Science Fiction/Horror Book Club – July 2013: Horns by Joe Hill

Well, it’s our first official Horror selection for book club! In July we will be reading Horns by Joe Hill. I read this one early this year and it was a dark, disturbing, intense and awesome read. Absolutely loved it and am really looking forward to revisiting it with everyone of my fellow Fantasy-Faction book club readers.

Horns (cover)

“At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

But Merrin’s death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It’s time for a little revenge. . . . It’s time the devil had his due. . . .”

Buy on Amazon US
Buy on Amazon UK

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Our discussion breakpoints will be:

Week 1: Chapter 1 – 14
Week 2: Chapters 1 – 25
Week 3: Chapters 1 – 36
Week 4: Finished

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WANT TO JOIN IN?

If you would like to join us you can visit our forums and add your name to the list here. Want to know how our Sci-fi Book Club works first? Read on!

CHOOSING A BOOK

All books are nominated and voted on by our members. Anyone can nominate a book and everyone can vote. In August we will be reading The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu.

SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION

Sci-Fi Book Club begins on the 1st of every month. Once a book is started we discuss our books in a way that will not spoil the story. We limit how much you can discuss and when and break it down by week.

Week 1 – You may only discuss the first 1/4 of the book
Week 2 – You may only discuss the first 1/2 of the book
Week 3 – You may only discuss the first 3/4 of the book
Week 4 – Anything goes

We are going to go based on page count. So for example, if a book has 500 pages then week one you can discuss up to page 125 and then week two 250 and so on. Each week will have a separate thread, so as not to spoil the story for people who fall behind or come in late.

WHAT IF YOU WANT TO READ FASTER THAN THAT?

Not a problem at all. You are more than welcome to read ahead, but when discussing things just remember to post in the appropriate thread. And if you’re not sure when something happened, you can always use the spoiler tag to hide your post.

Should you not want any spoilers or discussion during the reading process, just come after the end of week three and start discussing the book once you have finished. (This is how most book clubs operate anyway.)

We would love for you to join us! You can sign up for this month’s book club here or visit our book club section to see all our past selections here.

WANT REMINDERS?

Follow @FFBookClub on Twitter for reminders when book club starts nominations, voting and discussions.

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By Lisa Taylor

Lisa spends her days programming in Java, living the exciting life of a cubicle ridden software engineer. When not at work, she enjoys her time with her husband and two boys. She spends the rest of her free time playing indoor soccer and of course reading, reading, reading. She heads up the Fantasy and Science Fiction book clubs every month on the forum. You can also find her online at her blog Tenacious Reader or Twitter: @TenaciousReader.

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