beer_marmalade | Recent Entries

petra writes fic for many universes, and always brings amusing ideas. Today she's exploring the psychogenesis of many characters in her fic. For those of us who've recently read CYTEEN, this makes for some amusing reading.

laceblade

Hey Everyone,

Just a reminder that we're meeting Monday, June 17th, to discuss Kate Elliott's Cold Magic. If you need to know where we meet, PM me or any mod.
Hang out at 6pm, book discussion starts at 7pm.

We need to decide what we're reading for July AND August, so bring your suggestions!

Here are some lists to jog some ideas:
Books & movies recced at the Poly 501 panel at WisCon: http://lcohen.livejournal.com/1065894.html
List of past Tiptree winners (kind of hard to read list): http://tiptree.org/award/previous-awards
List of "Tiptree books" on Goodreads, but I don't think all of these have actually won, not sure what criteria are: http://tiptree.org/award/previous-awards
List of Carl Brandon Society recommended reading lists from 2006: http://carlbrandon.org/awards2006.html
List of CBS award winners: http://carlbrandon.org/awards.html
List of SF/F YA novels featuring QUILTBAG people as main characters: http://tanuki-green.livejournal.com/329393.html
List of SF/F YA novels with non-white protagonist, author surnames A-L: http://tanuki-green.livejournal.com/329705.html
List of SF/F YA novels with non-white protagonist, author surnames M-Z: http://tanuki-green.livejournal.com/329981.html
List of multicultural SF/F YA novels, with reviews: http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com/p/reviews-of-multicultural-fantasy-and.html

If you can't join us in person, consider joining our Goodreads group & starting a discussion there: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/73935-beer-and-marmalade

See you there!
-Jackie

jesse_the_k

Monday 20 May
Ground Zero coffeehouse
744 Williamson Street
chat @ 6, book discussion @ 7

We're reading four stories from

Bloodchildren : short stories written by past recipients of the Octavia Butler Scholarship

Available for $8.01 to the Carl Brandon Society's scholarship fund
http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/book/bloodchildren

Stories on which we'll focus our discussion:
Speech Sounds by Octavia Butler
Falling into the Earth by Shweta Narayan
"Legendaire." by Kai Ashante Wilson
Re: Christmas, Bainbridge Island by Dennis Y. Ginoza

—— JUNE ---

For June 17, we will read
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott.
ebook available from Kobo (support Room!)
five books at MPL

---

For future reference, other books voted on:
Princess Bride (book & movie)
God Save the Queen by Kate Locke
Wool by Hugh Howie
Newton's Wake by Ken Macleod

laceblade

In April, we will meet to discuss the first part of Cyteen, by C.J. Cherryh. If you get the huge all-in-one tome (Cyteen is a trilogy), we're reading up through Chapter 6, which ends with a part xiv.
If you find old paperbacks where it's split out into three parts, we're reading The Betrayal, or part 1.

We decided not to read either of the Tiptree winners for May. (The Drowning Girl has a lot of discussion of suicide & schizophrenia; Ancient, Ancient is difficult to obtain at the moment.)
Instead, we will read Bloodchildren, a collection of short stories written by past recipients of the Octavia Butler Scholarship, awarded by the Carl Brandon Society to people of color to attend Clarion West.
You can buy it by donating $8.01 to the CBS's scholarship fund. You can buy it here: http://carlbrandon.org/bloodchildren.html
or: http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/book/bloodchildren

Stories on which we'll focus our discussion:
Speech Sounds by Octavia Butler
Falling into the Earth by Shweta Narayan
"Legendaire." by Kai Ashante Wilson
Re: Christmas, Bainbridge Island by Dennis Y. Ginoza

As an FYI, there's also our Goodreads group.

laceblade

Last night, we met to discuss Moon Called.

For March, we will read The Female Man by Joanna Russ.
For April, we will read Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh.
In May, we intend to read whatever wins the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, as usual. (The winner hasn't been announced yet.)

As suggested last night: For historical purposes, the books that were voted on & lost:
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott
Wool by Hugh Howey
God Save the Queen by Kate Locke

----------------------
Last night, those present had a brief discussion about our low attendance the past few months (3-5 people, usually 4).

If now is just a busy time for you, cool.
However, if there are things about the location that make B&M difficult for you, please let us know.

We know that last night one person didn't came because they hadn't eaten dinner & would have needed to scramble to get food elsewhere & bring it (so if we met somewhere WITH food, it would have been easier).
We also know that one person didn't come because the closest parking lots were full & they couldn't find a spot.
The three of us who were present had to park a few blocks away. During sporting event nights, it's hard to find convenient parking near where we park now.

If you haven't been to Beer & Marmalade in a while, would a change in venue make you more likely to come?
What would you want in that new venue? Food? Open-air parking lot? Not!downtown? Paid lots that always have spots? etc.?

Please respond with any locale-features you'd like. Even better, suggestions for specific locations are helpful. Please remember we need an accessible location.

We might also have seasonal locations - for example, two summers ago, one of the unions was fine while all the students were still away.

laceblade

Hi Everyone,

We met last night to discuss Here We Cross.

In February, we'll discuss Moon Called by Patricia Briggs.

In March, we'll discuss The Female Man by Joanna Russ (after voting on it monthly for almost three years!!!).

If you want to know when/where we meet, PM me or another mod.

laceblade

Hi Everyone,

For November, we're still reading Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski.
For December, we'll be reading God's War by Kameron Hurley.

Beer & Marmalade does have a Goodreads group, which you can join: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/73935-beer-and-marmalade
Features: Shows what we're reading; you can find other people in our book club and see what else they read; you can look at the long list of every book we've ever read (movies, blog posts, and short stories aren't included).

As a reminder, if you're buying the book, you can tell A Room of One's Own that it's for this book club and receive a 10% discount.

laceblade

For October, we are still reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.

For November, we will read Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski. Joan will be one of the Guests of Honor at WisCon 37. The book is new-ish, but we did check to confirm that it has come out in a mass market paperback edition.

I sometimes neglect posting in this community and the LiveJournal one! The best way to receive up-to-date information on Beer & Marmalade is to join our e-mail list. Comment here if you'd like details.

laceblade

Hi!

For July, we're reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

For August, we're reading The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe.

laceblade

This update was sent to the e-mail list, but in case you don't get that, here are our future plans.

For June, we will read and discuss Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks. Madison Public Library has 6 copies, 5 of which are currently available. I know that some of us own copies, so if you can't get a hold of one, try the e-mail list.

For July, we will read and discuss Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This book is kind of a brick, as a warning! According to

jesse_the_k, Madison Public library has 41 paper copies, large print, audio CDs, and downloadables.

If you'd like to know when/where we meet each month, PM me or another moderator.

laceblade

For May, we're still reading Redwood & Wildfire by Andrea Hairston.

For June, we will read Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks.

laceblade

Sorry for the late notice here on DW/LJ, but last month we decided to discuss Andrea Hairston's Redwood and Wildfire at our May meeting, to give people more time to locate the book & to get through it.

Our April meeting is this evening, and we'll discuss three short stories that were on the Tiptree Award's long & short lists. They are available free online.
Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots by Sandra McDonald
Their Changing Bodies by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Of Men and Wolves by An Owomoyela

laceblade

Just a reminder that we're meeting tonight to discuss China Mieville's Un Lun Dun.

For April, we are reading Andrea Hairston's Redwood and Wildfire. (Description here: http://tiptree.org/award/2011-james-tiptree-award )

Since Redwood and Wildfire won the Tiptree Award, we'll need to decide what to read in May this evening.
Please come with ideas!

To help with ideas, here are links to the 2011 Tiptree Honor List and Long List - other books that the Tiptree jury found worthwhile:
http://tiptree.org/award/2011-james-tiptree-award/honor-list
http://tiptree.org/award/2011-james-tiptree-award/long-list (from this list, we have already read All Men of Genius)

laceblade

For March, we are reading Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.

For April, we will read Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston, who will be one of the Guests of Honor at WisCon 36.

As a preview for May, we intend to read what ever wins the Tiptree Award (the winner hasn't yet been announced).

sasha_feather

Hello!

The next two books for book club are:

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, for February

UnLundun by China Mieville, for March

sasha_feather

I read Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey, the sequel to Santa Olivia, which was one of our book club picks. While I loved Santa Olivia, this sequel was a huge disappointment. Don't waste your time on it.

I've read Jacqueline Carey quite a bit and so far this is her cheesiest, least convincing book. It is a light read, and it does feature queer women of color, but that's about all I can say for it. The relationship between the women featured a lot of unnecessary-seeming reassurances that they weren't jealous, and a lot of "I love you baby" type lines. The danger never felt real to me, the dialog was terribly cheesy, and overall it just felt silly. Even established relationships can and should have conflict and drama, and a book this long should simply have more going on than making an extended happy ending for this couple.

laceblade

Sorry I suck at updating lately, but we're meeting tonight to discuss Batwoman: Elegy.
If you want to come and need to know where, PM me or one of the other mods.

For January, we're reading All Men of Genius by Lev AC Rosen, set in steam-punk London.

jesse_the_k

as much as I did, you may be interested in a 2000 indie movie called GIRLFIGHT. You can watch it free online. The lead, Michelle Rodriguez, is outstanding. No SFnal elements, but there's plenty of chewy boxing scenes (but not brutality for its own sake), class, race & ethnicity issues, and a love-hate relationship with greater NY city.

also posted to LJ comm

jesse_the_k

I've adored Joan Slonczewski's writings since A Door Into Ocean. She focuses on gender roles, politics, and symbiotic biosystems. She's a college teacher by day (or by term time) and writes SF in free time she finds I don't know where. A Canadian fan helpfully maintains a Joan S website. Joan herself has begun book blogging at http://ultraphyte.com/

Here's Charlie Stross blurbing her latest book: The Highest Frontier and introducing her guest-blogging:

begin quote Her latest novel, The Highest Frontier, shows a college in a space habitat financed by a tribal casino and protected from alien invasion by Homeworld Security. Her best known book, "A Door into Ocean", depicts an ocean world run by genetic engineers who repel an interstellar invasion using nonviolent methods similar to Tahrir Square. In her book "Brain Plague", intelligent microbes invade human brains and establish microbial cities.
quote ends

And if you're wondering how to pronounce her name, let her tell you directly:

begin quote
[W]hen my grandfather came over it would have had the barred-L letter, and sounded something like "Swine-chevski". But as paws4thot suggests, the pronunciation quickly Americanized to "Slon-ZOO-ski." The students call me "Dr. Zeuss" behind my back. quote ends

Kirkus liked it a lot and Publishers' Weekly found it a sedately paced narrative an delightfully amusing read. The drawback is published in hardback on 1 September, so the softsover won't be along for at least a few months.

I just learned that Joan S wrote her first book, A Door into Ocean as a response to DUNE. That could be a very interesting contrast-and-compare discussion, but a fearsome page-count.

laceblade

Hey!

For November, we are reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It's in the public domain and it's in various libraries. Here's a link to its page on Project Gutenberg, for your electronic-reading needs.

For December, we are reading Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III. It's a comic book! It's so awesome! You needn't have read other comics to know what's going on. The city library has something like 10 copies.

Next month we will meet in a new location. Watch the e-mail list for details. (If you are not on the e-mail list but would like to be, PM me or another mod.)

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Beer & Marmalade

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Fandom meets Cyteen via Petra

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MAY & JUNE DISCUSSIONS

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