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Newsletter 8 - 2021 New Year's Update
Welcome to another year at the Tabletop Roleplayer's Book Club!
We started this book club in January of 2011 with the reading of JRR Tolkien's Silmarillion, and went on from there to read many more books! Our first home was on the Roludo gaming forum, then we moved to G+ where we picked up a big batch of new members, and in 2018 we moved here, to our own dedicated forum. This January we'll be reading (for some, re-reading) Sleep Donation by Karen Russell, and this will mark the end of our 9th year. This will be our 96th* monthly book selection. If we add in the 9 books we've read so far as 'slow reads', we're at 105 books in total! We;ve done well as a club - we still have most of our original members, and are continuing to grow slowly with the addition of new ones.
Here's what we've got on tap for the beginning of 2021:
NEXT FEW DAYS
Discussion of our December pick (book #95) will begin tomorrow, hosted by @RichardAbbott . This is a reading of Ted Chiang's short story Story Of Your Life, in conjunction with a viewing of the film Arrival, which was based on the story. By extension, I assume we'll also be discussing some of the other stories in Ted Chiang's collection: Stories Of Your Life And Others.
Introduction: https://www.ttrpbc.com/discussion/508/december-story-choice-story-of-your-life-arrival#latest
Discussions: https://www.ttrpbc.com/categories/95-(december-2020)-stories-of-your-life-arrival-by-ted-chiang
JANUARY
In January, @WildCard will be hosting the discussion of our 96th book - Sleep Donation, by Karen Russell. This is actually the second time we'll be reading this book - it was also pick number 21!
Trish Edgewater is the Slumber Corps’ top recruiter. On the phone, at a specially organized Sleep Drive, even in a supermarket parking lot: Trish can get even the most reluctant healthy dreamer to donate sleep to an insomniac in crisis–one of hundreds of thousands of people who have totally lost the ability to sleep. Trish cries, she shakes, she shows potential donors a picture of her deceased sister, Dori: one of the first victims of the lethal insomnia plague that has swept the globe.
Run by the wealthy and enigmatic Storch brothers, the Slumber Corps is at the forefront of the fight against this deadly new disease. But when Trish is confronted by “Baby A,” the first universal sleep donor, and the mysterious “Donor Y,” whose horrific infectious nightmares are threatening to sweep through the precious sleep supply, her faith in the organization and in her own motives begins to falter.
@WildCard 's introduction can be found, here: https://www.ttrpbc.com/discussion/517/96-january-2021-book-nomination-sleep-donation#latest
Look for discussions to begin around the end of January. They'll be posted here: https://www.ttrpbc.com/categories/96-(january-2021)-sleep-donation-by-karen-russell
FEBRUARY
In February, one of our most recent members, @BurnAfterRunning (host of the gaming blog of the same name, btw) has expressed an interest in running a Terry Pratchett book - an author we haven't yet tackled here at the club. Look for an announcement, or perhaps a discussion thread, to begin soon. (EDIT: And the pick is Mort )
COMING SOON
And, if monthly readings aren't enough - or indeed, if they are too much! - we've started discussing a new Slow Read for 2021. Slow Read's allow us to tackle longer works, but spread out over a much longer time with weekly discussions. For more on this, I point you to the ongoing discussion thread: https://www.ttrpbc.com/discussion/520/2021-slow-read
(EDIT: And the pick is The Dream Archipelago by Christopher Priest
Here's to a great 10th year, everyone!
Comments
With the reading of Terry Pratchett in February, hosted by @BurnAfterRunning , our current rotation of hosts will come to an end.
It's time to start a new rotation for monthly selections, and with the addition of some members, the return of others, and possibly the disappearance of yet more, I think it's time to take a roll call to see who's going to participate in hosting a discussion for the next rotation.
If you're out, please let me know here. And don't worry - if you change your mind later, we can tack you back on the the end of the rotation so long as you give me advance warning.
If you're in, please let me know - and also roll a D20 for initiative! We'll resolve the order from highest to lowest. Ties will be resolved in order of response. Here's a dice roller if you need one:
https://rolladie.net/roll-a-d20-die
Up for grabs in this rotation: our 100th monthy club pick! Who will get it?
My roll for initiative is 11.
We'll keep this open for submissions until the end of Friday, January 22nd, and then resolve the new schedule.
Tagging people who visited us in 2020 (in no particular order.)
@BarnerCobblewood
@Bill_White
@Bilharzia
@Anat13
@Ray_Otus
@clash_bowley
@RichardAbbott
@dr_mitch
@NeilNjae
@rossum
@MARCC
@WildCard
@NeilNjae
@Michael_S_Miller
@Keith
@Jesseabe
@Morthrai
@RtG
@Alex
@Aonghais_MacInnes
@Doccowie
@BurnAfterRunning
> If you're in, please let me know - and also roll a D20 for initiative! We'll resolve the order from highest to lowest. Ties will be resolved in order of response. Here's a dice roller if you need one:
"Alexa, roll a twenty-sided dice"
Answer - 15
I'm in, rolled a 2.
I'm out for this rotation. My ability to focus enough to finish a book has evaporated since the pandemic, but check in with me next time.
I'll count myself in. Roll = 3.
I'm in. Rolled a 19.
I’m in, also rolled a 2.
Hello,
I'm still reading the discussions irregularly. I'll pass on the rotation.
I'm in! I rolled a 6.
A little over a week has passed, so I think we can wrap this up. If anyone missed out and would still like to join we can easily add them to the end of the rotation.
Going from highest to lowest, this is our next rotation:
Book #98 - March 2021, with a roll of 19: @clash_bowley
Book #99 - April 2021, with a roll of 15: @RichardAbbott
Book #100 - May 2021, with a roll of 11: @Apocryphal
Book #101 - June 2021, with a roll of 6: @NeilNjae
Book #102 - July 2021, with a roll of 3: @Ray_Otus
Book #103 - August 2021, with a roll of 2: @BarnerCobblewood
Book #104 - September 2021, also with a roll of 2: @WildCard
I'll ask that you be ready to engineer or announce your pick around the 15th of the month prior.
Thanks,
Chris
No problem
Got it!
I think I already know what mine will be. But I'll announce it at the proper time.
Oh, earlier is fine - especially if the book is only available 'used' in print. Gives people more time to get it.
Can my selection be my own novel, which I haven’t written yet? It will give me impetus to write.
(Not a real suggestion.)
I don't want to pre-empt other people, and I may well change my mind before June!
I'm going to give @WildCard a nitro boost and pick his book for May.
(Not a real threat!)
I knew I should have participated in NaNoWriMo.