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2020 SF/F BINGO Challenge
This is a work in progress! B1: SF/F Shared World
Welcome to Bordertown
� B2: Tech/Magic Run Amok
The Sorcerer's Apprentice: A Classic Mickey Mouse Tale, 12/22/2020
B3: Optimistic or Utopian SF/F
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
B4: New-To-You Author
Station Eleven
B5: SF/F Translated Into English
The Last Wish
I1: SF/F Featuring a Colony
Artemis
The Last Colony
Midnight Robber
The Word for World is Forest
� I2: Non-Human Protagonist
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 12/19/2020
I3: SF/F Humor
Another Fine Myth
Redshirts
The Sirens of Titan
I4: SF/F Anthology
The Illustrated Man
The Last Wish
I5: Fantasy of Manners
The Goblin Emperor (reading)
� N1: SFF+ Genre Blender
Murder by Other Means, 10/09/2020
N2: Alternate History SF/F
His Majesty's Dragon
Thieftaker
N3: SF/F Book That Was Free
The Road to Farringale
N4: SF/F Featuring a School
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, reading
� N5: SF/F with Travel between Alternate Worlds
Down Among the Sticks and Bones, 09/15/2020
� G1: SF/F in Alternate Form
Fantastic Beasts - The Crimes of Grindelwald: The Original Screenplay, 09/13/2020
G2: Media Tie-In SF/F Novel
How Much for Just the Planet? (Star Trek)
G3: Award-Winning SF/F
The Left Hand of Darkness
Redshirts
G4: Fantasy in the Modern World
Small Favor
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality
The Boat of a Million Years
Wild Seed
� O1: Standalone SF/F Novel
Fahrenheit 451, 01/09/20
O2: SF/F First Published in 2020
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Chosen Ones
Come Tumbling Down
Empire of the Vampire
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
Network Effect
Piranesi
O3: Bio-Tech or Nano-Tech
The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
The Island of Doctor Moreau
Jurassic Park
Prey
� O4: Young Adult SF/F
Cemetery Boys, 09/18/2020
O5: SF/F First Published Pre-1940
The King of Elfland's Daughter
The Invisible Man
Metropolis
The War of the Worlds
B1: SF/F Shared World - ?B2: Tech Magic Run Amok - ?
B3: Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F - ?
B4: New to you Author - Son of Avonar
B5: SF/F Translated into English - Season of Storms
I1: SF/F Novel Featuring a Colony - ?
I4: SF/F Anthology - Reave the Just and Other Tales
I5: Fantasy of Manners - ?
N4: SF/F Featuring a School - ?
N5: SF/F With Travel Between Alternate Worlds -?
G1: SF/F Alternate Form - May reread some Thor: God of Thunder comics...will see
G3: Award Winning SF/F -
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality -
O2: SF/F Published in 2020 - ?
O3: Bio or Nano Tech - ?
O4: Young Adult SF/F - ?
O5: SF/F Published pre-1940 - ?
I'm trying to follow a history theme this year, and so hoping that many (not all) of the books read for SF/F Bingo will be time travel, alternate history, historical fantasy or the like.Below are some ideas I'm hoping to start with. Let me know if you have good ideas for historically inspired SF/F books that might fit an empty category. :)
B1: SF/F Shared World - 1632
B2: Tech Magic Run Amok - Sorcerer to the Crown
B3: Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F - Everfair
B4: New to you Author - First Cosmic Velocity
B5: SF/F Translated into English - A Hero Born
I1: SF/F Novel Featuring a Colony - Thieftaker
I2: Non-Human Protagonist - Throne of Jade
I3: SF/F Humour - Spell or High Water
I4: SF/F Anthology - Worlds that Weren't
N1: SF/F+ Genre Blender - Outlander
N2: Alternate History SF/F - The Fated Sky
N3: SF/F Book that was Free - TBD from gifts, project gutenberg
N4: SF/F Featuring a School - The Just City
N5: SF/F With Travel Between Alternate Worlds - This Is How You Lose the Time War
G1: SF/F Alternate Form - The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel
G2: Media Tie-In SF/F Novel - A Hard Rain
G3: Award Winning SF/F - The Years of Rice and Salt
G4: Fantasy in Modern World -The World That We Knew
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality - The City of Brass
O2: SF/F Published in 2020 - The Relentless Moon
O3: Bio or Nano Tech -
O4: Young Adult SF/F - Once & Future
O5: SF/F Published pre-1940 - Lest Darkness Fall
Jaelle wrote: "I'm trying to follow a history theme this year, and so hoping that many (not all) of the books read for SF/F Bingo will be time travel, alternate history, historical fantasy or the like."Cool theme!
What about His Majesty's Dragon for non-human protagonist. Or The Time Machine for pre-1940. And for humour there could be A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court which is also an option for pre-1940
And I recently picked up the anthology Worlds that Weren't. Pretty much anything by Turteldove would count, maybe he's got something with a colony? *bangs head* After I wrote that line I realized a lot of his stuff is alternate American colonies. Same for Eric Flint. Turtledove also wrote for other alternate history anthologies.
YA should be really easy to find something, there's lots of time travel in those. And the school one has to have a lot of "Victorian boarding schools with magic" though nothing is popping into my head right now.
Bio/Nano Tech will be an interesting one to mix with a historical theme, but with time travel as an option you might find something out there, be interesting to see what you find for that one.
Note that Outlander isn't really a media-tie in, I think the idea was is that the book would be inspired by a TV show or movie, not the other way around :) Like if you picked a Star Trek book with time travel in it. But in the end, we're allowed to define what the squares mean to us, there aren't any fixed rules.
We also felt that "free" meant not "borrowed". It had to be something you got and could keep, so libraries were out (also your taxes paid for it so wasn't really free) :) So someone had to gift it to you, or you found it on the roadside, or you downloaded it from say Project Gutenberg or won a GR giveaway.
*edit*
Talking of Outlander, there is a graphic novel The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel you can use for the alternate form, or something I'm reading now which is The Stinz Collection: Volume 1, a comic book about centaurs living in late 1800's early 1900's Germany
So many great suggestions. Thank you!A friend has been after me to read Outlander for years, and it seems to fit my theme this year, so it will probably get read either way and then maybe I can follow it up with the graphic novel.
Andrea wrote: "We also felt that "free" meant not "borrowed". It had to be something you got and could keep, so libraries were out."
Thank you for the clarification. I have some gifted books to read, though nothing involving both history and sci fi/fantasy. I'll have to see what I find throughout the year.
Jaelle wrote: "So many great suggestions. Thank you!A friend has been after me to read Outlander for years, and it seems to fit my theme this year, so it will probably get read either way and then maybe I can f..."
I've been wanting to read Outlander for a long time too, and my sister has them so I can just grab them from her room, and I've watched the TV series where I usually make sure to read first and watch later, but it's a BIG series so I've been daunted about getting into it, and I'm not sure it's finished yet :) But I'll get around to it...eventually! Maybe once I finish off a few other series I've already started.
I left a lot of mine blank because this year I'm trying to finish as many series as I can, and that makes it hard to fill the wide variety of slots. Like one book in the series might fit a slot (e.g. Epic Fantasy) but then if you decide to read the entire Wheel of Time, you're unlikely to be able to use other books in the same series for other slots. So I'm hoping like in the middle of the Dark Tower by Stephen King there will be a colony or a discussion on immortality :o) If not I'll need to find some standalones or start other series.
Plus now that group reads have started up again I'm sure there will be some perfect gems nominated, not that Fahrenheit 451 filled any slot other than standalone LOL
Jaelle wrote: "I'm trying to follow a history theme this year, and so hoping that many (not all) of the books read for SF/F Bingo will be time travel, alternate history, historical fantasy or the like.Below are..."
Cool theme!
Thieftaker might work for colony. It takes place in Boston, 1765.
Andrea wrote: "Note that Outlander isn't really a media-tie in, I think the idea was is that the book would be inspired by a TV show or movie, not the other way around :) Like if you picked a Star Trek book with time travel in it. But in the end, we're allowed to define what the squares mean to us, there aren't any fixed rules. "This reminds me, could you clarify the difference meant here by shared world vs media tie-in. I've always seem them as very closely related, in that many media tie-in series can be considered shared worlds because usually multiple authors are writing the books and in some cases there are several related but distinct series within the franchise. For example, Warhammer, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance etc are all media-tie ins but also involve many different authors writing novels both within individual series as well as related series (ex. Horus Heresy/40k/Warhammer Fantasy). Do these media tie-ins also count as shared worlds based on the original intent in this particular bingo challenge?
NekroRider wrote: "This reminds me, could you clarify the difference meant here by shared world vs media tie-in. I've always seem them as very closely related ..."
Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. You're right, of course, that the various media tie-in books are worlds shared by multiple authors. But, I was thinking of literary worlds that were designed to be shared, usually as anthologies, such as GRRM's Wild Cards or Asprin's Thieves' World. or novels such as Flint's 1632 or Weber's More Than Honor. I think the Conan and Lovecraft stories might also apply, though that sharing was without the late author's consent.
Then, I bring up the question of how much must you read to claim the square? I'm thinking at least two authors (which makes an anthology the shortest route.)
As with all our challenges, you get to make your own determination of what qualifies. Unlike BINGO Night at the church, no one is going to come over to check your card. :)
Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. You're right, of course, that the various media tie-in books are worlds shared by multiple authors. But, I was thinking of literary worlds that were designed to be shared, usually as anthologies, such as GRRM's Wild Cards or Asprin's Thieves' World. or novels such as Flint's 1632 or Weber's More Than Honor. I think the Conan and Lovecraft stories might also apply, though that sharing was without the late author's consent.
Then, I bring up the question of how much must you read to claim the square? I'm thinking at least two authors (which makes an anthology the shortest route.)
As with all our challenges, you get to make your own determination of what qualifies. Unlike BINGO Night at the church, no one is going to come over to check your card. :)
Hmm, I had Dragonlance as a shared world but it's true it was based on a game so it's a media tie in. I did get the first Wild Cards for free from Tor so maybe I'll use that instead. Or maybe I can find one of those tribute anthologies where people get to add stories to a particular world (and that would definitely fall under completing a series theme too), I've read one already for Jack Vance's Dying Earth, and I know there are some for Lackey's Valdemar and Norton's Witch World...I might actually have the one for Charlaine Harris' Sookie series if I can figure out where I put it.Personally, I think it's fine to read only one book from a shared world, the card doesn't require you to prove there is more than one author, plus the GR challenge will only accept one book otherwise will mess up your overall count.
And that's why so many of my slots are empty, without a guiding theme like unicorns/dragons there are so many options I won't know which one I'll actually pick till I've started read it :)
I've tweaked some slots myself, like "Translated into English" and treated it as "Translated into a Language I can Read" since I found this Italian series that is translated into French but not English, and that's probably what I'll do this year too since I need to finish that series ;)
Thank you both for the responses. Thieves World was on my tbr so maybe I'll give it a try. Will have to think on it and see how things pan out this year
WIPVery interesting challenge. I'm trying to fill this in with books I own but have not read, or books on my "want to read" list. My resolution for the year is also to buy less, library more, so hopefully I can get a lot of these there. Please let me know if you see anything listed that is questionable for the category.
B1: SF/F Shared World - Wild Cards
B2: Tech Magic Run Amok - ?
B3: Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F - ?
B4: New to you Author - High Planes Drifter
B5: SF/F Translated into English - The Last Wish
I1: SF/F Novel Featuring a Colony - Ghosts
I2: Non-Human Protagonist - Dangerous To Know
I3: SF/F Humour - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
I4: SF/F Anthology - Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation
I5: Fantasy of Manners - ?
N1: SF/F+ Genre Blender - ?
N2: Alternate History SF/F - ?
N3: SF/F Book that was Free - ?
N4: SF/F Featuring a School - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
N5: SF/F With Travel Between Alternate Worlds - Off to Be the Wizard
G1: SF/F Alternate Form - Star Wars: Tie Fighter
G2: Media Tie-In SF/F Novel - A Crash of Fate
G3: Award Winning SF/F - The Calculating Stars
G4: Fantasy in Modern World - Grave Peril
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality - Altered Carbon
O1: Standalone SF/F Novel - ?
O2: SF/F Published in 2020 - ?
O3: Bio or Nano Tech - ?
O4: Young Adult SF/F - Tomorrow, When the War Began
O5: SF/F Published pre-1940 - Who Goes There?
I'm in. Sounds like fun!B1: SF/F Shared World - (Sookie tribute anthology?)
B2: Tech Magic Run Amok - (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)
B3: Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F -
B4: New to you Author - (Perdido Station)
B5: SF/F Translated into English -
I1: SF/F Novel Featuring a Colony -
I2: Non-Human Protagonist -
I3: SF/F Humour -
I4: SF/F Anthology -
I5: Fantasy of Manners -
N1: SF/F+ Genre Blender -
N2: Alternate History SF/F -
N3: SF/F Book that was Free -
N4: SF/F Featuring a School -
N5: SF/F With Travel Between Alternate Worlds - (Prince Caspian)
G1: SF/F Alternate Form -
G2: Media Tie-In SF/F Novel - Blood of Elves The Witcher
G3: Award Winning SF/F -
G4: Fantasy in Modern World -
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality -
O1: Standalone SF/F Novel - Fahrenheit 451
O2: SF/F Published in 2020 -
O3: Bio or Nano Tech -
O4: Young Adult SF/F - (Divergent)
O5: SF/F Published pre-1940 -
reply | flag *
Sorry to always be asking questions/for clarity but...I have another question! I see some examples of books on other people's lists for magic/tech run amok but I'm still trying to get a better idea of what such a story would need to include. I'm wondering if someone might be so kind as to give me a couple more details/characteristics that such stories might include? Like is basically situations where magic/tech rules no longer apply and everything's gone haywire? Is it just that everyone has access to these things and are using them willynilly? Or a situation where tech for example is everywhere in society but you might have hackers using it to overthrow the powers that be? Guess trying to wrap my head around whether it means total loss of control, just more widespread use etc
My thoughts (but each to interpret on their own):The Magician's Apprentice (think Mickey Mouse in Fantasia) is the perfect example, where a young apprentice decides that instead of doing manual work he uses a spell that he loses control of and then has to be rescued by his master. I guess anywhere magic or tech that was intended for one purpose goes out of control and makes a mess of things.
It's why I decided in the end to use Perdido Street Station, though it may be a bit more of a stretch since the thing that goes amok is neither magic nor tech (but being a fantastical animal guess it's still "magic" just not in the sense of a magic spell). See there's this scientist doing research on things that fly and he asks for specimens of any flighted creature anyone could get their hands on, including insects in their larval stages. Now he gets this one caterpillar thing that he has no idea what it is, but he figures out how to feed it, and then *drumroll* it escapes and let's just say "runs amok" is a mild term for what it does to the city, and pretty much everyone is running around trying to stop it before everyone ends up dead.
So I would assume there would have to be no malice in the person that lets the magic/tech lose, it's more an unintentional mistake, whether or not the person was doing it for selfish reasons. Like the Apprentice, he was being lazy but didn't actually intend to flood his master's house, he just didn't feel like cleaning it that day and "cheated". Or the absentminded professor kind of character who just wants to learn something more but unleashes either an evil AI or spell or mutant creature gone wrong.
And can be at both small levels (like the Apprentice, only he and his master's house suffered for it) and bigger levels (Perdido Street would probably have eventually encompassed the entire world given time, but even at the start it was a whole metropolis in danger)
A lot of AI tales where the machines turn on people would fit the category, where you create a machine to do the work you don't want to do, only to have the machine decide it doesn't want to do it, or even the machine decide that to keep you safe, it needs to wrap you in bubble wrap and not let you go out of the house since you could get hurt.
Zombie stories can often be a medical experiment gone wrong, and patient 0 escapes and spreads his zombiness, but it shouldn't be some disease that just happened to occur in nature, someone needed to be trying to achieve one thing (say cure cancer) but end up with something else (zombie plague)
So I probably wouldn't use your hacker example, since that's technology being intentionally misused (and so still under control of the hackers, if no one else), unless that tech itself gains consciousness on it's own and decides to overthrow the powers that be.
Loss of control is a key factor, the genie that gets out of the bottle and you can't put it back in.
NekroRider wrote: "I see some examples of books on other people's lists for magic/tech run amok but I'm still trying to get a better idea of what such a story would need to include. ..."
The genesis of the square was inspired by an "Artificial Intelligence takes over" story, as in The Matrix or The Terminator (books might include the classic R.U.R. (which would probably also count as "Translated", unless to read Czech) and Colossus:The Forbin Project. It was generalized to other tech (e.g. biotech, dna-editing, nanotech, surveillance,... ) and possibly magic (think Sorcerer's Apprentice)
The genesis of the square was inspired by an "Artificial Intelligence takes over" story, as in The Matrix or The Terminator (books might include the classic R.U.R. (which would probably also count as "Translated", unless to read Czech) and Colossus:The Forbin Project. It was generalized to other tech (e.g. biotech, dna-editing, nanotech, surveillance,... ) and possibly magic (think Sorcerer's Apprentice)
Andrea wrote: "My thoughts (but each to interpret on their own):The Magician's Apprentice (think Mickey Mouse in Fantasia) is the perfect example, where a young apprentice decides that instead of doing manual w..."
Thank you so much this is very helpful! Hmm I'll have to think more on it since I'm not sure I have books at home right that fit the bill...except maybe the third Copper Cat book, since the first two had some unintentional releasings of magical beings and such. Trying to think if I have any sci-fi books that fits AI takes over atm. Shall see. Thanks again!
Another one could be where explorers/archeologists that find a door/box/whatever with a big sign on it that says "Whatever you do, do NOT open this" and they open it anyway.BTW, what is the "cat" part of the Copper Cat? I'd be certainly intrigued to read the series if it involves cats in some way, copper or otherwise. Had to ask since the cover has a dragon on it
Andrea wrote: "Another one could be where explorers/archeologists that find a door/box/whatever with a big sign on it that says "Whatever you do, do NOT open this" and they open it anyway.BTW, what is the "cat"..."
It sadly doesn't really involve actual cats, the Copper Cat is one of the nicknames of one of the two adventurers, Wydrin of Crosshaven. The books are about a duo (eventually trio) of adventurers for hire. In the first book, one of their jobs winds up releasing something...unpleasant lol.
But speaking of cats, the book/series I'm currently reading does involve an immortal-ish shapeshifting cat as a side character, if you're generally looking for fantasy involving cats. It's Storm of Locusts, the second book of what will eventually be a 4-book series (Sixth World). Definitely would need to read the first book first, but the shapeshifting cat does make an appearance in that one too.
11 books read so far, not a single BINGO for me yet!
Only just starting, few months late... Love being able to write them down here! Got one planned that I've seen written about on another thread and the rest shall come with time :)B1: SF/F Shared World -
B2: Tech Magic Run Amok -
B3: Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F -
B4: New to you Author - Chris Evans - A darkness forged in fire
B5: SF/F Translated into English -
I1: SF/F Novel Featuring a Colony -
I2: Non-Human Protagonist -
I3: SF/F Humour -
I4: SF/F Anthology -
I5: Fantasy of Manners -
N1: SF/F+ Genre Blender -
N2: Alternate History SF/F -
N3: SF/F Book that was Free -
N4: SF/F Featuring a School -
N5: SF/F With Travel Between Alternate Worlds -
G1: SF/F Alternate Form -
G2: Media Tie-In SF/F Novel -
G3: Award Winning SF/F -
G4: Fantasy in Modern World -
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality -
O1: Standalone SF/F Novel -
O2: SF/F Published in 2020 -
O3: Bio or Nano Tech -
O4: Young Adult SF/F -
O5: SF/F Published pre-1940:
With 13 slots filled I'm more than half way through and still not a single BINGO, and just looked at my to-read pile that has another 4 on it, and none of those will give me a BINGO...amazing how far I can go without filling a single row or column, and without even doing it intentionally!
So far I have:B4 Author new to me - Witchnapped in Westerham, Dianne Lister
B5 Translated to English - Planet of the Apes (from French)
I1 Colony - Zero Limit
I2 Non-human Protagonist - I, Robot
N2 Alternate history - Second World War: An Alternate History
N3 Free book - Xenophobia
N4 Featuring a school - Agatha H and the Airship City
N5 Alternate Worlds - Runes of the Earth
G1 Alternate form - Conan: Witch Queen of Archeron (graphic novel)
G3 Award winning - Fahrenheit 451
O1 Standalone - There and Back Again
11 so far with no lines or columns, but close in a few places
So "alternate form" is supposed to be interpreted as "non-written media adaptation of a novel", like a radio play or comic book? I had taken it to mean that a character in a book has an alternate form, meaning the character is a shapeshifter, or has some kind of super-powered form in addition to their mundane form, or is a Transformer-type robot. Otherwise, I think that square will remain unfilled for me.I'm glad for those suggestions for the "colony" one. I'd found a lot of "almosts", with books involving planetary cities that had become independent, and thus were not colonies, and space stations, outposts, mining and scientific survey sites (Murderbot comes to mind), and lots of frontier towns, none of which were colonies. Still hoping to find something that I already have that works.
Edit: Okay, I found a colony book in my to-read pile: The Gardens of Delight.
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "So "alternate form" is supposed to be interpreted as "non-written media adaptation of a novel", like a radio play or comic book? "That's right, or a poem or a song or graphic novel, manga, etc. Anything that isn't your standard prose. At least that was what we had in mind creating the square
But we do allow people to interpret as they see fit, in the end it's your challenge. There were a few squares over the years that had differing interpretations, for example I take the "Translated into English" slot and treat it as "Translated from a language I cannot read into one I can" because I found an Italian series that was translated into French but not English and gave me a reason to read it. So you don't have to follow our interpretation if you feel yours makes sense too.
Andrea wrote: "That's right, or a poem or a song or graphic novel, manga, etc."A song! Well, in that case, I can fill that spot with "The Wheel of Time", by Blind Guardian, which I listened to for the first time a few weeks ago. Or really, every song on that album At the Edge of Time, which are almost all inspired by fantasy books.
Ah, but it does have to be something you can put on your shelf on GR, forgot to mention that.
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "So "alternate form" is supposed to be interpreted as "non-written media adaptation of a novel",..."
Not necessarily an adaptation of a novel. E.e. R.U.R., a stage play, would qualify. (So would a couple of Shakespeare plays, e.g. A Midsummer Night's Dream.) An graphic novels, whether adaptations of SF/F novels or original SF/F. You might also go for an epic SF/F poem, e.g. Homer's The Illiad.
I've always enjoyed Rick Wakeman's album The Myths & Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but as Andrea points out, it has to be a "book" of some form to be listed on ŷ. Vinyl records are right out.
Not necessarily an adaptation of a novel. E.e. R.U.R., a stage play, would qualify. (So would a couple of Shakespeare plays, e.g. A Midsummer Night's Dream.) An graphic novels, whether adaptations of SF/F novels or original SF/F. You might also go for an epic SF/F poem, e.g. Homer's The Illiad.
I've always enjoyed Rick Wakeman's album The Myths & Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but as Andrea points out, it has to be a "book" of some form to be listed on ŷ. Vinyl records are right out.
G33z3r wrote: "You might also go for an epic SF/F poem, e.g. Homer's The Illiad"Ah, well, in that case, I did in fact read The Iliad this April, so I guess I'm good. I hadn't thought of it as fantasy because it was mainly a plain war story, unlike The Odyssey with its fantastical creatures and monsters, but I suppose it counts because of all the gods interfering in the affairs of mortals. Thanks!
G33z3r wrote: "I've always enjoyed Rick Wakeman's album The Myths & Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but as Andrea points out, it has to be a "book" of some form to be listed on ŷ. Vinyl records are right out."I like to listen to some of Alan Parson's Project renditions of Edgar Allan Poe's poem's and stories during Halloween (The Raven is horror but a lot of horror is fantasy with ghosts/demons/etc so would count too)
Filled in my YA slot, not that I haven't read any other YA all year but it was the one I picked out at the start so decided to stick to it.
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Andrea wrote: "That's right, or a poem or a song or graphic novel, manga, etc."A song! Well, in that case, I can fill that spot with "The Wheel of Time", by Blind Guardian, which I listened to fo..."
Man, if metal albums counted I'd be in business for that bingo square with Visigoth, Eternal Champion, Blind Guardian, Nightwish, heck even Vader has a Witcher song haha
As one of the roots of metal was prog rock, it's not surprising that many metal bands have a strong fantasy influence.
I was hoping Skyward would fit the "Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F" slot based on its blurb, but wow, what a corrupt, nepotistic, vindictive, and unfair society it actually is! Punishing the whole family for the alleged "sins of the father" -- barring the wife from normal employment, branding the 7-year-old daughter a coward (for her father's alleged cowardice, not her own) and getting her bullied throughout school for it and administratively ensuring that she does not pass the pilot exam later in life, while giving free passes to children of favoured citizens... Nope, not utopian or optimistic.
Got my first BINGO with the B column all filled in now!And I've pretty much figured out what to put in the remaining slots, except the immortality one, maybe I can find something better? I mean any vampire story (of which I've got a 4 book omnibus I plan to read this year) would technically fill it but I feel it should be more about the concept of immortality than just having an immortal character. But I'll have to get Altered Carbon from the library...maybe I'll throw up a recommendation thread later, to see if maybe I already own something relevant since library doesn't mix well with COVID lockdown...don't want to face my own mortality while trying to read something about immortality!
The Caves of Steel fills in the genre blender slot, being both science fiction and a detective story, so that gives me all the Ns and leaves me needing a shared world book to complete all the 1s.
Here's what I've done so far:[old card removed now that challenge is complete]
I'm hoping maybe I, Robot will fit the "optimistic SF" slot.
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Here's what I've done so far:
I'm hoping maybe I, Robot will fit the "optimistic SF" slot."
Or, it'll cover the Anthology square.
I'm hoping maybe I, Robot will fit the "optimistic SF" slot."
Or, it'll cover the Anthology square.
True, but I have plenty of anthologies I can use (I'm leaning toward Armageddon), and the "colony" slot is in the queue already, too (The Gardens of Delight) -- they just won't be filled in until I've read them. It's just the optimistic/utopian one it's been hard to find (and I don't even know if I, Robot is optimistic or not.)
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Here's what I've done so far:."Love how you filled in the graphic!
With Outlander (Genre Blender) I got a double BINGO both the row and column. Hard to avoid that going forward now since I somehow managed to fill in just about as many as was possible without getting a BINGO so probably everything after will include one. And I managed that entirely not on purpose :)Only 5 books left to completion!
There, figured out what I am going to read in that last slot I wasn't sure about. Award winner should have been easy, but since I was doing a "finish series I started them", usually first books get the award, not the later ones. So I had put down Monstress, since I recently found it for free on Amazon, however that would be counter productive as it would be starting a new series, one that isn't even complete yet!I also considered Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt, since it's a standalone, but it's decently long and I've already got more than I can tackle before the end of year.
But then, while I was looking at Song of Susannah which I am currently reading I saw it got nominated for awards. On a whim I jumped to the end and discovered The Dark Tower, the last book in the series, won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Perfect! I was going to read it anyway so now don't have to hunt for something else.
So, for the Utopian/Optimistic slot I had said before that I wanted to use I, Robot. I've read most of it now, and I think it definitely counts, since human society is prospering and war is a thing of the past, but I've also just finished All Systems Red, and I think it portrays a much better utopian society in that one. Preservation Alliance is described as a very diverse, friendly, peaceful, and socially well-adjusted interplanetary civilisation, where people don't shoot each other, and bots are full free citizens there! Quite unexpected from a series called The Murderbot Diaries! So that's what I'm putting in that slot.
I'm grateful to this challenge for finally getting The Gardens of Delight out of the way and off of my tablet to fill the "SF colony" slot! Just the "anthology" one left to fill, and I decided on a different one for that than I was planning before: Gamer Fantastic.
Wow, only three more to go to complete the game! I got 3 Bingos at once by filling in 2 books just now. One row and two columns.Award Winning SF/F, Media Tie-In SF/F Novel, SF/F Published in 2020
And I know exactly which ones I'll use to fill those slots too. It's actually kind of funny that the published in 2020 one will be one of the last books I'll read this year though I have just purchased it a couple days ago.
Finishing The Fleet completes the 1s column for me.Shared World - The Fleet
Colony - Zero Limit
Genre Blender - The Naked Sun
Alternate Form - Camelot 3000 (graphic novel)
Standalone - There and Back Again
I hope to get a Bingo row or two. =] Below I’ve filled in some ideas for categories and crossed out those I’ve read.B1: Shared World � Heir to the Empire
B2: Tech/Magic Run Amok � ?
B3: Utopian � The Dispossessed
B4: New to You Author � Redemption in Indigo (by Karen Lord)
I1: Features a Colony � The Word for World is Forest
I3: Humor � ?
I4: Anthology � Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation
I5: Fantasy of Manners � ?
N1: Genre Blender � The Magpie Lord
N2: Alternate History � ?
N3: Book that was Free � ?
N4: Features a School � Vita Nostra
N5: Travel Between Alternate Worlds � Kindred
G2: Media Tie-In � The Deep (inspired by a song by the rap group, Clipping)
G3: Award-Winning � The Fifth Season (Hugo)
O1: Stand-alone � Fahrenheit 451
O2: Published 2020 � Piranesi
O3: Bio or Nanotech � ?
O5: Published Pre-1940 � The Time Machine (1895)
Erin wrote: "I hope to get a Bingo row or two. =] For the B1 category, does “shared world� mean the world is inhabited by more than one sentient race?We are allowed to interpret as we like (and that's an interesting interpretation actually) but the original intent was a world shared by multiple authors. Think Thieve's World, Dragonlance, etc or another idea is where you have a famous series and then there's a tribute anthology where other authors get to write short stories of their own in the world (I can think of several). I used Dinotopia as my slot, it was started by one author but expanded upon by several.
BTW I love The Girl from the Other Side, and wish my library had The Ancient Magus' Bride :) Is the latter as good as the former?
Andrea wrote: "...the original intent was a world shared by multiple authors.Ahhh, thank you for the explanation � that makes sense! I may take the opportunity to finally read Heir to the Empire (the original!).
I’m much enjoying The Girl from the Other Side too and anxiously awaiting volume 9! I’ve only read the first two volume of The Ancient Magus� Bride so far; it’s a different type of story and feel but I really like it so far, particularly the portrayal of fey and magic, and it may actually be my favorite, but I need to read more before I can say for sure.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
The Nano Flower (other topics)Peace Talks (other topics)
Love Bites (other topics)
Blood & Honey (other topics)
Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event (other topics)
More...
B1: SF/F Shared World - Dinotopia Lost
B2: Tech Magic Run Amok - Perdido Street Station
B3: Optimistic or Uptopian SF/F - Windchaser
B4: New to you Author - Divergent
B5: SF/F Translated into English - L'arbre d'Idhunn
I1: SF/F Novel Featuring a Colony - Remnant Population
I2: Non-Human Protagonist - The Royal Book of Oz
I3: SF/F Humour - The Son of Neptune
I4: SF/F Anthology - People of the Book: A Decade of Jewish Science Fiction & Fantasy
I5: Fantasy of Manners - A Scholar of Magics
N1: SF/F+ Genre Blender - Outlander
N2: Alternate History SF/F - The Stinz Collection: Volume 1
N3: SF/F Book that was Free - Triplicity
N4: SF/F Featuring a School - A College of Magics
N5: SF/F With Travel Between Alternate Worlds - The Drawing of the Three
G1: SF/F Alternate Form - Bleach, Volume 01
G2: Media Tie-In SF/F Novel - The Siege (Deep Space Nine)
G3: Award Winning SF/F - The Dark Tower (British Fantasy Award 2015)
G4: Fantasy in Modern World - The Lost Hero
G5: SF/F about/with Immortality - And Another Thing...
O1: Standalone SF/F Novel - Fahrenheit 451
O2: SF/F Published in 2020 - Peace Talks
O3: Bio or Nano Tech - The Demon Crown
O4: Young Adult SF/F - City of Lost Souls
O5: SF/F Published pre-1940 - The Marvelous Land of Oz