Help us pick subgenres/themes for next year!

[Jemppu]

(You all rock, mods 🤘 )

[Mareike]

Allison wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: "mightn't a book of short stories by one author be doable? I can see the difficulty with multiple authors."

We've said this before, but actually no, that's not the issue. The is..."

Oh man. I hadn’t even thought about the spoiler tag situation….
I’m sorry GR is making your work - which is always excellent, by the way! - so much harder.

[DivaDiane]

Oh dear mods! You all are the bomb in my book! (Oh horror! I would not actually wish for a bomb in my book, that would be terrible, but you know what I mean!)

Let me just say this, because I’m probably not the only one, in regards to short story participation: if we chose an SS collection to read as a group read, I would be much more likely to participate than I have been on the short story thread. I have great enthusiasm for short stories and wanted to do the challenge, but the fact is, my enthusiasm greatly outweighs my capacity to read them.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Thank you for the kind words! Yes, GR is the best/worst thing. But like I said, I think we've found a way to possibly corral its terribleness so that it's the least terrible possible for our purposes. Keep talking, we're listening!

[Nike]

CBRetriever wrote: "Nike wrote: "And my third prompt-suggestion could be to read a book in a series that you've once started to read but yet haven't finished the whole series or as an alternative to start to read the ..."

Yes, in a monthly challenge that's normal in all groups I'm a member of but as I stated earlier I misunderstood this due to the fact that it said 2023. I thought it would be a 52-week-challenge and in those there are groups with this prompt which is for you and not for the group's bookshelf 🙂. Thank you

[Nike]

Noone answered my comment earlier and it's perhaps because it was just a comment and not a question so I'll rephrase myself;

Since this is not about a 52-week-challenge, (which I thought because it says 2023) - does it mean that you don't read books together every month or does it mean that you decide what to read several months ahead? How often do you have collective readings? And do you have any challenges for the whole year, like bingos or TBR takedowns or 12-month-challenges? I'm new in this group and I want to learn your group habits. Thank you 🙂

[Anna]

Nike, check out Everything you need to know to read all about how this group works! :)

[Nike]

Anna wrote: "Nike, check out Everything you need to know to read all about how this group works! :)"

Thankyou 🙂

[Bobby]

Anna wrote: "Bobby, if you want recommendations, please start a thread in the Recommendations folder:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group..."

Thanks!

[Stephen]

Climate change.

I also like ghost stories.

[Dj]

CBRetriever wrote: "mightn't a book of short stories by one author be doable? I can see the difficulty with multiple authors."

Multiple authors can be things like the Best in Science Fiction, which comes out fairly regularly. One other can be the short stories by Charles DeLint that are linked to his other stories. Either one has ups and downs. Anthologies tend to have some really good stories and some that are less than stellar. By a single author, they tend to be linked to other works. So sometimes you have to read other things by them to get the full impact. For a group read, I tend to favor the anthology model since then the stories tend to be stand alone.

[Dj]

Jemppu wrote: ""

Oh I love Finland.

[Dj]

Just an FYI. I know that I don't take part in the group book discussions, but I have a keen interest in what gets picked since I use that as a guide to future reading. I like reading the group reads since it expands the reading that I do out of what I would normally read. So I hope the things discussed will play out well to keep them going.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

It's all good. There's no wrong way to participate in the group and indulge in our shared love of SFF.

[Cheryl]

Found families.
Post-scarcity.
Arts & creative endeavors.

Building a new society (after an apocalypse, or on a generation ship, or a colony...) ... but not an ugly one, rather, a visionary progressive one, with good ppl doing the best they can.

Going back to the beginning, reading maybe Burroughs or Verne or Wells (but not their very most famous works because those have been done).

[Mareike]

Cheryl wrote: "Found families.
Post-scarcity.
Arts & creative endeavors...."

Yes to all three of these!

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

What do you mean by Arts & creative endeavors?

[DivaDiane]

I’ll second all three of those things too.

I should probably let Cheryl answer for herself, but I suspect what is meant is characters who are proficient in some form of the arts or use a creative endeavor to serve the plot.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

I assume you're not including martial arts in that definition XD

[Cheryl]

DivaDiane, you are absolutely right, but I think more than that.
Also I think that maybe The Ship Who Sang might qualify, too.

Anyway, I remember several short stories about passionate artists, or engineers who build new bodies for old dancers, or poets as cultural heroes... . Also Harrison Bergeron, for example. I would like to read a full-length exploration of the relevance of artists and arts and creativity in SF contexts.

If this theme were to come up I might nominate Commitment Hour even though creativity is not the main theme. But I would hope to find even more interesting nominations from other readers.

Ryan, you've actually got a point. If the story is about someone who masters a martial art the way a dancer masters ballet, and there's minimal or no use of the art against bad guys, I'd think it would qualify.

[CBRetriever]

Ryan wrote: "What do you mean by Arts & creative endeavors?"

This book might fit

https://www.amazon.com/Glassblower-Tr...

glassblowing is an art

[Anna]

Remember that we have a recommendations folder where anyone can ask for recs of any type! 🙂

[CBRetriever]

Anna wrote: "Remember that we have a recommendations folder where anyone can ask for recs of any type! 🙂"

I know - just trying to clarify the creative arts them a bit

[Anna]

I meant that people who are looking for more books with a certain theme don't need to wait for it to (maybe) become a nomination theme! Asking for recommendations is actually to good way to see if there are books out there that fit the theme. It's not always obvious, but I sometimes ask for "recs" with the intention of finding out if there's something interesting out there to use in a poll or turn into a theme :)

There is a certain rec request thread out there that might soon be a theme ;)

[Cheryl]

yes, I should have been more thorough in my phrasing... I would like to read these kinds of books with the group, if it works out... (and yes, I do know about buddy reads too)....

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Can assure you that we're looking into satisfying everyone's desires but the publishing industry isn't making it easy. We won't fail you, but they might.

(Shifting blame is my superpower)

[Dj]

Cheryl wrote: "Found families.
Post-scarcity.
Arts & creative endeavors.

Building a new society (after an apocalypse, or on a generation ship, or a colony...) ... but not an ugly one, rather, a visionary progres..."

That sounds like an interesting way to go. I agree with this.

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

Eva wrote: ""Fantasy based on mythology from Asia, Latam and Africa"

What I'd really love: if we split this up into individual categories: ..."

I think that, or some version of it, is a good idea!


I second:

+1 authors outside the US/Canada/UK and/or translated works
+1 urban fantasy without romance
+1 found family trope/motley crews/ragtag bands etc.
+1 fantasy not inspired by Medieval/Renaissance Europe
+1 space operas
+1 AI
+1 adult cast

What I would add:

+ psychological horror (judging by the rest of this thread, this is probably not going to be very popular :D)


Nyx wrote: "i got another one! books with an adult cast, or as i like to call them, developed frontal lobe ensemble"

I just nodded so hard! :D