SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Allie, welcome to the group and welcome to the genres. Those are certainly great places to start in both genres.

Steve Bulla or "Trollish" if you prefer. I'm a nerd approaching middle age and have been an avid reader since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I am married and live in Albuquerque, NM at present (something I hope to soon remedy).

I enjoy Fantasy, supernatural Horror, and Historical Fiction primarily. I am also a recovering comic book nerd (the Iron Man film is giving me serious relapses... and the new Batman looks to do the same...) and an avid computer gamer currently playing World of Warcraft, Mythos, and Medieval: Total War II.

When I was in highschool and the Navy, I played hours upon countless hours of Dungeons & Dragons.

I enjoy all kinds of music ranging from classic rock to reggae, Mozart to Metallica. I also like going to Broadway style theater (musical or not) whenever I have the chance (last show I caught was Spamalot).

I hope to *never* grow up... and I basically am a poster child for Peter Pan Syndrome.

I'm glad to be a part of this group... some very interesting topics!

Hola peoples!

My name is Brandon, and I entered this strange, strange world in May of 1974. Since then, I have done such things as went to school (I even graduated, much to my families shock and awe), held various jobs, and somehow glamoured my wife into thinking that I was a good pick for a husband.

Anyways, I'm a huge reader of anything and everything I can get my hands on. I'm currently listing books that I have read as I remember I read them, and adding new ones at a rate of 3-4 every week or so. Working my way through Greg Keyes and Glen Cook right now, but am always looking for new and interesting authors to read... hence, here I am!

I, too, am a D&D guy from back in the day, as well as a huge MMO guy now (funny how that works). I'm starting my first garden this year, and working on learning not to kill myself with a chainsaw. I say Coopon instead of kewpon...

Currently, I work as a librarian in a high school here in Michigan. I'm running two book clubs, a gaming club, and next year I will be running the poetry slam and Graphics Novel clubs, as well.

I have 4 kids (3 boys, 1 girl)... 2 dogs, 2 cats, but alas, no partridge or a pear tree... :(

I hate writing introductions. It's impossible for me to write one without sounding like a complete dork.

I live in Colorado, with husband, two cats: Buffy and Faith, and dog: Zoe. Yes, the pets have a theme.

I'm another person disproving the "people are reading less and less" news stories. I'll read pretty much anything handed to me, unless you are my mother-in-law, because quite frankly the books she hands me scare me. No, I don't want to read a book by Dr. Phil's wife.

I'm a hardback fanatic. I wrap my books in mylar dust jacket protectors and scan them into my database. Asking to borrow a book means a lecture on proper book maintenance. Read a book without removing it from it's dust jacket and putting into a protective book cover? Are you a barbarian? Don't even start on writing in books, dog-earring pages, or putting books face down. SHUDDER.

My fantasy right now would be finding mint condition hardbacks of Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince, The Star Scroll, or Sunrunner's Fire for less then $850 a volume. Sigh, the dumb decisions I made in junior high & high school buying paperbacks. Why can't a magic fairy say, here, I found these in my house, want them?

My second fantasy would be new enclosed bookcases. But that won't be happening any time soon.

My parents and grandparents have a similar reverence for books. That's why even though I was born in 1977, I read my dad and mom's hardback books from their childhoods in the 1950s. I read Mike Mars, Tom Swift, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden.

I also love computers, D&D (hold still while I tell you about my paladin, COME BACK HERE!), and well made television. (American Idol should burn forever, bring back Firefly you heathens!)

Lara Amber - you would have a heart attack seeing what I do to my books! Either that, or kill me, first thinking of ways to torture me like I torture books. Like split my spine so I lie flat.

But I assure you I treat library books with utmost care.

Lara, my younger self would have been right there with you in the reverence for books (though I couldn't really afford hardbacks in junior high!). I got into my one and only fight in 7th grade because someone ripped the cover of my copy of The Silmarillion. Being the bookish dork that I was, I was, of course, completely ineffectual, and my tormentor had the good grace not to hurt me but only to keep me from hurting him. He seemed rather bemused by the whole thing, really.

College broke me of that at least somewhat, because I had to mark books up. I tend to be fairly anal about the care of books that I'm not going to be teaching though.

Brandon, you say gaming club, I'm assuming RPGs? At my school, I started up the Games Club, but we're more focused on board games--European board games and all the most obscure American ones. The kids still try to slip in some Magic: The Gathering or Monopoly, but for the most part they've really embraced these strange games. Maybe if you feel a need to start yet another club... ;)

Hey John,

Actually, we do all sorts of stuff... Magic and Pokemon, strategy games like Chess, Risk, and I'm working on them to try Axis and Allies or Settlers of Catan... and we also have a weekly group who plays Halo 3 or Wii Sports, depeneding on their mood... so we get a diverse crowd of kids. We did have a group of kids playing Call of Cthulu for a while, which was awesome... but not many D&D players at the current time... I'll have to start drumming up some support... :D

I am also one of those people who takes the utmost care of my books, so I don't think it's crazy to protect them. If I could get my wife to agree, I'd put mylar on everything we own... but alas, the budget's just not there... :D

Hi my name's Mike Philbin, I'm a writer and 3D artist living in the UK, Oxford. I've always read sci-fi (rarely fantasy) but I gravitate towards to odder sci-fi (Jeff Noon, Octavia Butler and Vonnegut) rather than the hard core sci-fi (Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein et al).

I have a short sci-fi novel out this July from Silverthought Press in New York called "Planet of the Owls". I see that July is Dick Month here, I'm the moderator of a very active Philip K Dick discussion group if anyone's interested.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

Nice to meet you all.

Hi, just add me to the geezer's club here. I've veered away from reading a lot of adult sci-fi/fantasy in the last decade or so (been busy raising kids and all) but now that I have more time to read, I'm trying to find out about the books &/or authors I may have missed out on during that time.

Hi! I'm Sarah, I'm 20 years old and I just finished my third year of undergrad. Someday I want to teach a class on science fiction/speculative lit in a college somewhere. My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut and my favorite fantasy author is either Philip Pullman or George R. R. Martin. I love making friends so if anyone here wants to add me, go ahead!

I'm a native Californian, born in Newport Beach 42 years ago. Thirty-four years ago I was given a book of juvenile sci-fi short stories and I was hooked. Well that and Star Trek reruns.

My dad gave me a copy of The Stars Like Dust by Isaac Asimov. I'm pretty sure I found Heinlein on my own. I used to go down to the local library, turn left into the 'young readers' section and look for the books with the planet and rocket ship stickers on the spine which indicated a sci-fi book. Heinlein DOMINATED that shelf boy. Him and John Christopher's Tripods trilogy warped me for life, with Ray Bradbury enabling.

Since those days, I've never looked back. I read science fiction for two simple reasons. The genre produces great page turning stories and big ideas which blow my mind. I'm preaching to the choir here, but no other genre is going to give anything less than the Ringworld, the Pak, the Shrike, and, well, Lazarus Long, not to mention the Opiuchi Hotline.

I read other stuff too. Fantasy and crime thrillers, historical fiction. Absolutely love Patrick O'Brien's novels. Michael Connelly, John D. MacDonald, Dick Francis, and Andrew Vachss are must reads anytime. Tolkein, of course and George R.R. Martin are necessary addictions. But science fiction is where its at, baby! My home office is overflowing with books and at least 2/3rds is sci-fi.

I moved to Portland, Oregon, four years ago. Truly, one motivating factor was and is Powell's Books. Their sci-fi and fantasy section is absolutely a dream come true for the sci-fi fan.

Roger - I couldn't agree more! :)

I too was given a copy of Asimov's "The Stars Like Dust" at a young age. My dad had quite a few of his novels, and once finished with one, I had to come back and discuss it, and I would get another one. From there Tolkien and Heinlein and the other greats.


I see others with lists, so I will put a few down myself that come to mind quickly:

I, Robot - Asimov
Foundation Series - Asimov (and many others)
Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Empire from the Ashes - David Weber (and others)
Pern Novels - Anne McCaffrey
Many novels by Andre Norton (Particularily the Witch World books)

Those of course are just to name a new... (Asimov and Jordan I have had to replace a time or two) I see many others on this thread that have brought a fond smile to my face.

I have lived all over the country – the southeast, southwest, northwest, both coasts. I was born in Idaho, but I will also claim New Mexico and Arkansas. They’re all beautiful states, and sparsely populated, which I like. I have been an avid reader since my grandmother gave me a copy of Misty of Chicoteague at the age of six or seven. I know, not the most sci-fi of books, but that’s what got me started.

I read a lot of Azimov when I was a kid, then kind of drifted away from sci-fi into fantasy. I have read Anne McCaffrey, Katherine Kerr, Terry Brooks, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, etc. Currently I read a lot of fantasy and historical fiction. Concerning historical fiction, I’m a big fan of James Clavell and Bernard Cornwell, particularly his Saxon Chronicles series.

I enjoyed reading Ender's Game and look forward to dipping into sci-fi a little more.

Hello--another newbie here. My name is Craig Larson, I'm 42 years old, and I'm an academic librarian in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. While I do read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, I think my main reading interests lie in the area of mystery/crime/
thriller. When I read science fiction, I tend to gravitate toward the "classics" (i.e., Hugo and Nebula winners, writers like Aldiss, Brunner, Clarke, Silverberg, etc.) or whatever sounds good from the review sites or cover blurbs (I read Plague Year by Jeff Carlson recently--good mix of sci-fi and horor).

Hello--Michael Bialys born in Toronto Canada, but moved to Los angeles at Age 26! I am a lawyer and author of link to book: The chronicels of the Virago: Book 1 the Novus. I love Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I am a huge comic book fan--mostly Marvel. Currently reading Wicked!

Hi everyone!

I'm part of the geezer club too. In my much younger years, I belonged to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy BOMC and ended up with some great books. I was heavily into Piers Anthony's Fantasy series (Xanth and Adept), love McCaffrey's Dragon series, Trek, LOTR, and Saberhagen's Swords series. I dabbled a little bit in Lawhead's Thomas Covenant series, but couldn't stick with it. Now, I mostly tote my books with me as my hubby's military career takes us from place to place. This is the first time me and some of my books have been on different continents, though, and I'm anxious to reunite with them after 4 years.

I've expanded my interests into historical fiction and some thrillers (but no gore, please). After some bad experiences with some of Piers Anthony's sci-fi, I tend to stay more on the Fantasy side of the shelf, but I really haven't read any fantasy in a long time. I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

Welcome, Rusty, Craig, Michael and Terrie!

Michael: Since you live in Los Angeles and are an author, you might be interested in an excellent writer's group located here in our fair city. It's called the Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society or GLAWS,and it is a terrific way to get to know other local authors. We had a booth this year at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, and all of us in the society who are published got to sell our books there. Check out the website at www.glaws.org. I think you'll agree that we are a great organization.

Hi All,

I just joined the group and have only been on Goodreads for a short time. I wandered over when Librarything was down for the night.

I love SF/F and have been reading it since my teens. I am looking at the big five oh next year. Is that geezerish, or am I still in the anteroom ?

I am an Army brat and have lived all over the world, but only lived in New England in the US.

I love the New England Patriots, scuba diving, travel, cats, and reading. My first love was historical fiction, and I also like mysteries, thrillers, some horror, and regular fiction.

I belong to four local book groups (1 sf/f, 2 fiction, 1 mystery) and go to local SF/f literary conventions (Readercon, Arisia, Boskone). I try to go to World SF, and World Fantasy when they are held in driving distance of NH.

I have an Access data base that I keep all my books on. I started it in 2001. I moved and it was a good time to catalog my books as I moved them in. I also changed jobs and didn't need to use Access anymore, but didn't want to lose my skills. I have my books and both my parents (deceased). I grew up with a library in the house, but they never cataloged theirs.

Hi :)

I'm am also new on Goodreads and in this group. I am from Slovenia, Europe. I'm 29 years old and I work in Slovenian Cinematheque as editor of a magazine Kinotečnik. I just love everything that has to do with sci-fi and fantasy - movies, books, cartoons, anime, boardgames, comics and manga.

First fantasy book that made me in love with fantasy was probably The Neverending Story from author Michael Ende, then came the Last unicorn, Tolkien stuff, and I was hooked.

My second passion is Poe and third is Emile Zola.

The only problem now is time and sometimes how to get a new book, but our local bookstore is getting new books every day, so that we fantasy junkies can get a fix :)

Hey all,

I'm not particularly new to goodreads, but I am new to the group. I'm 27 years old and I'm a high school math teacher in Washington. I've been reading Fantasy and Sci Fi since middle school. Most of my choices are directed by my brother who discovers some pretty great authors. I like Piers Anthony, R.A. Salvatore, Robin Hobb, Terry Goodkind, but I'm really into George R.R. Martin right now. I am also currently delving into Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman whom I've just discovered.

I'm really looking forward to discovering some great books and authors and to have some good discussion with fellow sci fi and fantasy devotees.

Welcome, Taiyo, FicusFan, and Jenny!

Taiyo, one day I'd love to visit Slovenia. I travel a lot, but have yet to really do central/eastern Europe. Is most of the speculative fiction you read written in English? Are there any good Slovenian sci-fi/fantasy writers?

Jenny, have you read the Sandman books yet? That's how I got introduced to Neil Gaiman's work.

Hi,

I've just joined goodreads as well as this group. I'm still struggling to figure out how to everything.

I'm looking forward to reading Dick's book for July. I've been wanting to read this for quite some time and now I'm finding a good excuse to do it.

I love anything that's written well. Particularly Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Joanna Russ, Jay Lake. I've just discovered Theodore Sturgeon and can't wait to delve into his short stories as well as his longer stuff.

Wow! This group is growing like crazy! Welcome, everyone.

Leslie, thank you for the welcome. And you are welcome in Slovenia as well ;) We are small, but beautiful in our smallness ;)

Yes, almost 99 % of book that I read are in english, most are imported from America, some from England. Because of our small market, there is not a lot of speculative fiction, like as in foreign books and also there is merely a small bunch of Slovenian writers who had publish something, some are quite good and some are rather disappointing. Sadly no G.R.R. Martin or P.K. Dick in Slovenia. But you never know, I still have hope :)

Hi. New to GoodReads and the group, will probably lurk a lot. :) I'm pretty heavily into sci-fi, fantasy only a little (and usually only movies like LotR). I haven't read regularly in a long time, but I'm trying to get in the habit more. I realized last week that I could read more if I did in the last half-hour of the day when I'm too tired to work on a hobby or project but not quite ready for bed.

I've been thinking and blogging about a lot of transhumanism concepts lately, so I feel like I should get acquainted with the work that's out there. I'm currently reading Ventus by Karl Schroeder. Then I will probably move on to Accelerando and Rainbow's End.

On a personal note, I live in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC with my wife and one-year-old son. I work in the patent group of a law firm, I'm finishing a Masters degree in biology, and I'm starting law school in the fall. You can see I don't have a lot of free time, so I don't know how much I'll be able to participate in the book club readings. I am looking forward to other discussions about sci-fi, though.

Cheers,
Phil

I've been thinking a lot about transhumanism a lot myself. It's such a fantastic subject. Let us know what you think of Ventus. Maybe I'll pick up a copy. I finished Accelerando a while ago. Whew! I need to digest that one and tackle it again at some point. It moves fast and it's hard to keep up.

Welcome!

Hi, I am new to this group. To be honest I have not read much science fiction but have always wanted to. I am hoping joining this group will get me going. I just put a request in at my library for A Game of Thrones and hope to get it soon and start discussing this book with the rest of you.

David

Welcome David. A Game of Thrones is one of the many books that's been on my 'To Read' list for ages. This may be an opportune time for me to actually read it!

Hey David, I read Game of Thrones and i can't say that i loved it, but i thought it was worth the time it took to read. I hope you enjoy it. tell us what Yyou think

Hi, I joined the group a while ago, but this is my first post. I've just been checking things out, I guess. I figured I should probably say hi :P

I read like crazy, and science fiction and fantasy are my favorite genres. I actually just read Ender's Game (again), and I'm currently reading The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Heinlein, which I have also read before.

Anyways, just saying Hi. So..."Hi"

Hello I am new here and I am enjoying this site very much... I am not the strongest reader in the world and can not spell to save my life...

But with that said... I look forward to talking with you all and learning what books to read and which to stay away from... Since I have not read that much...

Hello everyone. I'm Jess from NY. Mom of 2 under 5. Reading is my primary source of entertainment these days.

My favorite genre is Urban Fantasy (esp Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison), but I'm always in the market for a great book regardless of genre.

I'm currently reading my way through Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries. They're pretty quick reads and lots of fun.

Hey people! I'm greg. I joined a while ago but forgot to introduce myself.
I love the scifi/fantasy genre. Though one of my problems is that I read slowly (I can read fast but I don't enjoy it as much), and some of these fantasy series end up being a good 7000 pages long! ANyway, I'm really going to depend on this group to lead me to the good books! Please feel free to drop me a recommendation. Look forward to chatting with you,

-greg

Hi, David, Jenelle, Michael, Jess, Greg.

Welcome. Greg, I enjoy reading slowly, too. I like to get my money's worth out of a good book! (Grin) At least, that's my story.

Jess, I've just enjoyed reading Lisa Shearin's Fantasy books Armed and Magical and its predecessor Magic Lost, Trouble Found.

Other shorter --in terms of booklength, I hasten to say, because Linnea is diminutive in physical stature-- Science Fiction Romance authors might include Linnea Sinclair, Jayne Castle, Susan Grant... all finalists in the SFR category of the PEARLs this year.

The brilliant CL Wilson is scooping up awards for her fantasy Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows. I haven't got around to it yet, but I'm told that it's LOTR with sex.

Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

Hi, Rowena. Thank you for the book suggestions!

Welcome Jenelle, Michael, Jess, and Greg!

I feel a little odd starting right off here, since I just joined the group about 10 minutes ago, but I've always been mostly a lurker in my other groups (and certainly never posted an introduction), so I thought I'd start myself off right in a group that really speaks to my heart.

My name is Summer (first name Cherokee; ever since I was 8 years old and decided that one day I would be a writer, I've been thinking about what pen name I will use). I just recently jumped over 2 major life hurdles: I graduated from college (B.A. in English, University of Georgia), and I got married.

I'm currently living in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, in the midst of a very crowded and still not unpacked apartment. At least half of the boxes that were moved from my old apartment were books.

I was raised into science fiction and fantasy. My dad was one of those who watched the original Star Trek growing up and waited in line to see the original Star Wars and its sequels (including with my infant brother). My brother is 2 years older than I and has been the biggest influence on my reading. Basically, if he read it, I read it, since I suffered from severe hero-worship as a child. I watched Star Wars more than Cinderella as a kid, and some of my earliest memories are of Star Trek: TNG (as it aired the year after I was born).

I couldn't begin to remember what the first sci-fi/fantasy book I read was, since they've been so steady in my reading diet as long as I can remember.

Some of my favorites are:

-Wizard's First Rule, by Terry Goodkind
-The Shannara Series, by Terry Brooks
-Knight of the Word series, also by Terry Brooks
-all Ray Bradbury (actually wrote a paper in college defending Bradbury as classic literature), especially The Martian Chronicles
-Neil Gaiman (including The Sandman GN)
-Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, O.S. Card
-Raising Abel

The list goes on. I haven't read a lot of what some might consider "old school" fantasy, though I have made forages into "old school" sci-fi.

I'm jealous of all you with huge to-read stacks. I'm dying for new reads, broke, and I owe the library a lot of overdue fines, which I may just have to suck up and pay so I can start reading again...

Looking forward to geeky postings!

Hi Donna! I see a few familiar faces here!

Hi Summer. I think I like your dad. I did the same thing to my daughter that he did to you. She and I would watch Star Trek: The Next Generation every week. When she was 8, she wanted to be Tasha Yar, so I made her a Star Fleet uniform. She wanted to go to Star Fleet Academy after high school. She grew up to major in Geophysics and Space Physics and teach high school Earth science and physics.

Thanks Sandi! These are secrets that I don't tell many people, but I own a cadet uniform (red), a comm badge, go to Dragon*Con every year, and up until recently have been an active play-by-email RPGer in the Star Trek universe for 10 years.

By the way, I didn't tell my now-husband these things until we'd been dating for nearly 2 years.

LOL!!! Welcome Summer! I, too am a veteran of the sci-fi/fantasy convention circuit. For awhile, I went to several cons a year, including all the local Star Trek cons in the L.A. area, and yes, I always dressed up, either as a blue uniformed science officer, or a Bajoran major.

I quit going so much due to the ever escalating cost of attendance. I also am a vet RPGer, D&D mostly(R.I.P Gary Gygax).

You are very lucky to have an understanding partner. My ex never quite got my interest in all things geek, which is one of the reasons he's my ex!!

Hey, Leslie,

My sister and her husband used to go to all of the RPG conventions there were. They were always in the top five in the country. I played for a while, but couldn't get the hang of it.

My name is Jason. I was born in 1985, in columbia, SC.
I was 8 years old when my teacher made some game to try to make us to read. I am very competitive so while my friends were reading books from our elementary library, I started reading some of the classics like Modby Dick, Black Beauty ect.. So as I got older I gradually moved to Sci-fi and Fantasy books.
About two years ago I became burnt out on reading and have recently picked it up again. If anyone has some suggestions for me i would greatly appreciat them!

I've been to a few conventions and I used to be into RPGs My favorite was GURPS. I still use the character sheets to help create my main charaqcters. I ran a fantasy game that lasted that lasted almost 3 years. later I may use that game as a basis for a fantasy book. Now my 2 business that I own take up a majorityof my time and I'm working on book 2 in my SF series. The first was a lot easier. Yes understanding parteners are great. Mine is slowly warming up to the idea of me being a writer
G W Pickle

Welcome, Jason. A suggestion for you: try any of Harry Turtledove's alternate history series. He's done a series about how the world would be if the Allies had lost WWII, and one in which the South successfully seceded from the USA. I especially enjoyed that series. I believe the first book is called 'The Guns of the South'.

Andi--it took me about a year of constant play before I became skilled enough to keep a character alive past the first few encounters.

Hello, my name is Henry and I live in Northern Ireland. I have only really started reading fantasy recently as I was getting bored with what I was reading. Before that had really only read generic fiction. I am 18 so I am still exploring reading and my tastes. Still at school doing my A-levels.

The fantasy authors that I have read recently are, no particluar order, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, George RR Martin, Robert Jordan, Steven Erikson, Patrick Rothfuss, Gene Wolfe, Robin Hobb, David Gemmell, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Terry Brooks, R.Scott Bakker, Garth Nix, Philip Pullman, Greg Keyes, Tad Williams, Terry Pratchett and Namoi Novik.

I don't really read Sci-fi but I would like to change that I will problem use the book discussions to change that.

Forgot to add: I hate Terry Goodkind with all my heart.

Welcome Henry.

Many of the authors on your list I enjoy as well; in fact, I dedicated my first published novel to Terry Brooks. It was because of the very kind words of encouragement he gave me that I went on to become a writer.

A lot of the group are reading and discussing George R.R. Martin's 'A Game of Thrones' this month. I'll be reading it for the first time myself.

I've been to the Republic of Ireland, but never to N.Ireland. I had such an amazing experience, I do plan on returning and I will get to the north. I really want to see The Giant's Steps in Antrim.

Comon' over to NI we nearly have as much to offer. As you say the Giant's Causeway (beware the rain!) but don't forget the Marble Arch Caves, Strangford Lough and The Mournes if you ever have the chance.

Terry Brooks was one of the first fantasies I read after the LOTR and I must admit that "The Word and the Void" Trilogy was a very good work which I probably should re-read.

Leslie said:
A suggestion for you: try any of Harry Turtledove's alternate history series. He's done a series about how the world would be if the Allies had lost WWII, and one in which the South successfully seceded from the USA. I especially enjoyed that series. I believe the first book is called 'The Guns of the South'.

If I'm not mistaken, The Guns of the South is a standalone novel where time travelers supply the Confederacy with AK-47s. How Few Remain is the Turtledove novel which kicks off the Timeline-191 series, in which the USA and the CSA fight three wars in the 80+ years following the "War of Secession".

Yes, Other John, you are right. 'How Few Remain'is in fact the kickoff of the USA vs CSA series, one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Hi Jessica and Welcome!
I visited Singapore back in 1995 and found it to be a very exciting, vibrant city. I hope to return someday.

Cicero, thanks for the tourist info for NI!