Intergalactic Book Tag

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've done a book tag, I know. But it's been a while since I found a book tag that interested me. However, when Bookables did the Intergalactic Book Tag, it definitely got my attention. I'm a fan of the science fiction genre as well as non-fiction science so it quickly caught my eye. 

1) Out of This World: A book that takes place on a world other than our own.

The problem with finding a good answer for this is that 1 - I don't want to repeat books or series and 2 - many of the worlds I think of may actually have ties to Earth and I want this book to be completely out there. So, I'm going back to one of my favorite childhood/teen reads: The Redwall Series by Brian Jaques. Considering all of the characters are animals and there are no humans present whatsoever, I'm gonna say this doesn't take place on Earth. 

2) Black Hole: A book that completely sucked you in.

For this one, I definitely have to say The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor. Okorafor has a remarkable ability to get my complete attention and keep it. Even the short stories of hers that I have read leave me feeling like my soul is on fire and I can do anything. 

3) Light Speed - A book you're anticipating so much, you'd travel at light speed to get it.

Admittedly, I don't really go out of my way to pre-order books very often. I've only pre-ordered two or three books in my lifetime. However, when Tom Fischbach told of the next TwoKinds book to be published I was certainly excited. Admittedly it's going to be a print version of his web comic, but as I've shown with Awkward Yeti, I still love having a print copy. I actually bought a copy of Fischbach's Dragon Masquerade just to have a comic book of the TwoKinds world. So, yeah, I'm definitely look forward to the next TwoKinds volume. 

4) Nebula: A book with a beautiful cover.

I love pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, so any cover that has a similar image is going to be a beautiful cover, in my opinion. So I'm going with Far Orbit. Specifically the edition that I got from the Kerrytown Book Festival.

5) Multiverse: A companion or spin-off series that you love.

I'm not entirely sure that this counts, but I'm going with The Harper Hall Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey. This was the series that introduced me to Pern and was one of the first sci-fi/fantasy series I remember reading. The fact that I accidentally started with the second book and still love the series is saying something.

6) Gravity: Favorite romantic pairing that seems to have a gravitational pull.

Beren and Lúthien from The Silmarillion  by Tolkien. A human and an elf that met in an enchanted forest. He sacrificed his hand to marry her and she gave up immortality that they could be together. It's a lot more beautiful of a story than I'm able to tell. I suppose it is similar to Aragorn and Arwen, but in this story the love just feels so much stronger. Lúthien actually had to endure Beren's death. Her songs of mourning were so moving that Mandos, Judge of the Dead, agreed to give her and Beren new life.

7) The Big Bang: The book that got you into reading.

I actually discussed this with some coworkers recently. There really isn't any one book or series that I can proclaim "got me into reading". The Little House on the Prairie series is the first I can remember reading. The American Girls: Addie series is the first I remember buying. Heck, I can remember being disappointed when all the copies of The Stupids were checked out. I really can't say that there was any one book or series that got me into reading. Reading has just always been for me. Whether it was the meaningful Dogsong by Gary Paulsen, or the funny Calvin & Hobbes series by Bill Watterson. I would like to note, however, that were it not for my local and school libraries, I probably would not have gotten so much into reading. Support your libraries. They're the best place to foster a love of reading.

8) Asteroids: A short story or novella that you love.

It's no secret, I LOVE anthologies of short stories; they're a great way to "meet" new authors. Recently I finished Press Start to Play, edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams. In it was the short story "NPC' by Charles Yu. At the time I read it, I thought it was a cute story, but my brain frequently goes  back to thinking about it. It was so well written and so intriguing a concept that I love to just think about some of the philosophical implications of it. The idea of being an NPC in a story, as opposed to a playable character. I may have to re-read this entire book now.

9) Galaxy: A book with multiple points of view.

For this, I will have to say the entire Ex-Heroes series by Peter Clines. The narrator/perspective changes just about every chapter. I LOVE this mechanic. It makes it so that, when you finally get a villain's perspective, it doesn't break up the flow of the book and you get the revealing information that you've needed. Or didn't know you needed. This mechanic also allows Clines to write about different stories in different places and lay the groundwork for future books. It also really helps to get information from the pre-zombie days that is vital to the character development.

10) Spaceship: A book title that would make a great name for a spaceship.

I'll admit, I was tempted to go with Chimichanga by Eric Powell, just for the fun of it. Instead I'll go with Basilisk, derived from Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan. What can I say? I'm a bit of a kaiju fan and basilisks are giant monsters. 

So that's my Intergalactic Book Tag! What do you think? Do you like some of my choices or do you think some of them were kinda weak? What would be your choices? Let me know in the comments below!