It's that time again, to start thinking about our next group read.

This time around, we're selecting books to read in April and discuss in May. We will pick both a general fantasy and a GoodReads author selection.

Group members can nominate up to 2 in each category. Please use the following format:

General Fantasy: Book by Author
GoodReads Author: Book by Author

Also please include a short comment about why you made this nomination. That might help garner support for your choice....

I'll take nominations until the 15th, then set up polls.

Ok, I'll get the ball rolling.

For goodreads author I'd like to recommend Territory by Emma Bull. It's a tale of hidden history, with the latently powerful Doc Holiday and the sorcerous Wyatt Earp. Sounds interesting, and I've been convinced to give Bull another shot after my disappointment with 'War of the Oaks'.

I'm a bit torn on my general nomination. I know we can do 2, but I'd hate to have nominations fighting against each other... so I think I'll vote for The Warded Man (aka the Painted Man) by Peter V. Brett. It's been on my TBR list for awhile, and will be in paperback before April rolls around. It seems like a sort of sort of standard epic fight against evil - but with the promise of interesting, flawed protagonists, and the ever popular questions of religion vs science and whatnot.

Excellent nominations, as usual, blackrose.....

Goodreads author - Inda by Sherwood Smith - A big fat book that takes a bit to get into but rewards the reader with riches. It has to be one of the best coming of age fantasies written - but with a depth that astounds and wrings the reader to powerful emotions. Smith managed to capture the awesome energy of youth, and the bonding of boys trapped in the political power plays of a strong court intrigue. This book takes time to wind up and sort - but the depth of the society is beautifully drawn, and the characters - a grand mix of human weakness, and strengths, and ambitions - this story brought me to tears, several times, and to breathtaking, bone shaking awe for the heroics and sacrifices of the characters. It's a very under recognized title that ought to be up there with the best.

For regular fantasy, The Grey Horse by R.A. MacAvoy a delightful little jaunt into the Irish legend, with country characters, a tight plot, and a pooka. This story is warm and fun, and a far cry from the cynical and the horrific. MacAvoy perfectly captured the culture and the charm of the locale - with the rare advantage - this is a standalone.

The Warded Man looks like an excellent nomination. Thanks blackrose.

*First Post to FBC*
Goodreads Author: The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier
- A great story about a young girl, Varis, who lives off the streets of Amenkor by stealing food. She is found by one of the Mistress's Seekers and trained to be an assassin, only to be sent against the Mistress herself. A first book in a trilogy.

Genearal Author: Blood of Ambrose by James Enge
- Haven't read this yet, but it's next on my TRL. I've read short stories by the author about the main character, Morlock, and liked them enough to buy the book. This was listed as one of Locus Online's Recommended reads for 2009.

Thanks for the ideas, Janny and David. I'll get those on the polls.

Goodreads Author: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin. A young woman discovers she may be heiress to the throne of a kingdom, and is suddenly thrust into a political power struggle. This book has been highly recommended to me for its prose and well-developed characters.

General author: Gardens of the Moon, by Steven Erikson. The first of the famous Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Frequently compared to George R.R. Martin and Glen Cook, this militaristic epic fantasy series is near completion - making it a perfect time to start reading for those of us who hate reading unfinished series. :)

Nice...the polls to date will include:

General Fantasy

The Grey Horse by R.A. MacAvoy
Blood of Ambrose by James Enge
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

GoodReads Authors

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
Territory by Emma Bull
Inda by Sherwood Smith
The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
The Victor by Marlayne Giron

General Fantasy: The Leopard Mask by Kaoru Kurimoto. The 1st book of the longuest serie I know of.

GoodReads Author: The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett.

Patrik's nomination brought up the fact that Peter Brett is indeed a GoodReads Author. His reader account wasn't linked to the author bio when we started this nomination thread, but it has since been corrected. So now he shows up properly.

As a result, I've switched his book to the GR Author poll.

Let's keep the nominations coming. Just a few more days left!

I think this one was in last month's nominations, but it sounds so good:

GR Author: The Victor by Marlayne Giron

Well, in that case I'll submit The Eyre Affair, again, by Jasper Fforde for a general fantasy nomination, because I like mysteries and I'm in the mood for something fun/ny, and that would've been my second choice anyway.

Thanks, Mawg and blackrose....I've got those added now...

I'm glad to see The Warded Man on the list. I just started listening to the audiobook and it's amazingly good. I've friended the author and I bet he'd be happy to come aboard to talk about the book.

For general fantasy I propose The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol. A girl that can read your deepest secrets by looking at you must prove the prince accused of killing his kin is innocent.

For the Goodreads author book nomination, I propose my own YA fantasy Two Moon Princess
by Carmen-Ferreiro-Esteban. If it is all right.

A Spanish Princess.
An American Boy.
A King set on revenge.

An unrequited love
and a disturbing family secret
bring a World to the brink of War.


In this coming-of-age story set in a medieval kingdom, Andrea is a headstrong princess longing to be a knight who finds her way to modern-day California. But her accidental return to her world and a disastrous romance brings war to her kingdom.

The polls are up:

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/10...

And we have winners:

GoodReads Author selection for April/May 2010: The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

General Fantasy for April/May 2010: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson