Past Introduction messages (Archive)

[Connor]

Hello everyone! I'm the owner, but I basically turned it over to all these other wonderful moderators... Just decided to jump in and say hi again :)

[Olivia "So many books--so little time.""]

Hi! I'm Olivia in Peoria, Illinois. I enjoy reading a variety of genres including sci-fi and fantasy.

[[deleted user]]

Olivia wrote: "Hi! I'm Olivia in Peoria, Illinois. I enjoy reading a variety of genres including sci-fi and fantasy."


Hi, Olivia. Welcome to both Goodreads and our science fiction and fantasy discussion group. Please make yourself at home and join in on any conversations that strike your fancy.

We enjoy discussing specific SF&F books (see the Book Discussions folder as well as general topics in SF&F. Each month we pick a couple of more books (classic and contemporary) to add to our discussions through an arcane process of nomination and polling. Please feel free to add your thoughts to any of our past discussions and propose new books to explore.

And again, welcome.

[Gard]

Hey hey, wow. I can't figure out what to say. I'm posting mostly because G33z... writes such cool Welcome responses. My nickname has been G3 forever as well. Long story.

I wrote Game Slaves. Jan '14 from Harcourt and a bunch of fun side projects are popping up. Thanks for having me in here. Your brains are my kinds of brains, and that's not a Z joke.

First chapter is here: http://on.fb.me/YH9wFn

[[deleted user]]

Gard wrote: "Hey hey, wow. I can't figure out what to say. I'm posting mostly because G33z... writes such cool Welcome responses. My nickname has been G3 forever as well. Long story...."

Hi, Gard. Welcome to the group. I hope you enjoy our discussions here, but I'm afraid you may have raised unrealistically high expectations for the welcoming committee. We do have the usual 10% discount coupon off your group membership for you, valid with any free Goodreads feature. :) I gather you already are ready are familiar with the usual pointers I provide new members?

Isn't not being able to figure out what to say kind of unusual for an author? I thought you guys always had le mot juste right on the tip of your tongue.

Welcome to the group, and be sure to drop a note in the Promotions folder when your book hits the shelves.

[Gard]

G33z3r wrote: unrealistically high expectations for the welcoming committee. We do have the usual 10% discount coupon off your group membership for you, valid with any free Goodreads feature. :) I gather you are ready are familiar with the usual pointers I provide new members?

No complaints at all. Thanks.

[John]

Hello. Brand new member of goodreads here to use the author program to promote my book, but I'm also a really chatty lifelong lover of science fiction so I have little doubt I will quickly become addicted to this group. I'm drawn to speculation about the future of our species, which I consider quite bright in the long term, and am a fan of a positive view of the future rather than today's common dystopian vision, though I do read the occasional one (but not too many, I'd need a scrip for Prozac for it!). I am very much a fan of the Golden Age writers, particularly Arthur Clarke, Heinlein and Asimov. My all time favorite science fiction work is John W. Campbell's novella "Who Goes There?" specifically because of the absolutely awesome way he begins the story with the sights and smells of an Antarctic station. I first read it as a kid in the 1980's, and of course saw the first two film versions, but even to this day his written story gives me the chills.

My goal as an aspiring writer is to bring a bit of the spirit of the Golden Age back, though I certainly will never be as good as the giants. If you read my novel and find it is terrible, do tell me, and the next thing I write will be a dystopia about a group of positivist science fiction authors that failed to notice they were wrong and the world ended, all living on an island fighting to the death for the last surviving fragment of a Nebula Award. I promise to be a Star Trek-style redshirt and will promptly be killed off early in the book in whatever awful way the community sees fit. And now for a shameless plug: My debut novel "The Salvagers" releases on May 15.

[[deleted user]]

John Michael wrote: "Hello. Brand new member of goodreads here to use the author program to promote my book, but I'm also a really chatty lifelong lover of science fiction so I have little doubt I will quickly become addicted to this group...."

Hello, John Michael, and welcome to both Goodreads and our discussion group. Please feel free to addictively chat away! I think we have quite a few fans of "old-school" science fiction here (I think it happened automatically when I got old; which isn't so bad when you consider the alternative :)

Also, each month, the group selects three books (one Classic Novel, one Contemporary Novel, and one short story/novella/anthology) to read and discuss together. You can find all our current and past discussions in our the Book Discussions folder, and we welcome your comments on any of them that strike your fancy. We are currently collecting nominations for our June Classic Novel discussion topic, so feel free to suggest something you'd like to read and discuss with us.

Once you get your membership in the Goodreads Author Program set up, please drop into our Promotions folder and add a link to your book's Goodreads page, publisher, retailer, or whatever promotional blurbs work for you. (Is it the one authored by "Hervey Benham"? Or, is your book not in the Goodreads database yet? Or, did I just flub the search?)

[John]

Hello. There's no such thing as old in the science fiction world! Especially if we all get cyborg bodies in the future. Age will be a matter of getting a fresh paint job.

Not in the database yet, I'll add it in on the 15th when the book comes out. It will be under my name, John Michael Godier, it's called "The Salvagers" and as the moderator you're welcome to a free advance e-copy if you have a gadget for such things.

[The]

hi my name is Salem, I'm a legitimate book worm i have about 2-300 books (im just estimating.) I read most of them, the series im reading now is the secrets of the immortal Nicolas flamel series, i finished the first book last week and im on to the second book. I'm from MA north of boston i live the first 5 years of my life in Hong Kong, then moved to the united states till seventh grade. For seventh grade we moved to my dads home country, Mauritania north west Africa for a year, then moved back to the us for 8th grade. My family travel a lot we've been to all except one of the canary islands, We been to the the philopines, korea, france, we flown over the Appalachians going to barcelona and that is just listing a few of the place we have been to.

[Dan]

Hi folks! I'm Dan, a long-term SF&F reader and short-term SF author. I read the Foundation trilogy and Lord of the Rings when I was ten, and never looked back :)

Looking forward to chatting with you all.
Dan

[[deleted user]]

Salem wrote: "hi my name is Salem, I'm a legitimate book worm..."

Hi, Salem, and welcome to the group! Please join us in discussing SF/F books.

In addition to general conversations about science fiction and fantasy books and short stories, each month we select 3 SF/F books to read and discuss as a group. Our current and past discussions can all be found in the Book Discussions folder . (In past discussions are never closed, if you'd like to add a comment to some previous title we've read.)

We are currently collecting Nominations for our June 1 Classic Novel discussion choice and Voting on our May 21 Contemporary Novel discussion choice. Please feel free to add a nomination or cast your vote if you're interested in discussing one of them.

And again, welcome.

[[deleted user]]

Dan wrote: "Hi folks! I'm Dan, a long-term SF&F reader and short-term SF author. I read the Foundation trilogy and Lord of the Rings when I was ten, and never looked back :)..."

Hi, Dan, welcome to our group. We likewise look forward to discussing sci-fi and fantasy with you. As I just mentioned in the previous post, we like to discuss general topics in SF&F as well as specific book discussions in our Book Discussions folder . (We select one Classic Novel, one Contemporary Novel, and one Short Story/Novelette/Novella/Anthology each month for focused group reading and discussion, via an open nomination process and subsequent polling.)

Also, I hope you'll visit our Promotions folder and add a plug for your books. We're always happy to have a Goodreads' author join the discussions.

And I hope you enjoy discussing science fiction and fantasy books together with us!

[Dan]

G33z3r wrote: "Dan wrote: "Hi folks! I'm Dan, a long-term SF&F reader and short-term SF author. I read the Foundation trilogy and Lord of the Rings when I was ten, and never looked back :)..."

Hi, Dan, welcome t..."

Thanks for the kind welcome!

[[deleted user]]

welcome to all the new peeps. :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi,I am new to this group but everything sounds great.
I prefer fantasy but will read others.Some of my favorite authors include R.A.Salvatore,Raymund Feist,David Eddings,and Stephen R. Donaldson.I do like some of Terry Pratchett's work as well as Piers Anthony.

[[deleted user]]

Charlton wrote: "Hi,I am new to this group but everything sounds great. I prefer fantasy but will read others...."

Greetings Charlton. Welcome to the group. I see you've already found our ongoing discussions; thanks for joining in. You may find that in our Book Discussions folder we've had past discussions of fantasy novels you may have read and want to add your thoughts about, and other fantasy novels you might be interested in as well. Also, you might check out our Current Nominations and Polls to add your voice to our selections of future books to discuss. We look forward to hearing more of your thoughts and opinions soon!

[[deleted user]]

Hi,thanks for the welcome.

[Glitchieyt]

Hello Michael. I also am a fan of Drizzt :D.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Michael,big fan of Salvatore here,welcome to Heroic Fantasy.

[M.M.]

Hi all, I'm a huge fantasy fan (and writer), I rarely read anything else. I enjoy epic fantasy after the likes of Tolkein, Robin Hobb, Rothfuss and Abercrombie. I practically grew up on the Hobbit, Philip Pullman and C S Lewis, Robert Jordan and David Eddings and am always looking for new, interesting books. I'm on twitter @mmancey, and am happy to link up!

[[deleted user]]

Welcome to the group, Michael, M.M.,... and Ty, too. I hope you'll all like the group's various discussions. We welcome your participation!

In addition to our general chit-chat, we have a few organized Book Discussions each month. We're currently collecting ideas for our June SF/F Short Story read and voting on our planned June Classic SF/F Novel discussion. Feel free to join in if interested in either or both.

[M.M.]

Thanks G33z3r.

[[deleted user]]

Hi M.M. welcome to Sci-Fi and Heroic Fantasy.

[M.M.]

Thank you Charlton.

[[deleted user]]

hi to all our new peeps. :)

[Andy]

Hi everybody. I'm Andy and I love to read (and more recently write) sci-fi and fantasy, ever since reading Tolkien and Lewis as a kid. I also like the Star Wars Expanded Universe and Pullman.

[[deleted user]]

Andy wrote: "Hi everybody. I'm Andy and I love to read (and more recently write) sci-fi and fantasy, ever since reading Tolkien and Lewis as a kid. I also like the Star Wars Expanded Universe and Pullman."

Hi, Andy, and welcome to the group! I see you've already found a couple of our discussions, So I won't bother with the usual tour. I look forward to discussing SF&F with you.

[Andy]

G33z3r wrote: "Andy wrote: "Hi, Andy, and welcome to the group! I see you've already found a couple of our discussions, So I won't bother with the usual tour. I look forward to discussing SF&F with you. "

Thank you for the friendly welcome. Everyone is so friendly around here!

[[deleted user]]

Hi Andy,welcome to SF&HF.

[[deleted user]]

welcome Andy (AND any other newbies ive missed)...enjoy your stay. :)

[A.L.]

Hey:) Just found you guys:)

Like to read Fantasy, sci fi, historical romance, erotica, mystery, true crime etc. I write dark fantasy/fantasy romance.

Belong to various other Gr groups:)

[[deleted user]]

Alexandra wrote: "Hey:) Just found you guys:)
Like to read Fantasy, sci fi, historical romance, erotica, mystery, true crime etc. I write dark fantasy/fantasy romance..."

Hi, Alexandra. Welcome to the group. Please pull up an eChair and make yourself at home. In addition to random topics in SF&F, we also have semi-organized monthly Book Discussions folder. (Right now we're voting on which Classic SF/F novel to read for June and collecting nominations for a short story/anthology to discuss later in June. Feel free to make your opinion known!

Finally, please visit our Promotions folder and add a plug for your books. We're always happy to have a Goodreads' author join the discussions.

And again, welcome. I hope we'll hear from you often.

[A.L.]

Thanks:) Will check them out. I am terrible with keeping up with book of the month. I belong to so many groups I usually get round to them eventually, just not always the right month:) It is useful for recommendations though.

[Laurel]

Good afternoon. I am lady science fiction author Laurel A. Rockefeller, the mind behind the Peers of Beinan political science fiction series.

My greatest influences are J.R.R Tolkien (especially for his world building and his use of appendices, which I also do), Frank Herbert's "Dune", JMS' "Babylon 5," "Star Trek" (my order of preference are Voyager, Next Generation, original series, DS9, then Enterprise), Star Wars, and the Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley (who was also one of the founders of the Society for Creative Anachronism).

My work is unique in many ways. First, I'm a master world builder. Planet Beinan and Beinarian society is truly complete. I worked out the physics, astronomy, biochemisty, ecology, politics, religion, even the food. I apply my vast knowledge of medieval history (Anglo-Irish and Asian) to the stories. And I tell my stories without profanity, lewdness, obscenity, or graphic violence.

I also show my singer-songwriter talent in that my books have MUSIC in them, many of which I still remember the tunes for. You can hear me sing that music in my book trailers.

Another area where I am really different: everything I do is data-grounded. I do not feel like I imagine very much of what I write; instead I extrapolate and redact, applying vast amounts of data from countless academic disciplines.

It may not be cool to be a lady sci-fi writer, but Dorothy DC Fontana was a wonderful role model. I look up to her very much.

And finally, one little personal detail about me: I'm low vision. Despite my 20/80 sight, I did all of the art for my books, including all of the heraldry for Beinarian noble houses.


Thank you for letting me sit by your fire.

[[deleted user]]

Laurel wrote: "Good afternoon. I am lady science fiction author Laurel A. Rockefeller, the mind behind the Peers of Beinan political science fiction series....

It may not be cool to be a lady sci-fi writer, but Dorothy DC Fontana was a wonderful role model. ..."

Hi, Laurel, and welcome to our group. I hope you find a few conversations that you can join into.

I can think of the number of very cool lady sci-fi writers among my favorites; in fact, all scifi writers are cool.

And thanks for adding your novel to our Promotions folder. Again, welcome.

[Christy]

Just joined Goodreads and now this group. I teach AP English (I promise no grading or grammar comments!), so I do a LOT of reading, for class prep as well as my own enjoyment. When I want to just escape, I turn to sci-fi. I like military sci-fi (Ender's Game, David Weber, etc), and some fantasy, particularly Lord of the Rings. Looking forward to hearing about some more books to try.

[[deleted user]]

Christy wrote: "Just joined Goodreads and now this group. I teach AP English, so I do a LOT of reading, for class prep as well as my own enjoyment. When I want to just escape, I turn to sci-fi. I like military sci-fi (Ender's Game, David Weber, etc), and some fantasy, particularly Lord of the Rings. Looking forward to hearing about some more books to try..."

Hi, Christy, and welcome to both Goodreads and our Science Fiction and Fantasy discussion group. I hope you find our chatter entertaining and will join in when you can.

As it happens, our current monthly book discussion is on The Forever War , a military science fiction classic from the 1970's. (Which is not to say that the past SF/F works in our Book Discussions folder are closed to comments.) Also, we have a currently active discussion of Members' Favorite Military Science Fiction , which you might like to either add to or use to get some suggestions for your own reading.

And again, a warm welcome to the group!

[Rick]

Just joined. I especially love classic sci-fi.

[[deleted user]]

Williarwgmail.com wrote: "Just joined. I especially love classic sci-fi."

Hi, Willi—, Welcome to the group! I hope you'll join us in any ongoing discussions you find interesting; or, start a new topic that is interesting to you. We try for a mixture of both recent and classic science fiction and fantasy; and each month we do read a Classic Novel (her chores for this month is Haldeman's The Forever War, and we're currently running a Poll to select next month's Classic novel. (Though our definition of Classic reflects the mixed age span of the group's members.) Please join in those activities or any past Book Discussion that interests you.

And again, welcome to the group.

[[deleted user]]

Welcome to SF&HF,Willi.

[[deleted user]]

first, a big WELCOME to our new members. :)

second, a suggestion. i think it is time to close this thread and re-start it. i know there are many of us who acess this via the app on our mobile divices...the app shows 50 messages. then you click 'show more' and you get another 50....this thread is now 850+ messages long...alot of clicking and scrolling to see the new messages

lock and re-start!!

[[deleted user]]

Spooky1947 wrote: "second, a suggestion. i think it is time to close this thread and re-start it. i know there are many of us who acess this via the app on our mobile devices... the app shows 50 messages. then you click 'show more' and you get another 50....this thread is now 850+ messages long...alot of clicking and scrolling to see the new messages"

Have you tried tapping the little menu icon on the bottom of the GoodReads App and selecting "Newest Comments First"?

Viewing in a Browser, clicking the little "date" word in the topic header will likewise let you change the posts sorting order to most recent first.

Still, a reboot of this topic might be a good idea. It worked for Batman.

[[deleted user]]

whoot! i didnt know that was there G33...thanks. :)

[Thomas]

Hello fellow fantasy/sci-fi lovers. Where to begin? Ah,yes!

Concerning Writers:

I grew up on sci-fi and fantasy all my life and since my tender young years I've always wanted to tell stories.

A few years back I began my "professional" writing career by trying to break into the movie business. I, like many others before me, faced the cold reality of rejection...again and again. Some said the budget was too big, some said they didn't like my writing and some said...nothing at all.

Fed up with that reality I decided to tell a tale that was unhindered by budgetary constraints and set off to write my first book: Eric Elmoor and The Gauntlet of Godric. It is a fantasy but with the infusion of technological in my own attempt to make something unique for a change. I decided to self-publish after some rejected me on the basis that I introduced my villain first.

That didn't fly with me. Upon its release I was a nervous wreck but have since enjoyed several stellar reviews which only makes me more nervous as I write the second.

For more on me and my story, head here:

http://orchardbookclub.wordpress.com/...

Oh, and I also have a day job but thats not too terribly exciting.

Good to meet everyone!

[[deleted user]]

Thomas wrote: "Hello fellow fantasy/sci-fi lovers...."

Hi, Thomas. Welcome to the group. We are always happy to have a new voice join the conversation. Please jump in anywhere, or start a new topic if you're so inclined.

We also have a Promotions folder where authors can tell us something about their books. Best of luck with your novel.

[Thomas]

Thank you very much for the warm welcome! I'll have to check that folder out! I can always use a bit of free promotion ;-)

[[deleted user]]

Lizette wrote: "Hi. My name is Lizette. I used to be into memoirs, but got bored. I recently got into sci-fi and I love it! Hopefully I can find lots of recommendations of books I can read through this group. :)"

Hello, Lizette. Welcome to the group! I hope you'll join in on some of our discussions as well as find some useful recommendations within them. You might find our Recommendations folder a good place to start. It contains lists of member favorites in various sub-genre's of Science Fiction and Fantasy. You may find the NPR's Listener Poll of Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy novels and the Locus Magazine Reader Poll of top SF&F especially useful, but there are a lot of other useful lists in that folder as well.

In addition, you might scan our Book Discussions folder for specific titles of interest. Each month we picked up three books (one classic novel, one contemporary novel, and a short story/collection) to discuss in detail, and we've saved all the past discussions (which, in fact, are still open for new comments!)

And again, a friendly welcome to the group.

[Eliza]

Hey everyone!

My name's Eliza. I've been reading (and writing) fantasy since I could pick up a book. I'm particularly attached to intrigue and multi-plot stories.

My big-name favorite authors include George Martin, Patricia C. Wrede, Lois McMaster Bujold, Joe Abercrombie, CS Lewis (Narnia was good, but 'Till We Have Faces' was melting).

[[deleted user]]

Eliza wrote: "Hey everyone! My name's Eliza. I've been reading (and writing) fantasy since I could pick up a book. I'm particularly attached to intrigue and multi-plot stories...."

Hi, Eliza, and welcome to our group. We look forward to discussing SF&F this with you. I know we have fans of almost all the authors you mentioned here. And if we don't have a discussion that search or fancy, please start one that does.

Also, if you're inclined, why not put a post in our Promotions folder and tell us something about your book.