Space Opera Fans discussion
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April Group Reads Nomination Thread
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Whoa I actually have a nomination for all 4 categories this month!Reader Pick: Fortune's Pawn
. Finally picked up a copy and I'm looking forward to reading it :DYA Pick: The 5th Wave
. I'm not entirely sure if it qualifies as space opera since it's set on Earth and all, but it seems like it got nominated last month and nobody questioned it so...Indie Pick: Nexus
:)Series Pick: The Spectras Arise Trilogy by Tammy Salyer
. These are actually indie published but I'll vouch for them! They fit all the criteria; they're available in Kindle and paperback formats, the first book is rated 4.6/5 and has 20+ reviews, and all three books have 4.0+ ratings. There's also a handy new omnibus edition for Kindle 
Reader Pick:
.YA pick: I second
Indie pick: I really need help determining what is indie and what isn't. Not sure how to tell so I never have a good suggestion. I'll wait until all the others are posted and second one of them.
Series Pick: not sure if this is space opera or not, but the Post Human series starting with
looks interesting.
@ E.J. - my definition of Young Adult Sci-Fi/Space Opera is relatively generous out of necessity. There's just not a heck of a lot of good, modern science fiction out there for teens ... period. As long as it has a significant space element, such as an alien invasion, alien first-contact, or a quest to get into outer space, I will welcome it into this particular category. The goal is to get our young people looking towards science and space as their role models, not sparkly vampires :-)BTW - I snagged NexusNexus during your giveaway day ... thanks! :-)
@ MorningLightMountain - if you're not sure if a book that caught your eye is 'indie,' you can always ask? We've got a whole bunch of indie authors who quietly hang out here, adding their expertise to the good geeky discussions of all things space opera. If somebody has an interesting conversation and you click through to their profile to see they're an author, why not nominate one of their books? Chances are if it has some publisher listed you've never heard of, it's indie. It will make their day even if they don't win.
Okay ... here's the book cover bling so far!!!
READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
Indie Pick: The Kingdom
Series Pick: The Warrior Kind
Updated book cover bling!!!READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
Keep 'em coming!
I try to read at least one Vorkosigan book a year. This series might be too big to nominate as a series (plus books are published out of order--there are essays written that try and establish the chronological order). All of this is a long winded way of saying I'd like to nominate:Readers Pick:
I haven't even gotten around to my introduction post here, but I feel like I have to make a nomination for the young adult category because I read this book recently and really loved it. My young adult nomination: Mars Evacuees
by Sophia McDougall
It's difficult for me to nominate because I know so little sci fi books (one of the reasons I searched for a group like this one, to find good recommendations). But I'll try...Readers Pick:
- everybody seems to love this book.Indie Pick: Since I'm currently reading Dakiti, I'll second
Series Pick: Ok, ok, E.J. picks looks great, I'll second
too. This books sounds very interesting.
It's my first time picking books and it's difficult for me to because I only (almost) listen to audiobooks and never did read ebooksREADER PICK:
(I hope that this book meets all the criterion)SERIES PICK:
New updates!!!READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
So pretty, all those stars and spaceships, eh?
Reader Pick
YA Pick
Indie Pick
Series Pick
Man of War
Guy wrote: "Indie Pick: The KingdomSeries Pick: The Warrior Kind
[bookcover:A Warrior's Leg..."Guy, could you add a quick explanation on how these fit into the Space Opera category?
Series Pick: Koban Series
Reader Pick: Path of Destruction
My nominations are...Reader: Strata, in memory of the late great Sir Terry Pratchett.
YA: Nothing this month.
Indie: Belarus by Emily Devenport.
Series: Space Captain Smith & sequels by Toby Frost.
Reader Pick
Definitely will second reading some Asher!
Indie Pick
I've been wanting to read this for a while!
Series Pick
Man of War
I will second this one as well. Funny thing is I just picked it up in the last batch I bought. :D
Reader Pick: I'm probably extremely late to this but just got Consider Phlebas so there we go. Young Adult Pick: It took me a while to find something. Most of the teen stuff is def. geared towards dystopian everything atm. Avalon Avalon 1
Indie Pick: I'm set to repeat: Nexus
Series: how about On Basilisk Station or if that doesn't work then A Soldier's Duty Theirs Not to Reason Why Book 1
Packi wrote: "...and Hyperion as series pick."Ooooh I didn't even think about that for series, that would be a good one as well.
@Conal - nice catch ... that's what I get for curating book covers in the wee hours of the morning :-)@Guy - I looked over your Warrior Kind series and I can't find anything space-operish about it. I take an extremely expansive and welcoming view of Space Opera, but other than the fact this takes place on an alternate world, no spaceships, no aliens, no intra- or interstellar travel. Sorry :-( I'm afraid I have to disqualify it from the list. If you have something else, more space-y, I'd be happy to add it in its place?
@Steph - aren't you going to nominate Hollow Moon so I have an excuse to get off my butt and READ it? And then my teenager can steal it because she thinks it's cool? She only steals it if I'm supposed to be reading it, and I only prioritize reading according to whatever the group is reading because I have so little free time. [*big hint ... hint ... hint ... Steph ... nominate your book for YA pick...*]
@Betsy - hmmm ... seconded Honor Harrington ... is anybody surprised :-)
***************************
Okay ... Ze Bling...
READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
"Give me more power, Scotty!!!"
Anna wrote: "...@Steph - aren't you going to nominate Hollow Moon so I have an excuse to get off my butt and READ it?..."Err... Okay! It was nominated before and didn't get picked, but happy to do so again. So, err... I nominate Hollow Moon for the YA pick...
I'm going with Golden Son for reader pick, and I'll second the votes for Contract of Defiance as the series pick, Nexus as the indie pick, and The 5th Wave as young adult pick. My youngest sister just finished it and loved it!
@Steph - we have a ton of great nominations every month and only four slots, so go on and keep nominating until the Randomizer decides to smile upon you. You're an active member of the community. I won't play favorites, but I -will- encourage our most active members who happen to be authors to take the one chance a month to say 'hey, I also WRITE this stuff...' :-)And now [*drum roll*] some more pretty shiny spaceship covers...
READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
[*The precious, the PRECIOUSSSSSSSSS...*]
I kind of wish the month was over so that we could get going on the new reads. lol.
READER PICK: 
set on Earth and a warm, tropical planet called St Libra!
@Jonathon - and we have our FIRST space opera book set someplace warm, tropical, and more importantly, NO SNOW!!!And now [*drum roll*] some more pretty shiny spaceship covers...
READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
[*So pretty, so pretty, so pretty...*]
Come to Florida, we have more than enough warm weather right now.Reader: Orphanage
YA: nothing
Series: Hyperion
Indie: Android Hunters
Just out of curiosity, what happens if Contract of Defiance is chosen in both the indie and series categories?
E.J. wrote: "Just out of curiosity, what happens if Contract of Defiance is chosen in both the indie and series categories?"everybody gets to read it twice... :-) hopefully Anna will just select another choice in the indie category.
Conal wrote: everybody gets to read it twice... :-) hopefully Anna will just select ..."Well hey it's a good book/series! Reading it twice is fine with me ;)
I kid, I kid. But seriously.
READER PICK:
The Eternity Brigade: Final EditionYA PICK:
] Galactic DerelictINDIE PICK:
Scavenger HuntSERIES PICK: The Diving Universe by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, beginning with
Diving into the Wreck
@ E.J. - if a book wins in two categories, I will slot that book for whichever is the 'bigger' category (i.e., SERIES pick in this case) and then re-randomize the list for the other category to select a different winner.Okay ... time to get caught up on the pretty book bling...
READER PICK:
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK:
INDIE PICK:
SERIES PICK:
[*Please, Sir ... may I have some more?...*]
Coming in late here! May I respectfully nominate my own Interplanetary War Series for series pick?
?For reader pick, I'm going to go ahead and second
. Yup, I think it's about time for a fourth re-read, or is that fifth? For indie pick, you could do a lot worse than
.YA? Me no read le YA.
For the indie pick, I'd like to nominate Overload Flux (A Central Galactic Concordance Novel)
Overload Flux
by Carol Van Natta
wait what? I can vote for my own book? Well that is good to know. I'll be nice and wait until next month to put in my vote.
And so my backlog wishlist grows longer on Amazon. I pretty much just add all the nominees until I buy all of yous. My wallet does not thank me though.
Is it too late to vote? Everyone here may have already read this series but since it is an upcoming TV series I will vote for:READER PICK:
Leviathan Wakes
I have an Indie pick this month, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
I've just started it and it's quite good so far.
Just added the last few to my xcel spreadsheet ... this thread is now closed for tabulation!
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Space Opera Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
The Mandate of Earth (other topics)Leviathan Wakes (other topics)
Overload Flux (other topics)
Poseidon's Wake (other topics)
Consider Phlebas (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Carol Van Natta (other topics)Sophia McDougall (other topics)
Tammy Salyer (other topics)
It's the 20th of the month, which means it's time to open this up month's nomination thread for the upcoming month. I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick of snow!!! So I'll add the challenge to say I want my April group reads to take place someplace WARM!!! I'm talking Avatar-planet here, warm and tropical.
Anybody????
[*crickets*]
Okay … failing that, I'll settle for the following categories up for nomination:
READER PICK: This is a book which any community member can walk into a bookstore or public library to find. Dead trees is where it's at with Reader Picks, a book those of us who are frugal, broke, or don't like ebooks can still access and read along. No Kindle-Unlimited locked books … it has to be available in all major ebookstores, not just Amazon.
YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK: I'm going to keep challenging you guys to find me awesome books to recommend to my daughter, and all her friends, and their friends, and half the school-age population now of Sandwich STEM Academy 'cause the teachers have picked up our Listopia!!! Yea! So keep those Young Adult Space Opera(ish) book nominations coming. Has to be written for a young adult. Must star a protagonist age 12-17. Must have been written since 1997 (i.e., new stuff). Must have a significant space element such as an alien invasion, first contact, or quest to get into outer space (i.e., no earth-bound dystopia). I'm looking for the next Harry Potter in space, guys! So keep those grand ideas coming. And do share them with the young people in your lives.
INDIE PICK: This is for our cutting edge, newer stuff put out by the little guys who choose to get on out there and conquer space by themselves. No trade-pubs allowed, though authors who have a book published by a micro-press that does the formatting, but makes you do the rest, are still classified as indies for the purposes of this thread. These are the Han Solo's of the book world. Kindle-only books are allowed. Since we use Random.org to pick our winners, authors may nominate their own books.
SERIES PICK: It's time to pick a new series to read as a group! To qualify as a Series Pick, the book has to be available on all major distribution platforms (both ebook and paperback), be readily available via bookstore or online, and have a minimum 4.0 star rating on Amazon for the first book of the series with at least 20 reviews, with no book falling below 3.75. Yes, this means there are some pro-level indie books that might qualify. Has to be at least THREE books in the series, all released by April 1st.
I'll update the book-cover-bling periodically so we can all see how pretty all those awesome Space Opera book covers look, and then on April 1st I'll use Random.org to pick winners in each of the four categories.
Be epic!
Anna Erishkigal