[BOTM] - December Nominations Folder

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

It's that time of the month when we nominate what books we want to read as a group during the month of December. Up for nomination we have the following categories:

READER PICK: This is for a mass market book that a community member can walk into any major bookstore or library and find, that is also available on at least (3) major distribution platforms in e-book form as well (i.e., no Kindle-only).

INDIE PICK: This category is for those nifty, edgy new books, a chance to root for the little guy who doesn't have a big publishing house budget behind him (or her) to help them get discovered.

SERIES PICK: We will be continuing on with Book 2 of the Zones of Thought series by Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky, so put that puppy on reserve via your inter-library loan!



MOD PICK: This one is for your Borg Queen to select. Maybe it will be a book that caught my eye? Maybe it will be a book that didn't win the Random.org randomizer, but might have? This one is up to me, but it will always be something to balance out the other pickings so everybody can find at least one group read they enjoy, and it will NEVER be Kindle-locked because your Borg Queen hates things-with-strings!

[*Sorry Papa Bezos ... there can only be one true sci-fi lovin' collective 3:-) *]

On December 1st, the nominations thread will close and we'll use Random.org to select winners in each open category (READER and INDIE pick). Because the drawing is random, authors are allowed to nominate their own book.

And for those of you who live in the greater Boston area and just finished up the series by John Scalzi, we just got word he's going to be our Special Guest of Honor at the ARISIA sci-fi and fantasy conference in January (it hasn't been press released yet), but the full weekend passes always sell out by end-November, so if you want to join me running around dressed up like Lady Gamora all weekend and pulling a major fangirl *SQUEE* while getting my copy of Old Man's War autographed, get thee to www.arisia.org and buy thee tickets!

Be epic!
Anna Erishkigal
SOF MOD

[E.J.]

I'd like to nominate Red Rising for the Reader Pick. It's up for a Goodreads Choice Award this year and I think that's really cool. I haven't had a chance to read it personally though so I'm not entirely sure how well it fits into the Space Opera category...

I'll nominate my own novel Dakiti for the Indie pick. It's been described in a review as "military" space opera, but it's more like "police" than military. The setting is sort of Star Wars meets Battlestar Galactica. The sequel, Nexus, is being released December 1 so it would be really awesome to have some new readers in the near future :)

[Anna]

Thanks EJ! Got it! Oooh ... I have an autographed copy of Red Rising that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. :-)

[James]

Once again I will self nominate my book Ancient Treasure. People seem to like it. It's getting great reviews on Amazon. I'm an independent author, and will keep trying here every month!

Ancient Treasure

[Anna]

Okay ... the roundup so far:

READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:

[Carol]

I'd like to nominate my book, Overload Flux, for the indie pick. It's science fiction, space opera, action, and romance, and has some nice reviews on Amazon. Hidden talents, deadly enemies... two strangers must trust each other to survive.

Overload Flux

[Reg]

I'd like to nominate Zero again. Elements of Firefly and Star Wars in there. Getting some awesome reviews on Amazon at the moment.

[Derek]

Red Rising isn't exactly a space opera. At least not yet. The main characters are on different planets though, and their is talk of battleships and what not. I believe there may be space battles to come. Anyways Red Rising has to be the best book I''ve read in the sense that I just couldn't put the book down. I ordered the second book 2 days after the first book came out. Also because I'm just taking everyone's advice on books to read the only book I could recommend would be Red Rising as well.

[Derek]

Also a little off topic but I'll give you my left lung for that book Anna.

[Conal]

Derek wrote: "Red Rising isn't exactly a space opera. At least not yet. The main characters are on different planets though, and their is talk of battleships and what not. I believe there may be space battles to..."

Golden Son does include space battles so it is definitely much more in the space opera category...

[Tammy]

I'm not sure if the genre is strictly space opera, but I'm planning on reading and would like to nominate Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice for Reader Pick. It won this year's Hugo Award.

For Indie Pick, how about Bypass Gemini by Joseph R. Lallo?

[Leonie]

For the Indie pick I'd like to nominate my own book Frontier Incursion - YA sci-fi, planet based, invading aliens

For the reader pick: Intervention by Julian May

[Anna]

Wow! Lots of great nominations :-)

Okay ... so here's the updated tally:


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:



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@Derek ... hmmm... A left lung? Now I feel guilty for accidentally burying it and never getting around to reading it. It's an Advance Review Copy with the galley-stamp inside the front cover that says 'this book may contain typos blah blah blah'. Picked it up at one of the cons I went to and got it autographed. Had no idea who Pierce Brown was (he was on a panel) but I do remember he was VERY handsome :-)

[*I guess that makes me a female chauvenist sow...*]

[Conal]

Golden Son won't be released until January 2015 so was not intended as a nomination.

I will also nominate Intervention for reader pick and Fluency for indie pick

[Anna]

Okay ... nomination thread TAKE THREE! Can't read a book if it's not out yet :-)


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:



Oooh! Intervention is by the same author as Saga of the Exiles! I loved that series. Is this a continuation?

And look at all those interesting Indie nominations!

[Betsy]

I thought the Reader Pick was supposed to be readily available. It looks like "Intervention" is out of print. At least Amazon only offers a few used copies from third party sellers.

[Leonie]

Anna wrote: "Okay ... nomination thread TAKE THREE! Can't read a book if it's not out yet :-)


READER PICK:

[bookcover:Ancillary Justice|17333324..."

It's the 'What came before the what came before' if that makes sense :)

[Anna]

Betsy wrote: "I thought the Reader Pick was supposed to be readily available. It looks like "Intervention" is out of print. At least Amazon only offers a few used copies from third party sellers."

Dangnabit! Stupid traditional publishers!!! In this day of POD it's inexcusible not to have a print-on-demand edition!!! In fact, for most print books, that's how bookstores stock them (you have to order it), which is why I expanded the SERIES PICK.

Okay ... have to make a judgment call on this one. A lot of our favorite legacy sci-fi books are out of print and only available via ebook, libraries or the used market -or- only available via special order (found that out when I tried to buy Peter F. Hamilton's doorstopper at my local Barnes & Noble). So ... I just checked LibraryThing and Intervention is readily available with many copies through our local inter-library loan (almost 1/3 of our regional Massachusetts libraries have a copy on their shelves). I also just checked the used market at Amazon and the book has over 46 used copies readily available for under $5 (with shipping) and several more hardcovers available for under $9. So ... I will allow it as this is considered near 'classic' sci-fi. But I might change my opinion on that at a later date for a different nomination. The thing that swayed me was how many libraries have a copy of this book on their shelves and fact an e-book version does exist. SOF is now 1,000 members strong, so the Amazon pickings are inadequate if people actually wanted to -buy- this book. Ironically, if this was a SERIES PICK nomination, I would disqualify it because Book 2 is carried by fewer libraries.

[*goes off to mutter about traditional publishers not doing their job... This is why I decided to relax the guidelines to start allowing 'pro' indie authors who've got their $#!t together to qualify as Series picks*]

I will keep this problem in mind, Betsy, if Intervention wins the Random.org randomizer (that everybody might not be able to get their hands on a paper copy). The MOD PICK is what I use to balance out stuff like this.

[Sarah]

For Reader pick I would also like to nominate Ancillary Justice

For Series pick I would like to nominate Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card. I really want to read this series because book 3 was up for a Goodreads Choice Award!

[Anna]

Hi Sarah!

I've added Ancillary Justice to the list for Reader Pick, but the SERIES PICK is not up for grabs this month as we're continuing on with Book 2 of the Zones of Thought series by Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky.

Would you want to nominate an Indie Pick instead?

Thanks ... Anna



******************

Okay ... the roll call :-)


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:

[Sarah]

Damn. I'll have to think about an indie pick. Thanks.

[Stephen]

OK, for READER PICK: The Eternity Brigade: Final Edition

INDIE PICK: Scavenger Hunt

I don't know if I can compete with so many award nominees, but since the choice is random...

[Anna]

Book cover BLING!!! :-)

Throw it in, and give it a spin...

**********************


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:

[Anna]

Sarah wrote: "Damn. I'll have to think about an indie pick. Thanks."

You could always start a Book Buddy read Sarah :-) It's okay ... we'll let you read as many books as you want. You can be like Smaug, sitting on your pile of books in the dwarven Hall of Kings :-)

[Betsy]

Anna wrote: " The thing that swayed me was how many libraries have a copy of this book on their shelves and fact an e-book version does exist. "

Re: Intervention. Anna, where did you find an e-book version? I checked Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google Play and got no hits. That's what I was looking for when I discovered it was out of print.

[Anna]

Betsy wrote: "Anna, where did you find an e-book version? I checked Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google Play and got no hits...."

It's right here Betsy: http://www.amazon.com/Intervention-Ju...

You probably pulled up the paperback/hardback edition with the original different cover. It's kinda pricey, though ($9.99 ... kinda steep for a 30 year old ebook) so I suggest you try inter-library loan first. Poor Julian Mays ... his publisher can't even be bothered to slap together a POD edition of his book ... and yet they're pricing his ebook so ridiculously high that the used books are much cheaper.

[Betsy]

Thanks, Anna.

[Conal]

Anna wrote: "You probably pulled up the paperback/hardback edition with the original different cover. It's kinda pricey, though ($9.99 ... kinda steep for a 30 year old ebook) so I suggest you try inter-library loan first. Poor Julian Mays ... his publisher "

I agree that $9.99 is too high a price for a new e-book let alone one that was released in the 80's. It was released in two parts in the MMP editions when first released so that might be the reason for the higher price. FYI, Julian May is female.

[Les]

Here's my nomination for Reader Pick this month:



Ivory by Mike Resnick. I love his work, so epic yet still full of so much humanity.

[Jonathan]

Great choice in Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky. Read the first one a few years ago, have had this in my to-read list for quite some time. Looking forward to the discussions.

For READER pick, I nominate Greg Bear's War Dogs, released last month.

[Anna]

READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:



************

Conal said: "I agree that $9.99 is too high a price for a new e-book let alone one that was released in the 80's..."

Yes, $9.99 is steep. It's one of those cases that Julian May fans will pay through the nose to get their hands on a book and they know it, especially Saga of the Pliocene Exile fans like me. Though in that case, I usually go hunting for a used paperback book, so in the end, the publisher ends up shooting themselves in the foot.

*************

Oooh! Greg Bear has a new book out? It's been a long time since I've read one of his works.

[Victoria]

The Zoastra Affair
I'd like to nominate my book for the indie book pic.

[Rion]

READER PICK:

[Anna]

Okay ... cover bling!

************************

READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:



And don't forget our SERIES PICK will continue on with Vernor Vinge's:




**************

Any last-minute nominations? Tomorrow is the big day :-)