Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Use this thread to plan out your BINGO slots!

B1: Genre Blender ~ Dragonfly in Amber
B2: Dreampunk ~ The Lathe of Heaven
B3: Published Before 1940 ~The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories
B4: Female Author ~ Undead and Unemployed
B5: Features a Vampire ~ Undead and Unpopular

I1: Features a Portal/Wormhole ~ Locke & Key: The Golden Age
I2: Non-Fiction SF/F ~ Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Documentary Journey into Vampire Country and the Dracula Phenomenon
I3: Takes Place Underground ~ (Neverwhere)
I4: Weird West ~ (A Book of Tongues)
I5: Anthology ~ ...

N1: Dark SF/F ~ (Pattern)
N2: Award Winner ~ The High King
N3: FREE ~ (Out of Oz)
N4: Features a Swordsman ~ Shadow
N5: LGBTQ Character ~ (A Rope of Thorns)

G1: New to You Author ~ Undead and Unwed
G2: Features a Son ~ Son of a Witch
G3: Title Starts with U ~ Undead and Unappreciated
G4: Located in Africa ~ Lagoon
G5: Translated From Another Language ~ The Little Vampire

O1: Published in 2025 ~ Les Normaux: A Graphic Novel
O2: Urban Fantasy ~ Undead and Unreturnable
O3: Lost Civilization ~ Lost Horizon
O4: Alternate Form ~ Fangs
O5: Complete a Trilogy ~ (Memory)

Still tinkering with this.

B1: Genre Blender ~Rivers of London
B2: Dreampunk ~ Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There
B3: Published Before 1940 ~ The War of the Worlds
B4: Female Author ~ Mary Poppins or Rogue Protocol or Thornhedge
B5: Features a Vampire ~ Club Dead

I1: Features a Portal/Wormhole ~ Come Tumbling Down
I2: Nonfiction SF/F ~ Doctor Who: Who-ology: The Official Miscellany
I3: Takes Place Underground ~ Homeland or The Tombs of Atuan
I4: Weird West ~ Six-Gun Snow White
I5: Anthology ~ The Draco Tavern or The Illustrated Man

N1: Dark SF/F ~ Hansel and Gretel
N2: Award Winner ~ Redshirts or Thornhedge
N3: FREE ~ TBD
N4: Features a Swordsman ~ Homeland or Snow Crash
N5: LGBTQ Character ~ A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

G1: New-To-You Author ~ Thieftaker
G2: Features a Son ~ William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return
G3: Starts with U ~ Unfallen Dead
G4: Located in Africa ~ A Master of Djinn
G5: Translated from Another Language ~ The Neverending Story

O1: Published in 2025~ Sunrise on the Reaping
O2: Urban Fantasy ~ Moon Called or Small Favor
O3: Lost Civilization ~ Lost Horizon
O4: Alternate Form ~ Doctor Who: Sleepers in the Dust
O5: Complete a Trilogy ~ The Winter of the Witch

Let's goooo!

B1: Genre Blender ~ The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
B2: Dreampunk ~ Not entirely sure what this is?
B3: Published Before 1940 ~ Sultana's Dream
B4: Female Author ~ Penric’s Demon
B5: Features a Vampire ~ Witch Hunter by C.L. Werner

I1: Features a Portal/Wormhole ~ The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
I2: Non-Fiction SF/F ~
I3: Takes Place Underground ~ Possibly Gauntlgrym
I4: Weird West ~
I5: Anthology ~ Bloodchild and Other Stories

N1: Dark SF/F ~ Witch Finder by C.L Werner
N2: Award Winner ~
N3: FREE ~
N4: Features a Swordsman ~ The Revenge of the Rose
N5: LGBTQ Character ~ Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (horror with a bit of sci-fi)

G1: New to You Author ~ The Way of Shadows
G2: Features a Son ~ Starship Troopers
G3: Title Starts with U ~
G4: Located in Africa ~
G5: Translated From Another Language ~

O1: Published in 2025 ~
O2: Urban Fantasy ~
O3: Features Atlantis ~
O4: Alternate Form ~ R.U.R. by Karel Capek (it's a play)
O5: Complete a Trilogy ~ Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks ~ According to the authors website, Nemesis is not considered part of the Night Angel trilogy, I'll count Beyond the Shadows for this square after all.

B1: Genre Blender ~ The Tainted Cup
B2: Dreampunk ~ Dreamsnake
B3: Published Before 1940 ~ The Food of the Gods
B4: Female Author ~ Miss Amelia's List
B5: Features a Vampire ~ Some Girls Bite

I1: Features a Portal/Wormhole ~ A Rip Through Time
I2: Non-Fiction SF/F ~ The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator's Search for the Unexplained
I3: Takes Place Underground ~ The Anomaly
I4: Weird West ~ Upright Women Wanted
I5: Anthology ~ My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding

N1: Dark SF/F ~ Vox
N2: Award Winner ~ Annihilation
N3: FREE ~ Paladin's Grace
N4: Features a Swordsman ~ The Warden
N5: LGBTQ Character ~ Ribbon Dance

G1: New to You Author ~ The Ruins
G2: Features a Son ~ Dreamer's Pool
G3: Title Starts with U ~ The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
G4: Located in Africa ~ Akata Witch
G5: Translated From Another Language ~ The Cat Who Saved the Library

O1: Published in 2025 ~ A Drop of Corruption
O2: Urban Fantasy ~ Hidden
O3: Lost Civilization ~ Atlantis Rising
O4: Alternate Form ~ Charlaine Harris' Cemetery Girl Omnibus

O5: Complete a Trilogy ~ Den of Wolves

I have to say that I'm impressed by the number of group members who have their Bingo planned so early in the year - I will plan a few early on, but generally I'll see if what I'm reading fills a slot. Then, closer to the end of the year, I will choose books just to fill the remaining slots 😁

B1: Genre Blender ~ The Spare Man ✔
B2: Dreampunk ~ Dreamsnake ✔
B3: Published Before 1940 ~ Tales of Space and Time ✔
B4: Female Author ~ Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear ✔
B5: Features a Vampire ~ The Vampire of Kings Street ✔

I1: Features a Portal/Wormhole ~ The Many-Colored Land ✔
I2: Non-Fiction SF/F ~ Clever Girl: Jurassic Park ✔
I3: Takes Place Underground ~ Servant of Earth ✔
I4: Weird West ~ An Easy Death ✔
I5: Anthology ~ My Zombie Valentine ✔

N1: Dark SF/F ~ The Queen's Bargain ✔
N2: Award Winner ~ The Moon and the Sun
N3: FREE ~ West of Eden ✔
N4: Features a Swordsman ~ The Pirate King ✔
N5: LGBTQ Character ~ Direct Descendant ✔

G1: New to You Author ~ My Roommate Is a Vampire ✔
G2: Features a Son ~ Accomplice to the Villain ✔
G3: Title Starts with U ~ The Unmaking of June Farrow ✔
G4: Located in Africa ~ She ✔
G5: Translated From Another Language ~ Three Bags Full ✔

O1: Published in 2025 ~ When the Moon Hits Your Eye ✔
O2: Urban Fantasy ~ Allegiance of Honor ✔
O3: Lost Civilization ~ Lost Horizon ✔
O4: Alternate Form ~ Deadline ✔
O5: Complete a Trilogy ~Blackout ✔

B1: Genre Blender ~
B2: Dreampunk ~
B3: Published Before 1940 ~ Peter Pan ✔
B4: Female Author ~ Re-reading The Drift :) ✔
B5: Features a Vampire ~ Grave Peril ✔

I1: Features a Portal/Wormhole ~ Wind and Truth ✔
I2: Non-Fiction SF/F ~
I3: Takes Place Underground ~ The Coming Race ✔
I4: Weird West ~ The Huge Hunter, Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies ✔
I5: Anthology ~

N1: Dark SF/F ~ Grayshade
N2: Award Winner ~ The Curse of Chalion ✔
N3: FREE ~ Wide Awake
N4: Features a Swordsman ~ Death Masks ✔
N5: LGBTQ Character ~

G1: New to You Author ~ The Name of the Wind
G2: Features a Son ~ The Black Prism: Book 1 of Lightbringer ✔
G3: Title Starts with U ~
G4: Located in Africa ~ Children of Blood and Bone
G5: Translated From Another Language ~ La casa de los espiritus ✔

O1: Published in 2025 ~ Onyx Storm ✔
O2: Urban Fantasy ~ Summer Knight ✔
O3: Lost Civilization ~
O4: Alternate Form ~
O5: Complete a Trilogy ~ The Convergence ✔ (beta read it!)

I have just notched my first bingo, having read all the books in my I column. Yay!

I completed the top row of the bingo card today for my second bingo. 😊

I expected to blaze through my BINGO this year but I'm moving at a snail's pace. Although...I totally forgot to update my most recent one, read a book that started with U...doesn't complete me a BINGO though :)

I started to listen to The Food of the Gods (1903) today for my Bingo card, but it was so ... well, the narrator had a pleasant voice but the one and only one character he did in any kind of voice was painful to listen to. The rest of them, he did all in the same voice and it was hard and frustrating to keep track of who said what. So I'm giving up on it and going to read it instead. It was an interesting story.

The narrator is important to the enjoyment of a book. I hope you have better luck with the print version.

Thanks, Wanda, me too!

18 books in and I finally have my first completion - the N column. 7 books to go.

Wow! I'm planning to finish Dreamsnake this week to complete my B column.

I think 2 of my impending Bingos may be thwarted by Dreampunk (because I'm not too sure what it is and if I own any) and sff written in 2025 (I don't think I own any and usually don't read a ton of new releases the year they come out 😬). Half a year to go, so let's see lol

Anything similar in style to Alice in Wonderland or books set in Lovecraft's Dreamlands, whether written by Lovecraft or others, would class as examples of dreampunk IMO.

NekroRider wrote: "I think 2 of my impending Bingos may be thwarted by Dreampunk (because I'm not too sure what it is and if I own any) and sff written in 2025 (I don't think I own any and usually don't read a ton of..."
I googled it and found a couple I was interested in. I, too, settled on Hope you find something you like!

I'm planning to use

If you didn't see it already we had a discussion of what fits in the Dreampunk category. Something like Lovecraft's Dreamlands stuff could be good because (1) they're free and online and (2) mostly short so even if you don't like reading on a computer you could still squeeze one in - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I feel if the book is particularly, dunno, trippy and surreal it could count too, even if its not directly about dreams. Anything that questions reality, think maybe the Matrix movies.

So Lovecraft and Sandman type things would be actually knowingly travel to a dreamland, Alice would be the "have an adventure and wake up and realize you imagined it all (or did you)", and the Matrix type things where reality is just a little off and you start to wonder...PKD wrote a lot of "what is reality" kind of stuff too.

Thanks everyone for helping me understand Dreampunk, the examples are very helpful! And I didn't realise there was a thread, definitely checking it out!

I am a big Lovecraft fan, but I think I've read just about all his stuff long ago, so would definitely qualify as a reread lol! I read a PKD and a Moorcock last year that would have worked well for sure, so I think I may have to sift around and pick another PKD out for this year!

The completion of The Last TechShack fills my second Bingo for the year - first column N, now row 1. However, I only have 6 slots left to fill, so I expect most books will complete a row or column

Finishing The House on the Borderland fills the before 1940 slot, and that completes both column B and row 3.

I have now completed columns B and N, and rows 1 and 3. 5 books to complete the card, and 5 months to go.

Yay, Tony! One a month, unless you are like me and have to read 2 more books to finish complete a trilogy! So I have 3 squares and 4 books to go.

Still no BINGO for me, I'm falling a bit behind actually, need to focus more on these and stop letting the library distract me with other stuff

I finished Batman Archives, Vol. 1, which fills the alternate form slot and also completes row 4.

I have 5 books to go and 5 months to read them. Pretty sure I can do it. 😊

BINGO! Probably the first time I've gotten one with so few books read, usually I'm right at the limit of how many one can possibly read before getting one, and that's never done on purpose. But still took a while this time around too.

I still have...12 books to go? I really fell behind this year after having a really good start. I got sucked into the Vertigo graphic novels that got spawned off of the Sandman series and while graphic novels don't take that long to read, they still take time, and there is a LOT of them.

But I've now made a pile of the remaining BINGO books to remind myself to work my way through them.

Go, Andrea! 😊

DONE!! Yay, me! My favorite challenge.

Congrats on being done so early!

I just added two more so I have 10 left to go. Though I'm debating about my Dark Fantasy slot, honestly the series I picked to fill it isn't that dark, I mean the main character is apparently a nasty piece of business...except he has amnesia so while everyone tells him he's a horrible person, he isn't one at the moment :D Wasn't any darker than any other non-cozy fantasy.

Now the Hellblazer series...that stuff's dark. Usually I share my graphic novels with my father since he likes "looking at the pictures" (not sure how much he actually reads them vs just glancing through) but yeah, I didn't share Hellblazer with him ;) I try to avoid filling too many slots with graphic novels since that feels like cheating but the Hellblazer volumes can be 400 pages long, so given how much I've read so far it definitely covers the number of words a prose novel would have.

Europa Universalis IV: What If? The Anthology of Alternate History fills the anthology slot in my Bingo and also completes column I. Only 2 slots to go - translated and urban fantasy.

Last night, I finished She as my book set in Africa and have now completed the fourth row on the bingo card. Still chipping away at it.

Wanda wrote: "Last night, I finished She as my book set in Africa and have now completed the fourth row on the bingo card. Still chipping away at it."

Excellent choice for a book set in Africa - I didn't even think of it when I was planning my Bingo reads, and I have been wanting to read that book for ages 😝

Finishing The Daughter of The Ice filled the Translated slot in my Bingo (it was written in Portuguese) and completes both row 5 and column G. Urban Fantasy is the final slot to complete my Bingo.

I still have...9 to go. Yikes. But there's still time! I know I can fill in 3 of the slots with graphic novels I've already read but I try to stick to novels as much as possible.

Tony, that UF would be an easy one for me to fill! Hope you find one you like. Are you reading any UF series? Or is this not a genre you care for? Andrea, you do have a few to go! Like you, I try to stick to novels, and I also try to stick to SF and Fantasy for this challenge.

Oh, you're supposed to stick to SF/Fantasy/Horror for this challenge, its cheating otherwise ;) Even Dragonfly in Amber, though predominantly historical, is also time travel.

Georgann wrote: "Tony, that UF would be an easy one for me to fill! Hope you find one you like. Are you reading any UF series? Or is this not a genre you care for? Andrea, you do have a few to go! Like you, I try t..."

I don't read a lot of urban fantasy, but I enjoy it sometimes, and I quite enjoy cozy mysteries, which is a subset of urban fantasy, so I do have a number to chose from.

I filled in the free square this week with West of Eden by Harry Harrison. That gives me four rows full and only three books left to go!

Technically supposed to do one square per book, but there are no hard rules :) And we are starting to run out of time to fill those squares!

Andrea wrote: "Oh, you're supposed to stick to SF/Fantasy/Horror for this challenge, its cheating otherwise ;) Even Dragonfly in Amber, though predominantly historical, is also time travel."
Ha ha! Good thing that's what I was doing then!! (I likely read that somewhere along the line and just forgot I read it!)

Finishing Bunny and the Bear fills the Urban Fantasy slot and completes my Bingo for this year.

Congratulations, Tony!

Yay, Tony!

This afternoon, I finished Blackout by Mira Grant, the third book of her Newsflesh trilogy. I only have 2 books left to go! (8 bingos, 3 columns, 4 rows, 1 diagonal)

Ack, I have 8 more to go! My latest addition completed neither a row nor a column.

This afternoon, I finished Accomplice to the Villain for my book featuring a son (there are several of them). I have only one square left now!

Got two BINGO's today got the B column and the 2 row!

7 more to go

Go, Andrea!