Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Time for February nominations!

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, which you can find here:


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 Friday, November 19.
� The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Saturday, November 20 and will run through Thursday, November 25th.
� The final run-off polls go up Friday, November 26th, and will be open through Tuesday, November 30th.

Thanks!
Shel, for the Mods

Nominations so far
SF:
Change Agent by Daniel Suarez
Mistress of the Waves by George Phillies
Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence
Inversions by Iain M. Banks
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds (submitted by email)

Fantasy:
I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Low Town by Daniel Polansky
Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Sc-ifi- Change Agent by Daniel Suarez. a more dark sci-fi biopunk version of face/off where a drug dealer uses tech to make a Interpol agent look like him physically and genetically

Fantasy- I am not a serial Killer by Dan Wells. A teenager with serial killer tendencies uses his serial killer skills and knowledge to hunt down and kill a supernatural monster. He hopes killing the monster will stop him from wanting to kill innocent people. Similar to dexter.

SF: Mistress of the Waves by George Phillies A nearly grown girl in a far future meets off-world visitors

Fantasy: Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede A tale in an alternate Regency with magic

SF

Limited Wish

Sequel to One Word Kill which we read some time ago

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride—this book has been the runner-up several times but never quite gets enough votes to win. I will try yet again.
For SF, I nominate Inversions by Iain M. Banks, one of his intriguing Culture books. For those who may be unfamiliar, the Culture books take place in the far future; each book is a stand-alone in a shared universe, occasionally with a (very) few common characters.

I'll toss in some suggestions. I loved Day Zero, so for SF, how about Sea of Rust, which Day Zero is prequel to?

For fantasy, I'll propose The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu. I was blown away by his short stories in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, but have never read his novel-length work.

I’ll nominate INHIBITOR PHASE by Alastair Reynolds for SF.

And THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE by V.S. SCHWAB for fantasy.

Inhibitor Phase for sf and Low Town for fantasy.

MadProfessah wrote: "I’ll nominate INHIBITOR PHASE by Alastair Reynolds for SF.

And THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE by V.S. SCHWAB for fantasy."

I LOVED Addie LaRue. :)

Sci fi: Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. I love Martin's stuff, and this sounds like a really beautiful and interesting concept.

Fantasy: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. An epic fantasy, start of a trilogy, which dealves into the trove of African mythology and legends. Apparently pretty violent, but sounds brilliant none the less.

Andrew wrote: "Sci fi: Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. I love Martin's stuff, and this sounds like a really beautiful and interesting concept...."

Hi Andrew, Windhaven is primarily tagged as Fantasy by Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ members, and our policy is to go with the genre that has the higher number of tags (it's the simplest way to resolve the perennial "is it SF or fantasy?" debates). Which of your two suggestions would you like to put forth for fantasy, and do you want to make another SF nomination?

For Fantasy, I'll nominate Spoonbenders. It's a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Locus award, and Nebula Award, and was one of NPR's best books of 2015.

I'm not going to nominate for science fiction this time. Sea of Rust is already on the list, and on my TBR pile.

Lots of great choices this month! First round polls are up!

Preliminary SF poll
Preliminary fantasy poll

Sorry I'm a day late with these! My family did Thanksgiving a day late so yesterday was very busy for me :)

Final polls are up here:

Final SF poll
Final fantasy poll

Ooh, the Polls are neck & neck going into the final day of voting!