|
1. |
What does it cost to become a member of Syzygy? |
|
| Absolutely nothing! The only cost to you is the price of the books, if you choose to buy them. If you check them out of a public library, you can read for free. | ||
| 2. | Will you sell my e-mail address to spambots? | |
| We don’t even want your e-mail address! Just show up at a meeting. | ||
| 3. | Where and when does the group meet? |
|
| Our meetings take place in the Books & Co. retail store in "the Greene" shopping center, at the corner of I-675 and Indian Ripple/Dorothy Lane, in Beavercreek. (See map below.) We normally meet at 7:00 pm on the second Wednesday of the month. This can change with holiday closings, or the opportunity for author signings, so it is good to stay in touch with our fearless leader. | ||
| 4. | Who picks the books you read? | |
| The members themselves pick out future readings in a dignified and egalitarian process, sometimes involving paper airplanes and lots of shouting :-}. Really, if you have a good idea, just bring it to a meeting. | ||
| 5. | Where can I get copies of the books? | |
You can:
See our separate list of resources. |
||
In the following reading lists:
January February March April May June July August September October November December
2011
2012
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
The Postman
David Brin
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain
Spin
Robert Charles Wilson
2010, Odyssey Two
Arthur C. Clarke
Dandelion Wine
Ray Bradbury
Humans
Robert Sawyer
WWW : Wake
Robert J Sawyer
Starship Troopers
Robert
A.
Heinlein
The Stars, Like Dust
Isaac Asimov
Planet of the Apes
Pierre Boulle
Lucifer's Hammer
Niven/Jerry Pournelle
Close
Encounters
Katherine Allred
Methuselah's Children
Robert
A.
Heinlein
Eifelheim
Michael Flynn
The Unincorporated Man
Dani & Eytan Kollin
The Andromeda Strain
Michael Crichton
The Positronic Man
Isaac Asimov &
Robert Silverberg
The Ghost Brigades
John Scalzi
The Anubis Gates
Tim Powers
Camouflage
Joe Haldeman
The Doomsday Book
Connie Willis
On Basilisk Station
David Weber
A Beautiful Friendship
David Weber
|
2013 |
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| January 9 | Solaris | Stanislaw Lem |
Earth maintains an orbital observation platform above the
water-covered planet of Solaris, but communication with home base becomes
sporadic and the last report indicates interactions among crew members
are breaking down in a manner no one understands. Kris Kelvin is a
psychologist, sent to investigate and correct the situation, but is
immediately confronted by a living, breathing ghost of his dead wife,
about whose suicide he still feels guilty. Will he be able to overcome
his own, personal demon in time to help the others?
Lem explores the depths of inner space left untouched by other SF authors. |
| February 13 | Blood Red Road | Moira Young | Saba is an 18-year-old girl who lives on a dried-up wreck of an Earth, trying to scavenge a living from landfills. When her twin brother is kidnapped by unknown forces Saba embarks on a quest to rescue him and finds herself along the way. |
| March 13 | Ancient Shores | Jack McDevitt | North Dakota farmer Tom Lasker digs up a yacht made from an unknown substance on his land, land that has been dry for 10,000 years. Follow-up digging uncovers a building made of the same material, which is some kind of portal into a parallel universe. |
| April 10 | The Day of the Triffids | John Wyndham |
The protagonist, hospitalized with bandages over his eyes, misses the
meteor shower of the century. The next morning, however, he learns he
is one of the few inhabitants of Earth who was not blinded by this
strange light, and that a new kind of plant, known as Triffids, is
staking its claim on the planet.
The civilization that existed is crumbling fast as he joins forces with a few other sighted persons to help humanity hold on. The problem is, the Triffids grow quickly to a height of 7 feet, they can kill any passing animal with poisonous stingers, and they can uproot themselves and walk. |
| May 8 | Diving into the Wreck | Kristine K. Rusch |
Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift
in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money,
but mostly shes an active historian. She wants to know about the
pastto experience it firsthand. Once shes dived the ship, shell
either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can
bring tourists to dive it as well. Its a good life for a tough loner,
with more interest in artifacts than people.
Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. Its impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldnt be here. It cant be here. And yet, it is. Bosss curiosity is up, and shes determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won't give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood. What Boss finds could rewrite history, cost lives, and start an intergalactic war. |
| June 12 | Lord Valentine's Castle | Robert Silverberg | Valentine is a traveling juggler with horse-drawn wagon on planet Majipoor. He can't remember his past and searches for anyone who can bring it back to him. Then he begins to dream and the dreams tell him he is an exiled king so he sets out to re-claim his past. This is the first volume of the Majipoor series, currently 10 books long. |
| July 10 | WWW: Watch | Robert J. Sawyer | Sequel to Sawyer's award-winning WWW: Wake, the story opens with the recently sighted teenager, Caitlyn Decter, and her cyber-friend, Webmind. The world is about to find out about this new form of intelligence and anxious to know whether it is friend or foe to humanity. Meanwhile Webmind just wants to learn: about itself and these strange creatures who call themselves humans. |
Syzygy meets on the second Wednesday of the month at
Books & Co., in "The Greene" shopping
center in Beavercreek (See map at right). Meeting night
and/or location can change with holiday closings or author
signings, so it is good to stay in touch with our
fearless leader.
Meetings start at
7:00 pm and last around an hour.
We meet on the second floor, in front of the fireplace.
If you don't see us, ask at the customer service desk.
Essentially, you can buy or borrow your books. If you choose to buy them you can shop among assorted on-line booksellers:
Bookseller Comments Amazon.com now sells used books,
too. They offer sample pages you can read
on-line. We sometimes find books here, not
available domestically. Also offers on-line
excerpts. Borders.com Borders' on-line site has sold out
to Amazon.com Another British retailer, with an
outstanding SF section
If you live in the Dayton area, you can check the various national chains who have outlets here:
| Name | Location | Phone | Comments | |||
| Barnes & Noble | 2619 Miamisburg-Centerville Rd | 433-0750 | ||||
| 2720 Towne Dr | 429-1660 | |||||
| Halfprice Books | 2090 Miamisburg-Centerville Rd | 438-0249 | These folks are serious about that "half price" bit. We once bought a vintage paperback of the original 2001, A Space Odyssey there for 47¢. |
Dayton also has a few independent booksellers:
| Name | Location | Phone | Comments | |||
| Books & Co. at The Greene | 4453 Walnut St | 429-2169 | This is our meeting site. If you mention at the register that your purchase is on the Syzygy reading list, you will get a 10% discount. This is in addition to the "Millionaire's Club" discount, if you also have a store card. |
If you have a library card from any Montgomery county library, you can borrow your book from any library in the county that has it.
If you live in Greene county, you can look up books in the "card catalog" of the Greene County Public Library. They seem to have the newer titles!
There are more public libraries in the area outside both these systems:
Search the world wide web for "science fiction" and you will get lots of hits: primarily about TV shows, movies, gaming, or conventions. All the SF links in this section are targetted at people who like books. Many of the names don't tell you much about the services they offer, so we've tried to arrange them by service.
For additional information about the Syzygy group,
or provide comments about this web site, write to
our fearless leader at the following
URL: 
.
Copyright © 2013, Gary Lynch. All rights reserved.