For the past several years, I have tried and failed to catch up on Nebula-nominated fiction. This ends here. In March, we will read at least one of the novels that could win what's arguably the world's most prestigious science fiction and fantasy award. Here are four of them, all from 2013.

The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata

If I can just skip to the point for people who don't like to read longer reviews, you should go ahead and grab right now, especially if you're into intelligent, cynical military SF. …The tone of the novel is set right from the very first paragraph:

"There needs to be a war going on somewhere, Sergeant Vasquez. It's a …

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The Verge Book Club took a tour on the noir side in December, by reading one of the all-time classics in the genre: Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. The novel, which introduces readers to detective Philip Marlowe, a character Chandler revisits in future tomes, sparked immediate Book Club debate over a range of topics. Among them? Whether Chandler depicts women as furniture or wild animals, what illness (if any) afflicted the insufferable Carmen Sternwood, and whether The Big Sleep's enduring legacy and influence is deserved or not. We hope you'll join us (Adi and Katie) as we discuss.

And don't forget to cast a vote for February's pick. Th …

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We're mind-bendingly tired from CES ("we" mostly being Adi), and with January half-over, we're going to spend the rest of it on some more discussion of The Big Sleep and the accompanying podcast. Then we'll start fresh in February with one of four books about exploration, adventure, and strange new worlds. Here's what we're looking at:

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (1987)

The late Iain M. Banks' great contribution to science fiction was a series of books about the Culture, a sprawling, semi-utopian society where work and scarcity have been largely eliminated and advanced artificial intelligences pull strings behind the scenes. His novels …

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The Circle was a controversial, exciting, and interesting pick for November's Book Club book, so we had plenty to talk about. Topics covered include what Eggers gets wrong, what he gets right, and why this book, despite its numerous problems, overall lack of deep exploration of its interesting themes, and lack of sufficiently tolerable characters, is so readable. We hope you'll join us (Adi, Laura, and Katie).

Please join us for the discussion. This month, we're reading Raymond Chandler's classic detective novel, The Big Sleep.

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Stephen King's sequel to his classic The Shining is this year's Doctor Sleep. Called "quintessential" King by Margaret Atwood in her review of the novel for the New York Times, Doctor Sleep brings us back to one of King's most beloved characters - now all grown up but with plenty of scars - Danny Torrance.

Join us (Laura, Adi, and Katie) for the next hour as we take a terror-filled journey together to discuss the book, our favorite Stephen King novels, and what it means to be human. Wait, we didn't get to that one this time, but we'll be sure to on the next podcast, when we discuss Dave Eggers' The Circle.

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September's book club was Ship Breaker, a young adult novel set in a world ravaged by the effects of global warming. It's a fast-paced, thoughtful story about family, environmental disaster, and parasailing clipper ships. A month later, Adi and Laura sat down with the book's author, Paolo Bacigalupi. Among other things, Bacigalupi is known for The Windup Girl, which won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel in 2009 and was named one of the top ten fiction books of the year by Time magazine.

With October almost behind us, we'll be meeting again soon to discuss Doctor Sleep, and there's still time to vote for our November pick.

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This month we're reading Margaret Atwood's Booker Award-winning novel, The Blind Assassin. But just a few hours ago, Adi and I sat down with our old friend Joshua Topolsky to talk about William Gibson's cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer. If you've never read it, you're in for a gripping, spoiler-filled hour of talk about this landmark scifi novel.

Next week we'll be back to discuss Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.
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April's Book Club book was Michael Chabon's Nebula Award-winning The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an alternate history tale which changes the fate of the Jewish people. It's also a good old-fashioned, hard-boiled detective novel. This month, Adi and Laura were joined by Jesse Cohen, whose work you may be familiar with: he is one half of the band Tanlines. Jesse also spent several years working at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York, bringing a wealth of insight to the discussion. We had a great time talking about this weird and wonderful book, and hope you enjoy it too.

Next month we'll be back to discuss William Gibson's cyber …

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March is long gone, but H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness looms large in our hearts. For one hour (or possibly, one aeon), join Joshua Topolsky, Adi Robertson, and Laura June as they discuss Lovecraft's hatred of penguins and much, much more.

Don't forget to join us for April's book, Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

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January's Book Club Book was the extraordinary Alif the Unseen, a 2012 New York Times Notable book by G. Willow Wilson. We're happy to announce that today, Adi and I are joined by Wilson herself to discuss the book.

Be sure to read February's book, too, which is Joseph Heller's Catch-22.

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