The name of this blog was inspired by the Beyond Reality discussion group, which has been around for almost two decades and which I’ve been managing for more than half of that time. The group is currently housed at GoodReads (a site I waste an incredible amount of time on) and has over 900 members. Because this site’s name took its inspiration from the group, I post monthly updates about the group here, including our Books of the Month, our series discussions, and any other special events like giveaways or author visits. Please consider this an invitation to join us, if you’re interested in SF&F book discussion. And if book discussions aren’t your thing, maybe you’ll find some additional book recommendations in this monthly feature!

Beyond Reality‘s Books of the Month for May are:

Embassytown by China Miéville for science fiction. My thoughts: awesome author, but this is unfortunately one of the very few novels by him I haven’t read yet, mainly because I’ve barely been able to keep up with reading the books I’m supposed to review. This is one book I’d love to read and discuss with the group, but I have four or five other books I’m supposed to work on for deadlines, so unfortunately it won’t happen this month. Still, I’ve been a fan of Miéville since Perdido Street Station first hit the shelves, so I’m 100% sure I’ll end up reading this novel one day. Just not this month, unfortunately.

Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny for fantasy. My thoughts: are remarkably similar to the ones about the SF selection above, actually. Love Zelazny, have read a ton of novels by him, but this is one I never got around to and, unfortunately, won’t be able to read this month because of other commitments. This book is on my very, very long list of “books I plan to read if I ever dig out from the pile of ARCs.” One of these days I’ll get the chance to start working on that list…

In our ongoing series discussion of David Weber’s Honor Harrington series we’ve reached book 9, Ashes of Victory. Later this month, we’ll get started on book 10, War of Honor. I haven’t been participating in this discussion for a while now, partly because I wasn’t entirely blown away by the first book in this series (thought it was entertaining, but not good enough to read another dozen books) and partly because I simply lack the time.

And that’s it for this quick look about what we’re doing at the Beyond Reality discussion group. If you’re interested in participating in any of these book or short story discussions, please drop by the group!