MobileRead November 2012 Book Club Nominations

[fantasyfan]

I'll second Beggars in Spain. by Nancy Kress

and

Deathworld by Harry Harrison

[battletux]

I would like to put forward Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination". This is one of my all time favourite books.

Description from Amazon.co.uk:

Spoiler:

Long out of print, and hugely influential on both the SF New Wave of the 60s and the cyberpunks of the 80s, Bester's second novel is a fast-moving pyrotechnic extravaganza with enough bloodshed for Tarantino and enough social analysis for Marx. The solar system is torn by warfare--the discovery of a human capacity to move short distances by the power of mind has blown open the balance of economic power. A marooned spaceman, Gully Foyle, seeks revenge on the ship and crew that left him to rot, and pursues them among hereditary industrialists, sensory-deprived monks, circus freaks and the convicts of the deepest Hell on Earth. Marked by hideous facial tattoos, and haunted by his own flaming double, there is nothing that Foyle will not do-- and he is pursued by a selection of Furies as highly coloured as himself. Bester's profligate imagination gives us Dagenham, the radioactive courier, Jizbella, the consummate feminist thief, Robin, the one-way telepath, Ang-Yeovil, secret master of intelligence and Olivia, the albino who sees infra-red. Streetwise and high-gloss, this is one of the finest of SF classics, full of evocative scenery and much-imitated stylistic gimmicks that for once work perfectly.

[JSWolf]

Clout Atlas is an invalid nomination as it is not science fiction but is actually fantasy.

Look at the following link. Ovderdrive says it's fantasy. http://overdrive.dclibrary.org/EACF2...2-b0093c880281

Worldcat also says it's fantasy. http://www.worldcat.org/title/cloud-...=brief_results

[Hamlet53]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Clout Atlas is an invalid nomination as it is not science fiction but is actually fantasy.

Look at the following link. Ovderdrive says it's fantasy. http://overdrive.dclibrary.org/EACF2...2-b0093c880281

Worldcat also says it's fantasy. http://www.worldcat.org/title/cloud-...=brief_results

The line does not seem at all sharp to me. In fact I look on fantasy and science fiction as repeat months. What difference if it is men, hobbits, elves, orcs, . . . and wizards & spells or men, ewoks, hutts, wookiees, . . . , and jedi & “The Force?” The Cloud Atlas is actually on my to read list and is the one that might actually interest me.

[fantasyfan]

I think I should mention that in post 16 I gave a second to Deathworld as well as to Beggars in Spain.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

The line does not seem at all sharp to me. In fact I look on fantasy and science fiction as repeat months. What difference if it is men, hobbits, elves, orcs, . . . and wizards & spells or men, ewoks, hutts, wookiees, . . . , and jedi & “The Force?” The Cloud Atlas is actually on my to read list and is the one that might actually interest me.

They are different and the line should not be crossed. The Hobbit cannot be nominated for this month because it is fantasy. Cloud Atlas cannot be nominated for this month because it is fantasy. Beggars in Spain cannot be nominated in the fantasy month because it is science fiction.

They are different. They are not the same. Let's not say they are the same when they are not the same. And no, this month and fantasy are not repeat months as the categories are different. There's very little overlap.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Clout Atlas is an invalid nomination as it is not science fiction but is actually fantasy.

Look at the following link. Ovderdrive says it's fantasy. http://overdrive.dclibrary.org/EACF2...2-b0093c880281

Worldcat also says it's fantasy. http://www.worldcat.org/title/cloud-...=brief_results

I think it is a mixture of genres and is most definitely science fiction.

If you google "cloud atlas genre" you will see that google classifies it as "science fiction" alone.

In the wikipedia entry for Cloud Atlas, under "Genre", the first one listed is "science fiction".

On Amazon, one of its rankings, the first one listed and its highest ranking, is in "Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction".

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by fantasyfan

I think I should mention that in post 16 I gave a second to Deathworld as well as to Beggars in Spain.

I did indeed miss that. Thanks for keeping me honest!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

I think it is a mixture of genres and is most definitely science fiction.

If you google "cloud atlas genre" you will see that google classifies it as "science fiction" alone.

In the wikipedia entry for Cloud Atlas, under "Genre", the first one listed is "science fiction".

On Amazon, one of its rankings, the first one listed and its highest ranking, is in "Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction".

So you are going to disagree with Worldcat which is a source for information about books even more respected then Amazon & Wiki put together?

Google & Google Books disagrees with you and agrees with me. Look at the attachments.

The New Yorker calls it a fantasy. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/200..._brieflynoted1

Mitchell's virtuosic novel presents six narratives that evoke an array of genres, from Melvillean high-seas drama to California noir and dystopian fantasy.

[JSWolf]

Mr. Grand Muckity-Muck we need a ruling on Cloud Atlas. I've given proof plenty that it is fantasy so it should be disqualified.

Overdrive, Wordlcat The New Yorker, Google & Google Books all say it is Fantasy and all we have in rebuff to that is Wiki (anyone can edit that), Amazon (known for being wrong a lot) & Google (which says it's Fantasy).

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Mr. Grand Muckity-Muck we need a ruling on Cloud Atlas. I've given proof plenty that it is fantasy so it should be disqualified.

Overdrive, Wordlcat The New Yorker, Google & Google Books all say it is Fantasy and all we have in rebuff to that is Wiki (anyone can edit that), Amazon (known for being wrong a lot) & Google (which says it's Fantasy).

Also add Arthur C Clarke Award nominee to the reasons for including it this month. Any book nominated for the ACCA should be considered science fiction (by definition of the award), even if it also could be considered something else. At the very least it is considered SF by the British Science Fiction Association, the Science Fiction Foundation and the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival, who were part of the selection committee. Seems like enough to keep it around to me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Also add Arthur C Clarke Award nominee to the reasons for including it this month. Any book nominated for the ACCA should be considered science fiction (by definition of the award), even if it also could be considered something else. At the very least it is considered SF by the British Science Fiction Association, the Science Fiction Foundation and the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival, who were part of the selection committee. Seems like enough to keep it around to me.

That reminds me of the year that Jethro Tull received a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental. Sure, they got the award, but it was for the wrong category.

The Library of Congress says Cloud Atlas is fantasy. http://lccn.loc.gov/2003069314

Form/Genre Fantasy fiction.

Face it, it is fantasy and the more authoritative sources do say so. Both Worldcat and The Library of Congress agree it's fantasy and they do not call it science fiction.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That reminds me of the year that Jethro Tull received a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental. Sure, they got the award, but it was for the wrong category.

Did they take his award away once they realised they were wrong?

[Format C:]

Here's my nominations:

The Stars My Destination (second)

Verdant Skies by Steven Lyle Jordan
A catastrophic eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera threatens the global biosystem, and drives Earth's desperate residents to seek refuge in any of the four satellite-cities in Earth orbit. The satellite Verdant immediately finds itself under pressure to accept a forced occupation by a population it cannot hold, and certain doom of its own survivability. But a secret group on Verdant has a plan of its own...
http://www.rightbrane.com/StevenLyle...dant_skies.htm

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
The most exciting SF debut of the last 5 years - a star to stand alongside Reynolds and Morgan. Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy - from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars.

Except that Jean made one mistake. Now he is condemned to play endless variations of a game-theoretic riddle in the vast virtual jail of the Axelrod Archons - the Dilemma Prison - against countless copies of himself.

Jean's routine of death, defection and cooperation is upset by the arrival of Mieli and her spidership, Perhonen. She offers him a chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self - in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed . . .

The Quantum Thief is a dazzling hard SF novel set in the solar system of the far future - a heist novel peopled by bizarre post-humans but powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge and jealousy. It is a stunning debut.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Quantum-Th...mm_kin_title_0
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/quan...=quantum+thief
Apple: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-...29699133?mt=11

[caleb72]

I'll second The Quantum Thief.