Rob B
December 8th, 2004, 08:17 PM
I've been doing this the past few years so....
Since 2004 is coming to a close, we can start compiling what members of these forums thought was the best Speculative Fiction book(s) published in 2004.
As in the past we should keep this simple so the minimal critera is as follows:
You actually read the book between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004
It was published in 2004. This can be either the first Hardcover edition or the first paperback edition (for the paperback to qualify, it has to be the First paperback edition i.e. while The Briar King was first published Hardcover in 2003, the paperback was published in 2004 so it could be counted).
If the book, like KJ Bishop's The Etched City, was published by a small press publisher prior to 2004 (Bishop's was published by Prime Books in 2003) and received a wider release through a Big House publisher this year (BantamSpectra Nov. '04)
If the book, like M. John Harrison's Light was published by a UK publisher earlier (2002 in this case) and received a US release this year
While this topic resides in the Fantasy (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6) forum since it is the forum with the most traffic, all genre books under the above criteria will be eligble: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror and all combinations of the three. I will be posting an announcement/topic in those forums to get people who normally don't visit the fantasy forums to come here and post their choices.
Pick three books that you enjoyed the most: Points will be doled out as follows -- 5 points for the best book, 3 points for 2nd best book, and 1 point for 3rd best book such that:
Book A by Rob 5 points
Book B by Gary 3 points
Book C by Hobbit 1 point
We can run this thing through January, giving people time for to read any '04 releases they receive as Holiday gifts, and I'll add up the votes/points and post the results in February.
Some other things to keep in mind:
Keep it only to your top 3 books.
Don't start a discussion explaining why you disagree with a persons choice... there are other topics for that... just post your top 3 and leave it at that.
Make sure you post in order of Preference... and if you post 5 favourite... only the top three should be taken into account. I know this is common sense... but trust me... it does happen.
Moderators/Admins WILL be deleting any large explanations as to why people chose their top 3 books.
Moderators/Admins will also delete any titles beyond three
You can list a TIE for one of the three places, however, the points get divided between the books. i.e. if you place Iron Council and Tanequil as tied for 3rd place, each book will only get 1/2 point
Publication dates:
Amazon.com will tell you the publication date - people do ask.
The book itself will have the publication date - again, people do ask
Locus Online's Forthcoming books for 2004 (http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Future/ForthcomingBooks.html)
Any other questions of a book's eligibility PM a mod/admin.
Have fun with this!
Here is the thread to voice your opinions:
http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=222784#post222784
Since 2004 is coming to a close, we can start compiling what members of these forums thought was the best Speculative Fiction book(s) published in 2004.
As in the past we should keep this simple so the minimal critera is as follows:
You actually read the book between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004
It was published in 2004. This can be either the first Hardcover edition or the first paperback edition (for the paperback to qualify, it has to be the First paperback edition i.e. while The Briar King was first published Hardcover in 2003, the paperback was published in 2004 so it could be counted).
If the book, like KJ Bishop's The Etched City, was published by a small press publisher prior to 2004 (Bishop's was published by Prime Books in 2003) and received a wider release through a Big House publisher this year (BantamSpectra Nov. '04)
If the book, like M. John Harrison's Light was published by a UK publisher earlier (2002 in this case) and received a US release this year
While this topic resides in the Fantasy (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6) forum since it is the forum with the most traffic, all genre books under the above criteria will be eligble: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror and all combinations of the three. I will be posting an announcement/topic in those forums to get people who normally don't visit the fantasy forums to come here and post their choices.
Pick three books that you enjoyed the most: Points will be doled out as follows -- 5 points for the best book, 3 points for 2nd best book, and 1 point for 3rd best book such that:
Book A by Rob 5 points
Book B by Gary 3 points
Book C by Hobbit 1 point
We can run this thing through January, giving people time for to read any '04 releases they receive as Holiday gifts, and I'll add up the votes/points and post the results in February.
Some other things to keep in mind:
Keep it only to your top 3 books.
Don't start a discussion explaining why you disagree with a persons choice... there are other topics for that... just post your top 3 and leave it at that.
Make sure you post in order of Preference... and if you post 5 favourite... only the top three should be taken into account. I know this is common sense... but trust me... it does happen.
Moderators/Admins WILL be deleting any large explanations as to why people chose their top 3 books.
Moderators/Admins will also delete any titles beyond three
You can list a TIE for one of the three places, however, the points get divided between the books. i.e. if you place Iron Council and Tanequil as tied for 3rd place, each book will only get 1/2 point
Publication dates:
Amazon.com will tell you the publication date - people do ask.
The book itself will have the publication date - again, people do ask
Locus Online's Forthcoming books for 2004 (http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Future/ForthcomingBooks.html)
Any other questions of a book's eligibility PM a mod/admin.
Have fun with this!
Here is the thread to voice your opinions:
http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=222784#post222784