SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I'm interested, but I like the idea of having one annual BR series rather than two. Makes it more manageable with everything else going on in the group(s).

I’d be more interested in Utopian/Dystopian.

Cynda, please set up a thread in Members Chat to discuss!

a.g.e. montagner,
I was asking the moderators for one buddy read, suggesting a couple of topics, not at first intending to organize and moderate. I choose utopian/dystopian. Hoping to see you there.

I really think we should heed Allison at this point...

Just now seeing.

A general question about voting for group reads - if a title in the poll has an asterisk, what does it mean?

Michael O wrote: "A general question about voting for group reads - if a title in the poll has an asterisk, what does it mean?"

usually that you voted for it already

yep, I checked and the two I voted for in the current poll have asterisks by them

thank you :-)

And that's also true for previous polls, so you can check how many times you've voted for an underdog.
Sometimes underdogs actually win!

Space Unicorn Blues won the poll for the March fantasy read but We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is posted on the home page as the up coming read for March. That's what the poll says anyway.

Yes, this is due to the fact that the club now exists here and on TSG. There's a thread that shows the votes good both places that helped us come to the winning book. I'm afk, so I hope someone else will help me out with that link!

I was waiting for Ryan to post the maths. It's here and the math will be in post #2 soon.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

It's there now!!

Melanie wrote: "I was waiting for Ryan to post the maths. It's here and the mat will be in post #2 soon.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Well I didn't know that and I purchased the other book. Plus We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is not available in the US. It is available only in hardcover in the US shipped from the UK. Some people are not going to be able to participate because of limited availability.

you could ask to start a buddy read, Ellen!

We can always buddy read Space Unicorn Blues.

There is unfortunate growing pains as we make changes. Sorry if you are disappointed.

We are going to collectively need to get in the habit of waiting until the final tallies are posted.

Not me, yuck. I'm just sorry I won't be able to read the book this month . I was hoping to get all the power points for the combat challenge.
Ghosts looks like a really good book and just can't fit it in the budget right now.

Maybe some kind of notation on the Goodreads polls to remind people would help

Can you clarify that? Like put a reminder in the poll discussion?

Maybe. It won't be a problem with me now.
It's definitely not the first time the book I voted for didn't win. I just didn't know about the concurrent TSG poll.

Ellen wrote: "Plus We Are All Ghosts in the Forest is not available in the US. It is available only in hardcover in the US shipped from the UK. Some people are not going to be able to participate because of limited availability."

The time to have pointed that out, unfortunately is before the book entered the poll. I've had one of my nominated books removed from consideration for that reason and I've also pointed out one that was not available to everyone.

Maybe we need all moderators and the faithful who post here) to be a bit more diligent on checking nominations...

ETA: the rejected book I nominated was one of Charles de Lint's books

ETA2: as that poll was for moderator curated listings, all the moderators should check since a lot of them are not from the same country

CBRetriever wrote: ".The time to have pointed that out, unfortunately is before the book entered the poll. I've had one of my nominated books removed from consideration for that reason and I've also pointed out one that was not available to everyone.

Maybe we need all moderators and the faithful who post here) to be a bit more diligent on checking nominations...
"
I agree we should all be more diligent. I always check availability before I vote and that helps me decide but I didn't check before voting started.

Ellen wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: ".The time to have pointed that out, unfortunately is before the book entered the poll. I've had one of my nominated books removed from consideration for that reason and I've als..."

see ETA2 in the post above yours where I mentioned that all of the mods need to check on the availability.

CBRetriever wrote: "Ellen wrote: "CBRetriever wrote: ".The time to have pointed that out, unfortunately is before the book entered the poll. I've had one of my nominated books removed from consideration for that reaso..."

I did see that and I agree.

Allison wrote: "Yes, this is due to the fact that the club now exists here and on TSG. There's a thread that shows the votes good both places that helped us come to the winning book. I'm afk, so I hope someone els..."

I was wondering as well. An added element of surprise?

CBRetriever wrote: "Maybe we need all moderators and the faithful who post here) to be a bit more diligent on checking nominations..."

Hi! Do you mean, check availability in the US, or check availability worldwide, or in certain countries?

Mods do check if books are available on Amazon, however sometimes due to country restrictions, a book might show up as available (like it did here) but not *actually* be available, just the foreign imprint for import. Overall, considering how often this happens, I'd say we're pretty good at keeping that from happening, but we're also still, sadly, normal people who sometimes can't account for everything.

And this brings me to ask if it’s at all possible to move the voting for a given month’s group reads farther away from the start of discussion. I don’t know how often I’ve checked if a chosen group read is available at one of my 6 libraries (in 3 different countries) only to find out that the waiting list is (very often way) over 2 weeks. Finalizing even one month in advance would make procuring the book much easier for those of us who don’t live in the US, don’t want to use Amazon, or don’t want to buy the book at all and are dependent on libraries.

Is starting the process 2 weeks earlier than the current schedule possible?

(I am a member of other group that decide on group reads 3 month in advance)

Allison wrote: "Mods do check if books are available on Amazon, however sometimes due to country restrictions, a book might show up as available (like it did here) but not *actually* be available, just the foreign..."

that's why I was saying have all the mods check for the mod sponsored offerings - I believe there are some of you who are not from the US, right?

We often do, but as we are, as I've mentioned, people, sometimes things don't work out. And I have to say, this issue is vastly more commonly born by folks outside the US, so I would appreciate a bit of grace for this one time impact.

Re: moving the polls, we'll discuss! We're sort of working with a goodly amount of moving parts right now, but we'll see what we can realistically do

So... for mod polls I use chrome extensions that check availability at libraries in multiple regions. Checking the elibraries in Canada, the US, the UK, Everand, Hoopla, as well as Kindle availability in Germany, Finland, and elsewhere. Sometimes I pick a somewhat harder to get book for a poll but I think this is the first time that such a book has won.

I'll be sure to point out the availability of books in the mod curated polls, but I think we should continue to use books that are relatively easy to get outside of the US in the hopes of getting a broader range of perspectives on the shelf.

Allison wrote: "We often do, but as we are, as I've mentioned, people, sometimes things don't work out. And I have to say, this issue is vastly more commonly born by folks outside the US, so I would appreciate a b..."

Thanks, Allison! My request doesn’t have much to do with the issue of this particular book or poll, but is something I have been thinking about for a very long time. (The March book would be easy for me to get this time, since I live in the UK, so I have zero reason to complain. That’s not my main concern, though, and I know you mods give a lot of thought to everything, and take care as best you are able)

Ryan wrote: "I'll be sure to point out the availability of books in the mod curated polls, but I think we should continue to use books that are relatively easy to get outside of the US in the hopes of getting a broader range of perspectives on the shelf."

on the De Lint book, once someone told me it wasn't available on the site which I think was amazon.de, I immediately switched it out for another book.

maybe some of us from different countries could check on other Kindle stores for the mod polls as well? I still have an active amazon.fr subscription with totally French criteria (address, phone number and credit card) so I could check there.

I decided to quit pouting. After reading Lorraine Wilson's posts on Bluesky that We Are All Ghosts in the Forest has "minimal visibility outside the UK" I decided that our choosing it for botm could help with that. It might help make the book more available. Who knows!.
I posted on her Bluesky that the bookclub had chosen her book for our March read and she replied with this "

Lorraine Wilson
‪@rainewilson.bsky.social‬
It is!? That's amazing! Really hope everyone who wants to read can get hold of a copy in some form, and you enjoy the discussions. I don't know how the book club runs but if you wanted me to come do a Q&A, just shout! 🐈‍⬛"
I replied I would let the mods know.

VBC with the author ?
That's next level.

There's been at least one!

That definitely makes paying Amazon $26 for the book worth it.

Melanie wrote: "That definitely makes paying Amazon $26 for the book worth it."

I broke down and ordered it but the shipping is 3 weeks.

It is available on Everand.

DivaDiane wrote: "It is available on Everand."

It doesn't show on Everand for me, but Kindle on UK Amazon is 8 pounds, so I can just buy it there.

It might be because I am in the UK, or rather you are not? Sorry, glad you found it!

Just curious, what is the process for selecting which books are put on the monthly Mod Curated Poll?

It is a swirling burst of thought grounded in deep research into different subgenres, author demographics, and global availability balanced for how popular or buzzy the book is, and how high it's rated by those who've read it. We try to give a good mix of new and older, different demographics, variety of subgenre, and popular and more underground books, with the additional caveat that we strive only to include "new to shelf" authors in our picks.

Thanks Allison. I appreciate the work you all do

Hi there! I'm new, and I have a question about the Book Combat, but I didn't want to clog that thread when people are using it to post their completed reads, so I hope it's okay to ask here!

I'm wondering- for the archetypes each month, do you have to read both archetypes or just one or the other (but both prompts for whichever you pick)?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Set!
For the monthly archetypes you read as much as you can, from one to all four options. The important things is that they're only valid for a month, after which a new set is unlocked.

Thank you so much a.g.e! That makes sense :D so looking forward to joining in where I can! Although, I'm more active on Storygraph I must say😅 happy reading!

You can choose whether you want to report on Storygraph or here. But be consistent in your choice, or it'll drive our beloved mods to the madhouse!

Thank you a.g.e. montager!