Welcome to October 2012!

[Candiss]

Hello everyone,

It’s a brand new month, so we have two new books of the month to discuss. For October, you selected:

October Fantasy: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
October Science Fiction: Grass by Sheri S. Tepper

There are a couple of starter topics up for Grass, but please feel free to start more. If someone has read the book and would like to lead the discussion, please let a moderator know ASAP.

For the Zelazny read, Jim will be leading a detailed day-by-day discussion following the days-of-October schedule upon which the book is based. Jim runs the Goodreads Roger Zelazny group, and he's got a great method he's used multiple times for discussing this fun book, so we're in for a treat. Stop by and get involved!


We also have our schedule set for the next couple of months:


November Fantasy - Classics Month: The Black Company by Glen Cook
November Science Fiction - Classics Month: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

December Fantasy: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
December Science Fiction: Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg

In series read news, our ongoing discussion of The Honor Harrington series by David Weber is still going strong. We are currently in the middle of the Crown of Slaves, book 1 in the Honorverse: Torch arc. Topics for all previous books in the series are still open for discussion, so it's never too late to get involved if you are so inclined.


That's it for now. Happy reading!

Candiss, for Moderators of Beyond Reality

[Jim]

Thank you for the kind introduction, Candiss. A Night in the Lonesome October, like all of Roger Zelazny's books, has more story to it than is at first apparent to the casual reader, but in this case there is a LOT more story. On the face, it's a short, often amusing jaunt, but if you really look at the clues he's left, there are entire volumes of subtext.

It starts in the before the story even begins with the dedication. Those mentioned contributed greatly to the characters and allusions in the book. Some are quite specific, but others like "the makers of a lot of old movies" are obscure, at least at first.

I first read this when it came out & have now had the pleasure to read it day by day with others in a group several times. I've taken notes, but never has a year gone by that I haven't added to them. Someone always seems to see something that we've missed along the way. They've read some novel or seen a flick that none of the rest of us have. That's why a re-read never bores me. I'll look forward to what I can learn about it this year.