A-Z Topic Challenge rules

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Normally an A-Z challenge is based on author's last name. A Abercrombie, B Brown, etc. These help readers interact and diversify but having done them you still stick to the same common sub genres. Also Q, X, Y and Z are a pain in the ass and you ending up reading crap to just get them done.

My A-Z proposal is on topics beginning with a the letter. I've tried to mix it up some being creatures, magical types, genres, etc. Most of these are straightforward and intuitive to figure out. Where they weren't usually it's because the letter is simply a pain in butt to fill so I'm stretching it a bit and will explain.

On some such as D I went with a less common option of Demons vs the ever popular Dragons again for diversification. With some like E I went with Elves simply because it's a tough letter.

I really don't care about the letter of the law on these. More about fun. You could find an interesting take on some of these.

Nothing before Jan-1-18 counts!

Alchemy

Banishing - could be a spirit or somebody exiled from a kingdom.

Coven

Demons -

Elves

Fairies

Griffin

Horror

Interstellar - Anything outerspace.

Joust

Kraken - Sea monsters in general.

Lucifer - Hades, doesn't really matter just something dealing with the underworld.

Mediums

Necromancy - Could be zombies, talking to the dead, the white walkers, etc.

Orcs

Phoenix -

Quest -

Reincarnation

Steampunk

Tarot

Unicorns

Vampires

Werewolves

Xenmorph - A fancy way to get aliens in and get rid of X

Yeti - Any type of snow monster or bigfoot type.

Zombies

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

"Nothing before Jan-1-18 counts!" <- spoiler sport. ;P

[Bill]

Nothing before Jan-1-18 counts! Quit being a tease.

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

But stacking his schedule so he "finishes on Jan 1st" is not above that man let me forewarn you lol

[Angela, I'm Silverfox lost]

Margret wrote: "But stacking his schedule so he "finishes on Jan 1st" is not above that man let me forewarn you lol"

You are 100% correct.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Angela wrote: "Margret wrote: "But stacking his schedule so he "finishes on Jan 1st" is not above that man let me forewarn you lol"

You are 100% correct."

Margret wrote: "But stacking his schedule so he "finishes on Jan 1st" is not above that man let me forewarn you lol"

Is that sour grapes I smell? :)

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Bill wrote: "Nothing before Jan-1-18 counts! Quit being a tease."

Niki Hawkes wrote: ""Nothing before Jan-1-18 counts!" <- spoiler sport. ;P"

I'm a giant challenge tease .

[Angela, I'm Silverfox lost]

Yes, I'm jealous of course!

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Angela wrote: "Yes, I'm jealous of course!"

You can do it for 2018. :)

Once I'm over 150 I'll start thinking about it.

[Angela, I'm Silverfox lost]

Hmm it could be difficult. If I get into Teachers College for next year, it's going to leave very little time for reading for pleasure :(. Of course the outcome will be worth it.

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

You can count on me to beat your ass in 4 years when both of my kids are in school

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Margret wrote: "You can count on me to beat your ass in 4 years when both of my kids are in school"

The oldest goes off to college in four years so I'm not sure how much that will buy you.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Angela wrote: "Hmm it could be difficult. If I get into Teachers College for next year, it's going to leave very little time for reading for pleasure :(. Of course the outcome will be worth it."

Without a doubt, good luck.

[Kieron]

Cool another challenge. Some of those are going to be tricky. Definitely up for the challenge in 2018 once I have finished the book cover challenge.

[Elizabeth]

I'll be up for it!

[Saar The Book owl]

So, if I understand it correctly, you must read a book about every topic?

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Saar wrote: "So, if I understand it correctly, you must read a book about every topic?"

Correct. It doesn't have to be completely about that topic only contain it. I'm reading a book right now for instance that I never thought there would be a demon appearance but it would qualify.

[Saar The Book owl]

Thank you, Scott, for the explenation. I'll do this!

[Shaitarn]

If you read a book that covers more than one category (say, vampires and werewolves for example), can you use it to tick off both or just one?

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Shaitarn wrote: "If you read a book that covers more than one category (say, vampires and werewolves for example), can you use it to tick off both or just one?"

One.

[Haïfa]

Oh no !! 2018 ! XD
My reads of this year cover almost half of the letters !
Guess I'm going to re-read some of this stuff next year ! :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I prefer to find new things to read to fill the slots... if I really want to re-read something (like I'm doing with Magic Binds right now) I can always use it to fill a slot, but otherwise...

[Haïfa]

Iain wrote: "I prefer to find new things to read to fill the slots... if I really want to re-read something (like I'm doing with Magic Binds right now) I can always use it to fill a slot, but ot..."

Same here! I was just joking ;)
Well funny you're re-reading KD ! I'm planning to do so next month too :))
It's one of those rare series I'm willing to re-read as much as it makes me happy!

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

I did 2018 so we can all clean up the other challenges. Having too many open at once saturates the market.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I did a re-listen last year before Magic Binds came out... but the audio was delayed because of Renee Raudman's honeymood... only got around to a re-listen now before Iron and Magic comes out in October...

I've read the early books 3x and the later ones twice now... I don't tend to re-read often unless I'm in a book slump... and joining more varied groups has resolved most of my book slump troubles... discovering a wider range of books to try...

[Miche]

Just a heads up that I switched some of my letters to other categories to fit with my reading schedule.

My priority to 2018 is to finish Malazan and read as many books as I can that I already own while advancing some of the other series I have already started.

As I normally only read around 50 books an year and I am already committed to two big series (Wheel of Time and Malazan), I had to scale back on vampires, werewolves, yetis, etc. :)

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Miche wrote: "Just a heads up that I switched some of my letters to other categories to fit with my reading schedule.

My priority to 2018 is to finish Malazan and read as many books as I can that I already own ..."

No worries. It's more about participation and fun than the letter of the law. If you're happy with your changes that's all that matters.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

The "letter" of the law? Bwahahaha

[Tammie]

Miche wrote: "Just a heads up that I switched some of my letters to other categories to fit with my reading schedule.

My priority to 2018 is to finish Malazan and read as many books as I can that I already own ..."

I might actually do the same thing. I'll probably use books that aren't just fantasy.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "The "letter" of the law? Bwahahaha"

Please you're a rule follower.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Scott wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "The "letter" of the law? Bwahahaha"

Please you're a rule follower."

Bad joke - I meant because it's the A-Z challenge.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Scott wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "The "letter" of the law? Bwahahaha"

Please you're a rule follower."

Bad joke - I meant because it's the A-Z challenge."

OK, in that case I meant, Please 101 dirty jokes is your comedic acumen. :)

[Miche]

Tammie wrote: "I might actually do the same thing. I'll probably use books that aren't just fantasy. "

I added some that aren't fantasy. I already own them, so might as well read them. :)

[Miche]

Scott wrote: "No worries. It's more about participation and fun than the letter of the law. If you're happy with your changes that's all that matters."

I am! :)

[Laura]

Would books outside the fantasy genre also count? And could we read shorter ones too (120-200 pages)?

[Angela, I'm Silverfox lost]

We're pretty flexible around here Laura, so yes non fantasy is okay.

A couple of shorter ones are okay to include :-).

[Laura]

Thank you Angela.

I'll sign up then. One more way to clear my TBR. And it's pretty fun too.

[Shaitarn]

Are audio books okay? How about graphic novels if we get desperate (I'm thinking of digging out one of my old Tintin books for one of these)?

[Angela, I'm Silverfox lost]

I think you'll be okay Shaitarn. Audio books would be fine and a few graphic novels :-).

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Angela wrote: "I think you'll be okay Shaitarn. Audio books would be fine and a few graphic novels :-)."

I'm not sure if we agreed on graphic novels or not? I can't remember. Audiobooks definitely count though.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

For this challenge graphic novels are fine. It was the team reading challenge we debated it. I can't remember what Niki decided there.

[Jenna, I'd be free if not for Temper & Edgewalker]

Scott wrote: "For this challenge graphic novels are fine. It was the team reading challenge we debated it. I can't remember what Niki decided there."

For some reason I misread this and though it was about the team reading challenge. Seems to be happening to me a lot lately. So many notifications!

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Jenna wrote: "For some reason I misread this and though it was about the team reading challenge. Seems to be happening to me a lot lately. So many notifications! ."

I have a hard time keeping up with it all. I pretty much assume Niki has the team challenge unless she asks for help, ditto for you on the cover challenge and the series challenge more or less runs itself. Margret and Angela keep the monthly reads straight with help from us when we add a read. Niki is the archive bot. Then we all do a bunch of general stuff. It's a lot to keep up with.

[Shaitarn]

Scott wrote: "For this challenge graphic novels are fine. It was the team reading challenge we debated it. I can't remember what Niki decided there."

Excellent; thanks Scott.

[Sarah]

I had not seen this before, but it sounds like fun.

(here I go getting too invested in challenges again. Will I ever learn?)

[Em Lost In Books]

Can I do this challenge with character names?

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Manju wrote: "Can I do this challenge with character names?"

Sure.

[Laura]

Can I try to do this as a sort of double challenge? 1 book for each of the A-Z categories (as already set) plus 1 book for character names starting with each letter?

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Laura wrote: "Can I try to do this as a sort of double challenge? 1 book for each of the A-Z categories (as already set) plus 1 book for character names starting with each letter?"

Sure. I'm all about everybody just enjoying it.

[Siobhan]

Laura wrote: "Can I try to do this as a sort of double challenge? 1 book for each of the A-Z categories (as already set) plus 1 book for character names starting with each letter?"

That sounds like a great idea, Laura!