Kevin's Watch Book Club - February's pick: Redshirts

[ussusimiel]

I'd be happy with just A Shadow in Summer, although I've got the omnibus Shadow and Betrayal which also has A Betrayal in Winter in it. Whatever is easiest and least costly for people (if it's chosen).

Off topic: I know I have nicknames (and proud I am of them too ), but I want one that directly puns on my handle. Something like: couscoussimiel

u.

[I'm Murrin]

Re: Long Price, it's a four-book series that is usually published in 2-book volumes. I have the first volume, Shadow and Betrayal (comprised of A Shadow in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter) on my pile. So the question really is how to treat it for the book club's purpose. Even the first half I have makes a fairly thick volume.

Edit: I posted at the same time as the gourd.

[Iolanthe]

Seized. </spelling nazi who should go to shee...sleep>

Just popping back to say That must be the one that doesn't follow the "i before e except after c" rule! I knew that, and I have the book on the bookshelf right in front of me.

[Menolly]

Off topic: I know I have nicknames (and proud I am of them too ), but I want one that directly puns on my handle. Something like: couscoussimiel

New lyric/title for Phil Collins? couscoussimiel

...and maybe this thread should be renamed "the typo thread," once the selection for February is made?

[ussusimiel]

New lyric/title for Phil Collins? couscoussimiel

Cooooool! Now I have a theme song too

u.

[deer of the dawn]

I vote for the Wool Omnibus too, because I've got a copy of the eBook but haven't read it yet.

Me too, since
I actually just started reading this today.

I read Life of Pi a few years ago. It was one of those books about which there was so much hype I couldn't possibly have enjoyed it properly. I could see giving it another shot. The film really was beautiful.

How and when do we vote, or does Muffy decide?

[I'm Murrin]

Read the first post. Poll goes up on the 21st, and lasts a week.

[ussusimiel]

Read the first post. Poll goes up on the 21st, and lasts a week.

Muffy the Mod-Slanging Killer

u.

[deer of the dawn]

Read the first post. Poll goes up on the 21st, and lasts a week.

Muffy the Mod-Slanging Killer

u.

Sorry, I did read it. Short attention span. What were we talking about?

[I'm Murrin]

Poll is now open! Here are the synopses for the nominated works:

A Shadow in Summer (The Long Price quartet) - Daniel Abraham

The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit, Seedless, an andat bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, a juggernaut of an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht, though, has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity. If they can dispose of Heshai, Seedless's bonded poet-sorcerer, Seedless will perish and the entire city will fall. With secret forces inside the city, the Galts prepare to enact their terrible plan.

In the middle is Otah, a simple laborer with a complex past. Recruited to act as a bodyguard for his girlfriend's boss at a secret meeting, he inadvertently learns of the Galtish plot. Otah finds himself as the sole hope of Saraykeht, either he stops the Galts, or the whole city and everyone in it perishes forever.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound royal bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and beloved works of fiction in recent years.

Universally acclaimed upon publication, Life of Pi is a modern classic.

The Magic Engineer (The Recluse Saga) - L.E. Modesitt Jr

The latest book in the saga of Recluce, this is the story of Dorrin of Recluce, blacksmith and scion of the Order magicians, who invents wonderful devices. His insights violate the rules of Order magic, so he must go into exile in the lands of Chaos--where the forces of the Chaos wizards move across the land and whose ultimate goal is the destruction of Recluce.

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas - John Scalzi

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship’s famous senior officers.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship’s senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members belowdecks avoid Away Missions at all costs.

Then Andrew stumbles on information that transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

[Shaun das Schaf]

What happened to 'Wool' as an option? Frosty said she can get it on audible and the rest of us have access to e-readers and or e-reader software no?

Let me know if this breaks the rules - wouldn't be the first time I've fallen foul of the law- and I'll vote for one of the others.

- Anarchist Sheep

[I'm Murrin]

Sticking to the word of the "only books available in print form" rule for now.

[Avatar]

Damn it, read something I've got.

Uh, Menolly, you just say, "Hey, I've got this e-book, but I don't seem to be able to read it. Can you help me out?"

--A

[I'm Murrin]

Part of the point is to widen people's reading outside of the stuff they were already looking at.

Come on, folks, make your opinion known. We had a lot more votes last time! There are some pretty good books on this shortlist.

[I'm Murrin]

Only a couple of days left to vote.

Once this selection is done, I'm going to shuffle things around a bit for the next one, get a bit of a system going.

[danlo]

Let me see if I can find a copy---I SO enjoyed the first three books of Lynne's series I almost forgot another month was upon us.

[danlo]

So where are we discussing this? I'm in the middle of the 2nd Coda and enjoying this very much!

[I'm Murrin]

Discussion thread will start on Monday.

[aliantha]

Let me see if I can find a copy---I SO enjoyed the first three books of Lynne's series I almost forgot another month was upon us.

[ussusimiel]

Probably going to have to bail on this one guys. Went into town today especially to get Redshirts with some Xmas vintage vouchers; €25 in large format paperback! Not even hardback Couldn't justify it. It's €15 for the Kindle version. No way I can justify that either!

It might be a suggestion for the future that the book be out in regular paperback. I know it's nice to read something that's newly published, but people's means etc. (And I'm a big fan of Scalzi's. I've read and reread all the Old Man's War series (bar Zoe's Tale) )

u.