It's about that time again! In keeping with the new nomination process (which can be found here if you'd like to refresh your memory), I'm opening the nominations now. The nomination threads will be open until March 14th, at which time I'll create the polls and the voting begins.

Please keep in mind:
-- Nominations are limited to TWO per person.
-- Nominations must be submitted with an explanation as to why you're submitting it. (Not looking for Pulitzer award winning writing here, just a brief explanation of how it fits into the fantasy genre and why you're nominating it. IE: what you enjoyed -or hope to enjoy- about the book, etc.)

Submissions missing an explanation, or anything over 2 per person will not be accepted.

Please also provide the book and author (preferably using the "add book/author" link).

Thanks everyone!

P.S. If you have questions or comments about the nomination process, please use this thread. I'd like to keep the nomination thread as uncluttered as possible. :)

I'm going to nominate the book I'm reading right now--Lud-In-The-Mist. It was written in 1926. It's a fantasy that pre-dates Tolkein by 30-odd years and is very different from the epic quest story we've come to expect from fantasy. I can really see it's influence in later books such as "Stardust" and "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell".

How about The Lions of al-Rassan or The Steel Remains?

I think that Lions of Al-Rassan is a great example of how a duo of characters can make a novel great. The leads, Rodrigo Belmonte and Ammar ibn Khairan, are both compelling in their own right, but when they are on the scene together, there is just a magical spark. Its the literary equivalent of a good buddy movie on screen.

Steel Remains is one of my favorites of last year. Again, excellent characters who become even more compelling when they are finally brought together. Plus, a gritty and realistic view of what conflict can be like. Not to mention the best written unapologetically gay character I have ever read. Not a stereotype in sight, and the story is all the better for it.

Lud-In-The-Mist sounds great, Sandi. I'd love to read it.

Elizabeth is right - I just made an online order to get a copy. Sandi always has great taste!

Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch | The Amulet of Samarkand

GoodOmens is a hilarious book about the end of the world, the anti-christ is born but not placed with the correct family and a Devil and Angel work together to prevent Armageddon - this is one of the few books where I literally laughed out loud while reading...in public

The Amulet of Samarkand Bartimeus is a an Dijinni with attitude -- powerful, smart, witty. He finds himself doing the bidding of a young (teenage) upstart wizard. This is a YA book but highly enjoyable by adults. Well at least I'm an adult and enjoyed it.

I will nominate Legend by David Gemmell. It's a lighter heroic fantasy with a lot of action and battles in it. I think it would be really entertaining to read.

I'm also nominating Thunderer by Felix Gilman. The unique storyline caught my attention. It's about a man who is a musician visiting this mystical city called Ararat, which is populated by gods. It fuses some elements of Poe, Verne and Dickens.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. I've been wanting to read this for awhile now, the concept of the book sounds refreshing and new to me. Also the fact that the authors place of birth is an hour away from me is pretty cool.

I'd like to nominate The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari, for no other reason than it's on my shelf and I haven't read it yet. Oh, and I met the guy and he's totally cool. He may be better known to people as a fantasy artist.

I also vote for Lud-In-The-Mist. It's great to read some earlier fantasy and recognize the influence it has had.

Bridge of Birds A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart Myself and another list member were both discussing we have this on our "to read" shelf. if it were picked we might finally get it read!

Jeanne wrote: "[b:Bridge of Birds A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was|15177|Bridge of Birds A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was|Barry Hughart|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166671660s/15177.jpg..."

I have a copy of that too!

OK, so a recap of the nominations we've received so far:

1. Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
2. The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
3. The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan
4. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
5. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
6. Legend by David Gemmell
7. Thunderer by Felix Gilman
8. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
9. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari
10. Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart

Here are my nominations:

Lamentation by Ken Scholes - This has just been released and is already getting good reviews. Ken won the Writers of the Future contest a few years ago and this is his first novel. Would be cool to get on the bandwagon early as a group...

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson - in just a few years, this series has become one of the "standards" of fantasy. The plots and subplots run very deep. Though it is the start of a big series, it can be read on its own.

Here's my nomination:

Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling - A really interesting post-apocalypse novel (with several twists) in my opinion, and I would love to hear others' takes on it.

I love post-apocalyptic fiction! :)

I enjoyed the Stirling story up until this last one Sourge of the Gods, had to set it aside...just can't seem to get into it. I think it is because the story has turned from the orginal characters to the kids...who knows..

Is there a list so far of what the group has read together already? I don't want to nominate something that's already been read.

Thanks!

All of the books on the group bookshelves are previous group reads. If the book you want to nominate is not there, we haven't read it yet.

My two selection choices. I have not read either so would be interested in hearing opinions from anyone who has read them.

The Naming The First Book of Pellinor by Alison Croggon

From reading the back cover and the GoodReads description, this is an epic fantasy about a young girl who discovers a powerful gift, her true heritage, and an extraordinary destiny. The GoodReads ratings for this book are good. I look forward to reading it and know I would get to it sooner if selected by the group.

Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

This book has high GoodRead ratings, and I've seen the series recommended in discussions in the past. I've been trying to write a summary based on the book cover and the GR description but it's not working - you're better off reading the GR description!

There are some books in here that I've never heard of that is great! I love finding new things that people find worthy enough to nominate for a read. Even the non-winnners I'll probably be picking up!

-- Robin (24 days until Avempartha)

I would like to recommend:
Assassin's Apprentice

Jane wrote: "I would like to recommend:
Assassin's Apprentice"

That's a great choice, seeing as it was just narrowly defeated in the tie-breaker with Neverwhere. Looks like we'll have a great voting round this month...

The polls are up! Voting will be open until March 25th.

I love voting time ;-)

I had to vote for Good Omens. I've already read it, but I'd love to get a discussion going about it. It's one of my all-time favorite books :-). I know, it's sad since I'm the one who nominated Dies the Fire! Not that I'll be upset or anything if that one wins. Heh.

Nothing sad about that... I voted for Tigana since I haven't read that one and keep hearing good things about it, would make a good discussion!

I vote for Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, a series that is on par with Robert Jordan's series.

This months poll is pretty exciting, the results are so close at this point. Looking at previous months polls there shouldn't be that many more voters either. So the next few votes could very well determine the winner.

Wow...just checked the poll results again. We now have four books tied for the lead.....

We have another tie: Good Omens and Gardens of the Moon.

I created a tie-breaker poll, which will be open from today to the 28th, so please go vote! :)

And Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is the winner of the tie-breaker!

Yah!! I loved this book

Robin - I'm so glad you nominated Good Omens! It's my favorite two authors working together - what more could a reader want! It'll be really fun to re-read and discuss

Good Omens - 'cause I like Pratchett and I can get it in the Library. Lud in the Mist sounds great.

Robin wrote: "Good Omens - 'cause I like Pratchett and I can get it in the Library. Lud in the Mist sounds great."

Robin, Good Omens has already won... Nominating is over in for May-June, but if you'd like to nominate Lud in the Mist for June-July, please stop in and nominate in this thread. Thanks! :)