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Let's get the nominees started for March's Sci-Fi Theme: Near Future. We will take the first ten nominations that are seconded. As soon as we hit that point, I'll compile the list and we'll start voting. Nominations should appear as follows: Dawn of Destiny Epic 1, by Lee Stephen. There will only be one book/author, so if an author is already on the official list of nominees, which I will compile in this comment as we go along, any future nominations and seconds will be ignored.

And, for the record, I nominate Dawn of Destiny Epic 1, by Lee Stephen.

Official List of Nominees:
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi
Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson
Eon, by Greg Bear
Oryx and Crake, by Margart Atwood
China Mountain Zhang, by Maureen F. McHugh
Hammered, by Elizabeth Bear
1984, by George Orwell
Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Dawn of Destiny Epic 1, by Lee Stephen

Eon, by Greg Bear

Thanks for kicking us off, Dirk.

1984, by George Orwell

I nominate The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's generated a lot of buzz lately ...

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.

I second Little Brother, Sarah Pi

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.

I'm thinking that 1984 might be a bit of an artifact, Apoorv, when it comes to this category, and that the fact that it talks about a speculative future date that has come and gone is more of a Near Past Sci-Fi than a near future, though Orwell's intention was certainly a Near Future work when he wrote it.

I second Wind Up Girl - its gotten several 5 stars in my friends list.

Have we done Spin by Robert Charles Wilson? It's terrific.

Shellie wrote: "I second Wind Up Girl - its gotten several 5 stars in my friends list." Seconded. Thanks, Shellie.

We have not read Spin yet, Cathy. I'll assume that's a nomination.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

I'd like to nominate China Mountain Zhang, by Maureen F. McHugh. Despite winning a shelf full of awards (James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and a Hugo), it's woefully underappreciated. I've read many wonderful things about it, and the few chapters I sampled were very good. It's not conventional, and the author excels at both scientific and social speculation.

If I may, I'd also like to second Spin, as I've been dying to read it.

I second Spin ... I've had it on my shelf for months and need some motivation to move it up to the currently-reading shelf. :)

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Actually, I think 1984 is especially appropriate. Did everyone here about that Philadelphia school that had remote access webcams in the students computers so that they could spy on them in their homes? Sometimes looking back is a good way to look forward.

You make a good point about the Philadelphia school connection, Daniella (a particularly creepy Big Brother moment), and the connection is certainly timely, but I try to keep our themes as close to the implied parameters as I can. I think there must be some "Near Future Sci-Fi" -- or Nearer to Our Future Sci-Fi -- that deals with similar issues that we can use instead.

What about Little Brother *and* 1984? As compare and contrast?

Second Eon. Good book.

I'd like to second Oryx and Crake. Margaret Atwood takes on genetic engineering and imagines a "bioengineered apocalypse".

Julia wrote: "What about Little Brother *and* 1984? As compare and contrast?" That is a killer idea for a theme. We've never done that, but I think it could work really well. I promise to make that a potential theme for next time, Julia, then we can choose ten pairings to vote on.

Your seconds are recorded, Tim and David.

Cathy (greytfriend) wrote: "Have we done Spin by Robert Charles Wilson? It's terrific."

I second Spin, a great book.

Spin's already in, Dima. Are there any others you'd like to second?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Or, if that's still too far off into a future ...

Halting State by Charles Stross

We've already read PKD's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep so not sure we can/should re-read it.

So far it has been the group's policy to avoid books we've already read, but I think that's another excellent idea for a future book theme, Geoffrey.

I like several of the books that have already been suggested, so I'll be happy with whatever gets chosen, but as long as I'm thinking of the theme, I nominate:

Hammered by Elizabeth Bear

Spin is fantastic but I have already read it.

I want to read Eon because I have good things about it but never read it.

I'll second China Mountain Zhang because anything that wins a Hugo AND a Lambda iterary award I want to read!

Jayme wrote: "Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood."

Read it---was completely digusted. Thought it was horrendously bad. Simply atrocious. I can not fathom why she would write a second, related book.

And I'm a huge Atwood fan---Loved The Blind Assassin!

Recorded, Mad and Dana

seconding Hammered.

I would have chosen Darwin's Radio instead of Eon, but since the policy is only one book per author, I'll stick to Eon.

The Windup Girl! I've read it already, but anything to get more buzz surrounding this book is good. :) It was a fantastic read.

May I second a second book? If yes, Life As We Knew It looks good.Life As We Knew It

Brad wrote: "I'm thinking that 1984 might be a bit of an artifact, Apoorv, when it comes to this category, and that the fact that it talks about a speculative future date that has come and gone is m..."

I would point out that it is said within the book that they don't know if it really is even the year 1984 because of the totality of control the government has over information.

I second 1984.

How about Vurt by Jeff Noon if you like funky streetwise hip English Cyberpunk.

Or if that's too whacked out for you maybe the classic Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, which is great near future dystopia.

Greyweather wrote: "I would point out that it is said within the book that they don't know if it really is even the year 1984 because of the totality of control the government has over information...."

I forgot about that, Greyweather, so consider it seconded.

"The shadow of the torturer" from the Book of the New Sun ( Gene Wolfe )

There's only room for one more book on our list. There are a couple that still need to be seconded, so the first that's seconded is in.

We need a second for:

Dawn of Destiny Epic 1, by Lee Stephen, or Vurt, by Jeff Noon

But Make Room Make Room by Harry Harrison is set in 1999, so that one's out for the same reason as 1984 was out before Greyweather got all tricky with technicalities. Great book though.

I'll second Dawn of Destiny.

I'd like to nominate City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams. It looks awesome.

That does it then, Peregrine. Thanks for the final second. We'll keep this thread open for a little while, but I am going to set up the poll right away. Any of your debate about which book we should vote for should go in the comments under the poll. Thanks for all your work today, everyone.

That may be one of the fastest nomination threads we've ever had. Sorry to anyone who missed out on the thread today.

And a special sorry to Chris and Patricio.

I think its a little unfair that we close the board that fast. You have to guess when it will open Brad and have to be there to nominate -- seems a little rushed

The necessity that led to this was that we were getting far too many nominees for theme polls, Jeffrey. I decided to limit the nominees to ten a long time ago, which has worked out very well most of the time. The process, as I mentioned, has never been quite this fast before, though. I broadcast a message about the discussion to all members, so everyone was made aware at the same time that this thread was open. Obviously some people will get the message sooner than others if they happen to be around a computer most of the time, but there's not much that we can do about that.

There are often a number of nominees that don't fit the theme and much more discussion is required to find appropriate candidates, but the discussion moved much more quickly this month because those usual issues were not present. Plus, it usually takes much longer for the ten nominees to be seconded. This time they were seconded very quickly. Still, there is still plenty of time to weigh in with opinions about the books. The comments are open on the poll itself and discussions about the nominees are an excellent way to get involved in the process. And, in my opinion, the list of nominated books for next month's theme is packed with quality. There will always be some books that are missed, but most of them will get another chance.

There are a lot of great books on the list. I have been looking forward to reading Eon, China Mountain Zhang, and Spin for a while now. The tough part deciding what one to choose.

Bookbrow wrote: "There are a lot of great books on the list. I have been looking forward to reading Eon, China Mountain Zhang, and Spin for a while now. The tough part deciding what one to choose."

Agreed 100%! Now that I see the excellent list, I don't care about missing the lightning-round nominations.

And, Brad, I am grateful that you limit the number of books in the polls. :)

I love the whole nomination and voting process because I always get to add a bunch of great books to my to-read list, regardless of what book wins. It's win-win, literally. And perfect timing, I've been eager to read a few good sci-fi books to balance out all of the fantasy I've been immersed in.

I did nominated and vote for Spin though. I've been wanting to discuss it with friends ever since I listened to it a few years ago. It was one of audible's highest ranked books at the time and I thought it lived up to the hype. It's not a flashy book, but it's full of suspense and genuine human drama and emotion. What ever you do, don't skip ahead! That was one of the reasons it was good I listened to it, I'm terrible at resisting peeking at the end, but this one is worth waiting for.

Hammered!

I love that you broadcast the nominations this month! I always miss them because I don't peek through the threads all that often.