Nominations for June!

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

Hi everyone,

It's time to make your nominations for our June 2010 Books of the Month. As always, every member may nominate one SF and/or one fantasy novel, by posting a reply to this message with the title and author of the novel. Please also let us know why you're nominating the novel - it may help motivate people to vote for it! Almost any SFF novel is eligible: an old favorite, something you've just read and would like to discuss, something on your to-read shelf. You can also re-nominate any book that was nominated before but didn't win. We'll take nominations until March 20th.

Stefan

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:


FANTASY:

Ariel: A Book of the Change by Steven R. Boyett (ken)
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop (kerry)
Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead (chris)
The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke (jane)
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson(phoenixfalls)
Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart (candiss)

SCIENCE FICTION:

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton (ken)
Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (kerry)
Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey (chris)
The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling (nick)
Light by M. John Harrison (phoenixfalls)
The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman (candiss)
Crossover: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel by Joel Shepherd (stefan)

[Ken]

Lets try this again

Ariel: A Book of the Change by Steven R. Boyett

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton

[Kerry]

Fantasy: Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop

SF: Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

[Christine]

For SF Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

For fantasy: Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

[Nick]

For SF: The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling -- computer geek/warrior is recruited to "attack" terrorists after 9/11, in Sterling's true cyberpunk-with-a-heart style.

[Jane]

I would like to recommend The Last Stormlordfor the fantasy pick.

[Sandi]

Chris wrote: "For SF Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

For fantasy: Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead"

I loved "Hood" and my daughter has lent me "Santa Olivia". I need to read that one.

[Christine]

Sandi wrote: "Chris wrote: "For SF Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey

For fantasy: Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead"

I loved "Hood" and my daughter has lent me ..."

I got "Hood" for Christmas, so it's on my TBR.

[Phoenixfalls]

I'd like to nominate Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson for the Fantasy book. This is the jacket description:
"The gathering forces of the Dark Powers threaten the world of man. The legions of Faery, aided by trolls, demons and the Wild Hunt itself, are poised to overthrow the Realms of Light. Holger Carlsen, a bemused and puzzled twentieth-century man mysteriously snatched out of time, finds himself the key figure in the conflict. Arrayed against him are the dragons, giants and elven warriors of the armies of Chaos, and the beautiful sorceress Morgan le Fay. On his side is a vague prophecy, a quarrelsome dwarf and a beautiful woman who can turn herself into a swan, not to mention Papillon, the magnificent battle-horse, and a full set of perfectly fitting armour, both of which were waiting for him when he entered the magical realm. The shield bears three hearts and three lions - the only clue to Holger Carlsen's true identity. Could Carlsen really be a legendary hero, the only man who can save the world?"
It was, incidentally, part of the Fantasy Masterworks series that Gollancz published in the UK.

And for the Science Fiction book I nominate Light, by M. John Harrison. Publisher's Weekly said:
"Harrison's talent for brilliant, reality-bending SF is on display yet again with this three-tiered tale, published (and highly praised) in the U.K. in 2002. It's 1999, and British scientist Michael Kearney and his American partner, Brian Tate, are studying laboratory quantum physics; unbeknownst to them, they'll become the fathers of interplanetary travel. Kearney nervously holds a pair of predictive dice he's stolen from a frightening specter called the Shrander, whom he keeps at bay by committing random murders. Four hundred years in the future, K-ship captain Seria Mau Genlicher has gravely erred in splicing herself with a hijacked spacecraft called the White Cat—and now she wants out. There's also Ed Chianese, a burned-out interstellar surfer now spending his life within a reality simulation machine. His problem? Monetary debt to the nasty Cray sisters. As Kearney continues to narrowly evade the Shrander, he discovers that company CEO Gordon Meadows has sold the lab to Sony. All three story lines converge and find heavenly closure at the cosmological wonder known as the Kefahuchi Tract, a wormhole with alien origins bordered by a vast, astral "beach" where time and space are braided and interchangeable. This is space opera for the intelligentsia, as Harrison (Things That Never Happen) tweaks aspects of astrophysics, fantasy and humanism to hum right along with the blinking holograms in a welcome and long overdue return."

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

Some great nominations so far - keep them coming! I just added the list to the first post in this thread. We'll accept nominations until Saturday and set up the first round of polls then.

[Jane]

Ken wrote: "Lets try this again

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton"

Would like to second this nomination, I love Peter F Hamilton and this is a great book for the group, stand alone means I don't have to commit over a month to get thru one of series again (though they are great as well)
Jane

[Candiss]

For Fantasy, I would like to nominate Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart. I read it several years ago and have been thinking about re-reading it soon-ish. I think it would be most interesting to read it with others.

The book is the first in a trilogy, but each story is a stand-alone, not a sequel or prequel. The story takes place in a fantastical/mythic version of ancient China and is both thrilling and hilarious, occasionally harrowing, and sometimes a bit ribald and is filled with very colorful characters. I wish he had written more than three books!

For Science Fiction, I will nominate The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman. I haven't read this one yet, but I've heard and read nothing but good things about it, and it's premise seems truly unique. It won both the Arthur C. Clarke award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and the reviewers here on Goodreads have some interesting things to say about it, as well.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

I've added a nomination of my own to the list this time: Crossover: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel by Joel Shepherd. I discovered this author through Sasha, the first book in his current (and excellent) fantasy series. Crossover: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel is science fiction, and while I haven't read it yet, it sounds very good and has been recommended to me by a few people whose taste I usually trust.

Here's the plot summary:

Crossover is the first novel in a series which follows the adventures of Cassandra Kresnov, an artificial person, or android, created by the League, one side of an interstellar war against the more powerful, conservative Federation. Cassandra is an experimental design—more intelligent, more creative, and far more dangerous than any that have preceded her. But with her intellect come questions, and a moral awakening. She deserts the League and heads incognito into the space of her former enemy, the Federation, in search of a new life. Her chosen world is Callay, and its enormous, decadent capital metropolis of Tanusha, where the concerns of the war are literally and figuratively so many light years away. But the war between the League and the Federation was ideological as much as political, with much of that ideological dispute regarding the very existence of artificial sentience and the rules that govern its creation. Cassandra discovers that even in Tanusha, the powerful entities of this bloody conflict have wound their tentacles. Many in the League and the Federation have cause to want her dead, and Cassandra’s history, inevitably, catches up with her. Cassandra finds herself at the mercy of a society whose values preclude her own right even to exist. But her presence in Tanusha reveals other fault lines, and when Federal agents attempt to assassinate the Callayan president, she finds herself thrust into the service of her former enemies, using her lethal skills to attempt to protect her former enemies from forces beyond their ability to control. As she struggles for her place and survival in a new world, Cassandra must forge new friendships with old enemies, while attempting to confront the most disturbing and deadly realities of her own existence.

[Bookbrow]

I just loved, Fallen Dragon a concise novel by Hamilton's standards. The story is wonderful as it weaves to a fine completion, my favourite of the Hamilton books I have read.

That said, I have had John M. Harrison's Light in my bookshelf for a while, I like the descriptor above.

[Ken]

Stefan...if this is part of a series, should we not be nominating the first book?

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

Read the first line of the summary I posted :)

(they're different series --- Sasha is the first book of his fantasy series, Crossover is the first book of his SF series)

[Jeffrey]

I will second the selection of Crossover. Its a great read.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

Nominations are closed! I just set up the first round of polls. The top 2 of each poll will move on to the run-off polls on March 25th. Go vote!

[Ken]

whoops sorry Stefan...

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

The run-off polls are up, so... go vote!