[nesfa-reading-group] Books to select in November NESFA Book Club

[Shelly Thomas]

I vote for city of truth

On Fri, Oct 14, 2022, 9:27 PM Wesley Brodsky <wesbrodsky at alum.mit.edu>
wrote:

> My three belated suggestions:
> Oyebanji, Adam; “Braking Day”
> Morrow, James; “City of Truth”
> Gomel, Elana; “The Cryptids”
>
> Oyebanji, Adam; “Braking Day”; I have not read this, but a review in
> Analog interested me because it seemed good “hard science fiction”.
> On a generation ship bound for a distant star, one engineer-in-training
> must discover the secrets at the heart of the voyage. It's been over a
> century since three generation ships escaped an Earth dominated by
> artificial intelligence in pursuit of a life on a distant planet orbiting
> Tau Ceti. Now, it's nearly Braking Day, when the ships will begin their
> long-awaited descent to their new home.
>
> Morrow, James; “City of Truth”; I read this several years ago, and liked
> it, but I was not sure it really counted as science fiction because any
> “science” was really psychology, if anything. However, it won a 1992 Nebula
> Award.
> Truth reigns supreme in the city-state of Veritas. Not even politicians
> lie, and weirdly frank notices abound—such as warning: this elevator
> maintained by people who hate their jobs: ride at your own risk. In this
> dystopia of mandatory candor, every preadolescent citizen is ruthlessly
> conditioned, through a Skinnerian ordeal called a “brainburn,” to speak
> truthfully under all circumstances. That is, until the main character find
> an important reason to resist his “brainburn.”
>
> Gomel, Elana; “The Cryptids”; This was another I have not read, but read a
> review for in Analog. It captured my interest because the reviewer wrote,
> “It has some of the most viscerally terrifying body horror and disturbing
> imagery I’ve seen in a book in one time…”; and that one description,
> “twisted my guts into knots.”
> An invasion like no other is threatening the Silicon Valley. A
> cutting-edge quantum communication technology has unleashed a flood of
> cryptid sightings. From headless Mothmen to dog-faced cats, strange beasts
> are prowling the streets and emerging from the woods, spreading a deadly
> epidemic of mind-blindness.
> Cryptozoologist Sharon Manley, a stranger in a strange land, thinks she
> knows what is going on. But who is going to believe her if her information
> comes to her in dreams?
>
> Wes Brodsky
> "It is of the utmost importance that Concepts not trouble you with
> silliness or complications, unless you are searching for really difficult
> work."; Giordano Bruno (1582)
>
> ________________________________________
> From: reading-group <reading-group-bounces at lists.nesfa.org> on behalf of
> Richard Schwartz via reading-group <reading-group at lists.nesfa.org>
> Sent: Saturday, October 8, 2022 4:21 PM
> To: NESFA Group
> Cc: Richard Schwartz
> Subject: [nesfa-reading-group] Books to select in November NESFA Book Club
>
> —-
>
> John Crowley - Engine Summer (1979)
> China Mieville - Perdido Street Station (2000)
> John Gwynne - The Shadow of the Gods (2021)
>
> 1979 -
> Engine Summer
> by John Crowley
>
> Born into the community of Truthful Speakers one thousand years after the
> Storm, he was raised on stories of the old days -- a world filled with
> saints, a world in which all things were possible, a world which finally
> destroyed itself. In love with a beautiful woman, Rush journeys far and
> learns much. Taken into the society of Dr. Boots's List, attached to the
> old mysteries, Rush grows closer to a sainthood he could never have
> imagined.
>
> 2000 -
> Perdido Street Station
> by China Mieville
>
> Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies the city
> of New Crobuzon, where the unsavory deal is stranger to no one--not even to
> Isaac, a gifted and eccentric scientist who has spent a lifetime quietly
> carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature
> known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges
> he has never before encountered. Though the Garuda's request is
> scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an
> uncanny reverence for this curious stranger. Soon an eerie metamorphosis
> will occur that will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon--and not even the
> Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it evokes
>
> 2021 -
> The Shadow of the Gods
> by John Gwynne
>
> Set in a brand-new, Norse-inspired world, and packed with myth, magic and
> bloody vengeance, The Shadow of the Gods begins an epic new fantasy saga
> from bestselling author John Gwynne.
>
> After the gods warred and drove themselves to extinction, the cataclysm of
> their fall shattered the land of Vigrið.
>
> Now a new world is rising, where power-hungry jarls feud and monsters
> stalk the woods and mountains. A world where the bones of the dead gods
> still hold great power for those brave - or desperate - enough to seek them
> out.
>
> Now, as whispers of war echo across the mountains and fjords, fate follows
> in the footsteps of three people: a huntress on a dangerous quest, a
> noblewoman who has rejected privilege in pursuit of battle fame, and a
> thrall who seeks vengeance among the famed mercenaries known as the
> Bloodsworn.
>
> All three will shape the fate of the world as it once more falls under the
> shadow of the gods . . .
>
>
> Richard
>
>
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