May Contemporary Novel Discussion Topic selection complete

[[deleted user]]

This is the place to nominate a Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our May group read and discussion (beginning May 21.) A contemporary novel would typically have been first published in the 21st century.

You need not have read the title you are nominating; after all, you'll be reading along. Feel free to say why you are making the nomination, if you care to. Note that if your nomination is selected by the group, we'll be expecting you to take the lead in the discussion.

We read two different SF/F novels and one short SF/F work each month: One is a "Contemporary" SF/F novel, which was written after 2000; that discussion starts on the 21st of each month. One is a "Classic" SF/F novel which was written before 2000; that discussion starts on the 1st of each month. We also read one or more short stories every other month; that discussion starts the 11th of alternate months. You can always check on our upcoming SF/F Novel discussion topics by scrolling down on the Group Homepage to the "Upcoming Reads” section.

You can review past group selections in the "read" section of our Group's BookShelf. If you wish to continue a discussion of one of those past selections, all those discussion topics are still open in our Book Discussions area.

Note that these are nominations for our May discussion topic. Tooth and Claw has already been selected as our April Contemporary Novel discussion topic.

Nominations will be open through Wednesday, April 4, when I'll collect the nominees and post a poll so members can choose among them.

[Silvana]

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente. Very new, out next week (pre-order still $4.99 at Kindle)

[Rachel]

The Moon and The Other by Kessel - came out last year to good reviews- looks pretty interesting!!

[Silvana]

Oh dear. I want to read that also badly but not sure how I could squeeze it in in May schedule. Space Opera is already a BR in another group hence my nomination. Let's see how it goes then.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I hereby nominate We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

[Erin]

I would like to nominate Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

[[deleted user]]

  Reminder: Today, Wednesday, is the final day to nominate a Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our May group read and discussion.

Anyone else notice all four nominees so far are space-based scifi?

[Silvana]

G33z3r wrote: "   Reminder: Today is the final day to nominate a Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our May group read and discussion.

Anyone else notice all four nominees so far are space-based s..."

which is the best (sub)genre ever.

[[deleted user]]

Thank you for the nominations. A poll to select our Contemporary Science Fiction / Fantasy Novel discussion topic for May is now open. If you're interested in participating in the discussion of one of our nominees, you can vote here for your choice. Please only vote if you plan on participating in the discussion of that work.

Note that these are nominations for our May discussion topic. Tooth and Claw has already been selected as our April Contemporary Novel discussion topic.

This poll will be open through Wednesday, April 11.

[[deleted user]]

Reminder: For those who are interested in discussing one of the above nominees with the group, today, Wednesday, is the final day to vote for one of our Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our May group read and discussion.

[[deleted user]]

Since we had a 3-way tie in this poll, I've created a runoff poll to complete the selection between Children of Time and The Moon and the Other . That poll will be open through Wednesday, April 18.

[Erin]

Yay, my nomination made it to the final round this time!

[[deleted user]]

Reminder: For those who are interested in discussing one of two remaining nominees with the group, today is the final day to vote for one of our Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our May group read and discussion.

[[deleted user]]

Our selected Contemporary SF novel for discussion in May is...

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The discussion will begin May 21.

[Brendan]

Didn't we just read this dude?

[[deleted user]]

Brendan wrote: "Didn't we just read this dude?"

If by "just" you mean last September, then yes, we discussed Tchaikovsky's Guns of the Dawn fantasy novel. (Also, last December we listened to his Nutcracker a couple of times.)

[Andrea]

I know people want variety in authors, but at least in this case it's a different genre. Some authors will change their styles depending on their series, to get a chance to experiment (e.g. I've been told that while I didn't care much for the way Stephen Donaldson wrote the Thomas Covenant novels, his writing style was very different in his SF books. He definitely covered a wide variety in his anthology).

Also, regardless of who wrote something, I'm guessing this book will tell a different tale and discuss different themes from Guns of Dawn. Just as Earthsea is nothing like reading The Dispossessed (we've read Le Guin twice recently too). Frankly, I don't pick up books based on who wrote them, but rather if I think I'll like the book. Now, if it does turn out to be about women proving themselves in a male dominated military society, just replace magic with spaceships, then that'd be not so much fun...but wouldn't that be true if another author wrote it too?

However, if people do feel strongly about not reading an author in X amount of time (after all some of us joined the group in the first place to be exposed to variety), bring it up during the nominations and the mods (since we don't have a rule around this, just as G33z3r makes a call if enough time has passed to repeat a book) can decide if they are indeed too close together and ask the person to provide an alternative book. After it has already gone through two levels of voting its a little late to change anything :)

For now take it as an opportunity to compare and contrast the two books, see if he got better or worse, is he better as SF or F, that kind of thing.

Either way, though I have nothing against this book, my library doesn't have it and I'll have limited reading time in May regardless so I'll catch up some later time.

Psst, if you want a never before read author, can vote for my Dragonworld book for June classic (...yeah, you didn't just hear a mod try to influence the vote just now, totally your imagination...)

[Rachel]

While Im disappointed my pick didn’t win (and Ill be reading it then anyway!) Children of Time is really an excellent read. Just....don’t be arachnophobic.

[Andrea]

Rachel wrote: "Just....don’t be arachnophobic."

I'm not arachnophobic per-se, but makes me feel less sad that I'm skipping this one :)

[Rachel]

I really do feel like Children of Time is a worthwhile read for any hard sci-fi fan tho

[Erin]

Andrea wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Just....don’t be arachnophobic."

I'm not arachnophobic per-se, but makes me feel less sad that I'm skipping this one :)"

This book was originally recommended to me based on my love of both sci-fi and spiders! If you don’t love spiders, it’s only because you haven’t overcome the primitive instinctual revulsion (I used to be arachnophobic) to appreciate their unique elegance and even beauty. 😊

G33z3r wrote: "Brendan wrote: "Didn't we just read this dude?"

If by "just" you mean last September, then yes, we discussed Tchaikovsky's Guns of the Dawn fantasy novel. (Also, last December we listened to his N..."

LOL 😂

G33z3r wrote: "
Our selected Contemporary SF novel for discussion in May is...

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The discussion will ..."

Woohoo! 😁

[Andrea]

Erin wrote: "If you don’t love spiders, it’s only because you haven’t overcome the primitive instinctual revulsion (I used to be arachnophobic) to appreciate their unique elegance and even beauty"

:) I can appreciate their abilities from a distance, their amazing web building and the fact they eat the other bugs that would otherwise be in my house, but when I'm lying in bed reading a book and I look up at my ceiling and it's covered in swarm of teeny tiny baby spiders it's still freakout worthy!

On the other hand, I'd be willing to give up the centipedes in my house (that eat the spiders) and stick with the 8-legged critters instead. Having a whole food chain playing itself out in my apartment is, well, ugh...but they say if you've got bugs it means you've got a healthy house so I shouldn't complain?

[Brendan]

G33z3r wrote: "If by "just" you mean last September, then yes, we discussed Tchaikovsky's Guns of the Dawn fantasy novel."

I usually prefer to go a couple years before going back to an author, so last September is pretty recent.

[Donald]

Andrea wrote: "On the other hand, I'd be willing to give up the centipedes in my house (that eat the spiders) and stick with the 8-legged critters instead. Having a whole food chain playing itself out in my apartment is, well, ugh...but they say if you've got bugs it means you've got a healthy house so I shouldn't complain?"

So if you've got the whole food chain, are the centipedes a crunchy snack you break out between meals? :D

[[deleted user]]

Erin wrote: "If you don’t love spiders, it’s only because you haven’t overcome the primitive instinctual revulsion (I used to be arachnophobic)..."

In Ballard's The Drowned World (1962), he suggests that instinctual fear is inherited from hominids' early days when spiders were really lethal. (True to that, in that end-of-days novel, spiders – among other things – become lethal again.)

I've personally practiced genocide on black widows, apparently successfully, since it's been a decade since I've seen one around the house.

Tanya Huff has a military SF series (Valor's Choice) in which a human sergeant leads a squad of multiple alien races, one of which resembles 3' tall spiders. Every time she speaks with one she has this silent mental narrative, "get it off, get it off, get it off".

We should have a contest between Shelob and Charlotte.