Genre for February is FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION

[KanoasDestiny]

It's time to come up with a book you would like to read (and discuss) that fits into this catagory. Remember, there are many sub-genres that can fit.

So post your recommendations below and maybe a little bit about the book. Preferrably a book that you haven't read (and hopefully no one else has either), although that isn't a requirement. In three days (January 26th), we will either go with the book that the majority of members seem to agree on, or I will ask for a volunteer to pick three books and those will be the ones put to a vote.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Ok, so here's my choice...

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. It is listed as Magical, but from the sounds of it, it also has romance and danger....

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

Just curious, has anyone read it?

 

[ohmt]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

The writer is truly one of a kind. They are making a movie of it, darn!

Ok, here is the info from Amazon:

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the beggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Nobody else??? Werewolves, Vampires, Dragons, any sort of adventure goes....

 

[ohmt]

And one more! Sorry for hogging, this is just my choice of genre

Pathfinder, by.....Orson Scott Card. I just bought this book because I love the author so much and this is his newest. Have to read it! Sounds like my kind of book.

A powerful secret. A dangerous path.

Rigg is well trained at keeping secrets. Only his father knows the truth about Rigg's strange talent for seeing the paths of people's pasts. But when his father dies, Rigg is stunned to learn just how many secrets Father had kept from him--secrets about Rigg's own past, his identity, and his destiny. And when Rigg discovers that he has the power not only to see the past, but also to change it, his future suddenly becomes anything but certain.

Rigg’s birthright sets him on a path that leaves him caught between two factions, one that wants him crowned and one that wants him dead. He will be forced to question everything he thinks he knows, choose who to trust, and push the limits of his talent…or forfeit control of his destiny.

 

[Kendra]

I've read very little Fantasy, but I've recently discovered both Jack Whyte and Tanya Huff.

I read Jack Whyte's Camulod series, very, very interesting - I think it's more historical fiction than Fantasy, but it's shelved under Fantasy so I'm counting it. ;-) The first book is of the series is The Skystone.

Born of the chaos of the Dark Ages, the Dream of Eagles produced a king, a country and an everlasting legend—Camelot

Publius Varrus is a veteran Roman officer and a maker of swords. In the early fifth century, amid the violent struggles between the people of Britain and the invading Saxons, Picts and Scots, he and his former general, Caius Britannicus, forge the government and military system that will become known as the Round Table, and initiate a chain of events that will lead to the coronation of the High King we know today as Arthur.

Rich in historical detail, brimming with drama, intrigue and passion, The Skystone gives new resonance to an enduring and powerful legend.

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff.

The Gales of southern Ontario can change the world with the charms they cast, and they prefer to keep all this power in the family. The Gale Aunties are in charge of this clan, or like to think they are. Alysha, like all her cousins, often finds herself beset with too many Aunties trying to run her life. So when a letter from her missing Gran arrives telling her that she’s inherited a junk shop in Calgary, Alysha is ready and willing to honor her grandmother’s last request to keep the shop open and serve “the community.” The Aunties, of course, want her to find out what really happened to Gran and come right back home, where they have her future mapped out for her. It isn’t until she arrives in Calgary that Alysha realizes it’s the fey community she’ll be serving in The Enchantment Emporium — and that one person’s junk may be another person’s magical treasure. Finding out what happened to Gran will not be easy, especially since Alysha has no way of knowing just how much otherwordly trouble is brewing in Calgary. And even calling in family reinforcements may not be enough to save the day….

I'm afraid I prefer my science fiction in television and movies, so I have no suggestions there ... ;-)

 

[Kendra]

Haha - would be good if my text was big enough to read .... do over:

The Skystone by Jack Whyte:

Born of the chaos of the Dark Ages, the Dream of Eagles produced a king, a country and an everlasting legend—Camelot

Publius Varrus is a veteran Roman officer and a maker of swords. In the early fifth century, amid the violent struggles between the people of Britain and the invading Saxons, Picts and Scots, he and his former general, Caius Britannicus, forge the government and military system that will become known as the Round Table, and initiate a chain of events that will lead to the coronation of the High King we know today as Arthur.

Rich in historical detail, brimming with drama, intrigue and passion, The Skystone gives new resonance to an enduring and powerful legend.

 

 

The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff.

 

The Gales of southern Ontario can change the world with the charms they cast, and they prefer to keep all this power in the family. The Gale Aunties are in charge of this clan, or like to think they are. Alysha, like all her cousins, often finds herself beset with too many Aunties trying to run her life. So when a letter from her missing Gran arrives telling her that she’s inherited a junk shop in Calgary, Alysha is ready and willing to honor her grandmother’s last request to keep the shop open and serve “the community.” The Aunties, of course, want her to find out what really happened to Gran and come right back home, where they have her future mapped out for her. It isn’t until she arrives in Calgary that Alysha realizes it’s the fey community she’ll be serving in The Enchantment Emporium — and that one person’s junk may be another person’s magical treasure. Finding out what happened to Gran will not be easy, especially since Alysha has no way of knowing just how much otherwordly trouble is brewing in Calgary. And even calling in family reinforcements may not be enough to save the day….

 

 

I'm afraid I prefer my science fiction in television and movies, so I have no suggestions there ... ;-)

 

[Kendra]

Or maybe demons??

Wild Ride by Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer

Mary Alice Brannigan doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Nor does she expect to find that Dreamland, the decaying amusement park she’s been hired to restore, is a prison for the five Untouchables, the most powerful demons in the history of the world. Plus, there’s a guy she’s falling hard for, and there’s something about him that’s not quite right.

But rocky romances and demented demons aren’t the only problems in Dreamland: Mab’s also coping with a crooked politician, a supernatural raven, a secret government agency, an inexperienced sorceress, an unsettling inheritance, and some mind-boggling revelations from her past. As her personal demons wreck her newfound relationship and real demons wreck the park, Mab faces down immortal evil and discovers what everybody who’s ever been to an amusement park knows: The end of the ride is always the wildest.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Babylon Steel: by Gaie Sebold

Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex-other things, runs the best brothel in Scalentine; city of many portals, two moons, and a wide variety of races, were-creatures, and religions, not to mention the occasional insane warlock. She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, women in the trade are being attacked, it’s tax time, and there’s not enough money to pay the bill. So when the mysterious Darask Fain offers her a job finding a missing girl, Babylon decides to take it. But the missing girl is not what she seems, and neither is Darask Fain. In the meantime twomoon is approaching, and more than just a few night’s takings are at risk when Babylon’s hidden past reaches out to grab her by the throat.

Loved this one! Sequel is coming out next Tuesday.... can't wait!

 

[Jill]

Nice Girls Don't Bite, by Molly Harper:

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children's librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed $25 in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that's sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she's mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.
Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She's forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn't enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What's a nice undead girl to do?
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith:

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."
"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.
Zombie Fallout, by Mark Tufo:

It was a flu season like no other. With the
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B007OQ04TK&qid=1359126478&sr=1-1#H1N1 virus
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B007OQ04TK&qid=1359126478&sr=1-1#running rampant throughout the country, people lined up in droves to try and attain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known was the effect this largely untested, rushed to market, inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs. Within days, feverish folk throughout the country convulsed, collapsed, and died, only to be reborn. With a taste for brains, blood, and bodies, these modern-day zombies scoured the lands for their next meal. Overnight the country became a killing ground for the hordes of zombies that ravaged the land.
This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family, and his friends: a band of ordinary people trying to get by in extraordinary times. When disaster strikes, Mike, a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for. Book one of the Zombie Fallout Trilogy follows our lead character at his self-deprecating, sarcastic best. What he encounters along the way leads him down a long dark road, always skirting the edge of insanity
Can he keep his family safe? Can he discover the secret behind Tommy's powers? Can he save anyone from the zombie queen? Encircled in a seemingly safe haven called Little Turtle, Mike and his family, together with the remnants of a tattered community, must fight against a relentless, ruthless, unstoppable force. This last bastion of civilization has made its final stand. God help them all.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Dodger by Terry Pratchett. A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl—not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England. From Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

 

[SugaryCharm]

I love fantasy novels (especially series) so I hope you don't mind me jumping in, even though I'm a newbie here

. I thought ohmt's recommendation Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card sounded intriguing. I'd also nominate Shatter by Elizabeth Mock--I read it when it came out a few years ago and remember enjoying it, but the details have gone fuzzy so it's time for a reread as I recently bought the second book in the series! Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Growing up during the chaos of the Nabosian War, Faela Durante and her entire generation never knew what it meant to live in a time of peace. Though the war ended years ago, the devastation has not. Every decision, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has a consequence and some consequences can never be predicted. But some are foretold.

 

Less than a year ago, Faela, the first Tereskan mind healer in generations, disappeared from her family home in Finalaran scared and pregnant. Hunted and living as an outcast, Faela searches for a legend that might be her only hope of gaining atonement and returning to her son. When her journey collides with two strangers and a prophecy, she must choose between trusting those around her or accomplishing her mission. Haunted by her past, the consequences of Faela's choices may endanger more than her own fate.

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[KanoasDestiny]

Welcome SugaryCharm!

 

[lucky seven]

I watch sci fi on tv, don't really read books on it. When the selections are chosen it will be fun to pick one.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I've read The Night Circus, (well, listened to the audiobook) and I liked it!

This one is on my list to read:

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing. But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.

And Number Three in Kenya.

They killed them all.

I am Number Four. I am next.

 

[SugaryCharm]

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing. But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.

Number Two in England.

And Number Three in Kenya.

They killed them all.

I am Number Four. I am next.

They made a movie of this one; have you seen it? I watched it just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[ohmt]

The movie is terrible, but the book sounds interesting!

 

[KanoasDestiny]

I really liked the movie, I Am Number Four. I didn't really want to watch it when it first came out but my brother talked me into it. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I liked the movie, that's why I want to read the series. Usually the books are better than the movie, so I'm curious about the books.