New Release:
New for 2024/2025 (no reprints or new editions). First translations into your language of choice are allowed. HARD MODE: This is the first work you've read by this author.
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New Release:
New for 2024/2025 (no reprints or new editions). First translations into your language of choice are allowed. HARD MODE: This is the first work you've read by this author.
The gathering, by C.J. Tudor
Plays With Words:
Written in a stylistically unconventional way. HARD MODE: Fits the definition of Experimental Literature.
It's a Holiday:
Takes place during a specific holiday, which is significant to the plot. HARD MODE: Not Christmas, a fictional variation of Christmas, or other winter festival.
ALT - She Blinded Me With Science
The author has a background and degree in a hard science. HARD MODE: More than one post graduate degree.
There Is Another…:
Not the first in a series. HARD MODE: Series has 5 or more entries.
Among the Stars:
Features space, astronomy, or stardom. HARD MODE: The title references the theme, too.
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Mr Palomar by Italo Calvino.
Also qualifies for hard mode (the character is named after an observatory).
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
ALT - Pseudonymous Work
Published under a pen name. HARD MODE: The author generally never writes under their own name.
Now a Major Motion Picture:
The work has been adapted into a show or single episode, movie, play, audio drama, or other format. HARD MODE: The adaptation is regarded as better than the original work.
The Expanse series by James S A Corey
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Minority Author:
Minority or LGBTQIA+ author. A minority can be any member of a generally underrepresented population where you live. HARD MODE: Minority and LGBTQIA+.
Debut Work:
An author’s first work. HARD MODE: The author is widely regarded as having a profound impact on the genre/topic.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, with the caveat that her early work is a bit racist. Styles, for example, I recall having an n-word casually dropped into a conversation, along with a couple of antisemitic remarks. If you don't mind reading around that, however, it's a nice little Poirot case.
I had a similar experience when I was working through some of the early “The Shadow” pulps and was surprised a couple times at just how blatant the racism was.