Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

It's that time of the month where we nominate what books we want to read as a group during September. Open this month we have the following categories:

READER PICK: this is for a mass-market Space Opera book which is widely available in both paperback and ebook at most places where you'd be inclined to walk in off the street and get it, including bookstores and the public library. Dead trees is where it's at for the Reader Pick, but they can't be Kindle Unlimited locked in ebook.

INDIE PICK: this is for the newer, edgier space opera stories published by indie authors who go it all alone. Indie authors who use a micropress to help them do the publishing, but do all the editing and marketing themselves, are still considered indie.

YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK: We desperately need great sci-fi / space opera(ish) themed books to indoctrinate the young people in our lives to look to the stars. To qualify for a YA pick, it must have a space component to it (i.e., no earth-bound dystopia), must be labeled 'YA' on the online distributors and star a young protagonist who is age 17 and under throughout the story, and must have been published AFTER 1999 (i.e., NEW stuff that will appeal to kids TODAY).

And last but not least, our SERIES PICK continues with Book 3 of the galactic football league, The All-Pro by Scott Sigler. Put that baby on hold at your local library or order the ebook online.



So drop your nominations into the thread below! And periodically I'll come back to post the pretty book cover bling as I transpose the nominations into my spreadsheet. On September 1st I'll use Random.org to pick a winner in each category and send out an announcement to the group.

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

NOTE: Authors who are active members of the community are allowed to nominate their own books because we use Random.org to pick the winner. It's okay if you nominate your book more than a single month in a row, you just can't be featured twice.

Indie pick - The Exile Empire

Okay Anna here's my INDIE vote for Nexus for you ;)

It seems like I had a good idea for reader pick but it's late and the memory has escaped me. I'll get back to you!

For Reader Pick: The Duke of Uranium, by John Barnes. Hard SF Space Opera, and a rollicking good time!

Reader Pick - as always, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

Indie Pick:
Minder Rising, by Carol Van Natta, a standalone sequel to Overload Flux, which was the Indie Pick earler this year.

Minder Rising

by Carol Van Natta

Dark Intelligence
Android Hunters

Reader pick Dark Horse

Indie Pick Embrace

I'll hold off on Reader Pick for the moment as I have to look back and see what's been done already.

Indie Pick: Spots the Space Marine, by MCA Hogarth

YA-Friendly: Dove Arising, by Karen Bao

Young: Chimera (Universe Eventual, #1)
Indie: Android Hunters
Reader: Dark Intelligence
Series: NA

Readers pick :- think I'll re-nominate STARSHIP TROOPERS - Robert Heinlein

Indi Pick :- likewise with ANDROID HUNTERS - Jonathon Bergeron

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Indie Pick: by Patty Jansen

YA Pick: by R.J. Anderson

Reader Pick: by Marianne de Pierres

The reason I stopped engaging in the nominations is because there are few to no conversations about the books afterward. I get better book suggestions on amazon due to my buying history.

Some books get more posts than others. On Basilisk Station has 80 posts which is great.

My reader pick is House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds.

Hi all.

Haven't put in a nomination for a while, but felt compelled to throw in an Indie Pick this month with Starhold by J. Alan Field.



I'm gonna start this myself anyway. Sounds like it could be fun.

Packi wrote: "Some books get more posts than others. On Basilisk Station has 80 posts which is great.

My reader pick is House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds."

I love that book.

Reader Pick:

Indie Pick:

Youth Pick - Undercity by Catherine Asaro. Yes, I know...it is almost G rated! Still is the Scolian Empire, but G rated.

Reader Pick


Indie Pick

Jonathan wrote: "The reason I stopped engaging in the nominations is because there are few to no conversations about the books afterward. I get better book suggestions on amazon due to my buying history."

I don't engage in the nomination because I'm just getting back into reading sci-fi again. Also, I really don't engage in the indie world as much as some of you guys.

I get some really recommendations from you guys.

Reader Pick:

Indie Pick:

But dang I see some good ones listed, Carol Van Natta, Nick Webb, Alastair Reynolds, eek!

And I missed this last month or two for these, I see Warship has been read, and On Basilisk Station! Awesome!

well for YA you have Red rising series
Red Rising

as for others i will wait for a while before nominating...till then Happy Reading..lol

Indie Pick... Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell.

Hi guys!

I jotted these down, but haven't had time to do a cover-bling-thing. Will pop by later to do a pretty cover spread.

Okay guys ... sorry I've been slacking the last few weeks. My grandmother fell and broke her hip, and then she passed away :-( So ... time to get back in the land of the living...

@ William - we just read Ancillary Justice a few months ago, so it's not eligible to be re-nominated. Would you like to nominate another book.

@ Nikunj - we read Red Rising last year, so it's not eligible to be re-read. Would you like to nominate another book? And don't forget we have other categories you can nominate in.

@ Jonathan H - yeah, I know ... the lack of engagement can often be frustrating. But that's really up to you guys, you know? People tend to get curious and stop in a thread if they see lots of little red 'X New Posts' in a thread and then they stop in and see a thoughtful observation by other readers. I am, personally, very cautious about interjecting my own personal opinions because as a MOD I wield an inordinate amount of power and I don't want to foster a community where reviews all get based on a self-important moderator's nasty snark like a swarm of replicators, but that shouldn't stop other people from commenting?

Okay ... the cover bling:


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:




YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK




So pretty :-) Okay guys ... keep 'em coming! I'll probably send out one last reminder to peeps to come on in and nominate.

Ancillary Mercy (book #3) is due out in October, so I can nominate Ancillary Sword (book #2) from last October, if that’s okay.

If not, then I would nominate James S. A. Corey's Nemesis Games

I see some really good possibilities here. Some I have read and some are on my TBR list. Looking forward to September's read.

@ William - we read both of Anne Leckie's currently released books not too long ago as it was our SERIES PICK, but I have added your nomination for James S.A. Corey's Nemesis Games as we haven't gotten around to that one yet. :-)

Okay ... the UPDATED cover bling:


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:




YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK




Keep 'em coming!

I'll second Seveneves for Reader Pick! I've had my eye on that one lately

I'll nominate myself again!!! Timberwolf by me.

Here is a pretty spot-on review that'll give you a good sense of what it's about.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reader: Dark intelligence by Neal Asher

Indie: Constitution by Nick Webb

well if Tom's gonna do it I may as well too. I nominate for the indie pick

And I'll put Star Cruise: Marooned in one more time for the Indie Pick!

Any thing Ruby Lionsdrake. It just seems like nominating my own indie pub would be bad somehow, so I go with Ruby. lol. However, feel free to take a look at my series.

Mandrake company series or Stars across time are both awesome.

For READER PICK I nominate by Iain M Banks and for
YOUNG ADULT (I believe this fits in this category, if not please ignore).

READER PICK:

INDIE PICK:

Only a few more hours left to nominate, and then it will be time for the Random.org randomizer to do it's magic :-)

@ Jolie - I took your first recommendation, but don't be shy about nominating your own book. This is the one chance a month you get to raise your hand and say 'I wrote a book' so go ahead next month if you want.

@ AndrewP - While a teen space opera manga-novel or manga-tie-in-novel would definitely qualify for nomination as a Young Adult Friendly Pick, All You Need Is Kill (also known as The Edge of Tomorrow), the main protagonist Keiji Kiriya (also known as Tom Cruise) is an adult, and the book is advertised as adult military science fiction. You could nominate it as a Reader Pick at some point? I could swap it out for House of Suns if you want? My kid is a massive Attack on Titans manga fan which is somewhat similar to All You Need is Kill, but the latter stars teen protagonists.


READER PICK:




INDIE PICK:




YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK




Only a few more hours... [*drum roll*]

Is the Catherine Asaro book -- Undercity -- really young adult?

Betsy wrote: "Is the Catherine Asaro book -Undercity- really young adult?"

Just checked and ... no :-( It's clearly an adult novel with an adult protagonist advertised for an adult audience. Good call Betsy, thanks!

Just a note for the purpose of the Young Adult Friendly pick ... it's not merely a book that's 'clean' enough for a teenager to read, but a book written ABOUT teens, FOR teens. Science fiction as a literary genre has been dying. Video games, blockbuster movies, comics, manga ... yes ... those have been thriving ... but as a WRITTEN genre sci-fi has been dying because kids who read have so many other genres writing books ABOUT and FOR them (i.e., the first-person POV angsty sparkly vampires who obsess about the mysterious high school hunk). So the YA Friendly Pick is to help highlight sci-fi books that modern teenagers in 2015 will read. It has to pass the Borg Queen's 13-year-old Borg Princess eye-roll test. :-)

@ Karen - since you didn't nominate a Reader Pick, I have moved your nomination for Undercity over into our Reader Pick category? It sounds like a wonderful book. It's just not about/for a 12-to-17 year old teen.

****

Okay ... nominations are now closed. I'll start doing the magical randomizer thing and then post them all. Will take me a few hours.

Be epic!
Anna