[BOTM] - June Nominations

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

It's time for Space Opera Fans community members to nominate which great Sci-Fi/Space Opera books we wish to read together as a group during the month of June. Community members can nominate one book in each in the following categories:

READER PICK: This category is for a mass market Space Opera book which readers can find in most bookstores and libraries. The goal of READER PICK is to be easily accessible to readers who might not own an e-reader or have a lot of money to purchase lots of books to feed their reading habit.

INDIE PICK: This category is for an independent or small-press Space Opera book which might only be available electronically and/or not widely distributed through major bookstores or libraries.

*********NEW!!!*****NEW!!!*****NEW!!!*****NEW!!********************

SERIES PICK: y'all requested it, so now we're going to give it to you. From now going forward, Space Opera Fans will add a BOOK SERIES to our monthly group reads. Here's the nomination criteria:

1. It must be the FIRST book in the series;

2. The series must be widely available in ALL major formats (.epub, .mobi, .pdf and print). POD ordered online is fine, but some people still relish paper;

3. The series must be listed on at least THREE different distribution platforms (i.e., no KDP-Select-only books ... your Borg Queen is an .epub girl and only buys books from a non-galactic-dominating Borg Drone like Smashwords or Kobo);

4. There must be at least THREE books currently released in that series as of the date of the drawing, but it can be either an indie or traditionally published book (or one of the many hybrids in-between.

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Space Opera Fans may nominate ONE book in EACH of the two categories (i.e., one READER PICK and one INDIE PICK) between now and May 31st. On June 1st, a winner in each category will be selected using Random.org and the Group Read posted at the top of this community. Because the winner will be randomly selected, authors may nominate their own books if it qualifies for either category, but please don't just link-dump to self-promote!!! It's rude! And it doesn't help the genre!

Once the books have been selected on the first of the month, a discussion thread will be opened for each book where people can share their frustrations hunting down the book, how they liked it, leave links to their reviews, and anything else they wish to discuss.

Please leave your nominations in the thread below! And if you have questions, please feel free to drop them in the thread. If you have a question, chances are somebody else does.

Be epic!
MOD-Anna

[Shannon]

Reader pick: Triplanetary by E.E. Smith (Did I get that spelled right finally? It was my third try.)

Indie pick: Jake's Last Mission by Shannon Haddock

[G. Edgar]

Reader pick: SEEDS OF EARTH by Michael Cobley.

Indie pick: DRY SALVAGES by Caitlin Kiernan.

[Anna]

Thanks Shannon and G.Edgar! Got 'em on my spreadsheet!

[Stephen]

Reader pick:
The Wailing Asteroid by Murray Leinster

Indie pick:
Tsar Wars: Agents of ISIS, Book 1 by Stephen Goldin
(I'll remind people that this book is free through August using the Smashwords coupon I've posted on this site)

[Anna]

Thanks Stephen! Got em both!

[Tom]

I'm new to this group but have you considered James S. A. Corey's Expanse series. I just read Leviathan Wakes and really enjoyed it. In fact that's what brought me here looking for similar adventures.

[G. Edgar]

THE EXPANSE books are amazing! They hold a special place on my bookshelf. I can't wait for the new one next month... And be sure to check out the short stories, as well. Particularly DRIVE (about Solomon Epstein) and THE BUTCHER OF ANDERSON STATION (which gives Fred Johnson's backstory).

And THE EXPANSE will be a TV series soon!

[Anna]

Hi Tom! Hi G.Edgar!

Did you guys want to nominate those books?

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Just let me know.

I'm thinking of adding a 'series pick' to our monthly offerings as so many of the books we love come in series and we end up reading them that way, anyways.

[Tom]

Anna wrote: "Did you guys want to nominate ...Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey?

I'm thinking of adding a 'series pick' to our monthly offerings"

I would like to nominate it as I would love to discuss it with others who have read it.

The idea of adding a series pick is interesting especially since the whole concept of Space Opera is one of world building that invites multiple book. My only concern is that if you choose books that aren't volume 1 you may reduce the number of likely participants.

[Anna]

Tom wrote: "My only concern is that if you choose books that aren't volume 1 you may reduce the number of likely participants..."

We have a SERIES PICK in the other group I moderate. We start at Book 1 and keep reading until we run out of books, unless community members hate the book in which case we can vote to drop it.

I can add it to this group as Space Opera genre fans tend to like to dig into a universe and stay there a while :-) I just didn't want to overwhelm people with too many choices as we only have 500 members and not all of them are active readers (my paranormal community has 5 mods and 5,000 readers to divvy up all those books).

But ... what the reader wants ... the reader gets :-)

[Anna]

*********NEW!!!*****NEW!!!*****NEW!!!*****NEW!!********************

Everybody who nominated earlier ... we just added a SERIES PICK to the mix, so if you want to change one of your nominations to a series pick and then nominate something else for reader pick (or have your reader pick and series pick be the same) just let me know.

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[Freeman]

Tom, I couldn't agree more, Expanse is a great series , and I hope there will be more of it!

[William]

I would like to nominate
Dark Expanse: Surviving the Collapse as an indie pick.

[Anna]

Thanks William! Got it!

[Pete]

Shannon wrote: "Reader pick: Triplanetary by E.E. Smith (Did I get that spelled right finally? It was my third try.)

Indie pick: Jake's Last Mission by Shannon Haddock"

Is that something to do with the Lensmen? Could you tell me more about it, in summary of course. I've always been curious.

[Pete]

I would like to nominate

Reader pick — The Lost Fleet: Dauntless
Indie Pick — The Kinsmen: Between Gods and Mortals

Thanks Annna

[Anna]

Pete wrote: "Is that something to do with the Lensmen? Could you tell me more about it, in summary of course. I've always been curious..."

Triplanetary is the first book in the Lensman series, and considered the first 'modern' space opera book. We've got a little writeup on it under our 'Classic Space Opera' folder:

HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

You can download an e-copy of it for *FREE* from Project Guttenburg (links in post). I encourage everybody to do so and get in touch with the roots of our genre :-)

Oh ... and I've added Lost Fleet and Kinsmen to the nomination list :-)

[Pete]

Anna wrote: "Pete wrote: "Is that something to do with the Lensmen? Could you tell me more about it, in summary of course. I've always been curious..."

Triplanetary is the first book in the Len..."

Free e-copy, great!

Oh so much to read and so little time.

Thanks Anna

[Freeman]

Anna, I would like to nominate Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
for the series pick. Thanks, Freeman.

[Anna]

Thanks Freeman! Got it! And ... picked it up at a thrift shop for $1 a few weeks ago ... so if it wins it will rise to the top of my TBR list :-)

[Paul]

Triplanetary is such an extraordinary and prophetic book. One of my favorites of all time.

[Anna]

Was that a nomination, Paul? I just added a vote to the list unless you tell me otherwise.

[Paul]

I'll make it official. Grin.

Reader pick — Triplanetary

Indie Pick — The Remnant

Thanks Anna

[Anna]

Got them Paul!

Did you have a Series Pick nomination as well?

[Paul]

Doh!

Maybe add Lensmen for series. Galactic Patrol (Book 3)was always my favorite anyway.

[Anna]

K...

[Kirsten]

G. Edgar wrote: "THE EXPANSE books are amazing! They hold a special place on my bookshelf. I can't wait for the new one next month... And be sure to check out the short stories, as well. Particularly DRIVE (about S..."

I loved Leviathan Wakes and have TBOAS on my Kindle right now. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Have I mentioned how much I love this group? It's really getting me back in touch with science fiction

[Anna]

Kirsten wrote: "G. Edgar wrote: "THE EXPANSE books are amazing! They hold a special place on my bookshelf. I can't wait for the new one next month... And be sure to check out the short stories, as well. Particular..."

GEEKS RULE!!! :-)

[Paul]

Hi Anna, got your email.

Reader pick — Triplanetary - Lensmen 1
Series Pick — The Lensmen Series
Indie Pick — The Remnant

I've heard mixed things about the Expanse, but I may have to check it out anyway since the authors will be a Bubonicon in August. Got to support my fellow NM authors...

[Jen]

I only have a nomination for series- Old Mans War by Scalzi.

[Anna]

Got 'em, Paul and Jen! Thanks for nominating!

[Tom]

Jen: "I only have a nomination for series- Old Mans War by Scalzi."

I could get behind that series, too.

[Betsy]

Tom wrote: "Jen: "I only have a nomination for series- Old Mans War by Scalzi."

I could get behind that series, too."

Ditto.

[Shannon]

Series pick: Lensmen series

[Stephen]

In view of the new category, I'd like to revise my nominations:

READER PICK: The Wailing Asteroid

INDIE PICK: Scavenger Hunt

SERIES PICK: Tsar Wars: Agents of ISIS, Book 1

[Anna]

Okay ... got all the revisions and new nominations so far! Get the rest of 'em to me quick so I can stick them in my spreadsheet :-) Tomorrow, as soon as the coffee brews strong enough that I can see the computer screen, it'll be off to the Random.org randomizer to see what goodies we get to read :-)