It’s that time! SciFiMonth, when we set off on our 30-day mission to explore strange new worlds and alternate dimensions; to seek out new books and unfamiliar media; to boldly geek out like… well, like we do every year, joyfully and without restraint. BRING IT.

The good ship SciFiMonth gets bigger every year, which is just the way we like it. There are over 70 of us aboard as we head out into the unknown – and we’re sure to make more friends along the way. Don’t worry: our craft is built for comfort. Social distancing comes as standard and it has no concept of ‘limited space for books’.

Lisa and I are once again on the command deck, manning comms to boost your signals. Keep us abreast of your situation by adding a link to your posts in our navigation chart – aka the master schedule in GoogleDocs – so we can share your adventures in the weekly mission updates published here and at Dear Geek Place. Don’t forget to use the #SciFiMonth tag (and tag in @SciFiMonth if posting to Twitter) too so the crew can come looking for you in the meantime!

Who’s aboard?

First up, say hello to some new crew fresh off the quay – be gentle, folks, don’t scare them away – we’ve got JJ Blacklocke, Nahid of The Book Borough, TL Wright of A Bookish Life, Chris Voss, Amanda of Classy X Book Reviews, Cosmia Festival, Crini, Lorraine of Geeky Galaxy, Essa Hansen, The Honest Avocado, JC Hoskins, Joanna Maciejewska, Molly’s Book Nook, S Naomi Scott, Narrative Disorder Book Reviews, OllieSpot SFF Book Reviews, Proxyfish of Books By Proxy, John Folk-Williams of SciFiMind, PL Tavormina, and Rebecca of Velvet Opus.

Joining us from our fantasy sister ship Wyrd and Wonder, welcome aboard Robin Kirk, Rowena of Beneath A Thousand Skies, Nicky the Bibliophibian, Sammie of The Bookwyrm’s Den, Arina of The Bookwyrm’s Guide to the Galaxy, Calmgrove, Dianthaa Dabbles, Ollie of Infinite Speculation, Jake is Reading, Natrosette, JonBob of Parchments and Parsecs, Katrina of Read. Ruminate. Write, Lisa of Way Too Fantasy, Peyton of Word Wilderness.

Lastly, welcome back to our SciFiMonth veterans Annemieke of A Dance with Books, Lauren of Always Me, Lauren of Astra Reads, Mogsy of The Bibliosanctum, Tammy of Bones, Books & Buffy, Alex Wolfe of Book Blurb, Jen of the Book Den, Mayri the BookForager, SJ Higbee of Brainfluff, The Captain’s Quarters (ARRR), Maryam the Curious SFF Reader, David S and Dan of FanFiAddict, Kirsten of Istoria Lit, Jessticulates, Jorie Loves a Story, Kal the Reader Voracious, Maxine’s Obsessions, Mervi’s Book Reviews, Louise of Monstrumology, Jason of Off the TBR, Heather of Random Redheaded Ramblings, Caitlin of Realms of My Mind, Lisa of Reflections of a Bluestocking, Maddalena of Space and Sorcery, Elena Square Eyes, Susy’s Cosy World, Anouk of Time for Tales and Tea, and of course my co-host Lisa of Dear Geek Place.

That’s not to say there aren’t more of us stashed away on one of the reading decks. There’s a few familiar faces I haven’t seen yet, but we don’t keep a tight watch on the hatch (the more the merrier) and not everyone signs the crew roll before announcing themselves. It’s all good: we’ll bump into each other along the way.

Join the crew (officially)

There’s always room for one more (heeeeey) – sign up on the crew list to let us know you’re along for the ride and we’ll nudge everyone in your direction to make your acquaintance. If you’re on Twitter, follow @SciFiMonth for all the latest updates – but watch out for #SciFiMonth wherever you go – we know there’s plans hatching to colonise Instagram, Twitter and YouTube as well as the blogosphere, but who knows where we may end up…

Giveaway

Anyone who signs up and makes a SciFiMonth post (on any channel) before November 7th can enter the draw to win a copy of Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam. Remember – add a link to your post to the master schedule so that we know you’ve posted.

Watch out for more giveaways as the month continues…

What will we be getting up to?

We’ll be celebrating books, films, music, games and anything else that strikes our fancies as we explore all things SFnal. Expect blog posts, Instagram and Litsy pics, Twitter chat – there’s even a rumour of some BookTube – as we share and enjoy. If you’re looking for inspiration, we’ve got the SciFiMonth Challenge; if you want some company, come join our read-along.

There’s no obligations except to be awesome to each other as we celebrate one of our favourite genres. If you want to post every day, we’re here to cheer you on. If you want to read quietly on the back deck and pop by for tea and a chat every now and again, you’ll be warmly welcomed.

Read-along

This year’s SciFiMonth read-along is Mary Gentle’s classic Golden Witchbreed. We’ll be sharing the adventures of inexperienced diplomat Lynne Christie as she tries to understand – and survive – the low-tech, high-politics, surprisingly stabby world of Orthe. Weekly questions will be posted on Goodreads each Sunday (week one is up now), with discussion posts the following Friday.

Ready? Let’s do this.

What will you be reading during SciFiMonth?