At the N.L. Public Libraries, October isn’t just all about pumpkin spice lattes.
For us, it’s also the perfect time of year to let your geek flag fly! Everyone is a geek about something and we are celebrating that wonderful fact with a week-long Geek Out at the Library celebration at all three of our St. John’s branches!
It’s culminating in a free all-day Sci-Fi/Fantasy/gaming convention at the AC Hunter Library on Saturday, Oct. 19. The geeky fun isn’t just limited to the con, though. Our province-wide collection has more treasures than Smaug’s gold hoard and there’s something for fans of all shapes and sizes. Here’s just a few recommendations to help you geek out at the Library this fall!
Interested in Science Fiction? How about Sci-Fi that is grounded in authentic details about the science of space travel?
Look no further than Andy Weir’s 2011 New York Times bestseller “The Martian.” This book was the basis for the 2015 Matt Damon blockbuster of the same name. Set in 2035, the novel maroons us on Mars with a lone astronaut who needs to find a way to stay alive and escape. This is a survival story with a researched and fully realized setting. Fans of Kim Stanley Robinson’s classic Mars Trilogy should not miss this one. Find “The Martian” on our shelves and also in eBook form in our Digital Library.
Looking for a new Fantasy world to immerse yourself in now that HBO’s “Game of Thrones” series has ended? Tomi Adeyemi’s “Children of Blood and Bone” has been generating a lot of excitement since it was published last year… and the buzz has only gotten bigger since it was announced that Disney/Lucasfilm will be making a film based on the book.
Inspired by West African mythology, the story follows Zélie, a girl from a family of magic users who struggles to exist in a world where magic is outlawed a supressed. A sequel novel, “Children of Virtue and Vengeance” will be released in December, so now is the perfect time to check out the first book. It’s also available from us in audiobook, eBook, and eAudiobook formats.
Just checked out the brand new Joker film and hungry for some comics? We have a huge comic/graphic novel collection for you to explore. There’s a lot of Batman comics that feature the Joker, but one of the most famous is “The Killing Joke,” writer Alan Moore’s dark journey into the mind of the iconic villain. Frequently on lists of best Batman comics, this story influenced the new film… and, like the film, is best suited for adult audiences.
Is playing games your preferred way to geek out? You’re in luck!
You can borrow board and card games for kids and adults from our Library branches. We have a lot of games to choose from, but one that we find fun is “Ticket to Ride.” It’s a railroad-themed strategy game that is all about trying to get from point A to point B… without being blocked by the other players! Take it from us: there’s a special kind of satisfaction that comes from completing a route that you have been secretly working on for the entire game.
If video games are your true geeky passion, we have some exciting news for you: we’ve begun building a circulating video game collection at the AC Hunter Library (available province-wide through interlibrary loan).
We’ve launched a video game donation drive and will be accepting gently used and working video games for systems like PS4, PS3, XBox 360, XBox One, Wii-U, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS throughout this month. Thanks to these donations, we’ll soon have a bank of video games that are free to borrow with your Library card.
Don’t have a Library card?
Stop by one of our branches to get one or register online at getthecard.nlpl.ca.
Sign up and geek out!
Kristian Brown is the acting Social Media and Collections Librarian for Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries
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