Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

You're welcome anytime - I KNOW you never have enough books to read on your plate... 

Thanks for the Slipstream tip!  Magic Realism is another helpful category, and here's an interesting list of magic realism books .  Another fruitful source is translated books, many of which are interesting "literary" works.

As to Jonathan Carroll. by "lol", do you mean Land of Laughs?     If so, it's one of the only above average books he's written (Voice of Our Shadow was the other, both of which I very much recommend).  I swear I don't know why I keep reading him - his best work was his first two novels, written more than thirty years ago.  That sounds a little harsh, but I was pretty frustrated by his most recent novel, Bathing the Lion - he seems to keep rehashing the same material, and his writing has, if anything, regressed over the years.

I am so excited about this challenge because it's about my very favorite type of books! After changing my mind 86 times (approximately) I've settled on these six books as my selections.

1.      The Chimes by Anna Smaill (nominated for the Booker Prize, a British literary award) 

2.      The Great Glass Sea by Josh Weil (described as a "sui generis novel" - an artistic work that goes beyond conventional genre boundaries) 

3.      The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery (literary fiction, with elves) 

4.      The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley (won the British Costa First Novel Prize, a British literary award) 

5.      Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt (literary fiction, with ghosts) 

6.      Not on Fire, but Burning by Greg Hrbek (described as "not exactly a thriller, not exactly sci-fi, not exactly speculative fiction" )

I seem to have sadly neglected this thread - something to add to my New Year's resolution list!

I've created a 2017 Discoveries challenge for all the stalwart explorers out there - enjoy!

 With crossover with other challenges I could easily do 12 books.  15 or 18 would be a bit of a stretch but very doable.  Thanks!

I'm reluctant to increase the challenge to that large a size.  As I'd said, I had intended this challenge to be relatively undemanding - something of an aperitif, as opposed to a 12-pack.  I also wouldn't want to drastically change the challenge requirements for other people who've already signed up for the challenge.  Further, in looking at the participation from this year and last year, it seems that most people prefer a smaller size for this challenge (save perhaps the indefatigable Weesam, who seems to have no limits!)

That said, there's no reason to limit yourself to the scope of the challenge.  In fact, I applaud your enthusiasm, and look forward to hearing about your discoveries!