Beyond Reality discussion

It's time to select our November reads!

Each group member can make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination. If you would like to make a nomination, please post in this thread with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. The Beyond Reality Google spreadsheet of Previous Books of the Month. Goodreads has suddenly decided to disallow links to pages outside of the site, but you can find a link to the spreadsheet in last month's nomination post.

Or you can use our previous methods:

b. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month
and/or
c. these threads:
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2018 - Present
Master list of Previous Books of the Month (Apr-Dec 2017)
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2012 - 2017
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2006 - 2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding is NOT necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but please keep things civil.

Schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Thursday, August 19.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Friday, August 20 and will run through Wednesday, August 25th.
• The final run-off polls go up Thursday, August 26th, and will be open through Tuesday, August 31st.

Thanks!
Shel, for the Mods

Nominations so far
SF:
This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman
Will Save the Galaxy for Food by Yahtzee Croshaw
Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill
Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell
Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney
Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh

Fantasy:
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
Devil's Call by J. Danielle Dorn
Starless by Jacqueline Carey
The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson
Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip

For Fantasy, I'll nominate A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow. I loved her previous books, Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Once and Future Witches, so I'm enthused about this one.

For SciFi, I'll nominate This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman. I haven't read much by this author, and it seems like a gap that I should fill.

If no one else nominates, do my choices win by default?????? come on, folks, let's make it a contest!

Well, we certainly can't let that happen. :)

Science Fiction:
Will Save the Galaxy for Food by Yahtzee Croshaw

I've heard its enjoyable and who doesn't need a little humor in their life once in a while.


Fantasy:
Lets try for The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

Been on my radar forever and have been ignoring it forever.
From the description, its possible this book might straddle the line between fantasy and science fiction. According to Goodreads, it has been shelved significantly more times as Fantasy than it has Science Fiction so I'm leaving it here.

If the mods disagree, let me know and I can toss something else out for consideration.

For SciFi I'll nominate Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill again.

For Fantasy how about Devil's Call by J. Danielle Dorn. It's been showing up on a few "reader's also enjoyed" lists for me for a few years now.

I'll throw some titles in the mix -

For fantasy, Starless by Jacqueline Carey. I've loved all of her Terre D'Ange books and this standalone looks just as good.

For SF, Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell has been on my radar screen for a while.

For Fantasy, I nominate The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers.

For Science Fiction, I nominate Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman Fantasy

Mary wrote: "Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman Fantasy"

Neverwhere is one of our October Books of the Month.

For fantasy, I nominate
We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson.
I've heard so many good things about this series and its interesting characters and world!

For SF, I nominate the new release
Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney.
It's an Asian Hawaiian noir mystery set in a huge underwater city in the future. I've read the beginning already and it seemed extremely cool and well-written.

My nominations for the month:

For science fiction: Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh

For fantasy: Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip

Polls are open with lots of great choices!
Vote here:

Preliminary SF poll
Preliminary fantasy poll

Final polls are open:

Final SF poll

Final fantasy poll