We’re all settled in for the journey now. The TBRs are stashed, the reading has begun in earnest, and there’s a media catalogue big enough to keep Murderbot happy. Maybe. Let’s look back at the last week’s activity…

Welcome to half of the weekly SciFiMonth Mission Status log! I’ll be covering our discussion posts – this week’s round-up of reviews and read-alongs can be found over at Dear Geek Place.

Boarding announcements and shipboard libraries

We’ve had a couple of shuttles dock since we headed into deep space – pop by to say hello to Laura Loup and Patrick Prescott!

There’s always room for one more TBR, right? Or several… Susy of Susy’s Cozy World is aiming to get through 5 of her ambitious list, while Jessticulates has set her sights on 3 highly regarded titles. Dr Laura Tisdall joins us having got her TBR under control in October (WHAT IS THIS MAGIC? HOW DO WE DO THIS?) but has quickly developed an epic set of possibilities for SciFiMonth! Cupcakes and Machetes is taking things a book at a time, while Caitlin at Realms of My Mind is planning to make inroads into her backlist. Kaleena of Reader Voracious has some amazing YA SF on her TBR, and the team at FanFiAddict have an eclectic TBR of classic and modern authors.

Don’t worry, the shelf space on the good ship SciFiMonth is limitless (it has to be to handle the spontaneous expansion of individual TBRs along the way). If your TBR isn’t growing fast enough and you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, SJ Higbee has just the news you’re looking for.

Regular Features

A third of the way into our trip, and our weekly routine has established itself! We’ve got a good mix of different features each week, so if you’re looking for inspiration you’re sure to find something to join in on…

Lauren at Always Me gets our week off to a good start with Music Monday: last week she focused on music from The Phantom Empire, this week she’s listening to Echosmith and Icon for Hire.

Top Ten Tuesday is a regular: Lauren at Always Me tackled a SciFiMonth prompt and shared her favourite spaceships. Jessticulates featured SF titles with autumnal covers. Not officially a Top Ten Tuesday, but our Bookish Muggle shared her Top Ten Fascinating Aliens last Tuesday. Elsewhere, it was a Top 5 Tuesday at Perfectly Tolerable, focusing on her SF TBR, and SJ Higbee shared her Teaser Tuesday – last week we got telepathic space pirates!

Midweek sees Waiting on Wednesday at The Bibliosanctum and Future Fiction at Books, Bones & Buffy. There was also a WWWednesday check-in at Jorie Loves a Story and Jessticulate’s weekly bout of Shelf Control.

Friday Face-off always has a strong SciFiMonth presence:

• Grey: Lynn’s Books | Perfectly Tolerable | The Bibliosanctum | S J Higbee
• Explosion: Perfectly Tolerable | The Bibliosanctum | S J Higbee | Books, Bones & Buffy

Meanwhile Lisa of Lisa’s Books, Gems and Tarot has been having fun with First Lines Friday. Lauren at Always Me closes the week with a tag mash-up.

Recommendations

Along with our reviews, the recommendations are the heart of SciFiMonth (alas, alas our poor TBRs) – as usual, we’ve got plenty of recommendations for things to watch as well as read.

Istoria Lit shared a bumper list of SF Movies to fill your month and Cupcakes and Machetes shared their Top 5 SF movies. Lauren shared her Watch List of SF shows and movies (TBW? Is there a name for this?), while Louise is looking for TV recommendations to add to her Watch List. Lisa shared a top 5 recommendations of movies set in space, while Caitlin flailed enthusiastically about Killjoys (making me wonder why I haven’t watched this show yet!)

This week sees some audio recs too! Annemieke at A Dance With Books has put together a SciFiMonth Zero Gravity Playlist (YEAH you know we’re all about that space). The Nashville Bookworm looked back at the Star Wars radio dramas.

…and watch out for my co-host Lisa livetweeting an SF movie each Saturday night (this week it was adorable animation Big Hero 6).

On the bookish side, Tammy of Books, Bones & Buffy took a look at adult SF coming up in 2020 and Louise at Exploring by Starlight looked back at some YA SF she’s missed out on. Caitlin at Realms of My Mind has been making YA SF recommendations – have you got any to add to her list? Andrea the Little Red Reviewer has some first contact recommendations for those of you loving The Sparrow read-along.

Day 7 of the SciFiMonth Challenge was Future Imperfect, which inspired a bevy of posts about dystopias. New crewmate PM Prescott gave an introduction to dystopian books, Anouk at Time for Tales and Tea took a look at 4 (frighteningly) realistic dystopias, while Lydia Schoch has some great suggestions of dystopian novels everyone should read.

…and don’t forget to check out the reviews over at Dear Geek Place!

Last but by no means least, Avery of Red Rocket Panda paused to take stock of their favourite themes in science fiction, and Jorie led an online chat with Jennifer Silverwood about her space opera novellas Heaven’s Edge.

Memes and tags

SciFiMonth is an excellent excuse to have some fun along the way, and we’ve got some awesome tags coming your way this week:

• Annemieke at A Dance With Books has devised the SF TV Book Tag, combining our favourite shows with our favourite books.
• Lauren at Always Me has brought the 5 Star Books In 5 Words tag to SciFiMonth (Lisa at Dear Geek Place couldn’t resist jumping straight in – I’ll be following right along tomorrow).
• I’m kicking off a SciFiMonth round of Six Degrees of Separation here at There’s Always Room For One More: see where you can go starting from an SF classic and jumping book to book based on shared themes!
• Jorie has chosen a selection of our SciFiMonth Challenge prompts to make into a one-off SciFiMonth Book Tag at Jorie Loves A Story – combine any prompts you like and have a go!

Giveaways

First up: congratulations to our Sign Up giveaway winners! A copy of Gareth L Powell’s epic space opera Embers of War is on its way to Brittany of Perfectly Tolerable, and time travel romance This Is How You Lose The Time War is heading off to break Lisa at Istoria Lit‘s heart.

But we have more giveaways coming up…

• I’ve got a Mystery Date to give away! This is a YA retelling of a classic romance, transported into orbit around a frozen Earth. A young woman of few prospects is offered the chance to join the crew of a notoriously moody recluse. But there are many mysteries to solve aboard his ship… if you care to explore them. No guesses please – yell in the comments if you’re interested – winner to be announced next Monday!
• The Captain has a copy of Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden to give away over at the Captain’s Quarters – entry via Rafflecopter before November 29th
• Tammy will be giving away one of the books she discusses this month to a lucky winner – open internationally, keep an eye on Books, Bones & Buffy for details of how to enter.

See you next Monday…

Don’t see your post in the round-up? Remember to add your links to the Navigation Chart (master schedule spreadsheet) if you want your posts included next week. With a crew this big, it’s easy for Lisa and I to miss a signal here or there!