Nominations for February! (showing 1-23 of 23)

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator comment history]

Hi everyone,

It's that time again! Please post your nominations for our February 2010 Books of the Month. As always, every member can make one SF and/or one fantasy nomination. You can nominate anything --- a new book you just read, or one of your old favorites, or something you're planning to read soon and would like to discuss. You can also re-nominate any book that was nominated before but didn't win the poll.

Please make your nominations, by replying to this message, before November 20th.

Stefan

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

Fantasy:

Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier (renee)
Way of the Shadows, by Brent Weeks (sisimka)
Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld (cliff)
Nightwatch, by Sergei Lukyanenko (chris)
The Bone Doll's Twin, by Lynn Flewelling
Never Ceese: A vampire . . . a werewolf . . . Can Two Who Were Wronged Make It Right?, by Sue Dent (jim)
Sasha, by Joel Shepherd (stefan)
Acacia: The War with the Mein, by David Anthony Durham (pamela)
Moon Called, by Patricia Briggs (kerry)
Gifts, by Ursula K. LeGuin (jacinda)
The Gates of Rome, by Conn Iggulden (sarah)
Last Call, by Tim Powers (candiss)
Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier (janny)
Heaven's Bones, by Samantha Henderson (jensownzoo)
Lord Foul's Bane, by Stephen R. Donaldson (david)

Science Fiction:

The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham (renee)
Rollback, by Robert Sawyer (sisimka)
Flashforward, by Robert Sawyer (cliff)
Farthing, by Jo Walton (nick)
The Quiet War, by Paul J. McAuley (stefan)
Against a Dark Background, by Iain M. Banks (pamela)
World's End, by Joan Vinge (kerry)
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell (jacinda)
The Snow Queen, by Joan Vinge (peregrine)
Darwinia, by Robert Charles Wilson (sarah)
Killer, by David Drake and Karl Edward Wagner (janny)
The Engines of God, by Jack McDevitt (jensownzoo)
The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story, by Stephen R. Donaldson (david)

[Renee comment history]

Hi I would like to nominate Day of the Triffids for Sci Fi. I am embarrased to say I have not read it yet.

I would like to nominate Daughter of the Forest byJulieet Marllier for fantasy

[Kelly comment history]

I'd like to nominate Rollback by Robert Sawyer for Sci Fi and I'd like to renominate Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks for Fantasy

[Cliff comment history]

I'd like to take a little bit of a different track with my fantasy nomination and nominate Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Its marketed as a young-adult novel, but I just read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. If your an adult who enjoyed the Harry Potter series (especially the latter ones) then you'll enjoy Leviathan too.

For sci-fi I'd like to nominate Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer.

[Chris comment history]

For fantasy I would like to nominate Night Watch.

I don't have anything for SF this time.

[Kaia comment history]

I'd like to nominate The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling for fantasy.

Still don't have any sci fi noms yet. :(

[Jim comment history]

I'll toss in Never Ceese A vampire . . . a werewolf . . . Can Two Who Were Wronged Make It Right? by GR author Sue Dent. I have it & her next book on my TBR pile & really want to get to it.

[Nick, Moderator comment history]

I would like to nominate Farthing by Jo Walton for sci-fi. I have not read it yet, but have been meaning to based on accounts of others in this group that have discussed it in the "What else are you reading" threads.

Jo Walton wrote/is writing blogs on Lois M. Bujold's series, and readers of our group read have been writing about them also. (http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=c... might get you to Walton's interview with Bujold on the Tor blog site -- then again, it might not.) I am curious to read something of Jo Walton's as a contrast, and "Farthing" is the book most talked about here. From what little I've dipped into it, the writing style is clear and the ideas are innovative. Though not at all "hard science" the relationship of alternate history stories to harder sci-fi is an interesting topic in itself. And "Farthing" looks like a humdinger of a murder mystery also.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator comment history]

I'm going to throw in a couple of nominations myself this time:

For Fantasy: Sasha by Joel Shepherd. You can read my review here.

For SF: The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley. Haven't read it yet, but it's on my TBR pile and looks really good.

[Pamela comment history]

Fantasy: Acacia The War with the Mein byDavid Anthony Durham
Would like to discuss world building(which was amazing) and characters (which came up short for me)

Sci-Fi: Against A Dark Background by Iain M. Banks
I am half way through this book and hope if it's choosen I can make it the rest of the way.

[Kerry comment history]

Stefan, I'm going to ask a strange question here. If the first book in a series has been read by the group, does that mean that number 2 has to be nominated next?

To be more specific, I'm thinking of Joan D. Vinge's Tiamat series. Book 1 is The Snow Queen and as best as I can tell, has been read twice by the group. The second is World's End which is a smaller book about an important incident where most of the action is perepheral to the main story except the very end. Finally there is the third book, The Summer Queen which I believe completes the story.

I've read the first two books, but never made it through the third, so ideally I'd like to nominate that one.

If that is possible, I nominate The Summer Queen for SF. If it's not, then I'll go back and nominate World's End instead.

For fantasy I nominate Moon Called by Patricia Briggs for something different.

[Jacinda comment history]

Sci-Fi: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Fantasy: Gifts by Ursula K. LeGuin

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator comment history]

Well, the general rule is that book 2 can only be nominated if we've read book 1, book 2 can only be nominated if we've read books 1 and 2, and so on. So in that sense, we'd have to go with World's End.

(We read The Snow Queen so long ago that I barely remember anything about it though. Don't know about anyone else... )

[Stuart comment history]

Renee wrote: "Hi I would like to nominate Day of the Triffids for Sci Fi. I am embarrased to say I have not read it yet.

I would like to nominate Daughter of the Forest byJulieet Marllier for fantasy"

I second Day of The Triffids.

[Peregrine comment history]

Stefan wrote: "Well, the general rule is that book 2 can only be nominated if we've read book 1, book 2 can only be nominated if we've read books 1 and 2, and so on. So in that sense, we'd have to go with World'..."

Can The Snow Queen be the nomination, then?

[Tammy comment history]

For fantasy I'd like to nominate The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden.
And Sci-fi....hmmmm....I think I'd re-nominate Darwinia A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator comment history]

I've added both The Snow Queen and World's End to the list (the first one nominated by Peregrine, the second one by Kerry).

I've added The Gates of Rome, although to me it looks more like historical fiction than fantasy, or at least I couldn't find any fantasy elements in the description... so take a look before voting, once we set up the polls.

Thursday is the last day to make nominations, and we'll set up the first round of polls on Friday - so if anyone else wants to add to the list, make sure to do so before then!

[Sandi comment history]

I'm pretty sure the Conn Iggulden books are historical fiction. I read Genghis Birth of an Empire and it was definitely historical fiction with no fantasy elements. I'm pretty sure his series about Rome is the same. (I really did enjoy the Genghis book though.)

[Candiss, Moderator comment history]

Fantasy: I'd like to nominate Last Call by Tim Powers. This is a World Fantasy Award winner I've been wanting to read for ages, and it seems ripe for discussion. Folks I know who've read it (and "word-on-the-web") tell me it should please fans of Zelazny, mythic fantasy, urban fantasy, magical realism, quest stories, nesting doll/puzzle box plots, and Gaiman's "American Gods", which suggests a fairly broad appeal.

I don't have a nomination for science fiction, because I've really been wanting to read The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell, which has already been nominated. So I'll just second that.

[Janny comment history]

For fantasy, I'd like to nominate a book I have not read, yet - but I've seen it get nice reviews.

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier - I am very familiar with this author's work - she writes a fairy-tale/legend/mythic like story with great beauty and lots of heart. The stories are often oriented toward women's trials, and they handle that topic with great sensitivity, usually in primitive settings. These are character driven books that move well, not edgy so much as haunting. I'd put her work on a scale somwhere between Judith Tarr and Patricia MacKillip.

For SF, this book was about the most fun, fast, action oriented read ever - the standalone collaboration, Killer by David Drake and Karl Edward Wagner. This book is SF, but takes place in historical Rome - an fast paced action adventure with a weird twist - the hero traps beasts for the arena, and he's called in to help recapture a vicious "ape man" - no animal at all, but an alien set loose with a terrifying purpose. This is a fun read, well done, nice research, with a fling of a thrill plot. I wouldn't call it literary, just sheer fun, and the wordsmiths who collaborated are old, deft hands at the trade. It is not a new book - but probably deserves to be more widely recognized.

[Jensownzoo comment history]

Fantasy: Heaven's Bones by Samantha Henderson. I've had this book on my shelf for a few months. It is about love, sort of, in a sick/twisted way and it IS for February.

SciFi: The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt, the first in a series by an author that I haven't tried.

[David comment history]

Stefan wrote: "Hi everyone,

It's that time again! Please post your nominations for our February 2010 Books of the Month. As always, every member can make one SF and/or one fantasy nomination. You can nominate ..."

Nominations:

For fantasy: Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson

For Scifi: The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson

[Kelly comment history]

Polls are up! Please take a moment to register your vote for our February Fantasy and Science Fiction selections. We will hold run off polls in five days.

As per some discussion, we've made these polls not anonymous, so you can see how you and the rest of the gorup voted. If you have a problem with this, please contact Stefan or myself. Thanks!