For February’s meeting, we’re reading How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. In a second-rate universe, a time-travel machine repairman revisits his childhood and oh, by the way, has to rescue his father. For those who like their science fiction experimental, witty, and quite meta, this is the book to [...] [...more]
For January’s meeting, we’re reading Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. Anne McCaffrey passed away recently, so we’re reading the beginning of her most famous series, The Dragonriders of Pern, in which a ragged kitchen girl has the opportunity to save the world. While it may read like potential fantasy, the author and many others insist on [...] [...more]
For December’s meeting we’ll be reading The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle. A fantasy children’s classic from 1968, some say its prose-poetry belongs alongside classics like The Hobbit and Alice in Wonderland. From the book: “The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, [...] [...more]
For November’s meeting we’ll be reading The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. A classic science fiction serial originally appearing in Galaxy magazine in 1956, the novel has many characteristics of cyberpunk well before the term was coined. With influences from The Count of Monte Cristo, the action starts when the main character becomes marooned, even to [...] [...more]
For October’s meeting we’ll be reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. A giant MMORPG allows people to escape the mess than is the year 2044. Deep inside this utopia are puzzles—including rewards to be sought by all. These puzzles are based on the fascinations of their author, a multimillionaire donating his fortune to the winner after [...] [...more]
For September’s meeting we’ll be reading Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson. Wilson holds a doctorate in robotics and uses that to his advantage while describing the worst case robot scenario: war between humans and robots. With a basis firmly rooted in Terminator, while avoiding the implausible actions of those units, plus a dash of World War Z [...] [...more]
For our next bookclub meeting we’ll be reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. A young adult novel, it features historical photographs—the protagonist uses them in attempting to puzzle out if phenomenon he encounters are myth or reality. Selected by Amazon’s editors as one of the Best Books of the Year So Far, Miss Peregrine’s [...] [...more]
For our next bookclub meeting we’ll be reading The Adventures of Guy by Norm Cowie. Reviewers have compared it to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A casual romp involving a Quest for a group of slackers, The Adventures of Guy made Pop Syndicate’s list of Top Ten Novels. Join us for discussion of our current book as [...] [...more]
For our next bookclub meeting we’ll be reading Things We Think About Games by Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball (more ordering information farther down on that page if you’d like other options). A shorter selection for this month and less SF/Fantasy than generally nerd-related, Things We Think About Games contains bite-sized snippets of gaming wisdom from the [...] [...more]
For our next bookclub meeting we’ll be reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. The first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series and soon to have a TV adaptation on HBO, this novel won the Locus Award in 1997. Following three storylines and eight major points-of-view, the intrigue of royalty is [...] [...more]
