Book Recommendations of October and November 2018 Part 2 - Fantasy

Here are our fantasy recommendations and tips issued in our October and November newsletters, enjoy!

Book Recommendations of October and November 2018 Part 1 - Science Fiction

We have a new column, hooray! As you may well know, the Otherland publishes a monthly newsletter in which we announce and review novelties of that particular month. Henceforth I'll be publishing our recommended English books here on the Otherlander's blog and respectively the German books will appear on our website (www.otherland-berlin.de).

Reviewers are:
Fantasy and YA geek, Charleen Figul who firmly believes she is a character made up by Tolkien;
Caroline Kohler, prolific shapeshifter and mastermind behind the Otherland's beautiful showcase is an expert for all genres;
The voice of reason and master of brainy reviews Sarah Binz writes for SF, fantasy and miscellaneous;
Marc, the man who has read them all, excels in SF predominantly;
Humble me, Otherland's scream queen Inci German, write for SF and horror;
Science Fiction fireball Wolf Tress;
The baroque opera singing, comic collecting Simon Weinert reviews everything fantasy, role playing and comic;
and finally
Jakob the omnipotent (Jakob Schmidt) is  expert for absolutely everything.

Here are our science fiction recommendations and tips issued in our October and November newsletters, enjoy! 

Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club

Book clubbers, Friday is time we meet again!

Philip Pullman's 2017 fantasy novel La Belle Sauvage is the first volume of the planned trilogy The Book of Dust. The story is set about twelve years before the start of "His Dark Materials", in a universe that is governed by the Magisterium, or the Church, who suppresses all heresy. What's adorably characteristic to Pullman's universe are the so-called "soul" daemons, animals who represent the soul of their humans and who swarm around them.
So what would your soul deamon be? And have you finished reading it yet? It's quite the delightful story!!!

AS ALWAYS we'll meet at 19.30 pm at the Otherland Bookshop and there's no registration needed. Please read the book, though!

There's drinks folks, see you there!

Next titles and dates are:

November 9th - The Book of Dust Vol. 1 - La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Sauvage
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34128219-la-belle-sauvage?from_search=true

November 23rd - A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (HORROR SPECIAL)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Head_Full_of_Ghosts
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23019294-a-head-full-of-ghosts?ac=1&from_search=true

December 14th - Blindsight by Peter Watts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_(Watts_novel)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight?from_search=true

January 11th - Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28209634-autonomous

Addendum to the OBC Discussion on N.K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season"

by Gisle Martens-Meyer

LETTER TO OTHERLAND

Dearest Fulcrum filth!!

With greatest sadness I cannot be present tonight, I'm at Frankfurt Buchmesse, tirelessly robbing publishers of their free drinks.

However! Tonight! Be careful what you say about The Fifth Season! My torus is immense! My orogene ears are listening in the Earth!! My army of stone eaters are standing by!! ONE NEGATIVE WORD about this greatest piece of literature ever, and my wrath and punishment will be instantaneous! My Obelisk death-rays are pointing straight to Bergmannstrasse! My lava sharks are circling in the magma under your feet at this very moment!

I give a remote thumbs up. I expect a universal vote. Thank you. Have a pleasant evening.

Blogger's note: No need to say that the book got our Otherland Book Club approval. As to Gisle, we expect to see ten rings on his ten fingers next time we see him. Hope he enjoys the drinks!

Next Meetings, Titles and Dates for the Otherland Book Club

Dear Book Clubbers,
Our meeting on October 12th is drawing nearer! Are you close to finishing The Fifth Season yet?

N.K. Jemisin's 2015 science fantasy novel is the first book of the groundbreaking Broken Earth Series which sensationally has been winning the Hugo Awards for best novel for the last three years!
In the single supercontinent Stillness, every few centuries comes a so-called "fifth season", a season of extreme climate change. In Stillness the society is divided into many communities ("comms") and species: the Orogenes, energy controlling "freaks"; the warriors and hunters called "Guardians"; the academic Geomests and the sculpture-people Stone-Eaters are only some of them.
In the prologue, an orogene with super powers expresses the sad state of the world and then uses his power to fracture the entire continent, thus causing the worst Fifth Season of all time. The book then follows the stories of three female orogenes: Essun, Damaya, and Syenite.

Meetig is on October 12th, 7.30 pm at the Otherland Bookshop as usual. And as usual there will be snacks and drinks. Just read the book and come over!

Next titles and dates for the Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club are:

November 9th - The Book of Dust Vol. 1 - La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Sauvage
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34128219-la-belle-sauvage?from_search=true

November 23rd - A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (HORROR SPECIAL)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Head_Full_of_Ghosts
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23019294-a-head-full-of-ghosts?ac=1&from_search=true

December 14th - Blindsight by Peter Watts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_(Watts_novel)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48484.Blindsight?from_search=true

Meetings are always on a Friday and at 7.30 pm at the Otherland Bookshop. See you there!

Alastair Reynolds was here!

Alastair Reynolds while signing all his books at the Otherland!

Life can surprise you in pleasant ways sometimes. Sometimes the most renowned and acclaimed author who seems totally out of reach can turn out to be the nicest, coolest, most down-to-earth person ever. That was the case with Alastair Reynolds. We at the Otherland were so fortunate and so happy to be able to welcome him and his wife Josette at our bookshop!

Not only did they agree to make a stop in Berlin even though they were heading for Elstercon in Leipzig and make a short reading of the next Revenger book and QA-evening at the Wasserturm for the Otherland. Alastair also signed every book in the shop and enchanted his fanbase in Berlin by taking time for each fan during the event and the signing!

Charles Stross - third time at the Otherland

A recap of an evening with Charles Stross

by Wolf Tress

 

Wolf and unimpressed cartoon cat in Otherland

I remember quite well the first time Charlie walked in our Otherland. With a friendly hello he strolled by and entered the english book section. I was thinking: Wow, this guy looks like... and this guy is standing right in front of the books of ... and now he takes one of the books of ... so I walked over and asked: “Are you...” “Yes, I am Charles Stross - do you mind if I sign my books?” Well, yesterday was the third time he came to visit the Otherland and do a reading / Q&A-Session with us.