SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

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Members' Chat > Former Introduction Thread

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message 5101: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Hi, welcome.


message 5102: by [deleted user] (new)

Welcome, Dana. You'll find plenty of everything here, so dig in!


message 5103: by M.K. (new)

M.K. Cathcart (mkcathcart) | 6 comments I'm M.K. Cathcart. 29. I wrote a book, The Fugazi of Room 39 which the North Korean Embassy are NOT fond of. I read The Stand last year which is the longest book I've ever read and I like Philip K. Dick.


message 5104: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5105: by W.A. (new)

W.A. Rusho | 1 comments Hello everyone,
I am glad to be part of this group.
I am a new author. A former professional wrestler, and a 3 time inductee into the United States Martial Arts hall of fame.
My novel, is an alternate fantasy novel. The middle ages never ended, so today there are still knights. I was able to use my background in wrestling and the martial arts and utilize that experience into writing realistic fight scenes.
Thanks again, and proud to be a member of the group.


message 5106: by Brandon (new)

Brandon Carangi Hi everyone. My name is Brandon, I'm new as of yesterday - hoping to join you guys for the Feb 2015 reads!

Huge fantasy/sci fi fan since I was very young. I've been stuck in a forgotten realms setting for a while now, though I've gotten out of that recently for the stormlight and red rising books.

Pittsburgh native, avid reader, runner, outdoorsman, dog lover, blah, blah, etc, etc.

Looking forward to discussing with yinz!


message 5107: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Hi, welcome.


message 5108: by Dino (new)

Dino Costi | 5 comments Hello everyone,
My name's Dino and I'm from Liverpool in the UK. I've already posted a couple of times so I thought I should introduce myself. I'm a big fan of fantasy novels, and have been reading them since I was 11 years old (Elf Queen of Shannara was my first, which was very confusing for me as it was the 3rd of a 4-book series!)
I'm 32 now and have recently published my debut YA fantasy novel, and am still reading a lot of fantasy literature. If anyone has any good recommendations then I'd be happy to hear them. Looking forward to chatting with everyone!
Dino


message 5109: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5110: by Damon (new)

Damon (drasmodeus) | 6 comments Hello


message 5111: by Charles (new)

Charles McGarry (goodreadscomcharles-mcgarry) Hi Brandon, Dino, etc. Glad to have you aboard. Dino, I'm a huge Shannara fan! I got to meet Terry at comic con. Awesome guy! If you want an intriguing read, check out The Dark Thorn. Shawn Speakman is the author. He is actually Terry Brooks webmaster too lol. Great read! I just read Storm Front too. Book one of the Dresden files.


message 5112: by Hmpf (new)

Hmpf | 2 comments Hi!

New member here, new to Goodreads, too, and to be honest, I'm not sure I'm much of a book club person - my own "To Read" list already is hundreds of titles long, and my reading time, alas, limited, so taking on another two books per month in addition seems impossible. My own reading list may intersect with the book club's occasionally, of course - and I've read some 50-odd titles from your group's list so far, if I didn't miscount. Can I stay on as a lurker, or should I leave the group? I have to admit I'm a bit unclear on the rules in that regard.

Even if it is decided that I should leave, though, maybe you can help me with my most urgent question about Goodreads as a new user: where do I go if I just want to talk about the occasional book-related issue - either regarding a particular book, or even more general things? Is there some sort of general forum? In particular I'd be interested in one that focuses on science fiction and fantasy, or speculative fiction in general, but without a book club attached, if possible. To give some examples of things I've been meaning to ask:

1.) Is there some "weird" usage of prepositions in Hannu Rajaniemi's books - or is it just that as a non-native speaker I'm simply not familiar with some of the more unusual usages? I remember being surprised several times by prepositions used in the two books of the Jean le Flambeur trilogy that I've read so far - one example I remember, because it occurred twice, was things being described as being "in the horizon" instead of "on the horizon". The reason this interests me is because I also write in English as a non-native speaker, and in my experience, even when you've reached a high enough level of proficiency to start writing fiction in a second language, there's still always going to be some small things that'll occasionally trip you up - and prepositions frequently are one of those things, for non-native speakers of English. So I'm wondering if that's what I'm seeing here, or if it's just common typos, or if it's all totally correct and just unfamiliar to me. So - did any native speakers who read those books notice anything "weird" about the prepositions?

2.) What's going on with the quality of TOR books/reprints lately? I fairly recently got the three books of the Short Sun series by Gene Wolfe, which I remembered, from encountering them in bookshops some years ago, as originally being done in a style similar to the other Sun books by Gene Wolfe, i.e. fairly soft, matte covers, fairly thin paper, crisp, clean print. The books I received from amazon, however, were different: slightly larger, and with thicker, shiny covers (still the same cover art, though) and thicker paper (ok, the latter isn't necessarily bad... though as shelf space is at a premium in my flat, I prefer thinner paper - I have to admit the thicker paper of these later books is of better quality, though). Now, all of this wouldn't have been an issue - and the better paper is mostly a plus, really, space issues aside. But the print quality has gone downhill dramatically - the print is a runny mess now. The letters have lost all crispness, instead they rather remind me of those old, blurry, purple worksheets we used to get in school before the school got a photocopier - mimeograph copies I think they were? The severity of the problem varies from book to book - one of the three books has fairly crisp print, one's of middling quality, and one's atrocious. The same's true of the TOR reprints of Kage Baker's Company series. I have a slightly older, nice-quality version of the first book in that series (with the soft, matte cover, and nice, crisp print), but the two after that are like the "Sun" books I described above, including the blurry/runny print issue. Does anyone know if this is an issue that only occurs with certain print runs (and if so, is there a way to avoid the books that have these problems)? Is it a reprints-only thing? Or have they, I dunno, changed printers permanently and that's how all TOR books are going to come out from now on?

- So, yeah, as you can see these are fairly odd and minor questions, but there has to be some place where it would be appropriate to talk about things like that, right? I'd really appreciate it if you could point me there!

Sorry to misuse the introductions thread for this, btw. I realise that as introductions go, it's a rather poor one.


message 5113: by Hmpf (new)

Hmpf | 2 comments Ok, because that was laughable as an introduction, here's some more, slightly more relevant:

Christina, but call me Hmpf, as I've been called that in all fannish/geeky situations for well over 15 years now. 38 years old, somewhere in Germany, studied all sorts of things for rather too long a time, none of them very useful in so-called Real Life. Now dividing my working time between being a goldsmith and being a call center drone (customer service, not sales or anyting like that). My spare time, what there is of it (and subtracting the time spent hanging out on the internet, *cough*), is mostly spent reading. On that account, I'm sometimes gratful for my long commute, because that makes for prime reading time...

Currently reading: Lois McMaster Bujold: The Curse of Chalion.
Last read: Hannu Rajaniemi: The Fractal Prince.
Next up: Kage Baker: Mendoza in Hollywood. And after that, probably, Peter Watts: Blindsight.


message 5114: by [deleted user] (new)

Hmpf: I'm not a moderator, and can't tell you whether you "have to" leave, but common sense suggests that if someone is interested in books, their interest isn't limited to two titles a month. Put your comments and questions up as you think of them, and chances are good that they'll spark interesting conversations. Welcome to the site and the group, and best of luck!


message 5115: by Taryn (new)

Taryn (TRucinski) | 5 comments Hi All, my name is Taryn and even though I have been on GR for several years, I haven't really had time to join any groups. I am looking forward to this one because I am a voracious reader and have kind of hit a wall in terms of new material. I love epic fantasy(Jordan, Sanderson, Martin, Williams, Weeks), urban fantasy (Butcher, Hamilton), and have been tearing through a lot of YA sci-fi fantasy fiction (Fine, Brown, Roth, Mead, Holmberg) lately but the teenage "angst" is getting a bit old. Any and all suggestions are welcome!


message 5116: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Hi Taryn, welcome.


message 5117: by Charles (new)

Charles McGarry (goodreadscomcharles-mcgarry) Hi Taryn! You're tastes are right up my alley! Big fan of Sanderson, Martin, and Jordan as well. I'm a huge fan of Butcher's Dresden files as well. Have you read Terry Brooks or Patrick Rothfuss? Brilliant!


message 5118: by YouKneeK (new)

YouKneeK | 1412 comments Hmpf wrote: "I'm not sure I'm much of a book club person - my own "To Read" list already is hundreds of titles long, and my reading time, alas, limited, so taking on another two books per month in addition seems impossible."

Hi Hmpf,

I don’t typically participate in the group reads either. I too have limited reading time and a large backlog of books I already own that I want to read. I’m more interested in getting through my own list, even though the group reads a lot of books that look interesting and I would like to read them someday. My theory is that, if I want to read the books the group is reading, and if I want to read the books I already own, and if I don’t have time for both, then it’s more logical to read the books I already own. But, if the group reads something that happens to be in my backlog, it can be fun to read as part of a group. It’s nice to be able to discuss the book in more detail while it’s fresh in your mind and fresh in the minds of the people you’re discussing it with.

When I first joined Goodreads, I tried to find a Science Fiction and/or Fantasy group that didn’t do club reads, but the group searching functionality was painful and I gave up after scrolling through several dozen descriptions of clubs that mostly didn’t even fit the genre I was looking for, much less my more specific requirements. I stuck with this group because they seem to have the most active and numerous non-group-read-related discussions out of any of the groups I found. There are plenty of conversations outside of the group read conversations and, without ever having actually counted, I would say those outside conversations comprise a larger portion of the posts in this group. So there’s plenty of conversations to participate in here even if you don’t do the club reads.

I don’t participate often, but I browse the threads pretty often and I jump in when I have the time and motivation to do so. I joined probably a year ago, and nobody has ever harassed me about not participating in the club reads. The rules for the group can be found at the top of the main group page and I think, as long as you don’t break any of those rules, there will be no issues.

I don’t think all that many people read this thread regularly, but you would probably get a response to your topics if you posted them under the “Members Chat” topic within this group. Maybe as two separate posts since they aren’t directly related.


message 5119: by Damon (new)

Damon (drasmodeus) | 6 comments Hello I am 35 from New Zealand and am reading The Martian.


message 5120: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5121: by Dino (new)

Dino Costi | 5 comments Charles wrote: "Hi Brandon, Dino, etc. Glad to have you aboard. Dino, I'm a huge Shannara fan! I got to meet Terry at comic con. Awesome guy! If you want an intriguing read, check out The Dark Thorn. Shawn Speakma..."

Thanks for the tip, Charles - The Dark Thorn does look good. It's great that you got to meet Terry Brooks as well. I'd love to some day myself!


message 5122: by Chris (new)

Chris Horrell | 4 comments Hello all. I was born in '67, so, 47 years old at this time. I have been reading science fiction since I was a kid. I probably started around the same time The Sheep Look Up (the group read as I sign up) got published.

I am a gypsy chemist by trade, and I try to read everything I can get my hands on. I look forward to fleshing out lists and reviews.

I started out reading Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison, and whatever short story anthologies my dad would bring home. Philip Dick, Larry Niven and Roger Zelazny are giants in my cosmology.


message 5123: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5124: by Peter (new)

Peter (20mithrandir) | 1 comments Hi guys. I'm Peter. I was born in 1980 in Vienna and still live my quiet life in Austria (cows, not kangaroos) working in IT services as developer since 2000. I started reading fantasy and science-fiction in my teens when I stumbled upon the books of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Later on I loved the Cheysuli books of Jennifer Roberson, the Dune novels by Frank Herbert and the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. In the last years my focus was on books/series by Anne Bishop, Andrzej Sapkowski, Joe Abercrombie, Seanan McGuire and Brandon Sanderson (among others).

I'm currently reading:
* Firefight (Reckoners #2) by Brandon Sanderson

This is a list of books I've been reading this last few weeks (since the holidays):
* Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow #2) by Anthony Ryan
* The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles #1) by Michael J. Sullivan
* Sparrow Hill Road (Ghost Stories #1) by Seanan McGuire
* A Guile of Dragons (A Tournament of Shadows #1) by James Enge


message 5125: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Hi Peter, welcome.


message 5126: by Steve (new)

Steve Best Hi Girls & Guys
I'm 48 from Portsmouth, England. I've been interested in SF as long as I can remember as well as general reading at times I can't remember. Apparently I used to hide under the kitchen table on a Sunday afternoon to read my books as early as age 4, although I have no memory of this!
I've been a cabbie for many years now and usually read between jobs. Work has dried up in recent years (too many drivers) so I find I know usually do fares between reading.
I've decided to give some Fantasy books a go as I've been reading nearly all SF for a long time now. Any recommendations would be welcome. Preferably recent and not too far into a series.
I'm currently reading The Martian by Andy Weir. Only a few chapters in but its one of those I know I'm going to like straight away.
Take care everyone.
Steve


message 5127: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments That is a great book. Welcome Steve.


message 5128: by Xander Bennett (new)

Xander Bennett | 2 comments *checks for more young people*

I was born in '87. I was born and grew up in Virginia (grew up in Northern, college in south western) but after college went crazy and drove to Los Angeles.

I'm trying to read more and different things. Trying to be a writer type person and like my netflix queue, my Goodreads queue is really big. Joining this and a couple other groups is my attempt to weed out the crappy ones (or at least space out the crappy ones with some good ones).

What I usually read is urban fantasy. I try to get into scifi but usually get scared off before I really start (my brain doesn't accept hard scifi. I am totally okay with a wizard doing it). Starting to drift into the Steampunks and similar. I'm just really nervous about starting with a new author.
-Xander


message 5129: by James (new)

James Schmidt | 1 comments Hello Everybody, My name is James. I just started a book review blog if anyone would like to check it out. https://mightythorjrs.wordpress.com/ Nothing to special but I enjoy it! Feel free to add me as a friend on goodreads. I am always looking for book friends and info.

Thanks, James


message 5130: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5131: by James (new)

James Joyce (james_patrick_joyce) | 244 comments Did I introduce myself?

I was sure I introduced myself, but I've been hi-ing and hello-ing, a number of times, this past month or so...

I was sure I said hello. Or hi, at least.

Hello.


message 5132: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments welcome...if I haven't welcomed you...


message 5133: by Judd (new)

Judd (juddtrichter) | 1 comments Hello, my name is Judd Trichter. I'm a sci-fi author and reader. Big fan of PKD, William Gibson, Jack Womack, Orwell, Vonnegut, and others. I look forward to being part of this group!


message 5134: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5135: by Drew (new)

Drew Hey everyone, I just joined this group as it looks like you guys read a lot of good books! I'm reading Station Eleven now which looks like is on the docket for March. Can't wait to join the discussion!


message 5136: by Bella (new)

Bella | 2 comments Hi,
I'm a stay at home mom. I have three kids- one's in college and the others are homeschooled. I'm a former elementary and middle school teacher.

I have over 12,000 books (of the dead tree variety) and have read all but about 300-400. During periods of my life when I'm busy, I read about 400 books a year. When life isn't hectic, I read 700-1000+ books a year.

Like many, I'm an aspiring author. And like most writers, I'm here as a reader. After all, writers who aren't passionate readers tend to be, well, bad writers. (Plus, I have nothing to promote. I'm about six months from doing the agent hunt. So, best case scenario- which assumes I land an agent and a publishing contract- I'm at least 2 1/2 years away from being published.)

Looking forward to meeting everyone and the March group reads are on my TBR and I'm looking forward to reading and discussing them.


message 5137: by Jon (new)

Jon Jonassen (j_jonassen) | 9 comments Hi everyone!
My name is Jon, born in 85, and are currently studying MFA in creative Writing at Kingston University, London. I am new to the whole Goodreads concept, so I will try to become more active. I love fantasy and my favourite so far is The Way of Kings, just because of its ability to create a sense of a different and very appealing world. I recently finished Partials; Way too many adverbs, to be fully enjoyed. Currently I am struggling through Moby-Dick; or, The Whale after a recommendation by my teacher, and hope to get time to read The Gormenghast Novels soon. I found this group through a forum recommending it through a blog, cannot remember the blog now.

A few words about my own style of writing. I am from Norway, and are fascinated by Trolls, (not the internet trolls, but "real" trolls). The project I am currently working on is a fantasy-trilogy and I hope to have a complete draft of first book by the end of the year. Have so far worked 5 years on the project. If any have any thoughts about trolls, whether they like them, hate them, or books to recommend me reading, I would really appreciate it. It is easy enough to think all the ideas in my own mind are amazing, but it would be interesting to hear what the rest of the world thinks.

Looking forward to discuss books with you!
*Hope I did not break any rules in this thread :)

All the best
Jon


message 5138: by James (last edited Feb 25, 2015 04:39AM) (new)

James Joyce (james_patrick_joyce) | 244 comments Jon wrote: "Hi everyone!
My name is Jon, born in 85, and are currently studying MFA in creative Writing at Kingston University, London."


Hey.

I'm in Kingston, Ontario and nearly every time I search for something about our local Queen's University, I get stuff about Kingston University, as well.


Jon wrote: "I am from Norway, and [am] fascinated by Trolls"

I loved the movie Troll Hunter.

And Titus Groan is phenomenal writing.


message 5139: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Welcome.


message 5140: by Jon (new)

Jon Jonassen (j_jonassen) | 9 comments James wrote:

Hey.

I'm in Kingston, Ontario and nearly every time I search for something about our local Queen's University, I get stuff about Kingston University, as well"

I loved the movie Troll Hunter
And Titus Groan is phenomenal writing


I agree. I had a good laugh, watching Trollhunter! Looking forward to dive into Titus Groan!


message 5141: by Justine (new)

Justine (justine_ao) | 111 comments Hello, I'm Justine. I am a stay at home parent like Bella and like to read in any spare time I have (or make). I stick pretty well to Fantasy and SciFi, but I do read to my kids a lot and so there is some variety there too:)

Hi Mike :) My 6 year old was just asking me yesterday at dinner what a paladin is as it came up in a Minecraft mod as a player class you could choose.


message 5142: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments What was your answer??? :)

Now all my friends here know what I'm going to ask you...

Have you read The Deed of Paksenarrion? It's probably the best book about a Paladin I know of. It's about a young woman who wants to be a fighter and her eventual development into a Paladin. The book is a trilogy in one volume.


message 5143: by Justine (new)

Justine (justine_ao) | 111 comments Heh, well of course I told him one of the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne's Court, but that since that got a blank stare, I went with a more general description of a warrior whose job it is to protect the weak, vanquish evil and bring justice...I think that made more sense considering the context in which he was asking. :)

No, I haven't read The Deed of Paksenarrion...I'll have to add it to that never ending TBR list we all maintain, right? :)


message 5144: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Your right and I'm impressed. Most don't know of Charlemagne's 12 Paladins. I have a book of the Tales of Roland. Most people today make the gamer connection (or if older the TV series). The Paladin is seldom done well now as most treat him/her as a parody of what the character is supposed to be.


message 5145: by Justine (new)

Justine (justine_ao) | 111 comments Well, the blank stare was because he is 6 after all. By the time he is 7 I expect he'll know all about Charlemagne.

:)


message 5146: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments Good. In today's world an educated child will be unusual. Of course he may be lonely since his friends will be educated by the public school system. My kids had that problem.


message 5147: by Justine (new)

Justine (justine_ao) | 111 comments Both my kids are home schooled and we happily live in a city where there are lots of home school families...it makes for a pretty interesting and fun environment, that's for sure! :)


message 5148: by Mike (the Paladin) (new)

Mike (the Paladin) (thepaladin) | 874 comments :)


message 5149: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Haight | 25 comments Hello, all - thanks for letting me join the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club! :)

Let me tell you a bit about myself: I'm a rabid reader and writer - like others, I abandoned my writing for a career in IT but I've never forgotten it. In fact, I love it so much that I've been writing it since 2008.

My love of sci-fi and of writing have come together to form a Voltron-like structure of passion to become a full-time creative professional. I go into more detail here but I think you can understand why I'd want to take something I'm passionate about and turn it into a full-time job! :)

Aside from my own stuff, sci-fi has been my first and best love :). My desert island top-five sci-fi novels would have to be Neuromancer, The Postman, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, The Diamond Age and Enders Game.

I love telling stories - mostly dystopia and scifi. In fact - one of my prized possessions is my original Blade Runner one-sheet that I have hanging in my office. It collects all of my Comic-Con contribution tags (http://i.imgur.com/oZL9d5Ul.jpg).

Thanks for having me here - I look forward to getting to know all of you! :)

Best wishes,
Dan H.


message 5150: by James (new)

James Joyce (james_patrick_joyce) | 244 comments Daniel wrote: "I look forward to getting to know all of you!"

God, that sounds exhausting!


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