Book Social

This is a spirited discussion about books of all kinds, including current books and past favorites. We have a book of the month to read for consideration, however you should show up even if you don't get it read; we always have a great talk. In addition we usually confer about other things that happen to cross our minds such as movies and TV shows. The group is always looking for something new that will stretch the mind, so bring it on in!

Physical location will be the Denny's at 3456 West Bethany Home Road in Phoenix at 7:00pm on the third Tuesday of the month for the time being. If it all works out, we'll stay for a while. There will be parallel Zoom meetings run from Randall's tablet at the dinner table. The Zoom session will actually open at about 6:30pm, but we have given an official start time of 7:00pm. Contact Randall via books@CASFS.org with questions or post to the CASFS Book & Media Social Facebook group.

CASFS Book and Media Social - Second Half of 2025 Book List

July 15, 2025 – The Hermit Next Door by Kevin Hearne

From Kevin Hearne’s website: Newly widowed and trying to cope with her grief, Winnie Mae Chisholm moves from Tennessee with her teenage son, Pax, to Oregon, hoping the change will let them both heal and move on. She’s warned when buying their new home that the next door neighbor, Mr. Fisher, is a famous recluse and no one has seen him in years, but that’s fine with her—she’s looking for quiet. She’s not going to get it, however, because when Pax meets the neighbor, he discovers that the reason Mr. Fisher hides from the world is that he isn’t actually from this world. He’s been stranded for decades and he’s trying to get home, and he could really use some help. Abruptly part of the best-kept secret on the planet, Winnie Mae and Pax have to protect Mr. Fisher from a nosy neighbor who would ruin his work and doom him to die among aliens, but they also have to ask themselves: How far would they go to escape their grief? Would another world be far enough?

Time: Jul 15, 2025 07:00 PM Arizona

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83145691536?pwd=WM8R98EqtXiY6pNSwNa4eyy0ne5uOx.1

Meeting ID: 831 4569 1536 Passcode: 140679

August 19, 2025 – Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

From Goodreads: Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

Time: Aug 19, 2025 07:00 PM Arizona Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88510068566?pwd=A8Gx5dq5jBaB7EckY2pDBNqrT53FpS.1

Meeting ID: 885 1006 8566 Passcode: 701102

September 16, 2025 – Rules of Engagement by Peter Morwood

We lost two of our most genial local convention guests this year, Peter Morwood and Peter David, so I hope you will not mind visiting the universe of Star Trek twice in one year. From Goodreads: A sudden revolution on the planet Dekkanar brings Captain Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise? running to evacate Federation personnel trapped there. But their orders from Starfleet are quite clear; the U.S.S. Enterprise is to assist in the evacuation, no more. No weapons are to be displayed, no shields raised, no shots fired. Meanwhile, halfway across the galaxy, an experimental Klingon warship sets forth on a mission of its own, a warship with hidden -- and heretofore undreamed of -- capabilities, commanded by a warrior who will stop at nothing to bring glory to his Empire -- and restore his own lost honor. the Klingon ship's destination? The planet Dekkanar...

Time: Sep 16, 2025 07:00 PM Arizona Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82836109332?pwd=ZFcwIiQ31USMQKQx3YzRojXJA9EwR5.1

Meeting ID: 828 3610 9332 Passcode: 703840

October – 21, 2025 – Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud

From Goodreads: Years ago, in a cave beneath the dense forests and streams on the surface of the moon, a gargantuan spider once lived. Its silk granted its first worshippers immense faculties of power and awe. It’s now 1923 and Veronica Brinkley is touching down on the moon for her intake at the Barrowfield Home for Treatment of the Melancholy. A renowned facility, Dr. Barrington Cull’s invasive and highly successful treatments have been lauded by many. And they’re so simple! All it takes is a little spider silk in the amygdala, maybe a strand or two in the prefrontal cortex, and perhaps an inch in the hippocampus for near evisceration of those troublesome thoughts and ideas. But trouble lurks in many a mind at this facility and although the spider’s been dead for years, its denizens are not. Someone or something is up to no good, and Veronica just might be the cause.

Time: Oct 21, 2025 07:00 PM Arizona Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83396720163?pwd=Fj2Oz3gwOfKvaCbQ21lNhxAry3PvtA.1

Meeting ID: 833 9672 0163 Passcode: 677065

November – 18, 2025 - Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David

Peter David was best known for writing Marvel and DC comics, screen plays, film adaptations, Star Trek and Babylon 5. Instead, let’s take a look at a world and antihero of his own creation. From Goodreads: Fatherless, estranged from his prostitute mother, and the product of a violent, abusive childhood, Apropos makes his living as a thief, until the death of a young girl prompts him to question his dark existence and forges an unlikely alliance with a noble hero who could change his life forever.

Time: Nov 18, 2025 07:00 PM Arizona Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86926782747?pwd=8Mz72JbTCUkbzN5af84zjhCW6eCcE6.1

Meeting ID: 869 2678 2747 Passcode: 112670

December 16, 2025 – The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Our discussion of “It looks Like You’ve Got Dragons” a few months ago went well, so let’s do some more Beagling. Compare the novel to the animated film. From Goodreads: She was magical, beautiful beyond belief—and completely alone... The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: "Unicorns are gone from the world." Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth. but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king's curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom...

Time: Dec 16, 2025 07:00 PM Arizona Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83730810178?pwd=lOPczr3lQiuEv9C3Fgesy1Q0Bay1vH.1

Meeting ID: 837 3081 0178 Passcode: 019339

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