Beyond Reality discussion

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:

The Miles Vorkosigan series, by Lois McMaster Bujold (first book: Cordelia's Honor)
The Saga of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (first book : The Magic of Recluce)
The Honor Harrington series by David Weber (first book: On Basilisk Station)
The Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson (first book: Gardens of the Moon)
The Morgaine Saga by C.J. Cherryh (omnibus edition: The Morgaine Saga)
The Elric series by Michael Moorcock (first book: Elric of Melniboné)
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin(first book: A Game of Thrones)
The Sun Sword series by Michelle Sagara West (first book: The Broken Crown)
Troy trilogy by David Gemmell (first book: Troy Lord of the Silver Bow A Novel)
The Deverry series by Katharine Kerr (first book: Daggerspell)

Betsy recently made an excellent suggestion:

Betsy wrote: "There are several very good books that are a part of trilogies/series, but don't get nominated because we haven't read the first book as a group yet. So I am curious - would anyone like to read a series together? Is that even a feasible idea?"

We've been talking about this for a while (check http://www.africa-eu.com/topic/show/1... for the discussion) and everyone likes the idea, so we're ready to get this started soon. However, there are two things left to decide:

1. Some people would prefer to read and discuss one book per month, much like our other Book of the Month discussions but we'd start every book on the 15th and end on the 14th of the next month so all the discussions don't start at the same time. Others would prefer to split the books up in smaller portions and read e.g. about 50 pages or a few chapters per week, similar to the ongoing re-read discussions of Lord of the Rings and the Wheel of Time series on Tor.com. Each format has its own advantages (and you can check the thread above for the discussion). I've set up a poll to see which format we should go with --- please go vote!

2. Which series will we read? It can be fantasy or SF, and we'll accept both finished and unfinished series as long as a good amount of the books are already available --- we wouldn't want to start a series that only has 1 or 2 books available so far.

Please make your nomination by replying to this thread. Everyone can make one nomination. As this is going to be a long-term project, it may be a good idea to add some info about the series and why it would be great to discuss.

I'll leave the poll open and take nominations until the end of the month. Then we'll set up the first round poll on May 1st and the run-off poll a week later, so we'll know the result by May 15th. Then we can get started in mid-June with the actual discussion!

So here we go... a brand new book discussion project at Beyond Reality. I'm really looking forward to this one!

Stefan

I would like to nominate the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. There are a million books in the series, and I'm not sure which one to start with. "Warrior's Apprentice"?

Or Katherine Kurtz' Deryni series, which comes in groups of 3.

I would recommend reading them according to the internal chronology. The first ones would be Shards of Honor and Barrayar (before Miles was born), or The Warrior's Apprentice is the first one with Miles. I'd start with Cordelia's Honor, which contains both Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Baen has re-released all the books in the series in omnibus editions.

Only one series? But there are so many good ones!

I'll nominate L.E. Modesitt Jr. Recluse series. I guess the order should be published, which is what the author recommends. I think that's The Magic of Recluce.

I've only read one Honor Harrington novel, On Basilisk Station, but I would definitely be interested in reading more from that series.

It's been years, but I'd be up for the entire chronicles of Thomas Covenant ... eight of the nine are published and we might get lucky and get the final one before we finish. It would be interesting to re-read the original series from the perspective of adulthood (I read them as a young teen because my reading level at age twelve was second year college).

I've added the Recluce series to the nomination list. I was hoping you'd nominate that one, Jim --- it's the one I'm rooting for!

Jon, let me know whether you want to nominate the Honor Harrington or Thomas Covenant series.

Yes, I went with just one nomination per person this time, so we don't get a huge list and everyone picks a real favorite.

Stefan wrote: "Jon, let me know whether you want to nominate the Honor Harrington or Thomas Covenant series. "

How many books are published in the Honor series? I can't speak to the entire series, but I did thoroughly enjoy the first book.

If I have to choose between the two, I'll have to go with the one I haven't read as I prefer to read things I haven't read before.

Jon wrote: "Stefan wrote: "Jon, let me know whether you want to nominate the Honor Harrington or Thomas Covenant series. "

How many books are published in the Honor series? I can't speak to the entire series..."

It looks like there are 11 books in the series so far, with a 12th one expected in 2010 (according to the Wikipedia page). Looks good - I would like a nice long series for this discussion, and so far every nomination has 10 or more books!

I'll nominate Steven Erikson's Malazan series, which starts with Gardens of the Moon. The ninth book will be coming out later this year, and I think they're fairly large books.

I would like to nominate the The Morgaine Saga
by C. J. Cherryh. Ironically, this trilogy has been collected into an omnibus edition. I don't know much about the story (nothing at all, really), except Cherryh is one of those authors people tend to love and recommend.

I'd like to nominate the Elric series by Michael Moorcock. Elric of Melniboné is the first book.

Oh, I really liked Elric of Melnibone, but never went on to read any of the other books.

Brenda wrote: "Oh, I really liked Elric of Melnibone, but never went on to read any of the other books."

Elric & Moonglum have some pretty wild adventures. Have you read any of his other heroes? Two others tie together, each an different incarnation & all show up in some of the books. Hawkmoon is one, from the Runestaff series (4 books?). The other is Corum, which has 2 trilogies.

I'd like to nominate George R. R. Martin's series "Fire and Ice". I know that the series isn't finished yet; I have the suspicion that the series will continue as long as Martin is in the land of the living. I think 4 long books would make a good chunk of story, and we'll be ready whenever book #5 finally arrives.

I would like to nominate Sun Sword Series by Michelle West. It's finished. The first book is The Broken Crown. There are also three other books set in the same world, but they are not part of the series.

I second The Sun Sword series.
Excellent.
There are a set of books coming dealing with Jewel's story. The first one just came out in paperback, and she is presently working through the second.

I haven't read any of the series so far nominated so I'm kind of excited to see what we choose and experience something new!

I'm so happy to see so many nominations! I just hope everyone will at least give the winning series a chance, if their nomination doesn't win. I'm excited about this new project! :)

Hear, hear! Can't wait for the series to begin!

All of these series sound good! I've only read all of one of them (Martin's series).

Whether or not they make it to the final win, I've just added at least 4 nominations to my towering to-read list, and I don't know if I should be grateful or not! :)

I second Gardens of the Moon, the Malazen series.

That makes it 9 nominations... 10 if I add mine. I'm starting to think we should do a first round and then a run-off poll for this one, because we now have more nominations than we usually get for BotM discussions! What do you think?

I agree! Its a lot to choose from.

Sounds good, Stefan.

I would love to discuss Katharine Kerr's Deverry series, beginning with Daggerspell. I love the way the plot moves back and forth among characters' various incarnations spanning hundreds of years. It has elves, dwarves a believable system of magic and draws from celtic mythology. What more could you want??
Peta

Peta wrote: "I would love to discuss Katharine Kerr's Deverry series, beginning with Daggerspell."

This remains one of my favorite series, which I read some time ago and about which my memory is suitably vague, so a reread would be wonderful. I have not read any of the newer books she has written in the series, so that would be added incentive for me!!

Okay folks, I've started the first round poll to determine which series will be our first ever Beyond Reality Series! I'm going to close this thread now so we can continue any discussion in the comments section of the poll:

http://www.africa-eu.com/poll/show/13...