End of the World Mar 17 - Oct 31

And signing up for the It's the End of the World III challenge. I'll work on choosing my books tomorrow.

Edited to add book list:
1. Dies the Fire -- Stirling
2. The City, Not Long After -- Murphy
3. Dhalgren -- Delany
4. Oryx & Crake -- Atwood

Once Upon a Time Mar 21 - June 20

Signing up for the Once Upon a Time challenge. Not that I need more. :)

I'll be doing Quest the First (read at least 5 books from any category). I haven't chosen my pool of books yet though. That will be on tomorrow's to-do list.

Edited to add book pool:
1. The Mists of Avalon -- Bradley
2. American Gods -- Gaiman
3. Ariel -- Boyett
4. Death's Daughter -- Benson
5. Eragon -- Paolini
6. Furies of Calderon -- Butcher
7. Grunts -- Gentle
8. His Majesty's Dragon -- Novik
9. Medalon -- Fallon
10. Redwall -- Jacques
11. Stardust -- Gaiman
12. The Blade Itself -- Abercrombie
13. The Color of Magic -- Pratchett
14. The Lightning Thief -- Riordan
15. Tigana -- Kay
16. Valiant -- Black

I have tentatively picked the books for this year's challenges:

Mind Voyages

Hugo Winners:
1. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (1993)
2. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer (1972)
3. The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (1981)
4. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin (1975)
5. Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (2003)
6. Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1978)

Nominees:
1. Babel 17 by Samuel R Delany
2. Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
3. The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
4. Singularity Sky by Charles Stross


Historical Fiction

1. The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
2. The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai
3. Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden
4. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
5. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
6. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory


Chunkster Challenge

1. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
2. The Terror by Dan Simmons
3. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
4. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Mind Voyages Jan 1 2010-Dec 31 2010

My third challenge for next year is a Sci Fi one (which I seem to have been neglecting lately). It's called Mind Voyages found at: http://www.scifimindvoyages.blogspot.com/

I'll definitely be doing the Moon Voyage, perhaps upgrading to the Mars Voyage. I need to go look at some of the lists and figure it out. Looks like alot of fun!

Historical Fiction Jan 1 2010 - Dec 31 2010

My second challenge for next year is the Historical Fiction challenge, to be found here: http://theroyalreviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/historical-reading-challenge.html

I'll be doing the Fascinated level which is 6 books. I'll make up my list later but I have plenty on my TBR already.

Chunkster Challenge Feb 1 2010 - Jan 31 2011

My first challenge pick for next year is the chunkster challenge. I have several books I've been avoiding on my TBR shelf that would qualify. I'll make up my list later, but I'm signing on for level 2 which is 4 books over the year. 1 book a quarter sounds good.

http://chunksterchallenge.blogspot.com/

Monster Nation by David Wellington

copyright = 2004
pages = 285
source = purchase
date completed = 10/09/09
challenges: R.I.P.

Monster Nation is the second book of a zombie trilogy by Wellington. This one tells the story of how the zombie outbreak began. The author has an interesting twist on the zombies--they have other powers humans don't have, such as telepathy. I know this is partly a device used so he can write from the zombies' perspective, but it's definitely different. About half of the book is written from the Nilla's point of view (a "thinking" zombie, due to her having oxygen to her brain when she died) and the other half is from Bannerman Clarke, a military man in charge of combatting the zombies. This book explains what caused the zombie outbreak and how the initial humans and zombies react to it.

Overall, it's a good story. The whole telepathy, psychic powers thing is kind of hard to believe. (I know, like zombies are, but still...). I have the third book in the series of course so I'll pick that one up soon.