Discover Science Fiction and Fantasy Week at Goodreads!

Everyone pleaaaase read the Firebird trilogy by Claudia Gray it is one of my favourite serieeees. (aaliyahreads on tiktok recommends it a lot)

Ocean wrote: "I finished Annihilation (of the Southern Reach trilogy, Sci-Fi) just before this week started. It was pretty good, but it made me really uncomfortable. Maybe I'll pick up the second book this week...."

The 2nd book is actually better than the first I feel and I’m currently on the third

"The Search for WondLa" by Tony DiTerlizzi.

The Drowning Kind was fun. I really loved The Hidden Palace, Hail Mary, and A Thousand Ships, but the one that really blew me away was Meet Me in Another Life.

I am currently reading The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate, (out August 10), an interesting tale centering on a drug what can be used to remove memories, The Midnight Library, which I think everyone else on GR has already read, and Damnation Spring, by Ash Davidson (out August 3), a cli-fi novel set in the late 20th century, looking at logging and ecological devastation in the northwest, vs regulation.

I'll recommend Hitchhiker's guide to galax, it's classic and best to start with.

If you're into short speculative fiction, check out these anthologies:

Mysterion: Rediscovering the Mysteries of the Christian Faith
Mysterion 2: Stories from the Online Magazine 2018-19

I agree with the comments above I could do with some exposure for my recently released YA fantasy Bloodstone.

I am hopefully not going to sound too preachy about being an independent author and getting the word out about your book but I have a couple of comments to make.
1, I am involved with two SF/Fantasy oriented groups on Goodreads. Both have mechanisms set up where you can promote your books. if you haven't already tried this method it might be a good one. You are hitting the market you want for your books. Just look around and choose the one best suited for your work. Obviously if you writing Tolkeinesque fantasy a group such as Space Opera Fans might not be a good fit, but who knows maybe a member, like me, enjoys that type of fiction as well.
2. lf you are publishing your work for ereaders then be warned. Kindle is great for the US, but not Canada. Up here the dominant platform is Kobo, as indicated by the fact that it is the one sold by Indigo/Chapters (our only national bookstore chain) and is supported by our library systems for the most part. I have been frustrated a few times because a book I might have decided to try is only available in Kindle.
I hope none of you take this as criticism because it isn't. If you are an independent author more luck to you. I haven't the talent for it so I admire anyone who is willing to take that risk. My hope is too simply point out some things that might get your work out to a larger audience.

I am re-reading The Silmarillion!

Jeff wrote: "It’s interesting to see that goodreads pushes so many well exposed sci fi titles, trade publisher books and the like… but never boosting self published sci-fi that gets overlooked or could use a re..."

You're 100% on the money with that one, Jeff. Goodreads could've let us indies know well in advance with some promo ideas. So in the name of blatant self promotion, I write self-published sci-fi, and so far ratings are pretty good (but I'm always looking for more two stars). Check me out.

I would like to jump on the bandwagon and also shout out some lesser known, but not less worthy titles.

For fantasy:
Shadow Crusade - the first book in a dark fantasy trilogy. The last book was very recently released and I'm reading it right now. It has magic, demons, high stake fights, good character development over the series, complex family relations and romance.

For sci fi:
The Lost Signal - the first book in a series about alien invasion, told in two timelines. It has some exciting twists and grey morality. Book 2 is pretty high up on my TBR list.

I'm reading The Medusa Deep by David Neil Lee.

Not reading too much of it these days as it is mostly Fantasy and myths with a space ship or time travel.

For Sci-fi, I highly suggest The Authority Wars: Banished by T.H. Solomon. It’s a wonderful new take on a sci-fi universe that’s has interesting sci-fi ideas (genetic engineering and its impact on society), great action, deep character development, and interesting world building. I loved it.

I'll read Sentinel Star by Sam Barone and pick off a few short stories from We Dare: No Man's Land edited by Jamie Ibson and Chris Kennedy.

Check out Patrick Chiles work, Perigee, Farside, Frozen Orbit, and Frontier. Excellent near-time sci-fi.

All I ask for is lets separate YA from Fantasy/Sci-fi genres. All YA should stay in a separate category of its own.

For this week I'm reading:

The The Dead Mountaineer's Inn and Roadside Picnic (the audiobook) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

and just finished Network Effect by Martha Wells (which was awesome!)

Have a great week everyone!

C. John wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation. I just added three of his books to my wish list on the Indigo/Chapters site. Is there someplace I can see what is on the list for the British Classics of Science Fiction series. Thanks..."

I wondered if I should post the list for it, here you go (not all of the books in the series are listed there yet (16 in total so far, i think) but it has only 4 voters; also, I think there's a good list of them on Amazon (quite a few are available on Kindle Unlimited, atm):
British Library Science Fiction Classics

Jeff wrote: "It’s interesting to see that goodreads pushes so many well exposed sci fi titles, trade publisher books and the like… but never boosting self published sci-fi that gets overlooked or could use a re..."

There are some decent efforts within the corpus of self-published SF and F. But at this time the consistently higher quality works are still those which are published by mainstream and even traditional publishing houses, rather than authors who chose to self-publish.

STAR WARS and First Lord's Fury ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... ).

Maybe I might toss in some of the REAL science behind science fiction by reading Carl Sagan's COSMOS ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... )

Elaine wrote: "Same books over and over, in every article."

Because the same people write the articles... .

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I'm reading Dawn by Octavia E. Butler and All Clear by Connie Willis. Also just finished The Andromeda Strain by [author:Michae..."

You may want to tackle The Andromeda Evolution next: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Choee wrote: "I am reading the Dune saga!
Frank Herbert was an amazing writer and that saga is, for me, one of the best in this universe."

Have you tried the House trilogy of Dune prequels?

As always I am currently reading mostly science fiction and fantasy, like "Babel-17" by Samuel Delany, "This Is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke and many science fiction and fantasy fanzines, including the Brazilian fanzines Revista Mafagafo and Revista Trasgo.

Anissa wrote: "C. John wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation. I just added three of his books to my wish list on the Indigo/Chapters site. Is there someplace I can see what is on the list for the British Classics..."

Interesting list. I recognized three names on there, Mike Ashley, Charles Eric Maine and William F. Temple (though I did get the last one confused with Eric Temple Bell for a minute). The other two are unfamiliar to me, and I have read some older SF in my time.

Fantasy .. that's my go to spot! Just finished books 1 & 2 of Sarah J. Mass' Court of Thorns series. Can't wait for book #3 to be available at the library.

While waiting for that to come in, I'm finishing Legend of the Book Keeper by Daniel Blackaby and some biz non-fiction books.

If there's time, maybe a Drizzt book I haven't read (#23? onwards) or re-read some Discworld books from the sorely missed Terry Pratchett.

Wish there was more older but unknown recs. Lots of older books that need some love and are probably amazing.

Feel free to check out any books by Kelly Peasgood :) She has 6 fantasy titles out there now ...

M. wrote: "Jeff wrote: "It’s interesting to see that goodreads pushes so many well exposed sci fi titles, trade publisher books and the like… but never boosting self published sci-fi that gets overlooked or c..."
Here is one: The Last Prophecy of Baba Vanga: Visitors from the Planet Vamtim by Robert Brock Pronko, available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735007927
This is an illustrated space action romance with a spiritual twist. Published by our boutique publishing agency abvpublising.com.
We would love to hear from the Sci-Fi readers this week.
Happy reading!

C. John wrote: "Up here the dominant platform is Kobo"

Easily solved by publishing your ebook through Smashwords.

Contrarius wrote: "All you guys complaining about no indie exposure -- stop complaining and start mentioning authors and titles that you want us to check out!"

Rob Steiner and M. Terry Green

Urwa wrote: "do you know any blog/site that promotes indie/self-published books?"

A lot of the indie book reviewers I knew of back when I was one have retired. Here's a list of some who appear to still be doing it. No guarantees, but worth a look.

Fantasy Book Critic

The Future Fire

Every Free Chance

Bookworm Blues

Long and Short Reviews

Big Al's Books and Pals

Self-Publishing Review

David wrote: "Contrarius wrote: "All you guys complaining about no indie exposure -- stop complaining and start mentioning authors and titles that you want us to check out!"

Rob Steiner and M. Terry Green"

Are these the two authors
Rob Steiner
M. Terry Green

This is just a suggestion but if you going to suggest some independent authors including a link will be helpful to the rest of us. Means we can go straight to the author without doing a search and you definitely don't have to list any of their books, Goodreads does that for you.

I just finished a cosmere binge with The Bands of Mourning. Now that The Expanse series is finally drawing to a close, I may finally pick up Leviathan Wakes, and possibly start watching the show.

I wanted to read the classic The Time Machine and finish reading The Martian and start binge reading all the Franny K. Stein and Max Einstein books

I've just finished reading Ash: Crooked Fates by Sky Sommers which is a brilliant ending to the Cinders-Embers-Ash trilogy of fairytale retellings and is a fantastic new and quirky take on The Wizard of Oz. Totally loved it!

Looking forward to reading some more recently released fantasy stories, including A Fair Deception by Lyndsey Hall, The Last Shadow Knight by Michael Webb, The Vow that Twisted Fate by Katherine D. Graham and Letters by Cinderlight by Jacque Stevens.

When The Sleeper Wakes by the best Sci-fi author of all time: H.G. Wells!

I stopped reading fantasy years ago, I was tired of the stories and the similitudes of the plots... But now is the time to give a chance to the genre once more. My reading of the moment is Six of Crows, the second book. And I love it!

I'm in a Romance Book Club only because it is in my area and there are no other book clubs in my area...yet. It's hard for me to agree on books they like. Doesn't help that our ages are much different, so our tastes in Romance Books are different.

seriously wish there was a link in the top menu to just browse Goodreads articles. 😤 have been asking for it for years but Amazon really does not care about user requests. 🙄 the app and mobile site are testament to that.😑

Sigh. oh, Shelfari i so miss you.😫😥

M. wrote: "Jeff wrote: "It’s interesting to see that goodreads pushes so many well exposed sci fi titles, trade publisher books and the like… but never boosting self published sci-fi that gets overlooked or c..."

umm cuz Amazon owns it. they make very little money from self-published indie books. also those independent publisher probably cannot pay amazon for advertising or being featured in their newsletters.

Ross wrote: "I might finally start the Long Earth after it has sat on my shelf for the past several years."

Do! I loved it.

Suggestions for comedy fantasy satire please.

Eloise wrote: "I will be reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells for this event. It's really just a short read so I think I might be finished with it by the end of this week. :)"

Great choice, especially if you enjoy speculative fiction or dystopian! I found it was very well-written with great ideas not as obvious in much of today's work...it's a classic for a reason! Enjoy

Suggestions for comedy fantasy satire please.

Old school: Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Jeff wrote: "It’s interesting to see that goodreads pushes so many well exposed sci fi titles, trade publisher books and the like… but never boosting self published sci-fi that gets overlooked or could use a re..."
List your book titles! I always read through the comments in GoodRead articles looking for my next read and check out books that people have mentioned

C. John wrote: "Are these the two authors
Rob Steiner
M. Terry Green

This is just a suggestion but if you going to suggest some independent authors including a link will be helpful to the rest of us. "

Yes.