Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club
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Fantasy & Science Fiction Discussion Group
Final Thursday Every Month Via Google Meet 6:30pm |
Becky has a background in performing arts, and grew up in a family heavily involved in space science. She spends her free time playing video and tabletop games, watching bugs, and looking through her telescope. Having hopped around the world a bit, she has settled down (for the moment) in Humboldt County, California, where she lives with her wife. She hopes to see Earth from orbit one day.
So, what's the book about?
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They're going to need to ask it a lot. Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in-store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online
We are open to the public Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm so you can pickup orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using our pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We're available for pickup Mon-Sat from 9am-7pm. We simply ask that you call ahead when coming to get your order!
We also offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us! Finally, you can add the event to your calendar from ours (check the event page) to get reminders & updates about any changes to the event! Reviews & Interviews
A Monk And A Robot Meet In A Forest...And Talk Philosophy In This New Novel -- NPR
The SFF Librarian Reviews: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers -- Ancillary Review of Books A Psalm for the Wild-Built -- BookPage Interview With an Author: Becky Chambers -- Los Angeles Public Library Important Strangers: A Conversation with Becky Chambers -- Clarkesworld Is Becky Chambers the Ultimate Hope for Science Fiction? -- Wired.com
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This month's book club pick is The Deep by Rivers Solomon. We will be meeting on Thursday, October 28th at 6:30 in an online video chat. You can RSVP to the event & get the chat link here. Rivers Solomon is the author of An Unkindness of Ghosts, and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award finalist for Best New Writer. They graduated from Stanford University with a degree in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and hold an MFA in fiction writing from the Michener Center for Writers. Though originally from the United States, they currently live in Cambridge, England, with their family. Find them on Twitter @CyborgYndroid. So, what's the book about?
Yetu holds the memories for her people--water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners--who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly is forgotten by everyone, save one--the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.
Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities--and discovers a world her people left behind long ago. Yetu will learn more than she ever expected about her own past--and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they'll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity--and own who they really are.
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!
Buy Online
We are open to the public again (Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm) so you can pickup orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using our pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!
Finally, you can RSVP on the Facebook event to get reminders & updates about any changes to the event! Do that here! You can also add it to your personal calendar--check out the event page to see our Google event calendar where you can RSVP! Reviews & Interviews
'The Deep' Sings With Many Voices -- NPR.org
Book Review - The Deep by Rivers Solomon -- medium.com An Interview with Rivers Solomon -- pen.org Interview: Rivers Solomon -- lightspeedmagazine.com
The Summary
A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.
Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved--its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. But some can never stop searching for answers. Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history's most perplexing discovery--and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?
If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. This title is also available from our audiobook partner, Libro.fm, as a DRM-free audiobook--buy it here.
You can pickup your book using our pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We also offer free media mail shipping & local delivery (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us! Finally, you can RSVP on the Facebook event to get reminders & updates about any changes to the event! Do that here!  This month, we are diving into rising science fiction and fantasy star P. Djeli Clark's The Black God's Drums. P. (the P stands for Phenderson) Djeli Clark is the award winning and Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy nominated author of the novellas The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. His stories have appeared in online venues such as Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies including, Griots, Hidden Youth and Clockwork Cairo. He is a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons. When not writing speculative fiction, P. Djèlí Clark works as an academic historian whose research spans comparative slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic World. He melds this interest in history and the social world with speculative fiction. The Black God's Drums reflects the marriage of these interests as it brings an alternate New Orleans of orisha, airships, and adventure to life. In Clark's New Orleans, caught in the tangle of the American Civil War, the wall-scaling girl named Creeper yearns to escape the streets for the air--in particular, by earning a spot on-board the airship Midnight Robber. Creeper plans to earn Captain Ann-Marie’s trust with information she discovers about a Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums. But Creeper also has a secret herself: Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, speaks inside her head, and may have her own ulterior motivations. Soon, Creeper, Oya, and the crew of the Midnight Robber are pulled into a perilous mission aimed to stop the Black God’s Drums from being unleashed and wiping out the entirety of New Orleans.  If this sounds like something you'd like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store or online with a 15% discount through the end of November. Click here to order online and remember, you can have it shipped directly to you or to the store for easy pick-up! You can also get the audiobook from our partner, Libro.fm! Click here to get yours! Reviews & Interviews"Interview: P. Djeli Clark" -- Lightspeed "Q&A With P. Djeli Clark" -- The Nerd Daily "Interview with P. Djeli Clark" -- The Hub "Review: The Black God's Drums" -- Locus Magazine “'The Black God’s Drums' Is A High Stakes Novella That Will Take You to the Skies" -- Black Nerd Problems "The Black God’s Drums: We Really Hope This Begins A Series" -- Fantasy Literature Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, this month we are meeting on November 21st at 7:30pm. There will be free wine and snacks for book club members to share. Bring a friend and come discuss the book with us, even if you weren't able to completely finish it or if you didn't like it. You can see the Facebook event & RSVP here.
This month, after the dark, psychological trip that Shirley Jackson took us on in October, we wanted something lighter and more encouraging. Mary thought The Alchemist would be the perfect book to read together. It's long been a book club classic because it's themes are universal: follow your dreams, listen to your heart, there's a place for all of us in this world. We can't wait for this month's book club discussion and hope you'll join us with your perspective.
So, what exactly is The Alchemist about? Read the publisher's summary: Combining magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder into an inspiring tale of self-discovery, The Alchemist has become a modern classic. Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.
Sounds lovely, right? The perfect read for cleansing your literary palate! You can get your copy of the book from the store with a 15% discount until the end of the month. If you'd like to purchase online, we have the following the formats available:
We'll meet at the Hatchet Coffee lounge on November 29th at 7:30pm. We'll have free wine and snacks for book club members to share. Bring a friend and come discuss the book with us, even if you weren't able to completely finish it or if you didn't like it. You can see the Facebook event & RSVP here.
Relevant Reviews & Interviews
Medium.com Review -- "Book Review on Will Smith's Favorite Book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho"
The Guardian Review -- "The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho--Review" Oprah.com Interview -- "Oprah Learns the Secret to Paulo Coelho's Timeless Wisdom" Dear Hatchet Coffee lovers, if you haven't joined the Hatchet Coffee Book Club yet then you are seriously missing out. We meet on the last Thursday of each month (unless there's a conflict with holidays) and discuss an incredible book together while we share alcohol of some sort. Last month we had hot toddies, which were delicious, and in September, we had spiced rum apple cider. This month, we'll share a bottle of wine together while we chat about Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter--the story of an almost love affair between a young Italian innkeeper and a beautiful American starlet that spans 50 years and almost the entire globe. Romantic, funny, and purely enjoyable this book is perfect for the stressful beginning of the holiday season.
You can get your copy for 15% off when you purchase it from Foggy Pine Books. We even have a little display with all of this month's book club titles. If you prefer to read it as an ebook, you can get it here from our online store and download for immediate reading. If you'd rather listen to the book, you can get a digital audiobook from our indie partner Libro.fm to start listening today or you can have the audio CD sent straight to your home from our online store. Regardless of how you ingest the material, we want you to come to this month's book club and tell us what you thought. This is a great opportunity to meet other people in our community who love books as much as you do! It's always a good time and we welcome new members with gusto.
We'll also be discussing ideas for books that we want to read together at the beginning of 2018! So, come armed with recommendations! |
AuthorsMax Ruthless (they/them) Event LinkJoin us on Google Meet to chat each month:
meet.google.com/zgi-ninn-kvz Archives
January 2023
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