April Sword and Sorcery Group Read Nominations

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Please make one book nomination for the S&S theme by posting a link to the title or book cover on Goodreads. Remember that the book needs to be readily available, ie still for sale in print or in ebook format. I will post the poll on March 9th.

Wikipedia.org defines Sword and Sorcery as: Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy,[1] is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus mainly on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_an...

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

There are so many sword and sorcery books that I have been wanting to read. I think I will go with nominating Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I've heard a lot of really good things about this book and it has been on my "to read" list for quite some time.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

How about To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts?

[Kevin]

I just would like to make one suggestion. Let's try to keep the noms S&S, some people believe epic fantasy to be the same thing.
This is not a complaint about any of the noms folks :-)

It's just a heads up.

[Jim]

Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner, one of the fantastic Kane books.

Janny's book is a good one. A fantastic adventure with horses. I think her latest (last?) War of Light & Shadows is about to come out.

[Kevin]

I'll add

Legend (Drenai Tales, Book 1) David Gemmell

This may be more High Fantasy, but I think it smacks of S&S also.



Legend

[Kevin]

Jim wrote: "Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner, one of the fantastic Kane books.

Janny's book is a good one. A fantastic adventure with horses. I think her latest (last?) War of Light & Shadows is about to co..."

Jim,
I think this is out of print. Barnes and Noble claims it's not available.

[Jim]

Whoops. Hadn't thought about that. It's not one of the more expensive used paperbacks, but it's close to $15 for most copies. Rather a lot if you haven't been mesmerized by his tales before.

How about Jhereg by Steven Brust or has that been done here?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

We haven't read Jhereg yet.

[Ctgt]

Something I've never read but have heard about

Swords and Deviltry

I guess this is really 3 short stories, so maybe it's not eligible.



......cowering in the corner waiting for the wrath of Lady D....... :)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Hehe. I was thinking about nominating that one too, Ctgt. We haven't had the question come up. I think that since it's 200 pages, I don't see why not.

It's not the same as a omnibus, so I guess it's okay.

[Kevin]

ctgt, those Fritz books are classics, and although it seems like 3 stories it's actually the launching point for the series.

It reads just like a pure novel.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Thanks for the information, Kevin.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Just for clarification, the only title suggested so far that is not eligible because of availability is Night Winds.

The other titles are still in print.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Swords and Deviltry is available to buy as an ebook, at least on Amazon.com.

[Ctgt]

Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress wrote: "Swords and Deviltry is available to buy as an ebook, at least on Amazon.com."

Amazon has a pretty cheap used price as well.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

That's true. Probably not too hard to find at the library or used bookstore.

[Jim]

Just to be clear, To Ride Hell’s Chasm by Janny Wurts is still in print.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

I have it from the author (Janny Wurts is one of our Silent members here at Action/Adventure Aficionados) that...Quote:

"HarperCollins 360 in NYC has verified that To Ride Hell's Chasm is IN PRINT, in stock in their warehouse and they've verified that it is also IN STOCK at B&N's distribution warehouse also....if it is not at a store/on the shelf, it can be ordered, and it should be totally available immediately from Barnes and Noble's online store.

No problem I can see with this title's availability, here or in UK/Australia/NZ. It's also readily available as an e book/any format/all venues..."

Unquote...I would use those little finger quotations, but, nobody would see them in print.

It's available.

[Kevin]

I looked at the post on this thread; I did not see any questioning of the availability of the Wurts novel.

Maybe I missed something? :-)

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

I believe there was questioning on a different thread, from a different book or review. I was just heading the mis-info off at the pass.

[Jim]

The way Kevin quoted me in #7 - I'd nominated "Night Winds" & mentioned "Hell's Chasm" - could have been construed as either one being out of print.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

The Hammer and the Blade looks good. I'll nominate that.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Just a reminder that the poll will go up probably early tomorrow (after midnight), so get your noms in if you haven't.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I found several Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner for around $8. Still may not be eligible if out of print, I'll leave that to the Mods.

Not sure of the boundaries for Sword and Sorcery (a few here that I'd not have considered S&S but others obviously do). How about The Ten Thousand?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I would consider Night Winds hard to find. It's harder to draw the line nowadays with ebooks and the fact that some do not read ebooks.

In general, I think we are going to aim for books that are:

1. Still in print (able to buy through most booksellers)
2. Books that you do not have buy used copies for (because no new ones are available)
3. Books that are at least available in ebook.

The assumption is that if you can buy the book easily, you can get it from your local library.

Keep in mind that if readers want to do a buddy read for an out of print book, that's fine. You just need to coordinate with another reader who is interested and give yourselves time to acquire the books.

Does that clarify?

[Chris]

I will nominate Deathstalker.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I posted the definition for Sword and Sorcery above. I am not going to be genre-policy and tell people their nominations don't qualify. I would just ask those who posted nominations to think about their choices in light of the definition. If you think your book qualifies, then it goes on the poll.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Well Chris, I've had the one I nominated (The Ten Thousand and the one you nominated Deathstalker both on my shelves waiting to be read for a very (very, very?) long time. Hopefully one or the other will win. :)

[Kevin]

Deathstalker is space opera.

Im just saying...

Why vote for a monthly genre if we are not going to stand by it?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

If you don't like a choice, you don't have to vote for it, Kevin. I think there is enough room for people to have different interpretations of the theme.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I read over the article about Deathstalker, and it sounds like it does have fantasy/sword and sorcerer elements. I'd say it qualifies, at least loosely.

Any comments from others who have read Deathstalker?

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Cool with me. S&S could be limited to things like Conan or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser but I'd leave anything with swords and magic. Like you said, it can be voted for or not.

[Kevin]

Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress wrote: "I read over the article about Deathstalker, and it sounds like it does have fantasy/sword and sorcerer elements. I'd say it qualifies, at least loosely.

Any comments from others who have read Dea..."

Well whatever the group wants is fine by me.

I know the series, I have read the first two books and it's space opera. I believe it was nominated for our space opera month.

I dont want to be disagreeable, but any book with sword play and magic?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

My understanding is that Green took S&S and translated into the space opera genre. That's why I think it fits. There are superhuman/supernaturals and plenty of gory battles in the book.

By definition, sword and sorcery is a fantasy book that focuses on battles and magic. That's pretty broad, IMO.

[Kevin]

I'm fine with whatever you want, I just dont understand why we cant stick with a theme if we vote on it.

I always nominate books on theme.

There is no doubt that the Green books are sci-fi not fantasy. S&S simply shouldnt involve space flight. Just my two pennies worth.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Okay Kev, we get it...you don't think the book belongs...don't vote for it. We're cool with your opinion.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

We get into the whole Star Wars argument pretty soon. Is it fantasy if it's in space....???

We aren't all going to agree on what should be on a nomination list. It's okay, so long as it broadly fits the genre. Differing opinions make life fun.

Majority is going to rule on the vote anyway and that's just the way it goes.

[Lisa P, My weekend is all booked up!]

I think that some people just have a much broader vs narrower interpretation of what S&S should be. That doesn't make it wrong for either opinion. That's what keeps life interesting! Our members will get to vote for whichever interpretation they prefer, by selecting the book they would like to read for the month.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

The poll is up. It will close on March 14th.

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/80...

[Kevin]

Sorry about being a pain in the backside folks.

The reason I brought up the comparison was because we had a space opera month already. There is no doubt that these Green books are space opera. I felt if somebody wanted to read these then take it to the buddy read, that's why that thread is there.

If the Green book wins then this months theme become "space opera" and no longer S&S. So why bother voting on themes? Lets just nominate a book of the month.

There are plenty of S&S books to nominate and I feel there is no need to get off topic no matter if a sword is used in sci-fi or not. The Green books are not S&S, period.

Sorry about the rant, and I wont vote for the book, but that's not the point at all.

Lets stick to the theme or eliminate theme voting.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I know I'll regret this, so I won't carry it any further just wanted to point out that a book can be in more than one genre or theme. Kevin, some cross. For example the Repairman Jack books straddle the line between urban fantasy and horror. Lady D pointed out the Star Wars foo-fa-ra over science fiction or fantasy, it's both...or science fantasy if you prefer. I just read I am Number 4. It's a fantasy but with a science fiction setting or set up.

We won't all agree. I suppose if someone had nominated something like The Lost Fleet books then the space opera line would be obvious. Here we have swords and magic in a space setting. Obviously you see that as space opera, some think it can go under S&S. Maybe it can be both?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

You have the choice to do what you like, Kevin. The group reads are 100% voluntary. If a member does not want to participate for whatever reason, that is their choice. I am not going to respond anymore to your comments because it's not going to change anything. The poll has already been set up and it won't be changed. The majority will vote for the book they would like to read. You are the only one who has disagreed with Deathstalker being added to the poll, so if it was an issue that others shared, then perhaps as a moderator, I would handle it differently. We appreciate your participation, but this is one situation where you're not going to be in agreement with policy, and clearly there is no changing that.

[Kevin]

Sorry Lady D.

Your absolutely right it is all voluntary. I truly don't think I will be visiting anymore.

Take care, and thanks for the fun.

[Jim]

I've decided it's spring time, time to ride, so I'm voting for To Ride Hell’s Chasm, but only 11 people have voted out of 513 in the group & the polls close tomorrow.

[Chris]

And all that bickering over nothing, as Deathstalker didn't even win. I did nominate it because I thought it crossed over into the S & S category enough to qualify, but it doesn't matter anyways!

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

(I'll paraphrase a parable here...because i don't remember it verbatim)

"Once there was a little bird who loved to fly and he flew so high and so fast that his wings wet with morning dew froze solid to his chest. He crashed into a feild where he froze to the ground. He was so cold, he couldn't whistle or move and he wanted so badly to be free.


Then along came two cows. They couldn't see the little bird on the ground, so just kept on walking. The little bird struggled to whistle and call to them, but his beak had become frozen and no sound came out of him.

Then, one of the cows, walked right over him, without seeing him and out of the cows back end came a load of...crap. The crap landed right on top of the bird and nearly covered him. At first the bird was disgusted, but the cow crap was warm and he started to feel better. So he decided to stay there for a while. As his wings thawed he started to flutter them, and when his beak thawed he started singing and whistling because he felt so good and warm!

Along came a cat. The cat heard the bird singing and fluttering about and decided to see what the comotion was all about. He looked at the bird for a moment then asked, "Would you like some help getting out of that pile of crap?"

The little bird said, "Yes, thank you!"

So the cat ate him.

Moral: (view spoiler)[ if you find yourself in a pile of crap, and your happy about it, don't make a big deal over it. (hide spoiler)]

Trnaslation: In my opinion (view spoiler)[ this was a no win situation. The best thing to do is drop this issue, go read and enjoy the book that does eventually win the vote and let this go. This issue of is it in, or is it out is not going to suddenly turn into win-win as I see it. Discussion after a rage-quit always looks like gloating and nobody likes a gloater, and when a complainer stops complaining, even if it means they are no longer around, the silence left behind is uncomfortable, so, lets just enjoy a good read? The less we visit this, the better for all of us. Our group rules are, nominate what you like that you believe fits the genre. Then we vote and the book that gets the most votes is what we read. Participation is voluntary (hide spoiler)] That's just my opinion of course.

Edited at 1430 Eastern Standard Time.

[Ctgt]

Chris wrote: "And all that bickering over nothing, as Deathstalker didn't even win. I did nominate it because I thought it crossed over into the S & S category enough to qualify, but it doesn't matter anyways!"

:)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

The Hammer and the Blade won the poll. Discussion will begin on April 1st.

Thanks to all who participated in the nomination and voting process.

Just to reiterate, please feel free to make any nomination you believe fits the spirit of the theme. The coordinating moderator will make the final say whether it goes on the poll with every effort to be fair in the decision making process. We don't all have to agree or like the same books, and the process of selecting a group read will naturally accommodate any differences in opinion we may have.