SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I am making this topic to keep track of reading lists and nominations for the three major awards for 2019 (for books published in 2018).

First up are the most relevant of the Locus Recommended Reading lists.

Science Fiction Novels

Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers
Emergence, C.J. Cherryh
Chercher La Femme, L. Timmel Duchamp
Europe at Dawn, Dave Hutchinson
Shelter, Dave Hutchinson
Pride and Prometheus, John Kessel
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal
If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller
Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell
The Overstory, Richard Powers
The Dreaming Stars, Tim Pratt
An American Story, Christopher Priest
Elysium Fire, Alastair Reynolds
By the Pricking of Her Thumb, Adam Roberts
Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson
Theory of Bastards, Audrey Schulman
The Sky Is Yours, Chandler Klang Smith
Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar
Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente
Irontown Blues, John Varley
The Wild Dead, Carrie Vaughn
The Accidental War, Walter Jon Williams
Condomnauts, Yoss

Fantasy Novels

Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch
Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett
The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson
Temper, Nicky Drayden
Murmur, Will Eaves
Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys
Ahab’s Return, Jeffrey Ford
Red Waters Rising, Laura Anne Gilman
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss
The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley
The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher
Latchkey, Nicole Kornher-Stace
Fire Dance, Ilana C. Myer
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
Melmoth, Sarah Perry
Summerland, Hannu Rajaniemi
The Phoenix Empress, K Arsenault Rivera
Salvation’s Fire, Justina Robson
Frankenstein in Baghdad, Ahmed Saadawi
Dreadful Company, Vivian Shaw
Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer

First Novels

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi
Semiosis, Sue Burke
Mirage, Somaiya Daud
The Breath of the Sun, Rachel Fellman
I Am the River, T.E. Grau
Armed in Her Fashion, Kate Heartfield
The Deep and Shining Dark, Juliet Kemp
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang
The Quantum Magician, Derek Künsken
Annex, Rich Larson
Severance, Ling Ma
The Robots of Gotham, Todd McAulty
A Blade So Black, L.L. McKinney
Mem, Bethany C. Morrow
Witchmark, C.L. Polk
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse
Confessions of the Fox, Jordy Rosenberg
Baby Teeth, Zoje Stage
Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri

Good idea, Chris!

The finalists for the Nebula Award were announced recently:

Nebula Best Novel Nominees

🏆 The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
Witchmark, C.L. Polk
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse

What a great list! It seems like the authors all think they know who is going to win, which I thought was interesting! I have guesses on who I think it is, do you?

Well I’ve read 3/6 that’s not bad. Witchmark is on my list and I’d like to prioritize it since it was Tor’s free download (plus I keep hearing good things).

I know of the 3 that I’ve read which one is my undisputed favorite. But I’m not sure what the other authors might think of them.

Spinning Silver seems like a good bet. Novik's Uprooted won earlier, fantasy has won the last three years, and Spinning Silver should satisfy most who liked Uprooted. It also appears to be the most widely read of the bunch.

I was going to guess The Calculating Stars.

Of the 3 I've read, I'd love for Calculating Stars to win. But I think I'm leaning towards assuming Spinning Silver will win. My second guess is Poppy War.

Missed out on that freebie :( but I did sign up for the ebook of the month club thing so that won’t happen again.

My guess was going to be The Calculating Stars too. I feel like reception for Spinning Silver was lukewarm. But I have read neither that or Uprooted.

I was also thinking The Poppy War would be a contender. Saw a lot of rave reviews for that one (not necessarily in this group).

I take back what I said about Spinning Silver. I don’t know why I was under that impression. Out of about 19 friends who have read it it seems to have a 4.09 rating. It does indeed look like the most likely contender for the win.

Sarah wrote: "Well I’ve read 3/6 that’s not bad. Witchmark is on my list and I’d like to prioritize it since it was Tor’s free download (plus I keep hearing good things).

I know of the 3 that I’ve read which on..."

I'd love to do a BR of Witchmark soon! But I don't feel like I can propose it in the proper thread because it feels like I'll be reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf FOREVER.

I've read 4/6 Nebula nominees, and my favorite was The Calculating Stars, I would also love to see that win.

I'd like to suggest folks hold onto that Witchmark idea for about a month...

I’m okay with that. I don’t think I’ll get to it at least for a month anyway.

But also- yes to a buddy read if it does not (view spoiler)[become a group read. Lol (hide spoiler)]

Sounds good!

Right now I started the only one book from the list I haven't read - Trail of Lightning. It is interesting but for now (15% in) not exceptional. I'd like Blackfish City to win as maybe the most 'literary' but I see that its chances are slim

Ooh, let's BR Witchmark in June!

Oleksandr wrote: "Right now I started the only one book from the list I haven't read - Trail of Lightning. It is interesting but for now (15% in) not exceptional. I'd like [book:Blackfish City|350687..."

I am also advocating for Blackfish City. But it seems to be more of a critics darling, not so popular with readers. The Calculating Stars is my second option.

Trail of Lightning was disappointment - sorely lack female agency, full with paranormal romance/YA tropes.

I plan to try The Poppy War. Not sure about Spinning Silver.

Silvana wrote: "I plan to try The Poppy War. Not sure about Spinning Silver. "

Poppy War is not an easy read, be warned. It is heavily based on Nanjing massacre. I liked several strong and unusual ideas, but I cannot say I enjoyed the text as a whole.

Spinning Silver is weaker than Uprooted (or at least I had too high expectations). The rare thing is there is no bashing of "evil capital", on a contrary, the positive image of a banker (a young Jewish girl in a fantasy Lithuania/Poland/Muscovy)

Also, it is interesting to note that 4/6 of novels are first novels by authors, namely, only The Calculating Stars and Spinning Silver are from established authors

Hugo award nominations for best novel:

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

Mixed feelings.

Best novels: 2 in/5 nominated.
Best novella: 1/2
Best novelette: 2/2 (Yeah!)
Short story: 1/5
Best series: 1/4
Best graphic story: 1/1
Best related work: 0/1
Best dramatic presentation long form: 0/1
Best dramatic presentation short form: 2/5
Best fancast: 2/5
Campbell: 0/1
Lodestar: 0/1

Oh well.

3.5 of 6 Hugo finalist novels read, and own all but 1. Rather pleased that I won't have to hustle to finish reading the books.

I have to say that I'm really happy with the fact that both Spinning Silver and The Calculating Stars are up - and this is from a selfish representational standpoint. There's not a lot of strong Jewish women as main characters in science fiction/fantasy.

Damn only one of my top 5 made it in. Guess I’ll enjoy reading the stragglers tho

Ahhhhh I just saw that Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer is on the dramatic presentation short form list! I am overall pretty pleased with the finalists this year, but that is the one that makes me the most excited.

The lists look interesting. I have a few of them here but I haven’t read them yet.




https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/2/182...

I am going to be in Dublin in July, does anyone have some sort of time warp device I could borrow to attend the Hugos? I promise not to step on any butterflies.

The Locus Award finalists have been announced.

https://locusmag.com/2019/05/2019-loc...

Science Fiction Novel

Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers
🏆 The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal
If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller
Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell
Elysium Fire, Alastair Reynolds
Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson
Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar
Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente

Fantasy Novel

Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch
Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett
The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson
Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys
Ahab’s Return, Jeffrey Ford
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss
The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley
The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher
🏆 Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer

First Novel

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi
Semiosis, Sue Burke
Armed in Her Fashion, Kate Heartfield
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang
The Quantum Magician, Derek Künsken
Annex, Rich Larson
Severance, Ling Ma
Witchmark, C.L. Polk
🏆 Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse
Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri

Oo, interesting list!

Chris wrote: "The Locus Award finalists have been announced."

Thanks for the info!

Predictable results based on the earlier long list.

Read five of the SF best novel nominees, I was surprised to see Unholy Land in there (it was good). Meanwhile, I only read two of the fantasy nominees. The rest are not that interesting to me, except for The Mere Wife and Ahab's Return.

Happy that this one got in: “The Starship and the Temple Cat“. It's a cute story. Bummed that “Meat and Salt and Sparks“ and “We Feed the Bears of Fire and Ice“ did not.

The Nebula Awards were announced.
https://nebulas.sfwa.org/the-2018-neb...

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal won Best Novel.

Chris wrote: "The Nebula Awards were announced.
https://nebulas.sfwa.org/the-2018-neb...

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal won Best Novel."

I’m mostly on board with the winners aside from Tomi Adeyemi. Calculating Stars is terrific, as is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse.

The Locus Awards were given: https://locusmag.com/2019/06/2019-loc...

Science Fiction Novel: The Calculating Stars

Fantasy Novel: Spinning Silver

First Novel: Trail of Lightning

Mary Robinette, rackin' 'em in!!

Allison wrote: "Mary Robinette, rackin' 'em in!!"

I think she's one of two extraordinarily strong contenders for the Hugo this year, and her overall connections in fandom might tip the balance in her favor.

That would be very interesting! I'll be curious to see how it plays out this year.

This is possibly the first time I've read a Nebula and Locus winning novel before it got the awards. And all thanks to this group!
Also yay for Spinning Silver!

And Artificial Condition by Martha Wells got Best Novella. Great to see Murderbot is still slaying them 😂

Psyched to see TRAIL OF LIGHTNING won Best First Novel.

I think that THE CALCULATING STARS is gonna win the Hugo for Best Novel.

MadProfessah, I also enjoyed Trail of Lightning and would suggest Storm of Locusts if you haven't gotten to it yet.

I agree that The Calculating Stars seems like a good fit for the Hugo, but could see it going to Spinning Silver too (or even Trail as a surprise as I found that read to be the most fun of the three).

Glad to see Gardner Dozois and Ursula Le Guin get posthumous nods.

I don't read horror and I only dabble in reading YA which I generally don't love (I DNF'ed Dread Nation but I think it was the YA'ness that was getting to me).

Artificial Condition was my favorite of the Murderbot stories, but they were all 5's for me. I just enjoyed the interplay of ART and Murderbot and am hoping that character returns in the upcoming novel.

Yeah I just noticed that The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition won for Art Book. That's nice :)

The 2019 Hugo Awards Ceremony starts in an hour, here's where you can follow along:


Video feed: https://vimeo.com/354200839
Text feed: http://www.thehugoawards.org/2019/08/...

The Hugo Award for Best Novel went to:

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

And Murderbot got best novella. Got a bit of déjà vous right now.

And the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers won best series.

so I'm a little disappointed, because while I thought Calculating Stars was a good, fun, important novel... it didn't move me the way Spinning Silver did. But, I knew it would be one ofthose two.

Glad to see Wells & Chambers recognized too - they're both a ton of fun.

Children of Blood and Bone got one too.

Some guy was having a rant on Tor’s fb post about the Hugo’s and how they’re politically correct nowadays and that they’re dead. And that the books nominated weren’t read by as many people as X, Y and Z. All white cis-males. I think he’s out of touch with what’s being read in the real world. And he probably couldn’t handle the amount of women getting awards. The female authors are writing some quality stuff at the moment. They deserved to be there.

A bit disappointed with both novella, novelette winners (there are better other nominees I think) but happy that Annalee and Charlie Jane won for their podcast, and Uncanny for semiprozine. Yoon Ha Lee should have won for best series. And Le Guin won her sixth category, which is a record.

What was most surprising was AO3 for best related work. Yay fanfiction? 😆

The whole “real world be the Hugos” shit is really stupid. Of course, the Hugo awards are a specific set of fandom, and they happen to inhabit the same real world that I do.

I don’t inhabit the “real world” of all testosterone-driven “adventure” novels that conservawads like Larry Correia and Theodore Beale publish....

but really *all of the above* are the real world. The real world is big and diverse and filled with all manner of tastes and opinions. The people who don’t want to acknowledge everyone else as real... well... they are the problem.

Yeah, I feel like that race was already run and it didn't end well for the various "Puppies."

I am a bit surprised it wasn't Spinning Silver, but I think Mary Robinette did a lot for the genre and for the award itself in the past year, so I also think it's quite deserved on that front!