Beyond Reality discussion

I know—so many books, so little time! But I’m sure there are books you want to read and discuss with others who enjoy science fiction and fantasy as much as you do. And now you can nominate something you’ve wanted to read (or reread), and maybe it will be one of our August 2023 Books of the Month.

Each group member can make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. The Beyond Reality Google spreadsheet of Previous Books of the Month, available at this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...". To search for a specific title, use the "Find and Replace" option under the EDIT menu. Don't worry, you will be able to find a title but you will not be able to replace it since the spreadsheet is in "View Only" mode.

b. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

c. the topic threads on this page: Previous BotM Master Lists

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, self-nomination, and various rules for nominations, please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding is NOT necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Friday, May 19.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Saturday, May 20 and will run through Thursday, May 25.
• The final run-off polls open Friday, May 26 and will run through Wednesday, May 31.

Thanks!
Kathi, for the Mods

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:
FANTASY:
Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Bees by Laline Paull
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence

SCIENCE FICTION:
Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence
Translation State by Ann Leckie
Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall
The Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper
Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

SF Nomination: Limited Wish
The first in the series, One Word Kill, we read a few years back. It was a fun time travel adventure. I'd like to continue the series.

I'm going to suggest Translation State by Ann Leckie for SF. It's in the Imperial Radch universe, but supposed to be stand alone.

For Fantasy, I'm going to suggest Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I met someone at a conference that just raved about this series, thought I might give it a try.

still want to discuss these:

I nominate The Bees for fantasy. I've read it as ebook, listened to it, and now I finally have read it in my favorite format, paper, got even more out of it that time (a couple of weeks ago), and would be glad to read it a fourth time in order to discuss it with others. I guess it's fantasy, because honeybees don't really have quite the civilization that the characters in the story do... but all the science context seems to match what I've read lately about real life bees, too.

For SF, I still have Stars Uncharted sitting on my bookshelf begging me to read it. Some say fans of Becky Chambers would like it, and I'm a big fan of her brand of 'hope punk' space opera so I'm looking forward to it

I'm going to nominate two books that come recommended by one of my favorite authors, N.K. Jemisin.

For Fantasy, The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. Check out Nemisin's goodreads review and her blog, where she writes: "The Cloud Roads has riveting characterization, a tense and fast-paced plot, and some of the most original, exotic worldbuilding I’ve ever seen... So think of The Cloud Roads as a story about a guy (who’s a humanoid dragon) who doesn’t fit in (because he looks like a cannibalistic humanoid dragon) looking (through an amazing, gorgeous, fascinating world) for somewhere (and fellow dragon-people among whom) to call home (which he then has to save from a rampaging horde of the cannibal dragon people)."

For Science Fiction, The Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper. Check out Nemisin's goodreads review, where she writes that this is a "[p]owerful, interesting story of racial conflict on a distant colony world of Earth... I love the combination of solid social science and hard science, the strong female protagonist and diverse cast, and the unflinching look at how prejudice warps even loving families."

For Fantasy, I'll suggest considering The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty. I just listened to it as an audiobook, and found it great fun. It came recommended by Fonda Lee:
“Chakraborty delivers again with a captivating story of motherhood, faith, friendship, dangerous magic, and hijinks on the high seas. Amina al-Sarafi is now my favorite pirate captain and I’m on board to follow all her adventures."

For Science Fiction, would anyone else be interested in Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow? It's new and looks fun!
Paul Di Filippo gave it a big thumbs up in Locus: "I can’t possibly say enough good things about Cory Doctorow’s new novel..."
https://locusmag.com/2023/04/paul-di-...

Nominations are still open today and tomorrow! What do you want to read and discuss in August? Something great to take on a late summer vacation or to read in air-conditioned comfort someplace?

I would nominate something except that there are 3 books I want to vote for already !

For fantasy- I'll nominate The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence.

Sounds interesting, and have heard good things. It has a vast library (older than empires and larger than cities), and I love libraries, so it's on my TBR.

Thanks for all the great nominations for our August 2023 Books of the Month! Now to narrow the choices to the top two... Preliminary Polls are now open and will remain open through May 25. Please vote!

Preliminary SF Poll

Preliminary Fantasy Poll

Remember, May 25 (tomorrow!) is the last day to vote in the preliminary polls. The results as of now are pretty close—in fact, there’s a tie for 2nd in the SF poll. Please vote!!

The final polls are open to choose our August 2023 Books of the Month. Polls will remain open through the end of the month (May 31).

Final Poll for Fantasy August 2023 BotM

Final Poll for Science Fiction August 2023 BotM

Please vote!!
Thanks!