The voting for this month’s book has closed. For this month’s Sci-Fi Book Club, we have chosen…
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope–and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
The book won the 1990 Hugo Award for Science Fiction.
So grab your copy, head to the forums and join in for this month’s book club!
How does the book club work?
Choosing a Book
What we do is take suggestions from our forum members in the 1st week of the month. Then our members vote on which book they would like to read. In the 2nd week of the month we close the poll and users have a week to obtain the book – either borrow it, buy it, find it and pull it out from your collection, etc. We start the book club on the 3rd week of the month so that we don’t clash with the fantasy book club, for those of us who wish to partake in both. So week 1 for the sci-fi book club will actually be the 3rd week of every month.
Spoiler Free Discussion
Next, we want to discuss our books in a way that will not spoil the story, so we limit how much you can discuss and when.
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, then 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.)
Fantasy-Faction Sci-Fi Book Club is something we are very excited about and we really hope you join in. It will certainly be a way to read some books on your reading list, and find some new ones and talk with a like-minded community of sci-fi fans both new to the genre and long time veterans!
If you would like to join in you can visit the book club section of our forums here .
Jennie Ivins