SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hi All! So for 2017 I did a year long reading challenge with a variety of reading prompts and I really enjoyed it (though I will not finish before the end of the year). So I decided to do one this year again and was hoping I could get some suggestions from you?

A book that takes place on, in, or underwater
A techno-thriller or a book about nanomachines
A book about surviving a hardship
A book with a non-human perspective
A book about a problem facing society today
A book with a female author who uses a male pseudonym (lot's of the other challenge takers have defaulted to The Cuckoo's Calling, which doesn't look too bad, but I was hoping for options!)

Thank you in advance!

Water - 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Darkling Sea, The Scar

Techno-thriller - Nexus (group bookshelf), Arclight

Non-Human - Tooth and Claw, The Goblin Emperor (group bookshelf)

Mod-Sarah has put together a doozy of a list for next year. Maybe you'll find some inspiration there? She goes live with hers in 2-ish weeks, I think. Otherwise...

A missed classic
A genre-defining work
An overlooked gem
A book for each of LGBTQIA (character or author)
A bio-sci fi (as in, deals with biology with humans or Earth as we know them)
The next in a languishing series on your TBR
A book in a genre you've never tried/haven't tried in many years

ETA: oh, are you looking for books or prompts??

I bet she's looking for books. But you've got some good prompts there!

I'll look at my lists tomorrow.

Sarah Anne wrote: "Water - 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Darkling Sea, The Scar

Techno-thriller - Nexus (group bookshelf), Arclight

Non-Hu..."

These are great- thank you! I especially love the blurb for A Darkling Sea. I was original thinking Sphere, but I think this one sounds even better.

Allison wrote: "Mod-Sarah has put together a doozy of a list for next year. Maybe you'll find some inspiration there? She goes live with hers in 2-ish weeks, I think. Otherwise...

A missed classic
A genre-definin..."

I was looking for books- but I'm pretty excited by the sound of Sarah's challenge. Usually I attempt a couple and count the books for prompts across challenges. I don't always finish, and I usually add more to my TBR than I take away, but it's been really helpful in finding new authors and subjects and the like.

Cheryl wrote: "I bet she's looking for books. But you've got some good prompts there!

I'll look at my lists tomorrow."

MY B! I got excited about new 2018 things.

Books:
Water: The Seafarer's Kiss
Hardship: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Non-human: Second Goblin Emperor, Fledgling (cool take on vampires), I think All Systems Red, Digital Divide, and We Are Legion (We Are Bob) or Ancillary Justice should count?
Woman as Man: yeah, i think there's a lot that have taken the abbreviation approach, but maybe Hauntings and Other Fantastic Tales?

Sarah, you could use one of Koontz's Jane Hawk books for the nano one. It's a stretch as a techno-thriller but I think it works. And you've already read them. Bonus!

Allison wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "I bet she's looking for books. But you've got some good prompts there!

I'll look at my lists tomorrow."

MY B! I got excited about new 2018 things.

Books:
Water: [book:The Seafarer..."

Be still my heart! Vikings AND mermaids! I love the sound of this one too.

Hauntings and other fantastic tales also sounds interesting. I wonder what was considered "horror" in 1890?

Thank you!! Some of these are already on my list so i'll just need to figure out where I can squeeze them all in.

Sarah Anne wrote: "Sarah, you could use one of Koontz's Jane Hawk books for the nano one. It's a stretch as a techno-thriller but I think it works. And you've already read them. Bonus!"

Actually- I cheated and only read The Whispering Room, so yes The Silent Corner would be a great one!

Female author who uses a male pseudonym: James Tiptree Jr.

OK, so where are you at? Which do you still really need titles for?

I think I’m pretty well set for all the prompts except: a book about a problem facing society today.

I was hoping for a speculative fiction type read that takes that problem and says: what if?

But if anyone has any good non fiction recommendations I’m happy to hear those too!

~ Giulia ~ wrote: "Female author who uses a male pseudonym: James Tiptree Jr."

Thank you Giulia! She looks like she has some good ones in there. I Will definitely be checking her out. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get my hands on the Vernon Lee book because I guess it’s out of print :(.

Sarah wrote: "I think I’m pretty well set for all the prompts except: a book about a problem facing society today.

I was hoping for a speculative fiction type read that takes that problem and says: what if? ..."

All Our Wrong Todays looks like a decent fit. I have it on my pile of library books.

All Over Creation was fun and provocative.

Non-fiction that I recommend often is Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals.

Non-fiction that I hope is good and have out from the library is The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals—and Other Forgotten Skills

I got more if none of these work for you. :)

Cheryl wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I think I’m pretty well set for all the prompts except: a book about a problem facing society today.

I was hoping for a speculative fiction type read that takes that problem and says..."

I think this will do it! I’m actually really intrigued by the The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals—and Other Forgotten Skills.

And I had All Our Wrong Todays in my shelf and forgot about it. Thanks!!

I did/ am doing the Read Harder Challenge this year. I haven't gotten around to these yet:

-Set & written by a Central or South American author

-LGBTQ Romantic novel

-Published by a micro press

I do a A-Z author's last name challenge. I only have q to go. I started The Right Side by Spencer Quinn and lost it. I hadn't read much, but I was enjoying it.

I also need to read three more novels on the sf/ f shelf by the end of the month.

Any suggestions?

Julie- for Q all I have is To The Sky Kingdom by Tang Qi and The Alice Network by Katie Quinn. I need to comb through my books to try and find the others but I’ll come back and update when I can.

Lists of Q authors: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9... and more general Q list:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Combining LGBTQ, romance, and SF yields:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2..., which includes a book I'd like to read, A Solid Core of Alpha, also possibly:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
Also this YA list of 'major' books, and you know YA is likely to have romance!: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
and maybe: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I can personally recommend one title that will accomplish both of these goals for you: Commitment Hour by James Alan Gardner

SF South America: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
and some from this group thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... including Nalo Hopkinson.

I don't know exactly what a 'micro press' is. Perhaps something like Aqueduct Press, http://www.aqueductpress.com/which publishes feminist fiction, including the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award ("An award encouraging the exploration & expansion of gender") honored novella Distances: A Novella?

Thank you Sarah and Cheryl! You are life savers, okay, book and reading savers!!!

Well this was enlightening. I combed through all 600 books on my shelves and didn’t find a single author from Central or South America. Boo on me. Multiple from Spain, Italy, and France even some from Egypt and China. No Central or Latin America.

So I googled it and came up with this list that looks relatively promising:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/bookriot...

The ones I keep seeing recommended are: One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.

I did spot a Sci-Fi novel on the list that I will be adding: A Legend of the Future by Agustín de Rojas but this author is Cuban and I wasn’t sure if Cuba identified with Central or South America?

Well I could have sworn the islands were Central A., as I learned in school decades ago... but a quick search says CA is just the isthmus connecting Mexico and SA... so maybe Nalo Hopkinson's Midnight Robber or others wouldn't work. Too bad, as they are SFF, so would be a twofer for you.