SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

This discussion will open for posts and nominations at 9am EST, Friday June 24. This is a warning so people interested in taking part can prepare.

As promised in our May Sci-Fi Theme run-off, wherein the winner and loser were only separated by two votes, I'm making our July Theme Future Noir (Sci Fi Detective Tales) This theme includes any Sci-Fi work that's built around a detective story and/or any work that embraces the feel and aesthetics of film noir.

So here's the way the nominations work.

We need seven nominees. Nominations are confirmed by a first and second. Everyone has one nomination and one second. The first seven qualifying nominations will make up our list of books (some nominations could be disqualified for a number of reasons: inappropriate for the theme, already read by the group (in this case Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), the author is already represented in our nominees, etc.).

Nominations should appear as follows (and this is my nomination): Lagrange Five, by Mack Reynolds.

The list of qualified books will appear in this first post, and I will update it as the day goes on.

The nominees are:
Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
Gun With Occasional Music A Novel, by Jonathan Lethem.
Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan
Kiln People, by David Brin
When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger
KOP, by Warren Hammond
Pashazade The First Arabesk, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Go for it everyone!

Pashazade: The First Arabesk, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Brilliant future noire with a very different feel to it.

I nominate The Children of Men by P.D. James

I nominate Kop by Warren Hammond, and then ex-Kop by same. Good sci-fi noir.

I'll nominate The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov.

Predictable choice perhaps, but a great book for this category.

I'm sold on the noirishness of Children of Men, Mollie, but only just. The book is definitely more future noir than the film what with the Xan portion and all, although I think it is far better suited to a distopian theme month. Still, future noir often contains distopian elements, amongst others, so....

Excellent nominations from Scott and Mike so far too.

I almost nominated that myself, Chris, but I knew someone else would. Great choice, and probably the keystone of the sub-genre.

I'll nominate Gun, With Occasional Music: A Novel by Jonathan Lethem.

A good one for dividing opinion I think, and you surely can't get more future noir than this. Even has a Raymond Chandler quote at the beginning of the book.
It also happens to be one of my all time favourite novels.

I've hear great things about that book, Richard. Good nominations so far.

Kiln People by David Brin.

I second the Caves of Steel. I have it as an audiobook. :)

Yay! A second. We have our first official nominee.

Kiln People is another excellent candidate, Karina. Thanks.

I'll go ahead and nominate the (somewhat ubiquitous) Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.

As it came in second to The Dispossessed in last month's SF poll, there must be a decent amount of group interest. ("Always the bridesmaid" is a sad lot for a book.)

I will also second Gun, With Occasional Music, as it's been on my reading agenda for ages, yet I've never gotten around to reading it.

Duly noted, Candiss.

I'd like to nominate two by New Zealand writer Pat Whitaker:

Bad Blood
Raw Spirit

From what I can see, I don't think Bad Blood fits the category very well. The Sci-Fi element seems too incidental, not really an overarching element of the story, although it does have a connection to the detective angle. I am less clear about Raw Spirit, however. Can you tell us more about it Thomas? It sounds like there's a bit of a scientific explanation for some paranormal activity, but I am not convinced that is enough to qualify it.

I'd like to nominate A Philosophical Investigation: A Novel by Philip Kerr. Haven't read it, but I've heard good (and bad) things.

I'd also like to second Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.

I'll second Altered Carbon.
I voted for it last month, and my reasons still stand.
Also nice to get my nomination seconded, thanks Candiss.

Ami wrote: "I'd like to nominate A Philosophical Investigation: A Novel by Philip Kerr. Haven't read it, but I've heard good (and bad) things...."

That sounds good, Ami; I just added it to my to-read.

You still have a "second," Richard, since Ami's seconding of Altered Carbon registered before yours.

I'll nominate The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester

I've been meaning to read it, and this would be a great opportunity.

My other thought was for The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton - Larry Niven, but it's out of print and might be hard to find.

Already some solid titles nominated and seconded. Kiln People has always flown under the radar, but I recall enjoying it quite a bit. Certainly Altered Carbon is the first book that comes to mind, and probably a SF book that should be on a lot of SF shelves.

I haven't read it, so I'm not going to nominate it, but I'm very curious about Noir by K.W. Jeter. I've had it on a shelf for a while and I'm wondering if anyone would recommend it here.

I will throw When Gravity Fails into the nomination hat. George Alec Effinger's first Marid Audran novel fits the topic very well.

When Gravity Fails

Noir

Brad wrote: "From what I can see, I don't think Bad Blood fits the category very well. The Sci-Fi element seems too incidental, not really an overarching element of the story, although it does hav..."

Brad, you may be right. Time Out by Pat Whitaker is probably a better choice as it concerns the question of alien abductions. The link to Raw Spirit took me to a different book altogether but the scifi element is admittedly, tenuous.

As you can guess, I am a fan of Whitaker's stuff. The link to Time Out is http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61....

The other books nominated here are great books as well...

So many great books. I love the nomination process, I get so many fun books to add to my to-read list. Thanks guys! And I'll second Kiln People; it's been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get to it for too long.

Thanks for that, Thomas. How about Time Out as your official nominee, then?

And Kiln People is now seconded. Thanks, Cathy.

I will second When Gravity Fails and nominate Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

I'd like to second Altered Carbon. It is a great book! I've read it already twice, I think I'll read it again.

Broken Angels and Woken Furies are also great.

I nominate The Pixel Eye by Paul Levinson. More "near future sci-fi detective story" than pure noir as it's a little light on the alienation that I associate with noir works. (So, I'll understand if someone thinks it doesn't fit.)

Nikki wrote: "I nominate The Pixel Eye by Paul Levinson. More "sci-fi detective story" than pure noir as it's a little light on the alienation that I associate with noir works. (..."

I think we'll let it in. We made it a sort of two pronged theme, so it should fit well enough.

While I would be perfectly fine with Altered Carbon as the choice, I would like to third When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger. I found it by accident at my local library several years ago, took it home, and proceeded to have my mind exploded. The main character, Marid Audran, is a wonderful narrator, wry and acerbic. The setting, an unnamed desert city a la Abu Dabi or Casablanca, is richly evocative without feeling like ol' George is laying it on too thick.

And much like Altered Carbon, the technology, the titular"sci-fi," is integral to the plot. Chinatown with ray guns this is not. IN Altered Carbon it was the use of Cortical Stacks that led to the main mystery. In When Gravity Fails, it is personality chips that allow you to fundamentally change who you are. So you can imagine what happens when someone starts taking on the personalities of famous serial killers throughout history...

Brad wrote: "Thanks for that, Thomas. How about Time Out as your official nominee, then?

And Kiln People is now seconded. Thanks, Cathy."

Yes, I'll nominate Time Out by Pat Whitaker. Thanks, Tom.

I second Guns with Ocassional Music by Jonathan Lethem.

This is a classic Raymond Chandler sf tale with time travel thrown in..

I will nominate Kop by Warren Hammond.

i'll nominate Emissaries from the Dead by Adam troy-castro

Hey everyone. We're sitting on six official candidates so far, so I am going to throw my second behind Mike's nomination: Pashazade: The First Arabesk, by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. That one looks amazing.

So that'll do it for our candidates. That makes seven. As usual I will close down this discussion thread, and any new comments about our candidates can be made in the poll discussion. Thanks for all the participation. See you at the polling station.