Nominations for October 2025 Books of the Month > Likes and Comments

Hello everyone!
Can you believe it? It's time to open nominations for our October 2025 Books of the Month. What do you want to be reading this fall?

Each group member may make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination in this thread. If you would like to make a nomination, please reply to this post with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

and/or

b. these threads:
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2018 - Present
Master list of Previous Books of the Month (Apr-Dec 2017)
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2012 - 2017
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2006 - 2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Thursday July 17.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Friday July 18 and will run through Thursday July 24.
• The final run-off polls go up Friday July 25 and will be open through Thursday July 31.

Thanks!
Chris, Moderator

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:
SCIENCE FICTION:
Brightness Falls from the Air
Version Control
Faller
Shroud
The Stars Undying

FANTASY:
The Witchstone
The Amalfi Curse
The Waking of Angantyr
The Raven Tower
The Hurricane Wars

October is a good time for a murder mystery, even one set in space and by a classic Womanist Sci-fi writer.

For Science Fiction:

I nominate Brightness Falls from the Air by James Tiptree Jr.

excellent choice. I particularly like it because it anticipates so much of what our NeoSciFi Manifesto criticizes—spectacular violence as entertainment. The visitors have come to witness a cosmic event (a nova), but beneath the awe lies a history of genocide, state violence, and voyeuristic complicity. Tiptree deconstructs the colonial gaze, the media’s lust for spectacle, and the way we consume others’ suffering. Excellent Nick.

Let's go with The Witchstone by Henry H. Neff for fantasy. I have no idea why this is on my TBR but the summary says:
Breakneck international adventure that takes our unlikely duo from a hot dog stand in Central Park to the mountains of Liechtenstein. As the clock ticks down, tough-as-nails Maggie and conniving Laszlo will uncover a secret so profound that what began as a farcical quest to break a curse will eventually threaten the very Lords of Hell.

And for Science Fiction, Version Control by Dexter Palmer. I've read another book by this author that I really liked, here is the summary:
Version Control is about a possible near future, but it’s also about the way we live now. It’s about smart phones and self-driving cars and what we believe about the people we meet on the Internet. It’s about a couple, Rebecca and Philip, who have experienced a tragedy, and about how they help — and fail to help — each other through it.

Lets go back to that nomination I withdrew on last poll.


Science Fiction
Faller by Will McIntosh
Had been really enjoying the book but had to put it down because life got in the way and never got back to it.

No one can remember anything. Reality has seriously fragmented. As we follow the protagonist, we slowly start to discover who he is and what happened.

As a bonus, its a stand alone story and not yet another first book in a series. I swear, this is a dying breed. :D

I'm drawing a blank on Fantasy at the moment but will come back if I get any good ideas.

Random wrote: "As a bonus, its a stand alone story and not yet another first book in a series. I swear, this is a dying breed. :D..."

It does seem to be. I'm always looking for stand alone's to nominate, they are kind of hard to find.

I'd like to read Faller, so I'm not going to nominate another SF this time around.

For fantasy, I'll suggest The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner. I recently read and loved one of her others, The Lost Apothecary, which was a historical fiction/mystery with a touch of magic. This looks like more of the same, which feels appropriate for an October kind of mood.

I'll add a couple by two dependable authors

The Waking of Angantyr by Marie Brennan for Fantasy

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky for SciFi

For Fantasy I'll nominate what looks like a romantic fantasy, only maybe the Southeast Asian twist gives it a little more grit (from what I've heard -- I've not read this one):

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

For fantasy, I would like to nominate The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. For sci-fi, I would like to nominate The Stars Undying by Emery Robin.

Preliminary polls are now open! We have lots of interesting choices this month. What would you like to read in October 2025?

Please vote! Polls close Thursday July 24 2025.

Preliminary Fantasy Poll

Preliminary SF Poll

Final polls are now open! We have lots of interesting choices this month. What would you like to read in October 2025?

Please vote! Polls close Thursday July 31 2025.

Final Fantasy Poll

Final SF Poll