Oct 13, 2018

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!

Oct 3, 2018

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!