William Gibson: Spook Country - Groups

Overview: Groups

Cyberpunk 61 books / 227 members / 25 posts From Wikipedia: "CYBERPUNK is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life". Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega corporations. They tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than the far future settings or galactic vistas found in novels like Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias, but tend to be marked by extraordinary cultural ferment, and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its creators ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction." Cyberpunk in general is not aimed at the "Harry Potter" crowd (i.e., young adult, unsophisticated, etc.). The characters and plot elements in Slant by Greg Bear, for instance, are definitely not teen mainstream science fiction. Cyberpunk has been "mainstreamed" somewhat with the ability of Hollywood to create stunning special effects in movies. The obvious examples are the Matrix movies and Blade Runner. I enjoy Cyberpunk, notably Gibson, Sterling, Stephenson, di Filippo, and Bear. I find myself rereading these authors instead of picking up new titles. I would like to see a discussion of new/old titles that follow in the vein of the above listed authors. I hope to be inclusive here, including "biopunk" (e.g., di Filippo's Ribofunk), "steampunk" (e.g., The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling), and "postcyberpunk" (e.g., Stephenson's The Diamond Age).

Science Fiction 858 books / 3099 members / 1869 posts Sci-fi group for those who grok - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok

Recommend some stuff, let people know about new authors, help people find some good books to read.

I want to try to help people (including myself) find some lesser known, obscure, new, or under appreciated authors. I have nothing against Heinlein, Dick, Asimov, Gibson, etc... but let's take Grandmasters and Best-Sellers as a given. You could fill 20 pages full of the big names and that wouldn't point the way to new books. Let's do what SciFi is meant to do and explore some new frontiers... oh man, that makes me sound like I should own a closet full one piece jumpsuits.

Patti's Personal Interests 12 books / 1 members / 0 posts Just a list of all the books I've read

The Greedy Fatties Club 21 books / 5 members / 44 posts Gorge yourself on grub!

Better than Starbucks… if you like good coffee, great books, sharp wit, and people who read 775 books / 1136 members / 12942 posts Better than Starbucks… if you like good coffee, great books, sharp wit, and people who read Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Marquez, Morrison, Joyce, Faulkner, Cather, Kingsolver and a few hundred other really delicious writers, not to impress strangers, but because they love a good read, then please join us. We are not a private group, but the administrators will not resist the urge to delete boring and stupid comments. By the same token, personal attacks on young, slow or otherwise disadvantaged players will not be tolerated. Generally, be nice to other members, but spare not public figures, pop lit superstars, big box stores, politicians and religious leaders. Focus more energy on what is good and even what is great, but feel free to throw a stone when the occasion calls for it. Welcome!

Brilliant Babes (And Dudes) Who Read Selectively 648 books / 168 members / 8121 posts So, what makes you a selective reader? If you like Dan Brown, Danielle Steele, Nicholas Sparks, or similar works, you MAY not be into this club. We are a group of intelligent persons who love both thought-provoking literature and quality brain candy. Actually, I mainly started it for myself and my friends, but anybody can apply if you think you're down with the Brilliant Babes--just send someone a note explaining why YOU think you are a brilliant babe (or dude) who reads selectively. This is a super-casual group. Anybody can suggest a book to read, anybody can add books to the reading list. We welcome any and all intelligent book discussion (not to mention whining about books we hated or gushing about books we loved). And don't worry if you have a really embarrassing book on your shelves...we all have skeletons in the closet.

To ask for an invite please DO NOT use the admin message box, leave a note on the profile pages of either rob or Suze...we will get back to you as soon as we can...thanks for your patience...and if you insist on asking for an invite via the group admin message box you will be ignored...so don't. Also, please remember that, although we TRY to get to everyone's requests in a timely manner, we do have other responsibilities that sometimes delay us from looking at your shelves. Your patience will be rewarded

A note about being snobs: As hard as it is to believe, with all of the nice people here on Shelfari, we get an e-mail once every week or two saying that we are snobs. That really just depends on your definition of a snob. Yes, this is a private group. Yes, we jokingly call ourselves brilliant. Yes, we have rather defined reading tastes that cut out a lot of mass-market fiction. Does that truly make us snobs? We hand-picked many members of our initial group around what we like to read or think we'd like to read. I don't think this makes us so much snobs as "people who want to discuss the kind of stuff that they like to read and don't care to discuss stuff that they don't like to read." (shrugs) We're pretty accepting. So, before sending us mean e-mails, see above for the joining process. And just remember: If you don't make it in, you probably haven't read the same books that we've all read and we'd have nothing to talk about!

A special note from the admin: We want everyone to have a great time here. All we expect is that everyone plays nice! Good-humored sarcasm is in; putting down or harassing our members is not, and we won't hesitate to remove a repeat offender from the group.

Note on the threads: please feel free to go back and resurrect any of the earlier threads that you find interesting...

Our One and Only Love List...

Love in the Time of Cholera...Gabriel Garcia Marquez (J.M.)
Pride and Prejudice...Jane Austen (littlemom)
Jane Eyre...Charlotte Bronte (AthenasDaughter)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...Betty Smith (Dana)
A Room With a View...E.M. Forster (Kiki)
To Kill a Mockingbird...Harper Lee (unfinished woman)
The Virgin Suicides,,,Jeffrey Eugenides (ballroom pink)
Dragonfly in Amber...Diana Gabaldon (Aimeesue)
Watership Down...Richard Adams (rob)
Persuasion...Jane Austen (AvidReader)
The Once and Future King...T.H.White (Alicia)
The Sound and the Fury...William Faulkner (katie)
Gone with the Wind...Margaret Mitchell (dickensfan)
The Forsythe Saga...John Galsworthy (cubachick)
Catcher in the Rye...J.D. Salinger (gbett)
Fall On Your Knees...Ann Marie MacDonald (HemingwayHeroine)
Return of the Native...Thomas Hardy (Aaro)
Fight Club...Chuck Palahniuk (Tania B.)
The Great Indian Novel...Shashi Tharoor (ophelia)

Reading The Three Musketeers: The Serial Schedule

Part/Chapters/Start Date/Discussion Date
one/author's preface, 1, 2, 3, 4/17th May/25th
two/5, 6, 7, 8/26th/1st June
three/9, 10, 11, 12/2nd/8th
four/13, 14, 15, 16/9th/15th
five/17, 18, 19, 20/16th/22nd
six/21, 22, 23, 24/23rd/29th
seven/25, 26, 27, 28/30th/6th July
eight/29, 30, 31, 32/7th/13th
nine/33, 34, 35, 36/14th/20th
ten/37, 38, 39, 40/21st/27th
eleven/41, 42, 42, 44/28th/3rd August
twelve/45, 46, 47, 48/4th/10th
thirteen/49, 50, 51, 52, 53/11th/17th
fourteen/54, 55, 56, 57, 58/18th/24th
fifteen/59, 60, 61, 62, 63/25th/31st
sixteen/64, 65, 66, 67, epilogue/1st September/7th

http://www.strandbooks.com/
http://www.daedalusbooks.com/
http://www.hippocrenebooks.com/
http://loyolaclassics.loyolapress.com/

LETS TRY AND SEE IF EVERY ONE ON SHELFARI CAN JOIN 1 GROUP!! 332 books / 2277 members / 19000 posts As far as I know, this group doesn't have a point other than to have as many people join it as possible, and to be totally and completely random in exsistence. :D

We have games of all kinds, topics of conversation, notes about almost everything... various other things... but yeah. Overall, we're a fun crowd. This is an open group, so feel free to join all the fun! XD

Women Speak 413 books / 1433 members / 10402 posts December Greeting Card Swap

Spread joy and goodwill this holiday season. Join us for our first Greeting Card Swap.
Deadline for sign up is December 5th. Deadline for mailing cards is December 19th.

This group is for women to speak about issues concerning women.

FOR WOMEN ONLY. No men are permitted to join.
(If you are a man and you received an invitation, it was by mistake. I'm sorry, but you are not welcome here. Kindly, remove yourself or else you shall be removed.)
Because of the nature of our conversations, if you are a girl (under the age of 18), please get parental consent prior to joining.

So if you are a woman, simply click on "Join Group" in the upper right hand corner.

RULES:

NO religious debates. Take that up in a forum that is designed for religious debates. Refer to only your religious beliefs in that they help form your opinion. Do not speak of the tenants of a faith that is not yours.

No personal attacks. Do not use a member's name or any pronouns referring to a member with ANY derogatory comment, such as, naive, sexist, stupid, immature, etc.. Do not use any descriptions that demean a person's character, intelligence or belief's

Do censor your own comments prior to submission to ensure that they are respectful of the other members in the group.

Do pause before submitting in a heated discussion and take a second look at what you are about to submit.

Recommendations:
Be specific and don't use generalizations. When debating, be sure to counter specific points made and address the member who made the point.

Give people the benefit of doubt. This is the Internet therefore you don't have the vantage point of reading body language.

Ask for clarification. Ask questions. We could avoid a lot of hurt feelings if we first ask if a person is saying what we think they are saying.

State your position without expectation. The goal is to be heard and share your position. We're not here to win converts.

If you do feel attacked, address the offender directly and let them know that what they said (and be specific) hurt, upset, concerned you. And communicate this without countering with an insult. It's hard to listen when you're feeling attacked.

When stating statistics provide cite (web link, article, book).

Shelfari: The Site for Books & Readers

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by William Gibson

Overview: Groups