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First time doing an r/Fantasy bingo… and it was great!

2021.03.09 22:13 Harkale-Linai First time doing an r/Fantasy bingo… and it was great!

EDIT: u/serenity-as-ice pointed out that The Bone Ships doesn't qualify for the necromancy square, so I hope I didn't mislead anyone into reading it to fill that square (it's still a fantastic book that I highly recommend). I'll update this post when I've finished reading a different book for that square!
As a summary, the card is visible here. I initially started the challenge to discover a few new writers and subcategories of SFF I’m not familiar with (mainly thanks to recommendations on this subreddit) and ended up with a full card without really realizing it. I made lots of great discoveries and now have a huuuge TBR list full of all the other books written by these amazing authors!
I enjoyed all the books listed below, for different reasons… but I don’t feel competent enough to give them ratings: the difference between books I consider to be good or absolutely great is just a matter of taste… I’ve realised I especially like reading about people peopling (they have realistic personalities, the good guys are trying to understand others and aiming to be better people), soft magic system (mysterious events rather than codified rules of magic), in original settings and with beautiful, poetic prose. I’ve added hearts (<3) before the titles I loved most and would absolutely recommend to people who don’t dislike the things I listed above :)
So here are the mini-reviews, feel free to let me know if I did anything wrong, and I hope they will make you want to discover some of these books!

First row:

<3 Novel Translated from its Original Language: Kenji Miyazawa - Night Train to the Milky Way.
It’s actually a collection of poetic, dreamlike short stories about humanity, kindness, and the beauty of our world. The main one, Night Train to the Milky Way, tells the story of a boy who takes a train through the night sky with his best friend. It’s a beautiful tale about loss and grief, written after the author lost his sister, and one of the most touching texts I’ve ever read… It’s my favourite read on this card, and I deeply recommend it if you’re OK with your eyes turning into fountains (plus, it was published after the author’s death about a century ago, so it’s probably in the public domain and available for free online)

Setting Featuring Snow, Ice, or Cold: Ursula Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness.
We discover a planet where people are neither male nor female through the eyes of a man from our own Earth. Le Guin builds a very convincing society, with its complex interactions and subtle differences from our own world, in which the story unfolds, dealing with prejudice on both sides and trying to relate to others despite their differences. I loved discovering this world through the point of view of a biased outsider, trying to figure out what he didn’t understand (and often failing).

Optimistic SFF: Katherine Addison - The Goblin Emperor.
Maia, a half-goblin outcast, is suddenly put on the throne of an elven kingdom. It took me a while to figure out why this was so often recommended as an optimistic SFF book: the court is fond of gossip and backstabbing and the main character is just so lonely (and needs a big hug)… But then, he’s a genuinely good person who wants to do what’s best for everyone and who’s extremely considerate of others, and power doesn’t manage to corrupt him. He’s a great character (and he still deserves that hug)!

<3 Novel Featuring Necromancy: R. J. Barker - The Bone Ships.
I love that universe. It has ships made of bones, creepy necromancy and an unjust social structure on one hand, and gorgeous nature, mysterious magic and bird-people on the other hand. I like the other hand better, obviously, but the contrast is fantastic. The characters are great, too, and so are the visual descriptions, with all their rich colours (the black or white ships, blue and red paint, pink or purple plants,…): the book is high on my to-make-fanart-of list, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series!
Also, side notes: the writer isn’t K. J. Parker, and bird-people aren’t called Guillaume. It’s all very confusing and it took me longer than I am willing to admit to figure it out.

<3 Ace / Aro Spec Fic: two novellas here, Meredith Katz - The Cybernetic Teashop and Seanan McGuire - Every Heart a Doorway.
I loved both these stories and added everything else by the writers to my TBR! The first one is a romance between a programmer and a robot, with lots of tea and caring for each other. Before reading it, I thought I wasn’t a fan of romance stories, but the protagonists stole my heart and I’m glad to be wrong.
The second is a beautiful story as well, about children stranded away from the dreamworlds they used to live in… It’s about melancholy and loss, and hope too. I love McGuire’s delicate prose, and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in that series!

Second Row:

Novel Featuring a Ghost: two shorter books here too, Oscar Wilde - The Canterville Ghost and William Shakespeare – Hamlet.
The first one is part of a book of short stories/novellas: an American family buys a haunted English manor. They didn’t believe in ghosts, but this ghost is clearly real and also far too noisy. It’s a fun story, often more on the acerbic side (I mean, it’s Wilde), but surprisingly kind overall!
The second, well, is Hamlet. No, I hadn’t read it before. As a non-native English speaker, I found it tough (I had a modern French translation next to the original text to help me understand some sentences, I would have missed a lot without it, and I probably still missed a lot with it). I liked it, but it’s not my favourite among Shakespeare’s works, and I’m not going to elaborate much further here because I’m not a literary critic and I think my ignorance would give the British a good reason to invade Brittany and burn me to the stake (or worse, force me to eat English “food”).

Novel Featuring Exploration: Matthew Buscemi - Schrödinger's City.
A self-published novel which the writer advertised on this subreddit :) We’re following different people who are stuck in a strange city that alternates between two configurations. It’s a really original setting, and I enjoyed exploring it with the characters!

<3 Climate fiction: Mary Robinette Kowal - The Calculating Stars.
After a massive cataclysm happened on Earth in the 50s, we follow the efforts of humanity to escape to the stars through the point of view of a NASA employee who ends up having a central role. I love how her obvious competence is displayed in the first chapter, I love the beautiful relationship she has with her husband, and I love how the different kinds of discrimination mirror each other (especially as people realize that others are discriminated against and change their own perspective). It’s just great.

Novel with a Colour in the Title: John Scalzi – Redshirts.
I don’t remember the username of the person who recommended that book to me in a discussion about Galaxy Quest, but thank you, kind redditor! It’s a hilarious book, probably best appreciated by Star Trek fans, that pokes fun at the tropes of the series (especially the alarmingly high deathrate of people wearing red aboard the USS Enterprise).

<3 Any fantasy Book Club Book of the Month OR fantasy Read-along Book: Hope Mirrlees - Lud-in-the-Mist.
We follow an investigation happening in Dorimare, a modern country (by early 20th century standards) whose inhabitants don’t like to be reminded of their country’s past strong ties with Fairyland, a mysterious place lying beyond Dorimare’s western border. It’s a wonderful book, with its mix of modern politics and eerie fairy magic, with a gallery of very human characters and written in a beautiful prose. It reminded me a lot of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I also loved, except it was written about 80 years before JSMN ^^

Third Row:

Self-Published SFF Novel: Joseph O. Dorah - The Child of Silence.
Another one advertised by its writer on Fantasy! This book has a very unusual perspective, as it’s told from the point of view of a severely disabled girl. All her family members are powerful magic users, and she’s in a chair, unable to speak or move, useless for them. Her struggles to be seen as a person feel all too realistic, and the pace of the book really works well with that slow progression… I regret some unnecessary lengths (a fight scene in the last part of the book, in particular), but it’s still a very refreshing perspective, so I definitely recommend it.

Novel with Chapter Epigraphs: Brandon Sanderson - The Way of Kings.
After reading so much praise on this subreddit, I’ve read a few of Sanderson’s books, but I don’t get it, sorry… The world is original, but I don’t sympathize with any of the characters, and I’m really not a fan of the writing style either. Which shows that I have no taste in books at all. My Sanderson fan friends are extremely disappointed in me, and so am I.

<3 Novel Published in 2020: Martha Wells - Network Effect.
The 2020 Murderbot novel is great! I’ve read it twice so far, and I’m probably going to read it again before the next novel is released. In this series, we’re following the adventures of a sarcastic space cyborg who watches too much TV (Murderbot itself), its human friends Dr Mensah et al., and its robotic friends like Asshole Research Transport (ART for short, not its actual name). The world is full of evil corporations doing evil corporation business, but fortunately it’s also full of kind people, human or non-human.

Novel Set in a School or University: John Bierce - Into the Labyrinth.
Another one of these books that just doesn’t work for me… I’m very sorry, especially since the author is a member of this subreddit and may stumble across this review (aaaargh). For me, it’s in the same category as Robin Hobb’s or Brandon Sanderson’s books: it’s just not my cup of tea and I don’t know why, but people who appreciate these writers may appreciate the Mage Errant series as well!

<3 Book About Books: Raymond St Elmo - The Origin of Birds in the Footprints of Writing.
We’re following the adventures of Clarence St Claire, who has been asked by the NSA to decode what is apparently a bunch of bird tracks. So he does. After a while, the bird tracks start to look suspiciously like words, birds start to look suspiciously like famous writers, and the world itself becomes weirder and weirder (and suspiciously so). I loved that book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys writers like Borges, Calvino or Kafka, as it’s a great tribute to their work (on top of being a great story in itself)!

Fourth Row:

<3 A Book that Made You Laugh: Becky Chambers - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
We’re following the crew of the Wayfarer, a spaceship tasked with punching wormholes through space to make travelling from point A to point B easier for everyone else. There’s a big galactic story happening in the background, and others fight with laser guns in space, but not the crew of the Wayfarer. They’re just people, humans and aliens, trying to do their best to live together, to learn and care about the others, about this unlikely family they are. The characters are great, and their story is beautiful.

Five SFF Short Stories: Jean-Philippe Jaworski - Le Sentiment du Fer
A collection of short stories that develop Jaworski’s universe from his novel Gagner la Guerre, a mix of Italian Renaissance (with city-states and sword fighters) and traditional fantasy (elves and mysterious magic). The stories offer refreshing versions of fantasy tropes, often with lots of precise technical words, but they’re also surprisingly haunting.

Big Dumb Object: James S; A. Corey - Leviatan Wakes
I love the TV series The Expanse and read the books to see how similar or different they were… as it turns out, the answer is “very similar”. The problem is, some of the things that feel new and modern in sci-fi shows (from the Belters themselves to the fact that the heroes run simulations to train before a fight in space, all the elements that make that world realistic) are actually much older tropes in written sci-fi, and the universe feels less exciting as a book… which doesn’t mean that it’s a bad story at all, just less exciting.

<3 Feminist Novel: M. L. Wang – The Sword of Kaigen
One of the many great books I wouldn’t have discovered without this subreddit. In a Japan-inspired village, we follow the young Mamoru, a promising fighter, and his mother Misaki, a former superhero (kind of) and now passive housewife in a rigid patriarchal society, as they’re dragged into a violent conflict. The story is dark and character-focused – and the characters are great, with their doubts and contradictions and slow or sudden evolutions… It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking book.

Novel by a Canadian Author: Steven Erikson - Midnight Tides
(re-read) The Malazan Book of the Fallen is amazing, with all its complex characters and rich history. This novel is one of my favourite books in the series, I love the contrast between the nonsensical humour and critique of capitalism and the heavy pathos surrounding some characters. One moment I’m laughing to tears, and the next one Erikson breaks my heart using only a few words.
However, the whole “haha rape is fun if the victim is mentally handicapped and well hung” subplot was really not great. I still liked the book as a whole, but, well. Not a fan of that part.

Fifth Row

Novel with a Number in the Title: C. R. Smith - Two Thousand Leagues as the Seabird.
Khatan tells the story of his life, as a pariah, a mercenary fighter, a servant… It’s a reflection on his violent life, his failures and regrets. The prose is poetic and contemplative, and gives a nice rhythm to the story. I really enjoyed the different settings explored as well, the vast steppes and frozen North.

Romantic Fantasy / Paranormal Romance: A. K. Caggiano - The Korinniad.
The yearly virgin sacrifice approaches, and Korinna is likely going to be the next victim. But she’d rather not die, so she prays the goddess Aphrodite to send her someone – not her true love, just someone to have sex with to avoid being sacrificed. I picked this book after the writer specifically advertised it as a way to fill the “romance” square of the bingo card :) I love the writer’s sense of humour, and even though you kind of know from the beginning how it’s going to end, the journey is fun and enjoyable, with cute monsters and ridiculous gods!

Novel with a Magical Pet: Will Wight – Ghostwater
These books feel a bit like an idle game, with the protagonist growing exponentially powerful, and you’re just here to watch him become stronger and stronger. On one hand, it’s not my cup of tea; on the other hand, I got the first books when they were available for free, started reading, and immediately bought the others to read them all in less than two weeks. It’s extremely addictive. The characters are not especially likeable, I just want to watch them become stronger… which is a weird feeling.

<3 Format: Graphic Novel (at least 1 vol.) OR Audiobook / Audio drama: Ashley Cope – Unsounded.
The bestest online comic ever. We follow the adventures of Duane Adelier (badass mage, great with kids, zombie, and pious believer in a religion which abhors zombies), Sette Frummagen (young girl who’s not entirely human, best thief in the world according to herself), and dozens of other likeable characters. Most of these characters are deeply flawed and very human (including the non-human ones), with so much love and racism and kindness and suffering. They’re not all on the same side, and most of them try to do what’s right, they just don’t have the same values and perspective... It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking story, and the author’s drawing style is amazing too!

Novel Featuring Politics: K. J. Parker - The Folding Knife
In this book, we follow the rise to power and inevitable fall of a Machiavellian banker and politician. We know from the beginning how he’s going to end, and we watch all his smart calculations and complex plans unfold, knowing that at some point his life will be destroyed. It’s a gripping story, and it works very well.
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2018.10.28 15:08 CoffeeArchives Come Vote for Our November Classics Book of the Month!

Voting
You can cast your vote here.
Voting will end at 10 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, October 31, and the winning book will be announced soon after.
Discussions will take place in this subreddit, with one or more posts going up each month.

How Does Voting Work?
Voting will take place anonymously via a Google Form. Instead of picking your top choice, you will be asked to rate each potential book on a scale of 1-5.
  1. Will not read or discuss the book, I am not interested (-2 to book score)
  2. Probably won't read or discuss the book (-1 to book score)
  3. Eh, I may or may not participate if this book wins (0 to book score)
  4. Probably will read or discuss the book (+1 to book score)
  5. If this book wins, I will definitely read or discuss it (+2 to book score)
This style of voting allows the book with the most community interest to win, rather than forcing people to choose between two or more equally appealing choices. Final votes are "tallied" by adding the weighted scores for each book.
Note that if you choose not to vote at all for a particular book, you are essentially voting a 3 and saying that you may or may not participate. Why? Intentionally voting a 1 indicates a stronger negative preference for a book than not voting at all.

Here are the choices for November 2018:
Book Author Series Published
The Blue Sword Robin McKinley Damar 1982
Kindred Octavia Butler N/A 1979
Arrows of the Queen Mercedes Lackey Heralds of Valdemar 1987
Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees N/A 1926
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez N/A 1967

And now, a little about each book:


The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey
Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen's own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.
But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason that could destroy Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen's heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen's own foes.

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Lud-in-the-Mist, the capital city of the small country Dorimare, is a port at the confluence of two rivers, the Dapple and the Dawl. The Dapple has its origin beyond the Debatable Hills to the west of Lud-in-the-Mist, in Fairyland. In the days of Duke Aubrey, some centuries earlier, fairy things had been looked upon with reverence, and fairy fruit was brought down the Dapple and enjoyed by the people of Dorimare. But after Duke Aubrey had been expelled from Dorimare by the burghers, the eating of fairy fruit came to be regarded as a crime, and anything related to Fairyland was unspeakable. Now, when his son Ranulph is believed to have eaten fairy fruit, Nathaniel Chanticleer, the mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, finds himself looking into old mysteries in order to save his son and the people of his city.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel that tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love—in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as "magical realism."

Questions? Comments? Invitations to fisticuffs? Leave them all here.

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2018.10.28 06:39 CoffeeArchives Come Vote for our November Classics Book of the Month!

Voting
You can cast your vote here.
Voting will end at 10 p.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, October 31, and the winning book will be announced soon after.
Discussions will take place in this subreddit, with one or more posts going up each month.

How Does Voting Work?
Voting will take place anonymously via a Google Form. Instead of picking your top choice, you will be asked to rate each potential book on a scale of 1-5.
  1. Will not read or discuss the book, I am not interested (-2 to book score)
  2. Probably won't read or discuss the book (-1 to book score)
  3. Eh, I may or may not participate if this book wins (0 to book score)
  4. Probably will read or discuss the book (+1 to book score)
  5. If this book wins, I will definitely read or discuss it (+2 to book score)
This style of voting allows the book with the most community interest to win, rather than forcing people to choose between two or more equally appealing choices. Final votes are "tallied" by adding the weighted scores for each book.
Note that if you choose not to vote at all for a particular book, you are essentially voting a 3 and saying that you may or may not participate. Why? Intentionally voting a 1 indicates a stronger negative preference for a book than not voting at all.

Here are the choices for November 2018:
Book Author Series Published
The Blue Sword Robin McKinley Damar 1982
Kindred Octavia Butler N/A 1979
Arrows of the Queen Mercedes Lackey Heralds of Valdemar 1987
Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees N/A 1926
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez N/A 1967

And now, a little about each book:


The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of black American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she’s been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey
Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen's own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.
But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason that could destroy Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen's heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen's own foes.

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Lud-in-the-Mist, the capital city of the small country Dorimare, is a port at the confluence of two rivers, the Dapple and the Dawl. The Dapple has its origin beyond the Debatable Hills to the west of Lud-in-the-Mist, in Fairyland. In the days of Duke Aubrey, some centuries earlier, fairy things had been looked upon with reverence, and fairy fruit was brought down the Dapple and enjoyed by the people of Dorimare. But after Duke Aubrey had been expelled from Dorimare by the burghers, the eating of fairy fruit came to be regarded as a crime, and anything related to Fairyland was unspeakable. Now, when his son Ranulph is believed to have eaten fairy fruit, Nathaniel Chanticleer, the mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, finds himself looking into old mysteries in order to save his son and the people of his city.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel that tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love—in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as "magical realism."

Questions? Comments? Invitations to fisticuffs? Leave them all here.

submitted by CoffeeArchives to CoffeeArchives [link] [comments]


2017.12.29 22:24 CoffeeArchives Keeping Up With The Classics: January 2018 Voting

Voting
You can cast your vote here.
Voting will end at noon (EDT) on Monday, January 1, and the winning book will be announced in early January.
Discussions will take place in this subreddit, with one or more posts going up each month.
How Does Voting Work?
Voting will take place anonymously via a Google Form. Instead of picking your top choice, you will be asked to rate each potential book on a scale of 1-5.
  1. Will not read or discuss the book, I am not interested (-2 to book score)
  2. Probably won't read or discuss the book (-1 to book score)
  3. Eh, I may or may not participate if this book wins (0 to book score)
  4. Probably will read or discuss the book (+1 to book score)
  5. If this book wins, I will definitely read or discuss it (+2 to book score)
This style of voting allows the book with the most community interest to win, rather than forcing people to choose between two or more equally appealing choices. Final votes are "tallied" by adding the weighted scores for each book.
Note that if you choose not to vote at all for a particular book, you are essentially voting a 3 and saying that you may or may not participate. Why? Intentionally voting a 1 indicates a stronger negative preference for a book than not voting at all.
Here are the choices for January 2018:
Book Author Series Published
Tea with the Black Dragon R.A. McAvoy Black Dragon 1983
The Once and Future King T.H. White N/A 1958
Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees N/A 1926

And now, a little about each book:

Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. McAvoy
Martha Macnamara knows that her daughter Elizabeth is in trouble, she just doesn't know what kind. Mysterious phone calls from San Francisco at odd hours of the night are the only contact she has had with Elizabeth for years. Now, Elizabeth has sent her a plane ticket and reserved a room for her at San Francisco's most luxurious hotel. Yet she has not tried to contact Martha since she arrived, leaving her lonely, confused and a little bit worried. Into the story steps Mayland Long, a distinguished-looking and wealthy Chinese man who lives at the hotel and is drawn to Martha's good nature and ability to pinpoint the truth of a matter. Mayland and Martha become close in a short period of time and he promises to help her find Elizabeth, making small inroads in the mystery before Martha herself disappears. Now Mayland is struck by the realization, too late, that he is in love with Martha, and now he fears for her life. Determined to find her, he sets his prodigious philosopher's mind to work on the problem, embarking on a potentially dangerous adventure.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Once upon a time, a young boy called “Wart” was tutored by a magician named Merlyn in preparation for a future he couldn’t possibly imagine. A future in which he would ally himself with the greatest knights, love a legendary queen and unite a country dedicated to chivalrous values. A future that would see him crowned and known for all time as Arthur, King of the Britons.
During Arthur’s reign, the kingdom of Camelot was founded to cast enlightenment on the Dark Ages, while the knights of the Round Table embarked on many a noble quest. But Merlyn foresaw the treachery that awaited his liege: the forbidden love between Queen Guinevere and Lancelot, the wicked plots of Arthur’s half-sister Morgause, and the hatred she fostered in Mordred that would bring an end to the king’s dreams for Britain--and to the king himself.
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Lud-in-the-Mist, the capital city of the small country Dorimare, is a port at the confluence of two rivers, the Dapple and the Dawl. The Dapple has its origin beyond the Debatable Hills to the west of Lud-in-the-Mist, in Fairyland. In the days of Duke Aubrey, some centuries earlier, fairy things had been looked upon with reverence, and fairy fruit was brought down the Dapple and enjoyed by the people of Dorimare. But after Duke Aubrey had been expelled from Dorimare by the burghers, the eating of fairy fruit came to be regarded as a crime, and anything related to Fairyland was unspeakable. Now, when his son Ranulph is believed to have eaten fairy fruit, Nathaniel Chanticleer, the mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, finds himself looking into old mysteries in order to save his son and the people of his city.

Questions? Comments? Invitations to fisticuffs? Leave them all here.

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2017.12.29 22:22 CoffeeArchives Keeping Up With The Classics: January 2018 Voting

Voting
You can cast your vote here.
Voting will end at noon (EDT) on Monday, January 1, and the winning book will be announced in early January.
Discussions will take place in this subreddit, with one or more posts going up each month.
How Does Voting Work?
Voting will take place anonymously via a Google Form. Instead of picking your top choice, you will be asked to rate each potential book on a scale of 1-5.
  1. Will not read or discuss the book, I am not interested (-2 to book score)
  2. Probably won't read or discuss the book (-1 to book score)
  3. Eh, I may or may not participate if this book wins (0 to book score)
  4. Probably will read or discuss the book (+1 to book score)
  5. If this book wins, I will definitely read or discuss it (+2 to book score)
This style of voting allows the book with the most community interest to win, rather than forcing people to choose between two or more equally appealing choices. Final votes are "tallied" by adding the weighted scores for each book.
Note that if you choose not to vote at all for a particular book, you are essentially voting a 3 and saying that you may or may not participate. Why? Intentionally voting a 1 indicates a stronger negative preference for a book than not voting at all.
Here are the choices for January 2018:
Book Author Series Published
Tea with the Black Dragon R.A. McAvoy Black Dragon 1983
The Once and Future King T.H. White N/A 1958
Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees N/A 1926

And now, a little about each book:

Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. McAvoy
Martha Macnamara knows that her daughter Elizabeth is in trouble, she just doesn't know what kind. Mysterious phone calls from San Francisco at odd hours of the night are the only contact she has had with Elizabeth for years. Now, Elizabeth has sent her a plane ticket and reserved a room for her at San Francisco's most luxurious hotel. Yet she has not tried to contact Martha since she arrived, leaving her lonely, confused and a little bit worried. Into the story steps Mayland Long, a distinguished-looking and wealthy Chinese man who lives at the hotel and is drawn to Martha's good nature and ability to pinpoint the truth of a matter. Mayland and Martha become close in a short period of time and he promises to help her find Elizabeth, making small inroads in the mystery before Martha herself disappears. Now Mayland is struck by the realization, too late, that he is in love with Martha, and now he fears for her life. Determined to find her, he sets his prodigious philosopher's mind to work on the problem, embarking on a potentially dangerous adventure.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
Once upon a time, a young boy called “Wart” was tutored by a magician named Merlyn in preparation for a future he couldn’t possibly imagine. A future in which he would ally himself with the greatest knights, love a legendary queen and unite a country dedicated to chivalrous values. A future that would see him crowned and known for all time as Arthur, King of the Britons.
During Arthur’s reign, the kingdom of Camelot was founded to cast enlightenment on the Dark Ages, while the knights of the Round Table embarked on many a noble quest. But Merlyn foresaw the treachery that awaited his liege: the forbidden love between Queen Guinevere and Lancelot, the wicked plots of Arthur’s half-sister Morgause, and the hatred she fostered in Mordred that would bring an end to the king’s dreams for Britain--and to the king himself.
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
Lud-in-the-Mist, the capital city of the small country Dorimare, is a port at the confluence of two rivers, the Dapple and the Dawl. The Dapple has its origin beyond the Debatable Hills to the west of Lud-in-the-Mist, in Fairyland. In the days of Duke Aubrey, some centuries earlier, fairy things had been looked upon with reverence, and fairy fruit was brought down the Dapple and enjoyed by the people of Dorimare. But after Duke Aubrey had been expelled from Dorimare by the burghers, the eating of fairy fruit came to be regarded as a crime, and anything related to Fairyland was unspeakable. Now, when his son Ranulph is believed to have eaten fairy fruit, Nathaniel Chanticleer, the mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist, finds himself looking into old mysteries in order to save his son and the people of his city.

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