I will be honest – this is cheating a little as I read this book for another book club this year. However – it is beyond amazing and brings a really unique voice and perspective to a lot of the race, gender, and larger cultural questions we love to talk about. This is an easy reading YA novel, but with so many interesting, complex elements presented in a truly masterful way.

For December, we are reading “Slay” by Brittney Morris. While this is her debut novel, Ms. Morris has some hardcore nerd credentials having written for Marvel’s Spiderman series and
for video games including The Lost Legends of Redwall, and Subnautica: Below Zero. Hoping you all enjoy this one as much as I did!

***Book summary from Goodreads***
“Ready Player One” meets “The Hate U Give” in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther–inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically black in a world intimidated by blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?

***This month's restaurant selection***
We are circling back to our location for August 2021, which sadly went back online due to the COVID situation at that time. Let’s try this one more time and meet at Yummy House South China Bistro.

***Not sure about book club or never been to one before? ***
Read the book (or some of the book). Come to the Meetup. Eat yummy food and chat with folks about what you thought about the book. REPEAT!

***Not sure where to get the book? ***
All books we select have a decent number of copies (at least 3-4 across all formats) at both the Hillsborough and Pinellas County Library. And, of course, you can always buy a copy.

***Didn’t finish/hated this book?***
Come to the Meetup anyway! If you didn't finish - just be aware, there will be spoilers. If you hated it, come and rant! In my experience, the books that generate the best conversations and the books we really love are rarely the same books.

Andrea B

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NNO Book Club: SLAY

Yummy House South China Bistro

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Nerd Night Out

NNO Book Club: SLAY

Nerd Night Out

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