Friday 3 December 2010

Sign up: Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge 2011!


Okay! Carolyn over at Book Chick City wondered if I would be interested in hosting the Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge for 2011, and since the majority of my reading nestles firmly in the speculative fiction field I jumped at the chance. I do hope that everyone who took part in 2010 with Carolyn will join me for 2011!

For this first attempt at a reading challenge, I'm not going to be strict! Speculative fiction for me includes anything from the realm of science fiction, fantasy or horror - doesn't matter what subgenre, or whether it is tie-in fiction. I'm aiming to make this as inclusive as possible.

So, let's get down to it - all of the details you need for signing up are below...

Grab Button



Speculative Fiction


Sign Up

  • To sign up you must make a post on your blog about participating in the Challenge - you then use the URL of the sign up post to add to Mr Linky below. 
  • You must  add the button to your sidebar - make sure that it links back to this post so others can join the challenge if they wish. Easiest way to do this is just copy and paste the code above!

Other Details

  • Timeline: 01 Jan 2011 - 31 Dec 2011
  • Rules: To read 12 Speculative Fiction novels in 2011 (12 is the minimum - you can read more if you wish!)
  • You don't have to choose your books ahead of time, you can add them as you go. If you do list them upfront, you can change them. Books for this challenge can be used to fulfil other challenges.
  • You can join anytime between now and the later part of next week - but the sooner you start, the sooner your chances for prizes!
    • At the beginning of Jan 2011 (and the beginning of all subsequent months in 2011), you will find a link to add your reviews. I am going to be putting up a monthly prize which will be formed from duplicate books/ARCs that I receive as a reviewer. You must be signed up to the challenge and add the link to your review to be entered into the monthly prize draw!
    If you have any trouble adding your URL link below, please email me the name you want posted below with your URL link and I will add it for you.

    Hoping to see many of you join me for a year of reading speculative fiction!

      73 comments:

      1. I'm definitely signing up! Just posted on my blog!

        ReplyDelete
      2. Thanks so much India :-) Look forward to sharing book reviews with you!

        ReplyDelete
      3. Thanks for taking this challenge over.

        ReplyDelete
      4. A new challenge for me - can't wait!

        ReplyDelete
      5. Discovered your blog from Book Chick City. I've become a follower and signed up for the challenge. Going to shoot for double (24 books) as I read a lot of spec fic. Can't wait!

        Scribbler to Scribe

        ReplyDelete
      6. Thanks to all three of you for joining up - very much looking forward to seeing the books you read during 2011!

        ReplyDelete
      7. I've decided to give it a go. I need to up my reading though been a bit off the past couple of months!

        ReplyDelete
      8. I'm going to jump in on this. Especially since I tend to read 2+ books a month as is. Do manuscripts of published authors future books count? :D

        ReplyDelete
      9. If it's speculative and you can write a review of it, then you can have it :-) In fact, you'll probably just help generate even more excitement in the rest of us as to forthcoming books! Self-published are also eligible. Like I say, this is my first challenge and I'm not about to get strict - we can all work it through together!

        ReplyDelete
      10. Sweet! Time to put off the manuscript for Brandon Sandersons Rithmatist that is coming out in 2012 at least till January 1.

        ReplyDelete
      11. I'm on pace for almost 60 SF books this year, so count me in. (It also means I'll finally have to get my blog properly revamped, which is a good thing.)

        ReplyDelete
      12. Nice! I expect to see plentiful reviews ;-) Including Malazan books!

        ReplyDelete
      13. I've signed up. Can't wait to see all the books everyone will read :)

        ReplyDelete
      14. Great stuff Mieneke :-) As with the Salt-Man, we all can pretty much achieve this challenge with the Malazan re-read ;-)

        ReplyDelete
      15. At the rate of 3 months per MBotF volume? :P

        ReplyDelete
      16. I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge, but ... I do have a list of SF books to read next year:

        http://www.goodreads.com/list/user_vote/570303

        ReplyDelete
      17. Just realized that the link I left above is just my main blog index page. Oops. That won't do much good.

        Here's the link to my join-up post:
        http://www.saltmanz.com/blog/2010/12/speculative-fiction-challenge-2011/

        And a link to all posts tagged "sf challenge 2011":
        http://www.saltmanz.com/blog/tag/sf-challenge-2011/

        ReplyDelete
      18. Found this thanks to KB Lawrence (http://5minutesblog.net/im-doing-the-spec-fic-reading-challenge-for-2)

        Looking forward to it as I have a whole slew of spec fic books on my Christmas list!

        ReplyDelete
      19. Really pleased to have you both onboard and thanks for helping to spread the word!

        ReplyDelete
      20. I'm in! Looks like fun :)

        ReplyDelete
      21. I'll be signing up and doing a blog post soon (maybe tomorrow). It shouldn't be hard to get in 12 speculative fiction books, since that's about all I read anyway.

        ReplyDelete
      22. I'm in. I added everything to my challenge post and put up the button.

        ReplyDelete
      23. I bit the proverbial bullet and posted my list of 22 books. Should make up about 40% of my reading next year.

        ReplyDelete
      24. I'm really happy to participate again as it seems this one was the easiest for me to complete this year (and so far the only one). :)

        ReplyDelete
      25. I'm definitely up for this challenge! It won't stretch my reading habits much but hopefully it will improve my reviewing habits.

        ReplyDelete
      26. After some deliberation, I decided I'd give this challenge a try. Can't hurt, after all, and it might help me find some new authors who are really worth paying attention to.

        I didn't add the button to my sidebar, but I did add it to the new page on my blog that keeps track of all the challenges I'm doing. Will that be enough, or does it absolutely need to go in the sidebar?

        ReplyDelete
      27. Great to see you all sign up! I shall be visiting all your blogs and adding them to my Google reader with pleasure :-) Personally I can't wait til 2011 to start and I'm hoping for some really stellar book releases!

        @Ria - no, no, as long as the button links back to the sign-up post I don't really mind where it goes :-)

        ReplyDelete
      28. Oh, this is awesome! I have A LOT of speculative fiction books on my shelf, which I'm determine to read in 2011, so I think this challenge is just what I need =) Thanks for hosting this!

        ReplyDelete
      29. I've just joined up :-) I have set myself the challenge of reading 2 classic SF or Fantasy books per month, 1 female and 1 male author. I wonder if I am being too ambitious here...

        ReplyDelete
      30. I just signed up! Thank you for stopping by to let me know you're hosting this challenge next year. I really enjoyed this one.

        But, I made an error. Sorry! I didn't realize the system carried over the name I put on one of my links. It's really not a link for my review of Mind Games. It's a link to my blog. Sorry.

        Thank you again!

        ReplyDelete
      31. Signed up. Hope I can keep up!

        ReplyDelete
      32. Thank you so much for hosting this challenge. I'm looking forward to a very speculative 2011!

        ReplyDelete
      33. Looks exciting! Looking forward to it!

        ReplyDelete
      34. Definitely excited! I posted this to my Reading Challenges Page and it's also on the sidebar of the Main Page of my blog.

        ReplyDelete
      35. I was looking for another challenge, and this one will keep me reading spec fic all year long. Should be good!

        ReplyDelete
      36. This sounds like a great idea - I love sf and this will be a good excuse to scour the Oxfam bookshop on my street! :)
        Does reading compilations of short stories count as a novel if you read the whole anthology? I have a couple of yellow 50s sci-fi anthologies I've been meaning to read for ages...

        ReplyDelete
      37. consider me signed! Looking forward to doing this :D

        ReplyDelete
      38. Thanks for hosting this! I can't wait to start!

        ReplyDelete
      39. This sounds great! I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody else is reading. I'm sure you guys will uncover some excellent books!

        ReplyDelete
      40. This challenge seems almost tailor made for me, so I'm in.

        ReplyDelete
      41. Seems like a challenge I can handle. :)

        ReplyDelete
      42. I'm down as no. 12 (talopine) -- but because I can't deal with Wordpress, I've moved back to Blogger instead. So my link is actually http://waketheechoes.blogspot.com/2010/12/speculative-fiction-reading-challenge.html Sorry to be confusing :)

        ReplyDelete
      43. Looks like my TBR pile is sorely lacking in spec fic. Oh noes I must go buy more books. Thanks for the excuse!

        ReplyDelete
      44. I just signed up :) Thanks for hosting & Happy New Year!

        ReplyDelete
      45. I just found this and hope I'm not too late! Thanks!

        ReplyDelete
      46. I have just signed up and am very excited about this challenge thanks.

        ReplyDelete
      47. I just signed up for the challenge. Thanks for hosting it.

        ReplyDelete
      48. Hi, new follower and looking forward to taking part in the challenge. Thanks for hosting this, its a great idea, can't wait for one of my books to be a part of it in a future challenge :)

        ReplyDelete
      49. So I realise I'm a bit late to all this, but any excuse to read and review books is a good one by me, especially as I can use this as a prod to get me to read and review faster.

        ReplyDelete
      50. I just published my post. I am anxious to read all of the reviews.

        ReplyDelete
      51. It's brilliant to see you all sign up! The January review linking page is already up, so start linking in those reviews :-)

        ReplyDelete
      52. You are most welcome and definitely not too late :-)

        You post your reviews as and when you manage them, it doesn't have to be a book a month. The only factor that should influence at all is the fact you might win a prize each month for posting your reviews :-)

        ReplyDelete
      53. Leaving a comment! I'm quite excited about participating in this challenge. :)

        ReplyDelete
      54. Looking forward to the challenge, it sounds like fun!

        ReplyDelete
      55. Fantastic! I hope to get some reviews up soon.

        ReplyDelete
      56. Easy peasy! Glad I found your blog. :)

        ReplyDelete
      57. Only just found out about this, but it seems a fantastic idea - and one I'd like to get involved with! I've already read more than the twelve (student life, and the free time it gives you... why must you be so brief?) but I'm going to go for it with my own particular spin anyway!

        ReplyDelete
      58. Is it too late to join the fun?

        ReplyDelete
      59. It is not too late! Get thyself and thy blog linked up and start reading :-D

        ReplyDelete
      60. Excellent. Then I shall...although asking me to start reading is like asking the Pope to start praying :-)

        ReplyDelete
      61. All done. Linked and blogged...

        ReplyDelete
      62. Here is my review of Inside Out. :) http://liedermadchen.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-45-inside-out-by-maria-v.html

        ReplyDelete
      63. A belated review of Makers by Cory Doctorow just published http://theforgottengeek.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/makers-by-cory-doctorow/

        ReplyDelete
      64. Here is my review of Leviathan. :)
        http://liedermadchen.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-50-leviathan-by-scott.html

        ReplyDelete
      65. Wish I had learned of this earlier, oh well So a hardship reading horror and sci fi.:)

        ReplyDelete
      66. Signing up a lil late. When I first saw this I was like, "pshh" I will do that anyways, but now I ended up procrastinating on reading a lot, and I've only really read three or four books that count as speculative fiction. Not counting graphic novels.

        legendsoffantasy.blogspot.com twitter @lofscribe

        ReplyDelete
      67. This is just WONDERFUL!! Speculative fiction in all its varieties (except horror) is my absolutely favorite type of reading!! (Aside from romance, that is!)

        I'm so excited!!! I'm also in "The Descent of the Angels Reading Challenge", so I'll be able to cover both with these books! YIPPEEE!!!

        Thanks for this FABULOUS challenge!!! : )

        ReplyDelete
      68. And now I'm your newest follower! : )

        ReplyDelete
      69. I've reached my 12 books. I thought there would be more at this stage but I'm happy with that. I'll keep going and see how much I will total after that.

        http://elenis-library.blogspot.com

        ReplyDelete