Spluk42

Hey everybody! Sorry I missed last weekend was busy with work. Again this is voting for the book to discuss at the end of October. I'll post the runner up from last month and otherwise post your selection. Don't forget that we will be discussing Winter World by A.G. Riddle at the end of the month / next weekend!

Looks like "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" wins by default! Since engagement is dropping off here I might defer to the !sciencefiction@lemmy.world book club.

First discussion thread for the book club. This is for August's book Player of Games by Iain Banks.

Upcoming events: September ~15th: Voting for October's book September 30th: Discussion Thread on Winter World by A.G. Riddle

What sci-fi books are missing something that seems obvious to us today (and is somewhat central to the story / setting)?

My first thought was Dune with the ban on thinking machines. If you asked just about anyone today they would say the far future would involve computers everywhere. But Frank Herbert wrote Dune in 1965 when computers were huge, specialized machines and we hadn't even landed on the moon yet. And he saw a future where not only computers became ubiquitous but we're then rejected.

So what books jump out as missing something that we would find inconceivable today?

Hey everybody! It's the middle of August so that means it's time to vote on what to read for September. The most upvoted comment will be the book for September's discussion. The runner-up will be automatically reposted for the next month's vote. In case of a tie I'll move each one involved. If the runner up was your suggestion last month it doesn't mean you have to vote for it this month or can't suggest something new.

Sorry for the long wait between the first vote and the first discussion thread. Wanted there to be enough time to find and read the chosen book. Should go smoother from here on.

Finally a reminder that at the end of the month we will be chatting about Player of Games by Iain Banks. Still time to read it!

September's book club read is Winter World by A.G. Riddle!

By popular demand I'm putting together a monthly book club. My plan is to vote for a book to discuss around the middle weekend of the month and to discuss it on the last weekend of the following month. Should give ~6 weeks to find a copy from a library to checkout or purchase it if you like and a little more time to read it in case it's a monster.

Anyone can submit a book title as a comment and the highest upvoted comment at the end of the weekend will be announced as the pick! The runner up will be automatically included in the next month's voting. Please include the title and author information for any submissions and if you feel like it a blurb on why to pick it. If it has limited availability or something where "googling it" might be difficult please include a link.

Edit: Looks like the winner is "Player of Games" by Iain Banks. Look for the discussion thread last week of August and mid-August for the new poll thread. I'll be post the two runner-ups since we had a tie. Happy reading!

Any interest? Vote on a book, hold a discussion thread 4 weeks later. Maybe make the vote it's own post with comments being the books and taking the highest upvoted suggestion. Or most total votes up or down for better discussion later.

Thought it'd be fun to share what everyone has been reading. I'll try to include titles and authors to make finding more information on them easier as well as a brief synopsis and my thoughts.

I had a lot of travel this week and speed through "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Great read with very interesting ideas and payoff that had me hooked. Covers human uplifting of other species, their development, and interactions afterwards.

I've also been working on "Strontium Dog" from 2000 A.D. comics (hey, it's sci-fi and it's printed) and made it through most of Vol. 3. In short, the main character Johnny Alpha is a mutant who's only available employment is as a bounty hunter. Very fun read in general, although part of the main beats in this volume are sad.

Started a new novel and continued working on my audiobook but I'll save my thoughts on that for next week / when I finish them.

What are people's thoughts? I like the theme and concept execution but think his games are a bit too heavy for me to get regular play. We keep meaning to get back to The Gallerist but can't find the time. I skimmed two video reviews (Rahdo and Man v. Meeple) and one suggested it was a lighter game (for Lacerda) and the other said it was up there with his more complex.