July Group Read Nominations Thread

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

It's that time of the month to nominate what space opera books we'd like to read as a group in July. Here in the north, we're now into summer, while our friends in the south are shivering beneath their blankets with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book.

Up this month we have the following categories:

READER PICK: Dead trees is where it's at for the Reader Pick, which should be widely available in both paperback and ebook at most chain bookstores and public libraries. Books can't be exclusive to Kindle Unlimited since we're a global community.

INDIE PICK: This is for those newer, edgier books where the author has to do it all. Books that have been published by a micropress that helps you upload the thing, but YOU otherwise do the work and marking are okay, or if you got your backlist back, still qualify.

YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK: This is where YOU guys help me indoctrinate set a good example for my teenagers and hook them up with good books that won't make them roll their eyes. That means: Must be written FOR a young adult and STAR a young adult protagonist (age 17 or less) and not have been published any earlier than the year 2000 AD (yeah, I know you all think Heinlein is young adult, but the Y2K kids think he's sooooo 1966).


(If the cover looks like THIS, it won't appeal to a 2016 teen unless you're talking vintage roleplaying)

Since it's hard to find purely space opera YA books, any sci-fi book that has a strong space or space-yearning element will probably be acceptable. Gotta still have spaceships and aliens.

Drop your nomination into the thread below and, on the first of the month (or so), we'll spin it through Random.org to pick three brand new group reads.

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

P.S. - drive-by spam nominations not allowed, so if you're not an active member, we reserve the right to disqualify anything fishy.

[Tom]

I'd like to nominate my book Timberwolf for July Indie.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Galaxy Press]

I'd like to nominate "Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000."

In the year 3000 AD, man has been savagely ruled for a thousand years by a space-plundering race of nine-foot high, gas-breathing conquerors from the planet Psychlo.

One of the Psychlos, the villainous Terl, enslaves a man-creature and forces him to mine Earth gold. Terl’s plan: to teleport the gold to Psychlo, where he can then return wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice.

The slave emerges in the form of Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, a member of the dwindling community of only 35,000 human survivors. However, Jonnie has plans other than to make Terl wealthy—namely, to free mankind from alien tyranny—and cause the ultimate destruction of the Psychlo invaders.

But is Jonnie’s fight to save humanity from these gigantic and technologically superior monsters a losing battle? Or will humans regain the Earth once more?

Now, discover the fate of our world for yourself in L. Ron Hubbard’s pulse-pounding novel Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000!

Battlefield Earth: Epic New York Times Best Seller Scf-Fi Adventure Novel

[Nicola]

I'd like to nominate my novel "Starflake on Thrill World".

The story concerns a young girl who has been raised on an asteroid by glob-like creatures called jellies. She believes herself to be one of them until she meets a human family on a mission to her asteroid and befriends the young girl Molly Molloy. Molly teaches her that she is a being known as a Starbabe a humanoid who can live in space without the need of life support.

When the Starbabe, called Starflake, is kidnapped by a zoo ship and sent to the planet, Thrill World Molly follows. Thrill World is a place where children from all parts of the galaxy are sent to be healed from alien diseases. While the children wait for a cure, there is a huge zoo and amusement park to keep them busy, however, Thrill World has degenerated as a place for slave masters who prey on this bounty of children . Starflake and Molly risk their lives to expose Thrill World for what it has become and try to contact the Deep Space Rangers for help. But it may arrive too late.

The novel is on sale at Amazon.com and can be found at:

https://www.nicolaentertainment.com

[E.J.]

Indie: Defiance by Lucas Bale (Book 1 in this series was a BOTM a couple of months ago)

YA: Beyond the Red by Ava Jae

[M.L.]

Indie pick:
Seers of Verde: The Legend Fulfilled

Marauders from a renegade planet attack an Earth colony ship forcing landing parties to split into two groups in a desperate attempt to escape. The attackers are killed but the colonists pay a terrible price. Their vessels are destroyed stranding them without their technology on either side of an imposing mountain range on the planet Verde Grande.

Descendants of a mysterious Seer now protect their people but become the bane of the hunter society on the other side of the mountain. For two centuries all attempts to scale the mountain are thwarted by the powerful Seers who want to preserve their religion and way of life no matter the cost.

One day, a party of hunters sets out to climb the mountain. To their dismay, the Seers cannot control a strange unreachable young woman, who finds the passage to their protected valley. The reunion triggers a decades-long conflict between the Seers and the children of the “lost ones”—a struggle that forever changes the people of Verde Grande.

[Betsy]

Reader: The Frozen Sky, first of a series. Recommended by David Brin and Larry Niven.

[Leonie]

Indie Pick: by Patty Jansen (I know, I'm like a stuck record with this one!)

YA Pick: by Andrea K. Höst

Reader Pick: by Peter F. Hamilton

[Kirsten]

For Reader Pick, I would like to nominate Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

[AndrewP]

For Reader Pick I would like to second

[Anna]

Okay ... I'll post some Book Cover Bling. :-)

READER PICK:



INDIE PICK:



YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:



Just a heads-up guys ... I'll be on vacation starting tomorrow morning with the DH (once a year we remind ourselves we got married because we like one another and not because we need another taxi driver for the kids). I hope to peek in, but probably won't post the results for July until Saturday (July 2nd) as I'm not due back until pretty late at night on the 1st.

Betsy is Borg Queen for the week! 3:-)
-Anna

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

READER pick: The Agent Gambit by Lee & Miller. This is a two book combo available both in paper and ebook, and the first book in it is a permanent-free ebook (Agent of Change). It is an excellent entry point to the Liaden Universe books. Action, aliens, confusion due to culture differences, bad guys (both human and alien), a bit of romance, multiple on-planet fights, and at least one ship battle.

[Steph]

Reader pick: (Very funny. I'm determined to get this one nominated).

Indie pick: (very Star-Wars-esque).

YA pick: (err... by me. It's new and I've no reviews as yet.)

[Amy]

If I could slip in a last-minute nomination for the Cadicle Volume 1-3 Omnibus for the YA pick...

[Julie]

I liked Pandora's Star, too

[Betsy]

Julie wrote: "I liked Pandora's Star, too"

Does that mean you want to second the nomination?

[AndrewP]

No nomination yet? Are we waiting until after the 4th?

[Anna]

Hi guys! I'm ba-ack! Just grabbed the last few nominations and am now about to post the winners.

This thread is officially CLOSED.