May 2012 Fantasy Discussion Nominations

**Erfael** · March 4th, 2012, 10:28 PM

Hi all,

Time for some nominations for a April BOTM. Have at it.

1. Everyone can nominate one book and second a reasonably small number of other books.
2. Books must be available new in US and UK (I just check the two Amazons for this). They should also be in a format other than hardcover, so as to keep costs down.
3. Books must be standalone or book 1 in a series (usually not a problem in SF).
4. They can't have been book club books before.

**Erfael** · March 4th, 2012, 10:36 PM

I'd love to do something already on my shelves this month...a few thoughts:

Janny Wurts, Curse of the Mistwraith -- I've been meaning to read this for years. This would give me an excuse.

Kate Elliott -- The King's Dragon -- Same as above.

Charles de Lint -- I like what little I've read of him, but we've never done him for the book club. If anyone is interested in him, I can see what I have on the shelves.

**algernoninc** · March 5th, 2012, 12:36 AM

I've read one book by Charles de Lint and I liked it very much: The Onion Girl. I've been meaning to try more by him, but he has such a long list of interconnected tales, its hard to know where to start.

I'm also planning to read Jurgen by James Branch Cabbel, based on an interesting topic I've seen here, but it may not be everybody's cup of tea.

**Erfael** · March 5th, 2012, 12:51 PM

As far as de Lint goes, I have The Onion Girl, Widdershins (seems to be a later Newford book, maybe a sequel to Onion Girl), Spirits in the Wires (Newford, but doesn't seem to be too related to other books), Greenmantle.

Looking into it, the Newford books seem to be written in such a way that you're not missing critical info if you're out of order. They're not a series with a linear story, but just a shared setting. While some books happen earlier and others later, it doesn't seem bad to read out of order (in fact, publication order doesn't match the chronology, it seems, like the Vlad Taltos books).

I also have a couple short story collections if that's more to people's taste.

**sullivan_riyria** · March 14th, 2012, 11:36 AM

I know it might be a bit to ask...but can we update the "books so far list" - I have several that I would like to nominate but the list ends in 2011 and it would be hard for me to dig through the threads to find what was picked. Sorry if that is being pushy just trying to make it easier to nominate.

**Eventine** · March 14th, 2012, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by sullivan_riyria

I know it might be a bit to ask...but can we update the "books so far list" - I have several that I would like to nominate but the list ends in 2011 and it would be hard for me to dig through the threads to find what was picked. Sorry if that is being pushy just trying to make it easier to nominate.

OK, you caught me napping there! This is one of those housekeeping jobs that tends to be somewhat deliberately forgotten. I'll have a chance to update it over the next few hours.

EDIT: Done.

I'd be interested in reading The Onion Girl. I've read both of Erf's epic recommendations and would be happy to discuss them, not sure I'd re-read them though.
Time is ticking for orders - how about we lock one in? I'll be away the first half of April so don't let me sway where we go too much.

**sullivan_riyria** · March 16th, 2012, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by Eventine

OK, you caught me napping there! This is one of those housekeeping jobs that tends to be somewhat deliberately forgotten. I'll have a chance to update it over the next few hours.

EDIT: Done.

Thanks for doing this - I know it can be a pain - but it really helped.

So the book I want to nominate wasn't on the list - which I'm surprised by as Jon is a member of the group - I want to nominate Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Son. The last book in the serie Shadow's Master just came out and is doing well so I think this would be a good time to get people starting out the series.

**TooNice** · March 17th, 2012, 10:38 AM

Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett

I've been wanting to get into the Discworld series and this would be a good starting point, it's a complete stand alone apparently.

**Erfael** · March 17th, 2012, 10:49 AM

Since we're very late in March already to be picking an April book, I'll go ahead and rename this thread for may and extend the discussion of the Walton book another month into April.

**algernoninc** · March 20th, 2012, 01:28 AM

I've seen a lot of interest in other posts about Jon Sprunk. I've been waiting for the series to be completed, so now I will be interested to start Shadow's Son.

**Contrarius** · March 20th, 2012, 04:12 AM

I keep meaning to read some de Lint, so it would be nice to have an excuse to get it done. Or maybe the Riyria books? Lots of people here have read them, so we might get a good discussion.

**Ozziespur** · March 20th, 2012, 08:21 PM

I'd like to nominate The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham please ...

**Erfael** · April 10th, 2012, 08:03 AM

Okay. The two most-mentioned things here are Shadow's Son and de Lint, so let's go with them for May and June.

Since Shadow's Son is nailed down, let's have that for May.

For June, let's narrow down to one Charles de Lint book. Algernoninc has done Onion Girl already. I'd be up for it if that's the majority, but it's not available new in the UK market.

Two that are available in both markets that I'd be up for:

Dreams Underfoot (a short story collection that is considered the "first" Newford book, though they can be read in any order...nice introduction, I'd think).

The Little Country (a standalone that seems to be well-liked).