…in which your humble host takes you on a journey to promote 2 worthy reading challenges, one science fiction mini-challenge, and the SF Site Readers’ Choice Awards.
As I was preparing mentally to host this year’s Sci Fi Experience I was excited to come across the 42 Challenge, hosted by Becky.
Sci fi geeks may recognize 42 as the ultimate answer from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In this case 42 is the ultimate 42 weeks and 42 days challenge covering a whole range of sci fi geekery and goodness. The challenge runs from January 1, 2009 through December 3, 2009.
You can click on the text above to the 42 Challenge link to sign up. Becky has even made it possible for those who are not thrilled about doing reviews to participate. Head on over to the challenge site to check it out.
I am really excited about this challenge. Not only does the beginning coincide with my desire to be immersed in sci fi for The Experience, but it also gives me a year long excuse to write about whatever science fiction related goodness that my heart desires. I look forward to watching and reviewing some of the classics on DVD as well as many other challenge-acceptable posts. I strongly encourage you to participate as well. This will be fun.
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(with apologies to Annie, I thought a shrugging robot would fit this post’s theme)
I am also promoting and participating in Annie’s What’s In a Name 2 Challenge. 11 year old Annie is not only a wonderfully prolific reader, she comes up with very interesting ideas for the categories in her challenges. This year’s 6 items are different than last years and they include reading at least one book in the following categories:
1. A book with a “profession” in its title. Examples might include: The Book Thief, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Historian
2. A book with a “time of day” in its title. Examples might include: Twilight, Four Past Midnight, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
3. A book with a “relative” in its title. Examples might include: Eight Cousins, My Father’s Dragon, The Daughter of Time
4. A book with a “body part” in its title. Examples might include: The Bluest Eye, Bag of Bones, The Heart of Darkness
5. A book with a “building” in its title. Examples might include: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Little House on the Prairie, The Looming Tower
6. A book with a “medical condition” in its title. Examples might include: Insomnia, Coma, The Plague
This challenge runs from January 1st, 2009 through December 31st, 2009. Prizes, links to posting your reviews, and other fun things can be found on the challenge website. As I did last year I will be paying attention to what I read to see if it fits in the category, knowing full well that I may find myself scrambling at the end of the year if my reading doesn’t fit! I cannot wait to see how hard or how easy it may be to find books that fit in each category. Thanks Annie for hosting this fun challenge again this year.
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(image modified from free wallpaper from HDWallpapers (dot) com)
You may recall that I agreed to host a mini-challenge for Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge. I wanted this to coincide with the Sci Fi Experience 2009 and so I dub this the:
Out of This World Mini-Challenge
The Challenge will take place Saturday and Sunday, January 17th and 18th.
All you need to do during this Mini-Challenge is to read at least one science fiction short story and post about it in the comments of the Mini-Challenge post that I will put up here on the morning of Saturday the 17th. Prizes will be awarded from a random drawing of all participants during the challenge, and for each short story you read and post about in the comments before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, January 18th you will get one entry in the contest.
You can read any science fiction short story that you want, as long as it is science fiction. This is not a fantasy mini-challenge so please make sure your story, or stories, fit into the category of science fiction.
If you don’t have an anthology of science fiction stories handy I strongly recommend visiting this excellent website, Best Science Fiction Stories. At Best Science Fiction Stories, Rusty posts mini-reviews of science fiction short stories and includes a link to the place where they can be read online. This is an excellent resource for science fiction short stories. In fact, I so strongly recommend this website that I will put your name in for an extra entry if you read a story from his site and comment on it there. Simply let me know you did so in the comments on the Saturday, January 17th Out of This World Mini-Challenge post.
You are welcome to post a review of your short story on your own site but you do not need to in order to qualify for the drawings. Just leave a comment about the story you read, perhaps a few thoughts on it, and where you read it from.
The prizes will be good ones and will be revealed in the Saturday, January 17th post.
There is a possibility that I will also be having some sort of online chat/encouragement thing going on during a portion of this weekend. If so those details will also be in the post on the 17th.
Hope to see you there!
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(Starliner, available from Cool Rockets)
SF Site is hosting their annual SF (Speculative Fiction) Readers’ Choice Awards. You have until February 6th, 2009 to vote on your favorite SF books published in the 2008 calendar year. You can get more specific details on their site here. However I’ll give you the highlights:
To qualify for a vote the item in question has to
#1. Meet SF Site’s definition of a book–this is a very broad definition.
#2. Be related to Speculative Fiction–again, a broad definition.
#3. Has to have been released in English in calendar year 2008–this too has some caveats: the book can be a new reprint, a book translated to English for the first time, or a new edition as well as simply a book published for the first time in 2008.
To vote simply send an email to vote (at) sfsite (dot) com. Include the message VOTE in the subject line. List your top 4 to 10 books (again, check the definition at the site) in order, number 1 being your most favorite. Include the title of the book and the author’s name.
That’s it!
I’ve done my voting and you should to. In these cynical times it can sometimes be argued that literary awards are a popularity contest voted on by people who are out of touch with the average reader. This is your chance to have a real say in the voting.
Get your two cents in!
Incidentally, links to past years’ results can be found there as well. This is a great resource if you are looking for exciting, recently released science fiction and fantasy to read.
Okay, that website where you can read SF short stories is awesome! I don’t think I have any SF short story collections because I don’t normally read short stories, so very good idea! I probably should stay off there so I have something left to read for the challenge. lol
Awesome! I’m going to send in a vote to SF Site in a sec. Love that rocket! I’ll have to investigate that further 😉 And the robot you used in this post rocks too!
I love your idea for the mini challenge! I’ll post details on it tomorrow on the challenge blog just announcing that it’s happening and that people should come by here on the 17th. I have just the book in mind to read stories from. Becky just reviewed The Starry Rift edited by Jonathan Strahan. It has a kick ass table of contents. I have to work the weekend of the 17th and 18th, but I’ll just hope that we’re slow and that I can get lots of reading done! I’ll also read a couple from the website. I’ve been having my eyes on Eclipse One ever since you reviewed it last year too. Maybe I’ll check that one out as well.
I’m really looking forward to Becky and Annie’s challenges! They’re both among my favs of the year.
Chris: Glad you like the details. As time gets closer I may do some more posts to whet people’s appetites, put some prize stuff up, etc.
Funny that you mention Starry Rift as I just put a hold on it at my library on Sunday. Should be in sometime soon.
I had fun with the robot pix for this post. The sepia toned one at the start didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted but I still like it.
I love that rocket too. It is something I’ve wanted for a year or more now!
Kailana: It is an awesome site, isn’t it? This coming Sunday’s Short Story Sunday post will include at least two (so far) reviews of stories I read over there today.
Awesome challenge’s. I promise to sign up soon on Dewey’s, Annie’s, and Becky’s challenge’s. Annie I really like the categories you’ve choosen this year. In fact the first book I’m reading this year quailifies for the ” profession ” category. I’m reading “Agent to the Stars” by John Scalzi right now and loving it. I also look forward to the mini-challenge Carl you know you can count me in for that one.
Rusty’s site sounds great as well and I will certainly check it out. I also love that rocket ship. What a great retro feel. It totally fits the mood of the book I’m reading to my kids right now; Have Space Suit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein. We’re only 40 pages in so far but we are all sucked in. I can tell it’s going to be a real gem.
My, my, my, but this was a post chocked full of goodies! Thanks for promoting Annie’s challenge, and don’t worry, I’m quite sure she’ll approve of the photo when I show it to her. 🙂
Your mini-challenge sounds wonderful! I still haven’t read Eclipse One that I bought after your review last year. And I just ordered Starry Rift, after reading reviews of some of the stories at Becky’s.
I hopped over to the Best Science Fiction Stories site. Looks pretty darn cool…though I have trouble reading on-line. I either need a comfier chair here at the computer or a laptop of my own. 🙂
Debi: My pleasure, it is a fun challenge that is worth promoting.
Eclipse One would be a good choice for finding a short story or two for the Out of This World Mini-Challenge. I have Eclipse Two coming in the mail this week and I am really looking forward to it.
I’m not big on reading stories online yet myself. I am too much a fan of the ‘book in hand’ experience. However I am going to try to do this a little bit more, especially with stories that are 10-15 pages or less simply because I’ve read some really interesting stories on the BSFS site that I probably never would have tracked down otherwise.
Jeff: I’m looking forward to helping you get your blog set up so that you can ‘officially’ join and participate in these challenges.
Agent to the Stars is a great choice for profession, I will probably use that one myself when I read it.
I love the rocket ship too. I want the rocket ship. I’m happy to read your initial thoughts on Have Space Suit, Will Travel. I read a Heinlein short story in Jerry’s book last night, The Menace from Earth, and it got me more excited about finally reading one of his juveniles. I just got the email this morning that my copy is in at the library. I am close to the 3/4ths mark in my reread of The Stars My Destination and will probably go to Have Space Suit next so that I can be reading it at the same time you are reading it to your kids. Don’t want to be left out of the conversation at the shop!
Starry Rift has already been mentioned. 🙂 But I highly recommend it. Especially especially the first story by Scott Westerfeld–Ass-Hat Magic Spider. I’ve still got six stories left to read in that collection, so I may save it up to read for the mini-challenge!
Becky
Wow,
All of these challenges sound really cool! My only problem is that with limited time I may not be able to participate in all of them. 🙁
I am definitely in for the “Out of This World Mini-Challenge” however. Thanks for pointing out my web site – hopefully it helps people find some short stories that they really like. I have tried to set up categories to help readers find stories that interest them. And for those who don’t particularly like reading stories online, maybe a “Flash Fiction” or “Very Short” story would work out better.
I love the mini-challenge so much 😀 And I know just the book I’ll check out from the library for it. It’s this huge sci-fi anthology edited by Ursula Le Guin. I actually brought it home once before, but I didn’t get around to it. I’ll also keep the site you mentioned in mind. It looks excellent.
Oh, and I also love the online chat/encouragement idea!
Out of This World mini-challenge sounds like a lot of fun 🙂 I will be back on the 17th! Looking to get my hands on some more Ted Chiang stories meanwhile.
Carl, I will join you in your RIP challenges, and your Once Upon A Time Challenges, but I’m not quite willing to jump into Sci-Fi. Yet. Who knows, you may convince me one day…and might I add, the pictures and titles you post are quite enticing. I can imagine how well they would sit with a true Sci-Fi lover.
And after I finally joined the Japanese Challenge… 😉
Just kidding, I appreciate your friendship and your participation in the others and hope to one day wear you down and convince you to read some sci fi.
You probably will. Look, it took you to the second time around to join the Japanese literature challenge!
That is true!
I got all worried this morning that you would think I was being rude in my last comment. You know I’m just teasing you, I’m sure! XO
Oh, of course not. I know you better than that. Worry no more, I know you were just giving me a hard time. 🙂
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