SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases discussion

Another nomination month, another change of rules: a low number of participants per book most likely because members are too busy (perfectly understandable). so let's try choosing only one book per month. This means the number of nominees per member is also one. Any SFFH published in 2023 is eligible.

😬 I fully plan on necroposting once I get more time. 😅 I feel like I probably shouldn’t nominate since I keep not being able to keep up.

@Oleksandr

To be completely honest with you I am not participating much because often I'm in doubt if I should buy new releases, especially if the ebook costs as much as an audiobook and I don't know if I will like that new author of whom I never read anything before. I don't have that problem when it's a favorite author or I have an ARC but that is unfortunately rarely the case.

Leticia, Kristenelle,
I in no way implied that you shouldn't nominate, maybe the opposite - that nominating you may get interested in a new release :)

I've been very interested in most of the monthly picks haha. So that isn't really the issue. I just have a lot to read for the self publish scifi competition and I've been really busy/brain dead lately. My family is planning a big move in a couple months. So that's been taking a lot of my energy.

I have an arc for The Scourge Between Stars which comes out April 4. Is it ok to nominate for April? Would probably be difficult to get from a library in time for those that use libraries.

Is April the month transitioning from 2022 to 2023 releases?
I still have a sizeable list of 2022 books I'd want to nominate, mostly novellas. I don't have much for 2023 yet -- maybe Some Desperate Glory but I don't know if it will be readily available for April.

I have an ARC of And Put Away Childish Things but I think that is a Novella.

@Kalin I would like to read Some Desperate Glory but the ebook costs 12,99 euro atm. I will probably wait to see if the price goes down.

Kalin wrote: "Is April the month transitioning from 2022 to 2023 releases?"

My initial idea was that we won't get Nebula nominees right now and Hugo nomination ends in March, so I thought 2023 for April, possibly Nebula nominee(s) for May and maybe* Hugo nominees for June

*there is a mystery with Chinese WorldCon and there is a possibility that top nominees will be in Chinese according to discussions on File770

p.s. on popular demand 2022 are allowed :)

I don’t know if this is a contributing factor fir anyone else but… I have a hard time planning my reading out two months ahead a lot of the time.
Like I can only think a few books ahead? I get distracted by what is right in front of me

Yeah, I do want a month dedicated to Hugos as long as we are capable of reading them, but that's up in the air right now. The nomination process may also be delayed -- Chengdu pushed back the date of the convention.

Is To Each This World still valid as a nomination?

Leticia wrote: "Is To Each This World still valid as a nomination?"

yes

Leticia wrote: "Is To Each This World still valid as a nomination?"

good nomination, seconded

The Destroyer of Worlds

Because 2022 works are eligible, here is Locus longlist to help https://locusmag.com/2023/02/2022-rec...

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

Although I feel it's slightly in a bad taste to nominate the same book two months in a row, I'm nevertheless re-nominating Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories, since it seems like this will be the last chance to do so.

Antti wrote: "Although I feel it's slightly in a bad taste to nominate the same book two months in a row"

I think it is perfectly fine to stick to an interesting book as one's nomination, so don't feel bad. Moreover, I'll re-nominate a book I did before, Ymir by Rich Larson, who is known for his good short SF works

Also, today is the nomination deadline, so if anyone wants to, please nominate

I'm going to nominate Some Desperate Glory...again? I can't recall.

Rebecca wrote: "I'm going to nominate Some Desperate Glory...again? I can't recall."

I will second this. It looks good

Rebecca wrote: "I'm going to nominate Some Desperate Glory...again? I can't recall."

I guess it'll be better to nominate it later - its expected (!) publication date is given as either Apr 4 or Apr 11, so it won't be ready at the start of the month for sure and I highly doubt libraries will have it.

The poll is here https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

I included 2 books expected in April, so beware

Oleksandr wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "I'm going to nominate Some Desperate Glory...again? I can't recall."

I guess it'll be better to nominate it later - its expected (!) publication date is given as ei..."

oh bummer, I missed that sorry. Let's see how voting goes, I'm happy to wait until May to nominate it again.

Four way tie so far, we need more votes!

Oleksandr wrote: "I think it is perfectly fine to stick to an interesting book as one's nomination, so don't feel bad. Moreover, I'll re-nominate a book I did before, Ymir by Rich Larson, who is known for his good short SF works"

I would be up for reading this too at some point but it's book #2 in a series -- have you read the first (Annex)? I'd want to read #1 first.

In an interview here: https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-inter... Larson explains that Ymir is not the projected sequel to Annex but an unrelated standalone novel.

I have a copy of Annex, which I failed to finish. What I read was a grim story involving a young trans character in a ruined city occupied by predatory aliens. Ymir was apparently sold as “cyberpunk Beowulf” on a far future ice planet. Sounds quite different, though also dark.

Kalin wrote: "I would be up for reading this too at some point but it's book #2 in a series -- have you read the first (Annex)? I'd want to read #1 first."

I haven't, I only read his short prose and some of it was quite good. As Stephen notes, Ymir can be read as a standalone and right now I don't have any of these two, so ready to switch to Annex

Kalin wrote: "Four way tie so far, we need more votes!"

I've changed my vote, so right now no tie, but others have a chance to change as well.

Stephen wrote: "In an interview here: https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-inter... Larson explains that Ymir is not the projected sequel to Annex but an unrelated standalone novel."

Huh, interesting. It's listed -- erroneously, I guess -- as the sequel in multiple locations online.

Kalin wrote: "Huh, interesting. It's listed -- erroneously, I guess -- as the sequel in multiple locations online.

I think partially it depends on a definition what a sequel is. There is a long tradition of "future histories" in SF and shared universes in SFF - often each book is a standalone, even if with some cameos, but they are sold as a series because they are backed by series brandname

Larson, from the interview: “Since Annex wasn’t moving copies anyways, my publisher agreed to scrap the duology, re-redo the contract, and let me write an entirely unrelated adult novel. Which became Ymir.”

Yeah, what Acorn is saying could happen, but didn't happen here.

An interesting note that may (but not necessarily does) hints at which book is more popular - Annex doesn't have an audio version, Ymir does.

Poll has closed; our April Monthly Read will be Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm.

The book has 10 short stories, 7 of which can be read for free from the author's website: https://qntm.org/vhitaos. Some of the stories have apparently been heavily edited for print, though, so their online versions may be somewhat dissimilar to the book version.

Antti wrote: "Poll has closed; our April Monthly Read will be Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm.

Great!