Challenge - Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018

Pretty much every year I try to find a science fiction and fantasy oriented reading challenge, because for the most part, I'm going to read a lot of science fiction and fantasy anyway. One of the challenges I am trying out this year is the Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018, which challenges participants to read science fiction and fantasy stories that fall into a particular set of categories. The list below shows all of the categories and will (eventually) list the books I have read and reviewed in the upcoming year that fall into each of them.

African
TBD

AI

The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

Alien Invasion
TBD

Alternate Reality
TBD

Asian

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Bite Me
TBD

Cyberpunk
TBD

Demonic
TBD

Dystopia
TBD

Epic
TBD

Fantastic Beasts
TBD

Haunted

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne Valente

Immortal
TBD

Independent
TBD

It's the End of the World as We Know It

War and Craft by Tom Doyle

Kings, Queens, and Long Lost Relatives
TBD

Plague
TBD

Portal
TBD

Rebellion
TBD

Re-Telling
TBD

Space

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

South American
TBD

This Is Totally Going to Happen One Day

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

Undead
TBD

Wibbly Wobbly Time Travel
TBD

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
11^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018
2018 Blogger Shame Challenge
2018 Review Writing Challenge
2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge
Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2018

2018 Challenges     Home

Challenge - 2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge

Because the bulk of my reading is in the science fiction and fantasy genres, every year I try to find a science fiction and fantasy oriented reading challenge. This year I am participating in the 2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge, a challenge aimed at reading twenty books containing a particular set of science fiction and fantasy themes. The hashtag #SwordsnStars is associated with this challenge. The list below shows all of the themes and will (eventually) list the books I have read and reviewed in the upcoming year that meet each theme.

A Book with Dragons in It
TBD

A Book Over 500 Pages
TBD

A Science Fiction or Fantasy Novella
TBD

A First Book in a Series
TBD

A Science Fiction Classic
TBD

A Fantasy Classic
TBD

A Book Whose Title Matches the First Letter of your Last Name

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

A Book That Has a Weapon on the Cover
TBD

A Book That Has a Spaceship on the Cover

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

A Book That Has Been Adapted
TBD

A Book with Time Travel in It
TBD

A Book That Has Been On Your To-Be-Read Shelf for Over 2 Years
TBD

A Book Whose Cover Has Stars in It or Whose Title Has Any Variation of the Word Star in It

TBD

A Book with Magical Realism in It
TBD

A Science Fiction or Fantasy Graphic Novel

Saga, Volume Seven by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

A Sequel

War and Craft by Tom Doyle

A Diverse Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
TBD

A Random Science Fiction or Fantasy Book

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

A Fantasy Book Inspired by Another Story, Fairytale, Myth, or Something Similar

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne Valente

A Book with a Map
TBD

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
11^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018
2018 Blogger Shame Challenge
2018 Review Writing Challenge
Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2018

2018 Challenges     Home

Challenge - New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge

In part because I am planning on making a concerted effort to read through the backlog of review copies that I have this year, I am also participating in New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge, a challenge aimed at reading new authors. A lot of my review copies are books written by authors that I have not read before, so this is a natural dovetail with this challenge.

New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge:

The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Star Brand: New Universe, Vol. 1 by Jim Shooter and John Romita

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir by Stan Lee, Peter David, and Colleen Doran

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
11^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018
2018 Blogger Shame Challenge
2018 Review Writing Challenge
2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge
Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2018

2018 Challenges     Home

Challenge - 2018 Blogger Shame Challenge

Another challenge I am participating this year is the 2018 Blogger Shame Challenge, a challenge aimed at getting people to clear out their backlog of review copies of books. I have far too many review copies of books that I simply have not yet gotten to reading and reviewing. I have let this slip for much longer than I should have, so I am going to make 2018 the year that I make a concerted effort to clear out this backlog and get caught up.

2018 Blogger Shame Challenge:

War and Craft by Tom Doyle

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Javier Pulido

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
11^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018
2018 Review Writing Challenge
2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge
Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2018

2018 Challenges     Home

Challenge - Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018

This year I am participating in the Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018, another challenge aimed at making inroads at the pile of unread books in the collections of the participants. I have a mountainous to-be-read pile, many of which have been in my collection for too many years without having been read. I hope to be able to make some progress in reducing the size of that mountain this year.

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018:

Captain Marvel: Stay Fly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez

Saga, Volume Seven by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Star Brand: New Universe, Vol. 1 by Jim Shooter and John Romita

War and Craft by Tom Doyle

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne Valente

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir by Stan Lee, Peter David, and Colleen Doran

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Javier Pulido

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
11^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018
2018 Blogger Shame Challenge
2018 Review Writing Challenge
2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge
Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge
New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2018

2018 Challenges     Home

Musical Monday - The Lumberjack Song by Monty Python

This is a story about assumptions.

In the social circles I have been involved with for most of my life, Monty Python has been one of those baseline pieces of culture that everyone simply knows. Among role-playing gamers, Monty Python references are so ubiquitous that many groups have established a house rule to ban them lest gaming sessions get completely derailed. One only had to make the briefest reference to a Monty Python skit or song and everyone around would know exactly what you were talking about. It felt like familiarity with Monty Python was essentially ubiquitous.

So the other day when I was riffing on the Lumberjack Song while playing a game (it made sense in context, but it would take too long to explain how), I discovered that the Redhead had no idea what it was. She thought I was just making something goofy up on the fly. The realization that she was completely unfamiliar with something I just took for granted was somewhat disconcerting.

The salient point here is that even those things that you think are universally known probably are not. I recall seeing Robert Sawyer speak when the new Battlestar Galactica was on the air. He pointed out that even though everyone in the room had probably seen the show, based on its ratings, if you went out on the street and asked passers-by about it, only one out of every couple hundred people or so would have seen it. Or I think about the time I made a reference to Jim Henson and one of my younger coworkers had no idea who he was. The things you know are not the things everyone knows, even the things you think are so commonly known that everyone knows them.

Previous Musical Monday: Talking with My Father by Dougie MacLean

Subsequent Musical Monday: Zombie by the Cranberries

Monty Python     Musical Monday     Home

Challenge - Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge

As I did last year, I am participating in Beat the Backlist: A Reading Challenge, a challenge aimed at making inroads at the pile of unread books in the collections of the participants. I still have a mountainous to-be-read pile, many of which have been in my collection for too many years without having been read. I hope to be able to make some progress in reducing the size of that mountain some more this year.

Beat the Backlist Challenge:

Captain Marvel: Stay Fly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and David Lopez

Saga, Volume Seven by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

Star Brand: New Universe, Vol. 1 by Jim Shooter and John Romita

War and Craft by Tom Doyle

The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne Valente

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir by Stan Lee, Peter David, and Colleen Doran

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and Javier Pulido

2018 Challenge Tracking Pages
11^th Annual Graphic Novels and Manga Challenge 2018
2018 Blogger Shame Challenge
2018 Review Writing Challenge
2018 Swords and Stars Reading Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2018
New Authors: A 2018 Reading Challenge
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy Bingo 2018

Multi-Year Challenge Tracking Pages
101 Fantasy Reading Challenge
Read All the Books Challenge

Not a Challenge:
The Big List of Everything I've Reviewed in 2018

2018 Challenges     Home

Book Blogger Hop January 5th - January 11th: Scipio Africanus Is Believed to Have Been Born in 236 B.C.

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: What are your five most favorite books in 2017?


I didn't read very many books that were actually published in 2017, so I am going to interpret this question to be asking what my favorites were from the books I that I read in 2017. This means that most of these choices were actually published before 2017 - I just didn't get to read them until then. In alphabetical order, the books I liked the most that I read last year were:

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde
Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1: The Shrike by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios
The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley
The Wizard of Macatawa and Other Stories by Tom Doyle

I read a lot of other good books - in fact, most of the books I read last year were at least good, but those were my five favorites from the year.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: U-235 Is the Uranium Isotope That Was Used to Make Little Boy

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: "Room 237" Is a Documentary About the Meanings in Kubrick's Version of "The Shining"

Book Blogger Hop     Home