riot article and added 4/5 of the books mentioned!! The fifth one only didn't make it b/c my library system doesn't carry it! Another..."

Of the five books I've read Tithe and that fits the "punk" perfectly so hopefully that was one of the four you found, I'll be continuing that series next year (and hey, that "second book in a series" works just right for that one for me).

I have nearly the entire Iron King series so that's definitely on my list. Up till now didn't even realize that was an urban fantasy, thought it a fairy story in a fairy world.

Wonder if Charles de Lint's stuff would fit too?

I also added the others to my list of maybe's, if you can't find some like Gossamer Axe (I'm guessing the one most likely to be not in a library?) then try OpenLibrary if you don't mind reading them online (War for the Oaks was there too since my library didn't have that one either) - https://openlibrary.org/works/OL81651...

I'm reasonably sure Charles DeLint's stuff would fit Elfpunk. At least some of it.

Got all the standard challenges created, of course you can't start until January 1st but you can start thinking how many books you want to challenge yourself with:

https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...
https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...

There's still time to post suggestions for the BINGO challenge, I've prepped the card but still haven't started filling in the slots :)

@Andrea, thanks for the suggestions! So...are the challenges you listed going to be monthly challenges or ? I'm new enough to not get it all.

They are a yearly challenge, you decide which ones you want to join, and how many you want to read for them.

I've already given some ideas, but I will throw out there that I wouldn't mind seeing Omnibus show up on a card.

I've got at least 6 of those on my list for next year so I will definitely consider it. Don't want to have too many things that are generic and not SF/F related but I'll check how many we actually have and it might fit :)

I have several SFF omnibuses so I'm good with it 😁

Alright, we have a new BINGO challenge!



Taking the various suggestions there were a few themes running through it like Start/Continue/End/Reread a series. I kept a few classics that are good for getting people to try new things or read things that aren't just novels. Made sure there were a few easy ones and a few challenging ones. Hope it's a good mix!

Comments on a couple squares though as always, you are free to interpret the square as you see fit:

Shared World is where multiple authors write in a single world like Dragonlance, Star Wars/Trek, Wild Cards, or modern authors continue older stories like Oz or Conan and can also be used for tribute collections like where other authors write in the world of a another (I know there's some for Dying Earth and Valdemar).

The Non-Human Humanoid is there since that's my reading theme for next year and I'm a moderator and I'm putting together the card, so there. But it should be a pretty open one, covering everything from fantasy elements like elves, dwarves, fairies, giants, gnomes, orcs, to science fiction elements like androids or "Star Trek" aliens where the difference between us and them are some bumps on the forehead, and can also have horror elements like vampires and werewolves...essentially easier to fill in than Elfpunk that is much more restrictive (both in creatures used and overall feel, after all it should also have a "punk" feel so needs to be subversive, dark, gritty, maybe with rock bands or motorcycles, etc....just read the article that Angie posted)

You can't use the same book for more than one slot, but using multiple books from the same series is totally fine. For example you can manage the start/continue/end with a single trilogy, though I feel the continue/end were intended for series you started some time ago and you needed motivation to get back to :)

This is great!! Thanks, @Andrea! This was my favorite challenge of 2022, and I'm looking forward to this one! Gonna order some library books today!