• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

[Reading Group] June 2014 Nominations/Voting

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
So for June, I'm open to suggestions for themes again. If leaving it open is best, we can continue to do that. I feel like The Name of the Wind is going to stretch into June because it's pretty long, but we can certainly do a June novel as well, especially for those who aren't reading our May selection.

For the theme I was thinking non-fantasy books. Seems kind of weird for a fantasy site, but nominations could be for science fiction, horror, classic literature, etc. Out of our choices so far, we've had three books that could be classified as epic fantasy in some way (Prince of Thorns, His Majesty's Dragon, The Name of the Wind)
while Swordspoint was low fantasy with no magic to speak of and was confined to a smaller area.

If no one is keen for a non-fantasy theme, we can just go with an open theme again because it allows people to present more ideas for books.

Thoughts?
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I'd be for a non-fantasy selection. I think it's healthy for writers to read out of genre & it's been awhile since I have done so.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I'll nominate a few. The first two by writers that I think we can benefit from in our own genre, in terms of page-turning fiction. For the third, a science fiction novel on my reading list.

51v09OwdQoL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


510S3gGiVfL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


51sjDXUC3bL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
OK, let's go with non-fantasy then. I'll try to think of some things I want to read that aren't fantasy and would be able to have interesting discussions on.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
So, I'm thinking it would be good to not limit nominations this time since we didn't get so many last time. However, please limit them to three at a time and only once per day if possible until nominations are closed (which will be once no one is posting here anymore :) )Here are my nominations then:

155px-Altered_Carbon_cover_1_%28Amazon%29.jpg


This is Richard K. Morgan cyberpunk. I think he's primarily a SF writer anyway, but he's also known for his fantasy series.

CormacMcCarthy_BloodMeridian.jpg


Considered by some to be Cormac McCarthy's best, this is a bloody tale that follows scalp hunters in the Old West, but has McCarthy's signature style.

300_144705.jpg


Recent recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alice Munro is considered one of the finest short story writers around. I read one of her collections years ago and I agree. While this isn't a novel, I do think it would be worth checking out writers who earn such high praise.
 
Last edited:

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Keep the nominations coming folks. I have some more here:

ack_ack_macaque.jpg


The-Windup-Girl.jpg


boneshaker_cover_front.jpg


Choices above are not quite fantasy, but seemingly kind of steampunkish/dystopian. Some nominations for those who don't want to get completely away from speculative fiction, but don't necessarily want Medieval style fantasy with swords and dragons.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
Allow me to pre-emptively second the nomination for Blood Meridian. For my first set of nominations, I'll lean towards related genres, but I may come back and nominate some classics.

  • Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
  • Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Edwin Abbott Abbott
  • Embassytown, by China Mieville
I wanted to include some horror on the list, maybe a Gothic classic, but somehow it just became three science fiction books. Woops.
 

monyo

Scribe
I'll throw out two that I just ordered last week, if anyone else happens to be interested:

51baj521mZL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


Seems pretty well liked, and the upcoming movie Edge of Tomorrow is based on it. Only ~230 pages.

411BW%2BB1NCL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


At ~1000 pages this may be way too long, but there it is.
 
Last edited:

ACSmyth

Minstrel
I should be getting Ancillary Justice in my Hugos voting packet, but I don't know when they get sent out.

And I have Ack-Ack Macaque, Boneshaker, and the Windup Girl on my wish list, but not actually bought yet.

Waiting patiently on my bookshelf I have

gonegirlhighres_442110c.jpg


which is a thriller and according to the friend who lent me it, is very good.

Also

a-plague-on-both-your-houses-the-first-chronicle-of-matthew-bartholomew.jpg


I know nothing about this, other than that it seems similar to the Brother Cadfael mysteries and is a monk solving murders. It seemed a little bit away from my usual fantasy stuff, yet still with elements I could perhaps absorb for future use in another form.
 
Last edited:

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Lots of interesting nominations so far. I'll keep them open until May 17th and then we'll start the voting. I figure voting for your top three will work this go around.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
From what I've heard of it, I still think it should be favored to win. I've read some of it (sample on my Kindle) and liked what I've read, but I'm not a huge SF person for the most part.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
A couple of more days to get in any additional nominations you've been thinking about. If I don't get any tomorrow, I'll go ahead and open up the voting.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
OK, so the final nominations are now locked in:

The Black Box by Michael Connelly
The First Rule by Robert Crais
Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Runaway by Alice Munro
Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott
Embassytown by China Mieville
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
A Plague on Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory

For this month, please vote for three books. Only one can be one of your nominations. May 24th will be the deadline to get your votes in. Whichever book has the most votes will be our choice for June.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Some of those seem to me to be fantasy, but I'm going to go ahead and go completely non-SF/F and go with:

Gone Girl
The First Rule
Blood Meridian
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I'm going to try to read as many samples as I can this go around so I'm not going in completely blind with my votes. Worth a shot. :)
 

Kaellpae

Inkling
Gone Girl is my top pick.

Then Boneshaker.

And finally... Altered Carbon.

I had a little trouble deciding between a few of the nominations, but I ended up getting it done!
 
Top