Fantasy Aficionados discussion

Now taking suggestions for the February Epic Fantasy read!

I'd like to nominate Shadowmarch by Tad Williams. Never read any of his stuff before but picked this up from a charity shop and thought it sounded good!

When I'm done with Malazan (whenever that'll be) I'm planning to start in on a reread of Tolkien (plus reading some for the first time). So I was wondering...

Have we read The Fellowship of the Ring? Or would The Hobbit be the book to start with? It's at the top of our greatest fantasy poll. And there's members who haven't read these yet...

do we have a list somewhere of what has been read? a bunch of stuff got added to the bookshelf which makes it unclear...

The original listing got erased by the member who made it...

Going through the old poll results and archived topics, it's something like this:

August 2010: The Name of the Wind
September 2010: Acacia: War with the Mein
October 2010: A Game of Thrones
November 2010: The Summer Tree
December 2010: The Way of Shadows
January 2011: Assassin's Apprentice
February 2011: The Lies of Locke Lamora
March 2011: The Blade Itself
April 2011: Kushiel's Dart
May 2011: The Black Company
June 2011: Magician's Apprentice
July 2011: Elantris
August 2011: The Warded Man
September 2011: Nights of Villjamur
October 2011: Furies of Calderon
November 2011: The Last Unicorn
December 2011: The Curse of Chalion
January 2012: A Shadow in Summer

Is it against the rules to nominate your own works? If not then I'd like to offer up Theft of Swords. Which I feel comfortable doing as it's making some of the Best of 2011 Lists:

Library Journal's Top 10 Scifi/Fantasy Books of 2011
Barnes and Noble The Best Fantasy Releases of 2011
Drying Ink's Best Epic Fantasy of 2011
Dribble of Ink's Favorite 5 Novels of 2011

THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS: Unlikely Heroes...Classic Adventure
There's no orphan destined for greatness or ancient evil to destroy…just two rogues in the wrong place at the wrong time. What starts as a simple assignment to steal a sword continues across six individual episodes of ever escalating adventures that puts two ordinary thieves in extraordinary situations which will shape the rule of power in the world of Elan.

If it is - let me know and I'll go with something else.

I'm inclined to accept Traci's nomination, since it hasn't been read in the last year or two, and for the reasons Traci said. Besides, we have run off polls, so unpopular suggestions will be weeded out before the final choices.

But which do you want, LotR or Hobbit? I almost consider Hobbit a stand-alone.

Either works for me. But I consider LOTR to be more "epic". And this is for epic fantasy.

The Hobbit really stands alone, and as long as you know about Gollum's cave, you don't need to read the Hobbit to fully appreciate Fellowship. Either would be fantastic!

In other news, it was Tolkien's birthday yesterday! I celebrated by watching Fellowship.

Michael wrote: "Is it against the rules to nominate your own works?"

Yes.

I'd be interested in reading Fellowship - it's been sitting shamefully on my TBR list for years. :)

Carol wrote: "Michael wrote: "Is it against the rules to nominate your own works?"

Yes."

Ah..no problem some groups allows others not - it's hard to keep track. In that case I'd like to nominate:

A Dance of Cloaks Which is Book #1 of Shadow the Shadow Danc Trilogy.

Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Marshalling the guilds under his control, he declares war against an allegiance of powerful nobles. His son, Aaron, has been groomed since birth to be his heir. Sent to kill the daughter of a priest, Aaron instead risks his own life to protect her from the wrath of his guild. In doing so, he glimpses a world beyond the iron control of his father.

You know, I'm in the mood for funny!

How about Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines? It's supposed to be funny in a Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections kind of way. Looks interesting.

How about Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman.

Nominations closing soon, so that we can have run-off polls. Get your suggestions in now!

I would like to nominate The Skystone. It looks great!

Just for the heck of it, I'll toss in A Wizard of Earthsea.

Have we done Sheepfarmer's Daughter? If not I'll nominate that.

Just wondering, is there a rule for wither or not a buddy read to become a group read? Cause I know we have done a group read as a buddy read before.

I like to nominate Starfinder by John Marco.

I don't believe we have a rule against a buddy read being a group read. The rule is only the first book in a series or a standalone can be a group read. If a group wants to continue the series, they can do buddy reads for the subsequent books in a series.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I don't believe we have a rule against a buddy read being a group read. The rule is only the first book in a series or a standalone can be a group read. If a group wants to continue the series, th..."

Oh okay, so anything that was a buddy can still be nominated for a group read.

Carol posted a list of the books we've done...I was just slow to notice. Sorry.

And thanks Carol.

Since Michael can't nominate his own book...I'll Nominate Theft of Swords. It has fast become one of my favorite series and because of the intricacies of the plot I NEED to talk to others about it to get ideas / speculations.

Since he has his own thread in FA in two spots, and his own group, I think there are ample spots to fit your need...

Kevin wrote: "Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I don't believe we have a rule against a buddy read being a group read. The rule is only the first book in a series or a standalone can be a group read. I..."

I think so, Kevin.

I nominated Sheepfarmer's Daughter and we had a Buffy Read of the trilogy a while back. If it's a problem, that's fine. I didn't think it was a rule, but I wouldn't sweat it.

I figure whatever people have a problem with won't get voted as the read. So whatever. And there's always new members who have missed group or buddy reads. So I think a book should be able to be both once.

Makes sense to me, Traci.

I agree with Traci.

I would like to nominate The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson.
Why? Because I haven't read it yet and am looking forward to it. I know I'm not the only one either...

Yes. I am considering this a stand alone, but if you want to consider it part of the series (it IS title Mistborn #4) and throw it out of the nominations, that's fine too. Word is you don't need to read the first three to enjoy the book.

Nah, I'll take it. Reviews sound like it's a stand alone, so it works for me. :)

Kara wrote: "I would like to nominate The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson.
Why? Because I haven't read it yet and am looking forward to ..."

Is it already nominated for Urban Fantasy already?

No reason not to take it in either place. With needing to have run-off polls, we don't have a lot of time for debating. Let the polls decide, and if both groups want it, more the merrier.

lol Thanks. I didn't even notice... jumped in a little late this week.

=)

Carol wrote: "Since he has his own thread in FA in two spots, and his own group, I think there are ample spots to fit your need..."

So authors in the authors section are excluded as well? Or is it authors in the self promotion thread? Please update the nomination rules again so that we know who is not eligible.

I didn't say anything about that being against the rules, merely that if she needs a michael discussion fix, there are a couple forums already going on.

Can I make a suggestion? With no offense meant to indie writers or Michael personally. I think it might be a fair policy to make books written by group members only be eligible for buddy reads.

Worth discussing, Traci. Every now and then the topic comes up.

Traci wrote: " I think it might be a fair policy to make books written by group members only be eligible for buddy reads."

Honestly, I think that would just promote authors to leave our group, which isn't what I would want to see happen.

Nominations closed. And Kara, notice that most authors don't submit their own work.

Traci, to your point, books written by members can be nominated for both group reads and buddy reads by other members, just not the one who wrote that book. That's perfectly fair. It would be a lot more biased for authors to nominate their own books every month and have most book discussions mainly consisting of books generated by the very members of the group. That's why we have this rule.

Authors are perfectly welcome on the group, and encouraged to participate as members. We intend to explore some author-focused activities on the group in this new year. Keep your eyes open for them.

Missed getting one in. But ah well. There's next month. Some good choices up there.

Carol wrote: "Nominations closed. And Kara, notice that most authors don't submit their own work."

...as it should be.