Space Opera Fans discussion

This thread is for nominations for READER category for September 2025.

READER books need to be
* currently in print in either hardback or paperback (or both). Requiring a special order from a store or website counts, but not if the book is only available used.
* currently available in multiple ebook formats, from multiple vendors
* Space Opera, which means a spaceship has to be involved in the story somewhere.
* If it is part of a series, it needs to be suitable to being read without having read other books in the series.
* Please no blatantly erotic books, as some of our members are not full adults yet.

RULES:
* you may nominate one book on this thread.
* you may second as many nominations as you like on this thread.
* it is okay to nominate the same book on more than one nomination thread, as long as it meets the criteria
* books we already have on our bookshelf will be disqualified if they were added less than two years ago
* If a book you nominate or second is selected, you are expected to post at least one comment about it on the thread about the book.
* On the 22nd I will draw a book randomly, with each second being one raffle ticket for the book. That is, a book with three seconds (so four of us want it) will get three chances in the pool.

It is likely helpful if you know something about a book that has been nominated if you mention it in this thread, whether it is for or against the book.

If you've never made a nomination in these threads before, why not do so now?

I'll set the ball rolling with a nomination for Future's Edge by Gareth L. Powell. Described on Amazon as -

"A gripping and heartfelt horror-tinged space adventure from the BSFA award-winning author of Stars and Bones and Embers of War. Readers of James S.A. Core and Becky Chambers will love this fast-paced story of space piracy, deadly alien artifacts and a race to save what is left of humanity.

When archaeologist Ursula Morrow accidentally infects herself with an alien parasite, she fears she may have jeopardised her career. However, her concerns become irrelevant when Earth is destroyed, billions die, and suddenly no one needs archaeologists anymore…

Two years later, she's plucked from a refugee camp on a backwater world and tasked with retrieving the artifact that infected her, as it just might hold the key to humanity's survival. With time running short, and the planet housing the weapon now situated in hostile territory, she realises she's going to have to commit an act of desperate piracy if she's going to achieve her objective before the enemy's final onslaught.

A thrilling, page-turning journey into deep space where the fights are brutal, the relationships are complicated and the world ended years ago."

This one is really easy to read and great fun so an easy nomination for September.

Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force, book 1 by Craig Alanson

This is the Amazon blurb

"Nominee, Audie Awards - Audiobook of the Year, 2018

We were fighting on the wrong side of a war we couldn't win. And that was the good news.

The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon come ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There go the good old days, when humans only got killed by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits.

When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved. The UN Expeditionary Force hitched a ride on Kristang ships to fight the Ruhar, wherever our new allies thought we could be useful. So, I went from fighting with the US Army in Nigeria, to fighting in space. It was lies, all of it. We shouldn't even be fighting the Ruhar, they aren't our enemy. Our allies are.

I'd better start at the beginning...."

Michael Mammay gave Columbus Day five stars. So I'll second it.

Current status is -

Future's Edge by Gareth L. Powell - nominated by John, no seconders yet.




Columbus Day by Craig Alanson - nominated by Paul and seconded by Betsy.



If neither of these appeal to you, just nominate an alternative. Or, if you've read either of them why not share your thoughts on their respective merits and help the rest of us to make up our minds?

I second Future's Edge

Thank you Joseph - its good when there's a contest!

According to AI (or A1 if you're Trump's Education Secretary), most of us choose books based on author familiarity and recommendations from trusted sources, while we often gravitate towards authors whose writing style, genre, or storytelling we enjoy, leading us to explore other works by the same author. But In some cases, the author's bio can also influence a reader's decision, especially if we are unfamiliar with the author. So I've included some bio info below on the two current nominations -

Gareth Lyn Powell is a British author of science fiction. His works include the Embers of War trilogy, the Continuance series, the Ack-Ack Macaque trilogy, Light Chaser (co-written with Peter F. Hamilton), and About Writing, a guide for aspiring authors. He has also co-written stories with authors Peter F. Hamilton and Aliette de Bodard.

He has twice won the BSFA Award for Best Novel, for Ack-Ack Macaque in 2013 and Embers of War in 2019. Ack-Ack Macaque also became a finalist of the 2016 Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work. He has also been shortlisted for the Locus Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Canopus Award.

Powell's short stories have appeared in a host of magazines and anthologies, including Interzone, Solaris Rising 3, and The Year's Best Science Fiction, and his story "Ride The Blue Horse" made the shortlist for the 2015 BSFA Award. Many of his shorter works have been brought together in the collections, The Last Reef (2008) and Entropic Angel (2017). His work has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Russian, Czech, Catalan, and Croatian.

Born and brought up in the West Country, Powell started writing sci-fi stories at an early age. He studied humanities and creative writing at the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales), where he cites Diana Wynne Jones and Helen Dunmore as early mentors. He has given guest lectures on creative writing at Bath Spa University, Aberystwyth University and Buckingham New University and has written a series of non-fiction articles on science fiction for The Irish Times.

His first four novels were favourably reviewed in The Guardian by Eric Brown. In 2021 it was announced that His Embers of War series would be adapted into a television series, directed by Breck Eisner.

Craig Alanson, is an American author and audio playwright of science fiction and fantasy works, most notably the New York Times best-selling Expeditionary Force series.

Alanson began writing in 2006, developing his novels at nights and on weekends while working full-time. He began self publishing novels on Amazon in 2016. One of his three debut novels was Columbus Day, the first book in the Expeditionary Force ( ExForce ) series. The commercial success of Columbus Day, and the follow-up SpecOps, allowed Alanson to become a full-time writer. Alanson signed with Podium Publishing to produce the audiobook versions of the novels (Podium had previously produced the audiobook of Andy Weir's The Martian). The Expeditionary Force books are performed by award-winning narrator R. C. Bray, who had also narrated The Martian. The audiobook for Columbus Day was nominated for an "Audiobook of the Year" Audie Award in 2018.

In 2017 Alanson wrote a standalone novella called Trouble in Paradise, expanding on the events that take place between books three and four in the ExForce series. The novella laid the foundations for a short spin-off series set within the same fictional universe, entitled Mavericks. In 2019, Alanson committed to write a total of fourteen novels for Expeditionary Force and three Mavericks novels, though the third Mavericks novel was later revised as an ExForce title making it fifteen books in total for ExForce and two for Mavericks. Alanson published the 16th book, Aftermath, in December 2023.

In 2019, the Homefront story within the Expeditionary Force series was released as an audio drama starring Star Trek alumni Kate Mulgrew, Zachary Quinto and Robert Picardo along with the audiobook narrator R.C. Bray. In 2019, the Expeditionary Force series was optioned by Milmar Pictures for a Television series.

Alanson has announced that after completing ExForce in 2022, his next series will be an urban fantasy called Convergence, with the first book in the series also called Convergence. In June 2022,

One week to go before nominations close. Will a winner emerge from these two, or will a late nomination come in and pip them both?

With three days until nominations close, the position is -

Columbus Day by Craig Alanson. Nominated by Paul and seconded by Betsy.

Future's Edge by Gareth L. Powell. Nominated by John and seconded by Joseph.

Tomorrow is the final day for nominations and at the moment it's still a tie between Columbus Day and Future's Edge.

If you have a preference, why not second it and increase it's chances of being chosen?

Nominations close tonight at 10 pm GMT, 5 pm EDT. At the moment it looks likely to be decided by the simple toss of a coin.

No further updates were received, the coin was tossed, and our READER book and author for the month of September will be Columbus Day by Craig Alanson.

My thanks to Paul and Betsy, and I'm looking forward to reading this one in September.

This thread will now be closed to further comment.