Introduce Yourself! (Archived)

[Naim]

Saul wrote: "I hear that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are working on a radio dramatisation of Good Omens - I'm quite excited!"

Yeah, the adaptation is in the works now! Going to be fantastic.

Also: Hello everyone! I'm Naim Kabir, a current student at UPenn.
Science-Fiction and Fantasy is very much my flavor--it's escapism to the extreme. To other worlds, most of the time.

Though, quick question: why are most Sci-Fi/Fantasy covers so horrible?! (Some are pretty cool, like Scalzi's upcoming Lock In, but... some are not)

[Nerva]

Bad cover artists? Lol and welcome!

[[deleted user]]

Naim wrote: "Hello everyone! I'm Naim Kabir, a current student at UPenn.
Science-Fiction and Fantasy is very much my flavor--it's escapism to the extreme. To other worlds, most of the time.
Though, quick question: why are most Sci-Fi/Fantasy covers so horrible?! (Some are pretty cool, like Scalzi's upcoming Lock In..."

Hi, Naim, and welcome to the group. I look forward to chatting with you.

I'm not sure if I view covers other than when I'm clicking "buy". With e-books I rarely see the cover, other than on the thumbnail. (Though with hardcovers I used to keep the dust jacket off while I was reading, so I didn't see it much, then, either.)

Do you have some examples of ugly covers in mind?

By the way, that Scalzi Lock In isn't upcoming anymore; it came up last week. :)

[Naim]

Haha yeah, I saw it in the reading list.

An example of a cover:

Mort.

The writer is obviously legendary, but the cover...

[Steven]

I'm a graphic designer. The reason why many covers don't appeal to you is that the big publishers determined what the target audience for their book is — and it isn't you. But, it's an inexact "science." If a book is action-oriented (aimed at males of a certain age) there will be an illo of some action-y scene (battle) from the book, or of a male protagonist who looks cool to the audience. Most romance novels' covers show a couple together. The publishers have determined that that's what will attract romance readers. They have data from focus groups that (they hope) proves this.
When I illustrated my cover for Wizard Blues I was keenly aware that most readers of fantasy are female, yet I had written a book about twin brothers. What to do? Personally (and perhaps to the detriment of the book's appeal) I resisted having a woman on the cover. I didn't have a female major character. So, I opted to illustrate the two hands of the boys and include other imagery that might intrigue both men and women. Sometimes, the publishers get it wrong, but the story's so good that the cover becomes irrelevant. I loved The Magicians series by Lev Grossman, yet the covers were BOOOOOORING. The publishers got it wrong in this case, but the story and the reviews jumped past the cover.
If a book is self-published then the author has to be his/her own focus group. Who do I see liking my book? Everyone, of course! Also, most self-publishers don't have thousands of dollars to spend on cover design. It's difficult to spend all that time writing, then pay for editing, and after that pay for killer cover art and design. You bite off a lot when you self-publish.

[Naim]

Hah, that makes a good deal of sense.

I just suppose I can't imagine a demographic who enjoys seeing a buff guy with a sword on every cover all the time.

[Abraão]

Hi. I'm psychologist, professor and I like to review books. I like to read sci-fi and fantasy books. I try to write some chronicles too. I'm direct, not really attract to feelings or emotions. I like to observe and analyze. That's me.

P.: I'm Brazilian or (How could I say?) I almost cry to buy books every month. It's incredible expensive.

[W.C.]

Hi, all.

My name is William though I write as W.C. My debut Mil SF with Tor is out January 2015. See here if you're interested in more: www.wcbauers.com.

I love all things military and high-concept SF too. Jack McDevitt and C. J. Cherryh are among my favorites. DUNE, ENDER'S GAME, and STARSHIP TROOPERS of course. ANCILLARY JUSTICE is a must-read.

I'm also a devout Christian so SF with an everlasting twist is welcome too: Lewis's SPACE trilogy for instance and Weber's SAFEHOLD series. Currently I'm reading an ARC of ANCILLARY SWORD.

Thanks everyone.

[[deleted user]]

Abraão wrote: "Hi. I'm psychologist, professor and I like to review books...."

W. C. wrote: "Hi, all. My name is William though I write as W.C...."

Hi, Abraão, W. C., and welcome to the group.

[James]

Hello all! My names is James Kirk Bisceglia (James Kirk is my birth name given to me in 1969 by the way!) I love science fiction and have recently penned my first novel. I'm married and also have a lovely daughter. The group looks great, feel free to drop me a line!

[[deleted user]]

James wrote: "Hello all! My names is James Kirk Bisceglia (James Kirk is my birth name given to me in 1969 by the way!) I love science fiction and have recently penned my first novel. I'm married and also have a lovely daughter...."

Welcome to both Goodreads and the group, James Kirk. (I gather your parents were fans of Star Trek. Coincidentally, today is the 48th anniversary of the original series premiere on NBC. So, is your daughter named... Katnis? :)

[James]

My daughter is not Katnis. She's almost 13, so Katnis wasn't an option at the time. I went with something a bit more traditional.....Isabella. Maybe she'd like to change it? I was born July 8 about a month after the last episode of the original series aired.

[[deleted user]]

James Kirk...once I get around to re-writing my Kirk bio (one day...) I'll have to send you a copy...

[James]

Spooky, that sounds great, I'd love to read it!

[Gaines]

Hi folks :-) My name is Gaines. I live in Australia, but was born and raised in Tennessee in the US. I translate from Chinese to English for a living, and in my spare time I like to read, watch movies, stare at clouds, write, and cook good food. (well, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's yuck, hehe).

I enjoy reading both fantasy and science fiction. Pretty much any story that's told well holds my attention. I love spaceships and stories about space especially.

Occasionally I write short pieces of sci-fi or fantasy, which I put up for people to read for free on my website, www.gainespost.com . Some might be decent, but some are crap. I'll let you decide :-)

Nice to meet you all!

[Mike]

Gaines wrote: "Hi folks :-) My name is Gaines. I live in Australia, but was born and raised in Tennessee in the US. I translate from Chinese to English for a living, and in my spare time I like to read, watch mov..."

Welcome Gaines (or should I say mate?)
Looking forward to discussing space operas with you.
Jump in the discussions as we start reading Enemy Mine tomorrow.

[Gaines]

Thank you!

[Nikolay]

Hey guys, my name is Kolya, and I'm a slowpoke perfectionist wannabe hard scifi writer. Putting it straight, I don't really enjoy reading fiction, cause non-fiction books seem to provide me with much more building material to construct my imaginary worlds. So I'm afraid there's barely a dozen or so of fiction books I've read after my age of 20 (it was much more in my teens, though). And when I do read fiction, it looks much more like dismantling and dissecting in order to study the book's guts and cogs. I don't think it's the best way to get along with the books, but that's the way I am.

P.S. And btw I'm a PhD in pure math.

[Billy Dominguez]

Hey everybody. Im Billy I just started reading again last December after a 10 year break. I picked up The Shinning and got hooked into reading and im on my 84th novel this year. Love sci-fi/dystopian/apocalyptic/native american fantasy/horror novels. Always looking new recommendations.

[[deleted user]]

Billy wrote: "Hey everybody. Im Billy I just started reading again last December after a 10 year break...."

Hi, Billy, and welcome to the group. Please have a look around and join in any discussions you find of interest. Glad to have you aboard.

[Bryn]

Gaines wrote: "Hi folks :-) My name is Gaines. I live in Australia, but was born and raised in Tennessee in the US. I translate from Chinese to English for a living..."

Hi Gaines! I see you're in the Illawarra. I'm beneath you in the Shoalhaven. Do you translate any Chinese sf/f? :)

[Luciana]

Hi everybody! I have just joined the group, hoping that it will make me ready more sci-fi books - I honestly watch more movies/series than read books of this genre, except for a few Issac Asimov and Arthur Clarke maybe. Spent too much time watching Star Trek's episodes, I guess! Regarding fantasy, I am limited to Tolkein, George RR Martin and Neil Gaiman, so I am sure I will love to follow the discussions and read the authors monthly suggested here :) I live in Ireland, but I am from Brazil, so I already apologise for any English mistakes I will be making here.

[[deleted user]]

Luciana wrote: "Hi everybody! I have just joined the group, hoping that it will make me ready more sci-fi books - I honestly watch more movies/series than read books of this genre, except for a few Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke maybe..."


Welcome to the group, Luciana. We welcome discussion on all aspects of sci-fi and fantasy here (though we do tend to ramble on more about books.) So please pull up a chair and join the conversation!

[Mark]

Hey Everyone,

My name's Mark. I'm from England but living in Sri Lanka (former home of Arthur C Clarke) at the moment, teaching English and surfing.

I'd say I lean more towards sci-fi than fantasy, but I'm looking to read more fantasy as I just discovered Discworld series.

My favourite sci-fi novels are, in no specific order; Do androids dream of electric sheep, the Hyperion quartet, Foundation, Under the skin, Fahrenheit 451 and Hard Carbon.

Fantasy-wise, I enjoyed the dark materials trilogy, The gunslinger and Master and Margarita, but as I said my reading in this genre is pretty limited. Up for recommendations though.

[[deleted user]]

Mark wrote: "Hey Everyone, My name's Mark. I'm from England but living in Sri Lanka (former home of Arthur C Clarke) at the moment, teaching English and surfing...."

Hey, Mark, welcome to the group. Do you have a good view of the space elevator down there?

[Mark]

Thanks. My current view is of dusty palm trees, men in flip flops and safety helmets and a city sized building site. Would make the perfect setting for a post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

[George]

Hello - I'm new to GR.
I'm a long time reader of SF, horror, and fantasy.

[[deleted user]]

George wrote: "Hello - I'm new to GR. I'm a long time reader of SF, horror, and fantasy."

Hi, George, and welcome to both Goodreads and the group. I hope you'll jump into any conversations that strike your fancy. We have a bunch of long-time SF/F readers here, as well as some more recent converts.

[Christopher]

Hi all! I've browsed Goodreads for some time now, but finally want to start posting. I love sci-fi and fantasy and try my darnedest to contribute to the ever-growing world of stories out there by writing my own. I hope to continue finding new and exciting worlds to delve into through this group : ).

[[deleted user]]

Chris wrote: "Hi all! I've browsed Goodreads for some time now, but finally want to start posting. I love sci-fi and fantasy and try my darnedest to contribute to the ever-growing world of stories out there by w..."

Welcome to the group, Chris.

BTW, if you haven't already, you may want to check out the Goodreads Author Program and set up an author account. It will let you promote your books with a blog, schedule of events (online and real world), add a bio, and other tools for connecting with Goodreads readers.

[Christopher]

G33z3r wrote: "Chris wrote: "Hi all! I've browsed Goodreads for some time now, but finally want to start posting. I love sci-fi and fantasy and try my darnedest to contribute to the ever-growing world of stories ..."

I will do so. Thank you for the suggestion!

[Alan]

Steven (message 830) wrote: "I'm a graphic designer. [...] When I illustrated my cover for Wizard Blues I was keenly aware that most readers of fantasy are female,..."

OH! I didn't know that. Perhaps I have been writing for the wrong market . . .

However: The real reason for this message is that having looked at Steven's cover for his book I would like to ask his opinion on any or all of the covers shown at www.planetnuome.co.uk.

Steven - you still around?

[Emily]

Hello, my name is Emily. I am new to GR but love books. I have been reading Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thrillers, Romance, and Paranormal for 36 years. I write and post Poetry and SciFi/Fantasy stories on my blog.

[[deleted user]]

Emily wrote: "Hello, my name is Emily. I am new to GR but love books. I have been reading Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thrillers, Romance, and Paranormal for 36 years...."

Hi, Emily, welcome to the group, as well as Goodreads. Glad to have you join our conversation!

[Steven]

However: The real reason for this message is that having looked at Steven's cover for his book I would like to ask his opinion on any or all of the covers shown at www.planetnuome.co.uk.

Alan,
I looked at the covers at your link. The four covers on the main page all make a strong statement. The type is legible and the illustrations are intriguing — that's good!
My second impression is that they look like they were designed in MS Word, like the titles were slapped on top of a single image. The type is all upper and lowercase serif and all the same color.
The most glaring typographic error is the apostrophe in "Clissa’s." The straight up and down apostrophe should be a curved one, not a feet symbol or a minute symbol (as in minutes of an angle). I would change the apostrophe to a curved one even if that particular font uses a straight one. It just looks clunky. Sometimes it's good to shrink the point size of the apostrophe in a title a bit to keep it from looking to huge.
If you are publishing a series of novels about a particular place it's a good idea to maintain some graphic consistency from cover to cover. You don't have to be slavish about it, you can simply repeat some treatment of the graphics that echoes from one cover to the next. You might try adding a bar of color at the top or bottom. This will do two things: give you a treatment you can repeat, and help you separate the series and author's names from the title text.
— Shades of Smoke: I find it difficult to tell what the smoke is forming. Is that a bridge? Also, the cropping at the bottom of the image should either show more of the source of the smoke or less. That little nub right at the trim is annoying.
— Shades of Gold: The gold could look a bit more irregular. Now it kind of looks like candy. You might be well-served by adding some detail, however faint, to the background, too.
— Shades of Magic: The Moons look too pasted on top to me. I'd expect to see more effects on them by the clouds since they are behind.
— Clissa’s Lay: The silhouette needs some work. I'd expect to see more detail in the figure's edge (especially the hair) since the grass shows a lot of detail at the bottom.
As I said before, you've got some nice strong images there. They could just use a little refining. Check out some covers in the book store for some type treatments to help differentiate your cover lines. I hope I wasn't TOO critical. It's the easiest thing in the world for a designer to pick apart another's work. The only absolutely necessary change would be the apostrophe. You should fix that.
Good Luck.

[Cris]

Hi all. My name is Cris Pasqueralle and I am a newly published author of fantasy adventure. My first book, Destiny Revealed(Book One in TheDestiny Trilogy) is currently available as an ebook and will be in stores as a paperback this November. I invite all to take a look at https://goo.gl/8CcjPG. I look forward to knowing what everyone is reading and finding great reads I can enjoy. Thanks.

[Brian]

Hello Group. I am a nuclear engineer by day and an adjunct History instructor and science fiction writer by night. My new book Gateway is the first in a series on the Gateway Unvierse. I enjoy military, hard science, and political scifi with strong character development and space operas. You can learn more about my work at www.briandorseybooks.com
Looking forward to the discussions.

[Katie]

Hi everyone! My name is Katie and sci-fi and fantasy (especially fantasy) are a couple of my greatest interests. I've used Goodreads for a while now but and new to groups.

Tolkien is my number one favorite author and has been for as long as I can remember. As a result, my expectations for fantasy books are very high and I have a hard time finding ones I really like, so I am hoping that by joining this group I will be able to find some new favorites!

Books I am currently enjoying are the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams, the foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

[[deleted user]]

Katie wrote: "Hi everyone! My name is Katie and sci-fi and fantasy (especially fantasy) are a couple of my greatest interests. I've used Goodreads for a while now but and new to groups...."

Hi, Katie. Welcome to the group, and Groupdom in general. It sounds like you enjoy reading a lot of (excellent) books in parallel. I hope you'll join us for some interesting discussions.

[Alexis]

Howdy,

I just joined GoodReads and came across this group. I love reading sci-fi and fantasy, and I write sci-fi myself. I'm sure I will enjoy the discussions here and find inspiration for my own writing.


-Alex

[[deleted user]]

Alex wrote: "Howdy, I just joined GoodReads and came across this group. I love reading sci-fi and fantasy, and I write sci-fi myself. I'm sure I will enjoy the discussions here and find inspiration for my own ..."

Hi, Alex, and welcome to both Goodreads and the group. I look forward to chatting with you,

[Sarah]

Hi everybody. My name is Sarah Mankowski and I am fairly new to Goodreads. Your group blurb caught my attention because it describes my reading preferences extremely well. I look forward to your book discussions.

[[deleted user]]

Sarah wrote: "Hi everybody. My name is Sarah Mankowski and I am fairly new to Goodreads. Your group blurb caught my attention because it describes my reading preferences extremely well. I look forward to your bo..."

Welcome to both Goodreads and the group, Sarah. Hope you'll enjoy the discussions here.

[Sarah]

G33z3r wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Hi everybody. My name is Sarah Mankowski and I am fairly new to Goodreads. Your group blurb caught my attention because it describes my reading preferences extremely well. I look forw..."

Thank you! I have a feeling my to-read stack will grow.

[David]

Hi everyone, I write (and read) science fiction with mystery elements. I sometimes read the fantasy genre too. Pleased to be here :)

[Dean]

Greetings, fellow sci-fi fans! I've been one since reading Dune as a child. These days, I love Peter F. Hamilton's space operas and pretty much anything by Alastair Reynolds. I enjoy near-future and present-day science fiction. Both aforementioned authors do an incredible job at propagating today's tech wishlists into tomorrow's facts. I am fascinated by how they weave those techs into the social fabric of the universes they create.

The world-spanning scale of apocalyptic tales intrigues me. While it sucks for those that die in said apocalypse, the world left in its wake is full of unknown opportunities and unexpected dangers, for those who survive; elements I explore in my own writing.

When I'm not flying commercial helicopters, I while away my off-time writing present-day apocalyptic sci-fi.

Based on my listed tastes, please feel free to suggest works you think I might enjoy. I'm looking forward to interacting with the group.

[Michael]

Greetings all, I have always been a fan of reading. I was fairly young when my cousin gave me his copies of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Since that day, I've always gravitated towards books in the fantasy genre, which naturally pushed me towards science fiction, as well. For a while, I had slowed down with my reading, but over the last year, or two, I have really been picking it back up again. I figured this would be a good place to find some good suggestions for things to read, after I get through the list of things I already have on tap.

[[deleted user]]

Michael wrote: "Greetings all, I have always been a fan of reading. I was fairly young when my cousin gave me his copies of the Dragonlance Chronicles. Since that day, I've always gravitated towards books in the..."

Hi, Michael, and welcome to the group. Having all this gone through ups and downs in our reading cycle as life has evolved, and we hope you'll share your impressions of what you've been reading (or watching).

[Robin]

Hi all, my name is Robin. I joined this group only recently but completely forgot to introduce my self. I've always had a soft spot for the fantasy genre, I especially like to read series of books. I think my introduction to fantasy came in the way of Harry Potter. After racing through the series, I became hooked on all things fantasy. Since then, I've been exploring every aspect of fantasy from epic and high fantasy to modern urban fantasy. I suppose my introduction to science fiction like a few people came in the way of Star Wars. I'm happy to note that this introduction came from the original Star Wars trilogy rather than the prequels. Ever since I've been avidly reading scifi, though my science fiction tastes lean more towards military science fiction. So any of the recommendations can include military scifi as well as fantasy. So more about me, I'm a current college student living in Manchester England. So any Englishisms I come out with which completely throw people off, just ask me what it means. I'm also a football soccer to Americans mad. So you may find me randomly ranting about the performance of my team. Which happends to be Manchester United. I hope to find and discuss books in great detail in this group. Currently I'm looking for a series with a military/combat/martial arts theme. I'm looking for something new, as I'm bored and need a break from the stuff I'm currently reading. If possible I like a series with as few POV switches as possible, as I'm not a fan of that kind of thing. Anyway, I hope to be active in this group. Have a nice day everyone. Ps any recommendations don't necessarily have to have all the themes I specified, as long as there's some combat I'm not too bothered if it's military. Oh and I copied this introduction from another group I joined recently so if it doesn't make sense just blame me because I couldn't be bothered to change it.

[Juston]

Hey Robin, just for you, I was living in London in 2001 and my friends and I were at white hart lane in September in the Man U section when Man U beat the Spurs 5 - 3. 5 unanswered goals in the second half. I'm a Kiwi and that game is the only English Premier league football game I've ever been to and it was incredible!

Apart from that welcome to the Group! There are a lot of great books/series promoted and recommended here?