SF&F Literati announce summer selections

The selection for May 22

The Kansas City SF&F Literati book club meets every fourth Monday of the month (except in December and May) at 7:00 p.m., at the Oak Park Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Overland Park, KS. Each month, they discuss a reading selection drawn from science fiction, fantasy, or related speculative genres.

The group maintains a Facebook Page as their primary means of communicating with members and the interested public. It includes a page of links to discussion notes about each of their previous selections since 2012.

The April 24th meeting was summer selections night, when those who attended chose the book selections for the next four meetings. The selections are:

The selection for June 28

May 22: Quantum Night, by Robert J. Sawyer
June 28: Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, by Paul Krueger
July 24: Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente
August 28: Just One Damned Thing After Another, by Jodi Taylor

As is the usual custom, their May selection is a recent book written by this year's ConQuesT Writer Guest of Honor (the May meeting is held on the third Monday, so it won't conflict with the Memorial Day Weekend timing of ConQuesT, Kansas City's longest-running science fiction convention.

The selection for July 24

This year's Writer GoH is Robert J. Sawyer, a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author with a reputation for writing provocative, cutting-edge science fiction. The May selection, Quantum Night, was published in 2016.

Paul Krueger, author of the June selection, describes himself as "a man who thought it would be a good idea to make a career out of playing with his imaginary friends." Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, "about a secret society of bartenders who fight demons with alcohol-magic," is his debut novel. It also was published in 2016.

The selection for August 28

New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente has won a whole shelf full of awards, including the Andre Norton, Tiptree, Prix Imaginales, Eugie Foster Memorial, Mythopoeic, Rhysling, Lambda, Locus, Romantic Times’ Critics Choice and Hugo awards. She also has been a finalist for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards.

Radiance, the July selection, was published in 2015 and is described as "a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood-and solar system-very different from our own."

Jodi Taylor's bestselling British "Chronicles of St. Mary's" series is now up to eight novels plus a prequel and six short stories, according to Library Thing's listing. Beloved for its "madcap humor" and skewed history, it has a Goodreads fan group and admirers worldwide. Just One Damned Thing After Another, the August selection, is the first book in the popular series, which only recently (July 2016) has been published in the US. The first British edition was published in 2013.

Book selections for September, October, November, and possibly January of 2018, will be made at the August 28 meeting.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Amazon.com for the cover images for May, June, and July. Thanks are due to Goodreads for the August selection's cover.