Virtual Speculation

I read a lot of books.  Some where in the range of 125-150 at minimum every year.  The topics and quality ranges all over the place, but my preference tends to lean towards the various sub-genres of Speculative Fiction.  I don't think that Sci Fi and Fantasy novels are automatically fluff, there are some absolutely amazing books in those genres.  They often also have some very interesting points of discussion woven in.

So to that end I've started an online virtual book club, Virtual Speculation, with a reading list for the rest of the year.  Right now the book club is a Facebook group, but we'll see how that works long run.  I have read many of the titles, and all of the choices stood out to me in some way.  The titles include high fantasy, hard science fiction, fable, near future, far future, and other facets of speculative fiction.

Reading List for 2014

February: The Last Unicorn / Peter S. Beagle
March: Nexus / Ramez Naam
April: Alif: the Unseen / A. Willow Wilson
May: Mappa Mundi / Justina Robson
June: The Shape-Changer's Wife / Sharon Shinn
July: Accelerando / Charles Stross
August: The Golem and the Jinni / Helene Wecker
September: Dust / Elizabeth Bear
October: Spellwright / Blake Charlton
November: He, She and It / Marge Piercy
December: Gibbon's Decline and Fall / Sheri S. Tepper

I hope you give at least some of these titles a try.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

[Book Review] Battle of the Linguist Mages

Image
Battle of the Linguist Mages   / Scotto Moore The description of this book caught my attention immediately , and a cover blurb from one of my favorite authors?  Sign me up! The book isn't quite what is promised, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just that it has so much potential.  It's like how Ready Player One  reads a lot different in a post Gamer Gate environment.  (Also, to be fair, the description I first read when looking through review copies is different than what is up  now.) Now, don't get me wrong, the premise is phenomenal.  I love a good SF that takes seeds of the here and now and goes "what if?"  It looks at where VR gaming is now, where streaming and MMOs are now, the balance between real life skills and game controls, and launches into a believable continuation.  Then we get a little seasoning of magic and more.  It made me laugh and has some neat ideas that it develops. But writing and tone wise, it feels a lot like Ready Playe
Read more

[Book Review] When Sorrows Come

Image
When Sorrows Come (October Daye #15)  / Seanan McGuire Previously reviewed: Rosemary and Rue Once Broken Faith The Brightest Fell Night and Silence The Unkindest Tide A Killing Frost After... we'll kindly say many books of dodging the inevitable, Toby's finally getting married.  In her defense, at the start of the book even she did not know the date chosen for the event.  There's a little too much significance in this marriage to allow for a simple document signing in front of the local Justice of the Peace.  A marriage between a member of the Divided Courts and a King of Cats, and of course Toby has been anything but "just" a changeling for some time now.  A hero of the realm, daughter of a First Born, king-breaker, kingdom maker, finder of lost things, and, most importantly, one of the few members of Fairie that understands crime scene investigation and procedure. This is  October Daye, of course something is going to go Horribly Wrong, likely involving blood, w
Read more

[Book Review] The Olympian Affair

Image
The Olympian Affair (Cinder Spires #2)  / Jim Butcher  Previously Reviewed: The Aeronaut's Windlass It's been a long haul waiting for book two, and one that I didn't think was going to end.  In 2016, I described book one as an "air-ship filled rollicking adventure that brings to mind a mash-up of Shakespeare and The Princess Bride.  We have heroics, tempers, swashbuckling, dastardly villains, battles of wits, revenge, and maybe a little true love on the side.  This tome drops you into the story from page one and seems much shorter than its 750 pages." So where are we in 2023? Before reading this, I strongly advise you reread book one.  The cast is large,  the book thick, and the two main warring governments are Spire Albion and Spire Aurora , so if you're like me and names blend together, remind yourself of who everyone is and the stage that has been set. The Olympian Affair  is a story of the maneuvering and politics after the war has started but before it ha
Read more