September Contemporary Novel Discussion Topic selection complete

[[deleted user]]

This is the place to nominate a Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our September group read and discussion (beginning September 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 September discussion topic. New York 2140 has already been selected as our August Contemporary Novel discussion topic.

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

[Andrea]

I don't have any dragon contemporaries left, and while Dragon Champion did well the last two times, I don't think I have time left to fit in the 5 books in the series by the end of the year. So I poked through my eReader to see what I had there and found this standalone contemporary that I got from the Baen Free Library

Resonance by Chris Dolley

No dragons involved :)

[Silvana]

How about... Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente?

I only read one of her works so far, Space Opera, which I am not fond of so this is my second try since apparently she's really hyped by the critics.

[Rachel]

To follow up on the short fiction - what about To Say Nothing Of The Dog, which I’m trying to get to soon?

[Andrea]

Voter information - To Say Nothing Of The Dog is the second in the series, Doomsday Book comes before it.

Maybe someone who has read both can say if you lose anything by not reading them in order. I've read To Say Nothing Of The Dog and don't remember really noticing that I might be missing anything, but sometimes you still get a better enjoyment of a book when you've got the full background.

Voter information - Deathless was available for free from Tor as one of their monthly ebook downloads.

[Rachel]

Yeah I haven’t read Doomsday yet but everyone says its soooo depressing and they can be read out of order sooooooo

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Rachel wrote: "To follow up on the short fiction - what about To Say Nothing Of The Dog, which I’m trying to get to soon?"

To Say Nothing of the Dog is a terrific book and you don't need to read Doomsday Book first. (However I would read Three Men in a Boat first if you want to maximize your enjoyment.)

However To Say Nothing of the Dog can't be nominated in this category because it was originally published in 1998 and would therefore be a classic read, not a contemporary read. Sorry. :(

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I'll nominate

The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

which was recently selected as Amazon's best SFF book of the first half of 2018. And it's short!

[[deleted user]]

I'm thinking of changing the title of these topics to "Now Accepting Volunteers to Lead Book Discussion in October," because apparently "Note that if your nomination is selected by the group, we'll be expecting you to take the lead in the discussion." isn't clear.

[[deleted user]]

Randy wrote: "To Say Nothing of the Dog is a terrific book and you don't need to read Doomsday Book first. (However I would read Three Men in a Boat first if you want to maximize your enjoyment.)

However To Say Nothing of the Dog can't be nominated in this category because it was originally published in 1998 and would therefore be a classic read, not a contemporary read. Sorry. :( ..."

yeah, what he said.

[Andrea]

Randy wrote: "To Say Nothing of the Dog is a terrific book and you don't need to read Doomsday Book first. (However I would read Three Men in a Boat first if you want to maximize your enjoyment.)"

Actually, I did do that at the time :)

[Rachel]

Ha. Yeah I’m sure n great shape today! Since I’m reading it for my Hugo completion goals I’m surprised my brain didn’t catch that....

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Rachel wrote: "Ha. Yeah I’m sure n great shape today! Since I’m reading it for my Hugo completion goals I’m surprised my brain didn’t catch that...."

It would make a great Classic nomination...

[Andrea]

G33z3r wrote: "I'm thinking of changing the title of these topics to "Now Accepting Volunteers to Lead Book Discussion in October," because apparently "Note that if your nomination is selected by the group, we'll..."

Or can put the text in bold or in red, not sure everyone re-reads the entire post each time, and even then, it's a little buried in there so if someone skims they may miss it.

[[deleted user]]

Thank you for the nominations. A poll to select our Contemporary Science Fiction / Fantasy Novel discussion topic for September 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 September discussion topic. New York 2140 has already been selected as our August Contemporary Novel discussion topic.

This poll will be open through Saturday, August 11.

[[deleted user]]

Reminder: Today, Saturday, is the final day to vote for a Contemporary Fantasy or Science Fiction novel for our September group read and discussion. (Sorry for late reminder, I put it in the wrong topic.)

[[deleted user]]

Our selected topic for September's Contemporary SF/F discussion is...

The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

The discussion will begin September 21.