Meet you in New Beijing?

SF&F Literati Meet August 27, 2012

Enter a future where a cyborg mechanic
may save the world.

Where: The Oak Park Barnes & Noble Booksellers (see embedded map below!)
When: 7:00 p.m. Monday August 27, second floor
What: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

B&N Overview:

“Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

“Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.”

Publishers Weekly Review

"First in the Lunar Chronicles series, this futuristic twist on Cinderella retains just enough of the original that readers will enjoy spotting the subtle similarities. But debut author Meyer’s brilliance is in sending the story into an entirely new, utterly thrilling dimension. 

"Cinder is a talented teenage mechanic and cyborg—part human, part robot—who has been living in New Beijing with a demanding adoptive mother and two stepsisters, ever since her late stepfather took Cinder in after a hovercraft accident. Several events abruptly turn Cinder’s world upside down: a chance meeting with the handsome Prince Kai has her heart racing; a plague pandemic threatens her beloved sister Peony; Cinder learns she is immune to the plague; and the evil Lunar Queen Levana arrives on Earth, scheming to marry Kai. 

"Though foreshadowing early on makes it fairly clear where the story is headed, it unfolds with the magic of a fairy tale and the breakneck excitement of dystopian fiction. Meyer’s far-future Earth is richly imagined, full of prejudice and intrigue, characters easy to get invested in, and hints of what might await in future books. Ages 12–up."

Prepare now for next month!

Sakurazaka's breakout first novel is the
September selection.

Where: The Oak Park Barnes & Noble Booksellers (see embedded map below!)
When: 7:00 p.m. Monday September 24, second floor
What: All You Need is Kill, by by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and illustrated by anime and manga graphic artist Yoshitoshi ABe [sic].

B&N Overview:

“L to R (Western Style). There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again… When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War. Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death?”

 

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Did you Chase it?

Then it's time to talk about it! 
SF&F Literati meet Monday July 23!

Prepare for a rollicking review session! 

Where: The Oak Park Barnes & Noble Booksellers (see embedded map below!)
When: 7:00 p.m. Monday July 23, second floor
What: A. Lee Martinez's Chasing the Moon
B&N Overview:

“Unspeakable horrors threaten the earth in this fantastic new comic fantasy from the author of Divine Misfortune.
“Diana's life was in a rut - she hated her job, she was perpetually single, and she needed a place to live. But then the perfect apartment came along. It seemed too good to be true - because it was.
“The apartment was already inhabited - by monsters. Vom the Hungering was the first to greet Diana and to warn her that his sole purpose in life was to eat everything in his path. This poses a problem for Diana since she's in his path...and is forbidden from ever leaving the apartment.
“It turns out though that there are older and more ancient monstrous entities afoot - ones who want to devour the moon and destroy the world as we know it. Can Diana, Vom, and the other horrors stop this from happening? Maybe if they can get Vom to stop eating everything...and everyone.”

Publishers Weekly Review:

A talking closet and a landlord who's "a bit of a nut" herald the beginning of the end of human civilization in Martinez's lighthearted tale. When Diana moves into apartment 5, she accidentally becomes the caretaker of monstrous, ancient Vom the Hungering. It doesn't seem all bad at first: the fridge is never empty, and she meets interesting neighbors. But she also acquires the startling ability to straddle "multiple floors of reality" and see that the world is suddenly full of bizarre creatures and their squabbling cliques: "It's like high school, except instead of jocks versus nerds, it's the things who eat civilizations versus things who eat galaxies." When Diana learns that Calvin, one of her monstrous new buddies, is planning to destroy the world, she must persuade her other bizarre friends to help head him off. Martinez (Divine Misfortune) excels at off-the-wall storytelling that perfectly suits this cheerful apocalyptic fantasy. (June)

Now's the time to buy next month's book!

In August: old story, new "take."

Same time

Same place

New book: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

B&N Overview:

“Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
“Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.”

Publishers Weekly Review

First in the Lunar Chronicles series, this futuristic twist on Cinderella retains just enough of the original that readers will enjoy spotting the subtle similarities. But debut author Meyer’s brilliance is in sending the story into an entirely new, utterly thrilling dimension. Cinder is a talented teenage mechanic and cyborg—part human, part robot—who has been living in New Beijing with a demanding adoptive mother and two stepsisters, ever since her late stepfather took Cinder in after a hovercraft accident. Several events abruptly turn Cinder’s world upside down: a chance meeting with the handsome Prince Kai has her heart racing; a plague pandemic threatens her beloved sister Peony; Cinder learns she is immune to the plague; and the evil Lunar Queen Levana arrives on Earth, scheming to marry Kai. Though foreshadowing early on makes it fairly clear where the story is headed, it unfolds with the magic of a fairy tale and the breakneck excitement of dystopian fiction. Meyer’s far-future Earth is richly imagined, full of prejudice and intrigue, characters easy to get invested in, and hints of what might await in future books. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)


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PHOTO CREDITS: All book covers are courtesy of Barnes & Noble Booksellers: Martinez-Chasing the Moon; Meyer-Cinder

Humor, Apocalypse, Cyborgs and Japanese SF

SF&F Literati Announce New Books
At their June 25 meeting the SF&F Literati chose three new titles to round out their summer reading selections and take them into the fall. 
We've listed the entire lineup here, so you can place your orders and start reading!

Did you think you had monsters in the
closet, as a child? If so, you had
nothing on Diana's problems!

July 23

Chasing the Moon, by A. Lee Martinez (who is becoming sort of a summertime reading “regular” author).

B&N Overview:

“Unspeakable horrors threaten the earth in this fantastic new comic fantasy from the author of Divine Misfortune. 
“Diana's life was in a rut--she hated her job, she was perpetually single, and she needed a place to live. But then the perfect apartment came along. It seemed too good to be true--because it was. 
“The apartment was already inhabited--by monsters. Vom the Hungering was the first to greet Diana and to warn her that his sole purpose in life was to eat everything in his path. This poses a problem for Diana since she's in his path . . . and is forbidden from ever leaving the apartment. 
“It turns out though that there are older and more ancient monstrous entities afoot - ones who want to devour the moon and destroy the world as we know it. Can Diana, Vom, and the other horrors stop this from happening? Maybe if they can get Vom to stop eating everything . . . and everyone.”

Based (very) loosely on the fairy tale, this
sf novel opens the Lunar Chronicles series.

August 27

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

B&N Overview:

“Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 
“Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. 
"But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.”

The Literati explore new worlds in a
popular Japanese sf novel, soon to
be a Warner Bros. film starring Tom
 Cruise.

September 24

All You Need is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and illustrated by anime and manga graphic artist Yoshitoshi ABe (no, that's not a typo).

B&N Overview:

“L to R (Western Style). There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again… When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill. 

"Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War. Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death?”

Note: This novel is identified as Sakurazaka’s “breakout” science fiction novel. It has been optioned by Warner Brothers for production, with the working title of We Mortals Are.  According to IMDB, the film is in pre-production and scheduled for release as All You Need is Kill in 2013.  Doug Liman will direct; Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star.

The SF&F Literati meet every fourth Monday of the month (with a couple of exceptions) on the 2^nd floor of the Barnes & Nobles Booksellers at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park.

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IMAGE CREDITS: All cover art is courtesy of Barnes & Noble Booksellers.