Coming Up! SF&F Literati on the THIRD Monday of May:

SF&F Literati go Into the Storm, in May!

Selection: Into the Storm, by Taylor Anderson

When: May 20 (third Monday!) 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Oak Park Barnes & Noble Bookseller, 11323 W 95th Street

Overland Park, KS 66214, on the 2nd floor.

Order this book from Barnes & Noble, or other fine booksellers.

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker, a Great War-era destroyer, finds itself retreating from pursuing Japanese battleships. 

Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, desperately leads the Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover, only to emerge into an alternate world. A world where two species have evolved: the cat-like Lemurians and the reptilian Griks, and they are at war.

With its power and weaponry, the Walker’s very existence could alter the balance of power. And for Reddy and his crew, who have the means to turn a primitive war into a genocidal Armageddon, one thing becomes clear. They must determine whose side they're on. Because whichever species they choose is the winner.

Note: there are four books in the “Destroyermen” series; this is Book 1.

Get ready now for next month!

Hugh Howey's book Wool is the selection for the June 24, 2013 meeting.  It will be here sooner than you think!

Overview from Barnes & Noble:In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo’s rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. 

His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events. An unlikely candidate is appointed to replace him: Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, whose special knack is fixing machines. Now Juliette is about to be entrusted with fixing her silo, and she will soon learn just how badly her world is broken. The silo is about to confront what its history has only hinted about and its inhabitants have never dared to whisper. Uprising.

Note: Hugh Howey gave a live presentation about his novel on March 13, 2013 in the Kansas City area, as part of the Rainy Day Books events series.  Howey also was featured in the Kansas City Star.   

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Taylor Anderson's website for the Into the Storm cover art, and to Barnes & Noble for the cover of Wool.

Heads-up for SF&F Literati

Yes, they did just meet.  But the next meeting is a week early, and it's time to find and start reading the May selection!

SF&F Literati go Into the Storm, in May!

Selection: Into the Storm, by Taylor Anderson
When: May 20 (third Monday!), 7:00 p.m.
Where: Oak Park Barnes & Noble Bookseller, 11323 W 95th Street
Overland Park, KS 66214, on the 2nd floor.

Order this book from Barnes & Noble, or other fine booksellers.

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker, a Great War-era destroyer, finds itself retreating from pursuing Japanese battleships. 

Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, desperately leads the Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover, only to emerge into an alternate world. A world where two species have evolved: the cat-like Lemurians and the reptilian Griks, and they are at war.

With its power and weaponry, the Walker’s very existence could alter the balance of power. And for Reddy and his crew, who have the means to turn a primitive war into a genocidal Armageddon, one thing becomes clear. They must determine whose side they're on. Because whichever species they choose is the winner.

Note: there are four books in the “Destroyermen” series; this is Book 1.

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to Taylor Anderson's website for the cover art.

SF&F Literati Announce April-July Book Selections

Zombies, Time Travel, Finishing School, and What Happens After the Apocalypse (not necessarily in that order)
The SF&F Literati always serve up highly varied fare, and the latest selections are no exception.  After the March 25 meeting, the group has released a list of Next Reads.  In case you need to begin placing orders or holds at the Library, here's what's coming.

As ever, meetings are scheduled for the fourth Monday of each month (NOTE: except May!) at 7:00 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, KS.

First, the Zombies:

WW Z the book

WW Z movie poster

April 22, 2013 selection
Max Brooks' 2006 novel World War Z may have been out for a while, but it is gaining new buzz because the motion picture based on it is set to be released this June.  Here's your chance to read the book, before the movie comes out!

The novel was written as a series of "survivor narratives" from various places around the world (inspired by Studs Terkel's book of World War II narratives, The Good War and the zombie movies of George Romero).

Order from Barnes & Noble or other fine book sellers.

Next comes Time Travel:
May 20 (THIRD Monday!), 2013 selection
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson: Speaking of inspirations from World War II, here's a variation on the Bermuda Triangle legend set at the beginning of that war.

The USS Walker is a holdover from the first world war, that goes from being an aging rust-bucket to state-of-the-art, when a storm lands it in an alternate world of catlike and lizardlike intelligent species who are at war with each other.

This is the first book in the 4-book "Destroyermen" series.  Order from Barnes & Noble or other fine book sellers.

What Happens After the Apocalypse:

June 24, 2013 selection
In Wool, by Hugh Howey, the story begins after the apocalypse has already happened.  The characters live in an underground silo, while outside the world has been reduced to toxic destruction.

No one goes outside.  It just isn't done.  It's the number-one rule, and the whole world lives by the rules designed to keep them alive.  But then one day things begin to change.  The Sheriff asks to go outside, and his replacement makes a dismaying discovery.

Hugh Howey made an appearance in Kansas City on March 13, 2013, as part of an ongoing series of author events sponsored by local bookseller Rainy Day Books. He also was featured on the front page of the Kansas City Star's "FYI" section in March.

Order Wool from Barnes & Noble or other fine book sellers, or "steal" it as a free Kindle download. (If you didn't get that reference about "stealing" the book, see the KC Star article).

And we can't forget Finishing School:

July 22, 2013 Selection
Etiquette and Espionage, by Gail Carriger is a fast-moving, humorous YA series-opening novel based on an unusual juxtaposition of ideas: finishing school as a Victorian young ladies' equivalent of the CIA's "The Farm" at Camp Peary.

As the Barnes & Noble overview puts it: "

-->It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.  New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger makes her young adult debut with Ettiquette & Espionage, the first book in the Finishing School series.

Order Etiquette and Espionage from Barnes & Noble or other fine book sellers. And if you have ideas for the next round of selections, be sure to attend the July meeting!

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Max Brooks's website for the World War Z book cover, and to IMDB for the movie poster.  Many thanks to Taylor Anderson's website for the Into the Storm cover.  And as ever, many thanks to Barnes & Noble Booksellers for the cover art for Wool and Etiquette and Espionage.