Veronica is down in LA, which means we get to do a team Book Unboxing! Sorry for the low audio, Tom doesn't know how sounds works ;)
The Bands of Mourning (ARC) by Brandon Sanderson (January 2016)
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss (November 17, 2015)
The Sixteen Burdens by Dave Khalaf
George R R Martin will only say that Game of Thrones will end in a bittersweet way. We’re pretty sure we know what that means. Also Chinese Nebula Award winners and our first impressions of Time and Again by Jack Finney.
Download directly here, and rate us on iTunes!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Hakushu
Veronica: Taketsuru
QUICK BURNS
Shocker: George RR Martin says Game of Thrones ending will be bittersweet
Winner of the Chinese Nebula Awards
Rob and Tamahome: New Star Trek TV show!
Tamahome: In non-Star Trek related news, Amazon opens its first brick n mortar bookstore.
Alex: Looks like The Expanse will be getting a digital premiere starting November 23rd!
Tamahome: Tamahome Tch. That's just what Captain Jim Holden would do, stream it to all the planets before its time.
James: Philip Pullman's Dark Material trilogy is being made into a TV series. Hopefully they do a better job of it than the film as this is an amazing trilogy.
Sandra: The 2015 World Fantasy Award Winners have been announced
BARE YOUR SWORD
Interview with China Miéville
After my mention in episode 225 I will follow up with another reference to the BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mblgl
I listened live to the first 5 minutes and wanted to stay in the car. Luckily, I have it waiting with your podcast for me in the future :)
Paul B
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Time and Again by Jack Finney
T&A: Places and History
T&A: meta time travel observations
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
Lo those many years ago when we kickstartered a second season of Sword and Laser video, one of our backing levels promised a 30 minute hangout which the backer could choose to make public or not. Well after literally years of scheduling we finally got a chance to hang out and chat with Kai Herbertz. Big thanks to Kai for backing the season! Be sure to check out Kai's fantasy book and the anthology he's trying to fund on kickstarter!
At Con-Volution 2015 we sat down with author/podcaster/publicist Jaym Gates and talked about her unique perspective on publishing from within and without.
We wrap up our October book pick, The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Some people find the hero less than heroic. Some people find the genre less than fantasy. So why did Tom like it so much? Is HE a traitor? Also a short story vending machine and why we're so jealous of Ann Leckie's good taste.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Templeton Rye
Veronica: Rincon Del Tajo
QUICK BURNS
Winners British Fantasy Awards
This vending machine prints short stories to read instead of looking at your phone
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter play 'Cursed Child' is an official sequel
Mark: Ann Leckie posts her "10 Best Science Fiction Books" list at Publishers Weekly
Joanna: An "eARC" of Lois McMaster Bujold's latest Vorkosigan book, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is available on the Baen website.
Trike: Apparently someone found a map of Middle Earth annotated by Tolkien himself, in an old book belonging to the original map illustrator of both LotR and Narnia. Turns out Hobbiton and Oxford are on the same latitude."
BARE YOUR SWORD
"Why Andy Weir needs to update his website," or "What short stories are you reading/have you read"
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next month: Time and Again by Jack Finney
WRAP UP
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Is this book fantasy? Veronica asks, you answered
What's the message? (full spoilers)
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
We have a delightful conversation with Catherynne M. Valente about decopunk, book awards, and why she fears spoiling herself about her own stories while she’s writing them.
Her decopunk book Radiance is out now!
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons. Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks/. Download this episode directly here!
We cheer for Patrick Rothfuss winning the Hollywood game, jeer a little at Spielberg refusing to put a Delorean in the Ready Player One movie and peruse with careful academic curiosity a study showing the increase in empathy caused by reading.
Direct download here!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Bulleit
Veronica: Hendricks Gin and Tonic
QUICK BURNS
Rob: Patrick Rothfuss signed some kind of multi-media (Movie, TV And Video game?) deal with Lionsgate.
Louie: No Spielberg references in the Ready Player One film adaptation.
Robert: Helene Wecker posted on her Facebook page that there will be a sequel to The Golem and the Jinni to be titled The Iron Season. It's a ways off but I think the wait will be worth it.
Stephen: One of the authors I suggested for future interviews was Jen Williams. Well, her books are now going to be available in the USA, via Angry Robot books. The announcement was made this week on Barnes and Noble's website.
BARE YOUR SWORD
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Is this the modern fantasy 1984?
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons.Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
With the huge success of the film adaptation this month, we thought it would be fun to travel back in time to our interview with The Martian author Andy Weir and Influx author Daniel Suarez.
If you're interested in picking up where that episode left off, you can follow this link to the Soundcloud page (audio should start at the 45:05 mark).
As noted, Patrons will receive this episode at no charge. Enjoy!
Welcome to our Featured Reviews! In this series, we'll be highlighting book reviews by the S&L audience. If you want to submit a review, please check out the guidelines here! -Veronica
Review by Bryan S. Glosemeyer, original on Goodreads here.
"The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason."
The opening line of Neal Stephenson's new 'hard SF' thriller, Seveneves, is bound to go down as one of the great opening lines in science fiction. I'm sure it will soon be mentioned in the same breath as William Gibson's opening line to Neuromancer. "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
So as you can see, the very first sentence packs quite a punch and the punches keep on coming. The clock is ticking till the sky itself burns for five thousand years. Will science and reason save humanity in the harshness of space? Or will politics and greed be our final undoing? Well, I won't spoil it for you, but if you are familiar at all with Stephenson's books, you'll expect very smart and very brave people try to save the world with their smarts and bravery.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The premise is exciting and fun and the tension keeps ratcheting up and up. While this is most definitely 'speculative' fiction, he keeps the science grounded, yet fascinating. No artificial gravity, no warp drives, no energy shields. As usual, Stephenson does a great job of helping to make sense of the science for the average reader. But to do so means he does a lot of 'infodumps.' His books have always been high on the infodump quotient, Seveneves is even more so.
The book is divided into three parts, and I have to say I found the second act the most compelling, fast paced, edge of your seat reading. While there are smart people being heroic throughout the book, this is by far the most adventurous and heroic section.
I do have a few criticisms, and most of that has to do with character. Stephenson has never been one to dive too deep into his characters's inner worlds, but even so he could craft fleshed out, compelling and fun characters like Raz, Hiro, Jack Shaftoe. To be honest, I have to say that most of the characters fell pretty flat for me in Seveneves. I understand that the majority of them are scientists and engineers and they're not going to be the type to fall apart int an emotional mess when the shit hits the fan. But this is some pretty goddamn apocalyptic shit hitting the fan and I would expect even the coolest, logical engineer to have their emotions get hotter and go deeper than what we get here.
One character standout, though still lacking in the emotional depth I just mentioned, is the African American scientist/celebrity Doc Dubois. Any fan of Neil Degrasse Tyson won't be able to help but picture Dubois as Tyson. Even the speech cadences are there.
Again, without going into spoiler territory, the third act of this book was very reminiscent of Raz's quest in Anathem.
All criticisms taken into account, this is still a damn fun and exciting read. Fans of hard sci fi and doomsday thrillers are going to dig this a lot, I think.
Also, when I was reading it, I kept envisioning it not as a movie, but as a miniseries. With the right budget and enough hours to tell the story (5-6 hours I'd say) this would be awesome to see come to life on the screen.
BTW, I also made an online mixtape inspired by the book, especially parts one and two. You can check it out here!
We wrap up A Canticle for Leibowitz and explore all its science and religion feels. Also we welcome a new Expanse series cover, a new Gaiman baby and we discover why Taylor Swift IS the Kwisatz Haderach.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Water
Veronica: Vitamin B12
QUICK BURNS
Shelfie Is Shazam For Your Bookshelf
SporadicReviews.com Next Expanse novel "Babylon's Ashes" cover-reveal! June 2016 is too far away!
Rob Secundus: Maybe not worthy of a segment, but alt-country/rock singer Ryan Adams just released a cover album of noted pop star and possible escapee from the realm of the fey Taylor Swift's 1989. Why does Adams think the T-Swiz is so succesful? Well, she's just like the Kwisatz Haderach!
Ryan Adams said, “There’s that special, very interesting ingredient where you hear a skeleton of the song, just the bones, and her voice, and you go, 'Well, of course, this person plays to 60,000 people.’ It’s like at the end of Dune, with Paul Atreides riding the Sandworm, and his eyes are all blue from the spice mélange. That’s totally how I see Taylor.”
Andy: Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer welcomed their child Anthony Gaiman on September 16th!
terpkristin: So long, Oyster! The "Netflix of ebooks" is shutting down, and most of the team is apparently going to join Google. The co-founders were definitely hired by Google, but it seems that a bunch of the staff may have been, too. Will be interesting to see what Google does with this...if anything.
terpkristin: Storybundle.com is doing a bundle of 11 books that were finalists or winners of the Philip K. Dick Award (honoring distinguished science fiction). It will be going on for the next 22 days, or until about mid-October.
Warren: Scientists have for the first time confirmed liquid water flowing on the surface of present-day Mars.
BARE YOUR SWORD
Hello!
I do my own podcast about games, gaming etc, recently there's been a metallic twang to the far end when recording our sessions via skype.
The sound in your podcasts is always superior. If its not terribly intrusive could you tell me what software you use to teleconference and record.
Thanks in advance.
Brian
---
Ok, I'm sorry for this kinda silly question. My wife and I have noticed that a few recent SF/Fantasy novels have been using the word "sussurrus" and its other forms quite a lot. Rothfuss, Tregillis, Scalzi, and Graedon for example. We always tell each other when we encounter the word in a book or story and say "Gotcha, page XX!"
Is there some kind of inside joke being shared among the author community, or a ritual use of the word, maybe an homage to someone?
I hope bringing this up doesn't squelch or make anyone self censor, not our intention. Just chasing a silly phantom.
Thanks for your great site and podcasts!
Mike
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next month: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Quiz to tell you who you are in Baru's world
How Evil SFF Empires Create Ideal Citizens
Wrap-up
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Rachel [Spoilers]
ACFL: What to make of the crazy ending?
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
Welcome to our Featured Reviews! In this series, we'll be highlighting book reviews by the S&L audience. If you want to submit a review, please check out the guidelines here! -Veronica
Review by Emily Carlson
The Low-Down:
In a multiverse where magic is the product of the rise and fall of three celestial bodies, things can get a little complicated. Characters’ power waxes and wanes with the movement of these satellites, but the world seems to have reached a balance. However, that balance is shattered when the fourth, dark satellite – Oma – begins ascending. Oma, the Worldbreaker. Last time Oma rose, continents were literally torn in half by its power, and it seems that this generation will be no different.
The Mirror Empire follows Lilia, a girl from a dying universe with an amber sky, as she is hurled into a new and thriving universe in escape from the dark forces gathering in her amber world. But Lilia is far from safe in her new blue-skied universe because the armies she fled haven’t given up the chase.
Key Themes:
Genocide, multiverses, TRULY NOXIOUS WEEDS, gender and sexuality, mystical orphans, THE DOPPLEGANGER, celestial bodies (wink, wink), BLOOD
What’s Good:
Hurley has bitten off an awful lot with her ambitious Mirror Empire. And for those of us who are bored with a linear and predictable narrative, this is a very good thing. Hurley seems determined to supplant nearly every fantasy troupe, even down to her five-gendered social structure with group marriage and funerary cannibalism. These bold rejections of what we take for granted in our own society are illuminating in Hurley’s hands.
Take for example the thirty-something, war-hardened general returning home from her tour abroad to her teenaged, undereducated, ornamental husband. On one hand, this seems very familiar to fantasy fans (Drogo and Daenerys, anyone?). But on the other, it is completely unexpected and frankly, appalling. Readers might swoon at the scenes of Drogo and Dany together, might even excuse the some of the harsh treatment that Dany receives from Drogo. However, when the general dominates her husband and when we see how isolated he truly is, it’s harder to wear those same rose-colored glasses.
The result is a novel that is challenging, though inducing, and at times shocking. But very much worth the time of any fantasy reader ready for something different.
What’s Less Than Good:
Hurley has bitten off an awful lot with her ambitious Mirror Empire. What is this novel’s greatest strength can be its most frustrating weakness. Switching characters, universes, and social structures can be very confusing. Hurley pulls it off with a surprising amount of ease, but readers can still get lost easily.
Furthermore, although Hurley is making wonderful strides towards fulfilling the potential of the unique world she created, only time (and more novels) will tell if Hurley is able to pull this off with the finesse demanded when an author deviates this much from reality. In my mind, the farther an author strays from reality, the heavier the burden is to make all of that mental strain worth our while.
The Final Verdict:
Maintain focus. If you can do that, The Mirror Empire is definitely worth the read. But for those of us who don’t want to leave a book with a pounding headache (I mean… not really, but you get it) this may not be the novel for you. The world Hurley creates is rich, engaging, and completely surprising. It is worth the effort the novel will require from you, but know that this is not a mindless read. So much of the world in this book is utterly new that it is bound to leave most people feeling a little star-struck.
The world Hurley builds takes on a personality of itself, much like another character you are getting to know. It would be easy for the human characters to fade into the background of the novel and let the newness of the world stun readers. However, the characters in the novel are utterly profound. They are likable and revolting in turn, but in a way which reminds us of our own little green planet with a blue sky. The true wonder of this book is not the differences Hurley creates between her worlds and ours, but the similarities. Somehow, Hurley has managed to create a story where even with a radically different reality to ours, we are able to relate to and care about her characters.
If you’re willing to go the extra literary mile, Hurley promises to deliver even more mind-blowing confusion in the upcoming Empire Ascendant dropping in October 2015.
This week, things really go nuts when Veronica realizes that she likes Tom's book pick more than Tom does, which causes Tom to question everything he has ever known. Meanwhile, over on Goodreads, Thane questions whether present tense is the bane of genre fiction! Hmmm...
Download direct here!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Yorkshire Gold Tea
Veronica: Candy Peaches (eating)
QUICK BURNS
Thane: Looks like BBC is doing The City and the City. A 4 part adaptation. The City & the City
Tamahome: I didn't know Octavia Butler's Dawn would be adapted to tv either.
Trike: Amazon is saying the first season of The Man in the High Castle will be available November 20, 2015. If you haven't seen the pilot, I highly recommend it. And I'm known as The Guy Who Hates Everything. (Which isn't true. I only hate MOST things. But this I love.)
Jason is referring to Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti, when he says: I just found this tidbit on tor.com. This sounds exciting, the novella is read by Robin Miles and she worked closely with the author to get the right sounds and inflection to world build. Here's the synopis: "Binti is a brilliant young woman who is the first of the Himba community to be offered a place at the galaxy’s finest institution of higher learning." There is also a spooky race of bad guys. Has there ever been a collaboration with an author to make a book sound right? " ---(Tamahome found the Tor link)
Stephen: Mark Lawrence has started a new story on Wattpad. It is a free western fantasy told in 19 parts.
Elizabeth: Turns out Uprooted may contain True Facts: io9. Medieval Skeleton Found Dangling From the Roots of a Fallen Tree.
BARE YOUR SWORD
Present Tense - Can you dig it?
---
Dear Tom and Veronica,
I recently stumbled across a super-rad book from the University of Pennsylvania Press, ER Truitt's Medieval Robots, and I thought, what could be more Sword and Laser than that? I mean, ok, Space Dragons, maybe, and also actual laser swords. But still, Medieval Robots are probably the third most sword-and-lasery thing in existence. The title sounds like that of a really generically titled pulp, but it's actually a survey of automata in the Western Medieval world-- the fictional robots that feature in Medieval Romance and legend, the pseudo-fictional robots that feature in travelogues (turns out, the Middle East? Filled with robots!), and real, historical robots that were installed as curiosities in courts. Anyway, it's so rare that nonfiction stuff is relevant to the show that I thought I should share.
Rob S.
---
I recently started listening to NPR's Ask Me Another, where Jonathan Coulton is the house musician, and heard one of their older episodes. On their July 31, 2014 show, Saladin Ahmed was a guest. This reminded me of your Bonus Interview with Saladin in 2012. I have not seen a video of Ask Me Another, so we cannot be sure whether Saladin/Jonathan are one person, but we do know that there is proof that they have been in the same place at the same time.
In case you have the time, I have included a link to that episode. The clip in question is "Can't Place the Place Name."
Enjoy.
-John
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
ACFL: Walter Miller Jr.
A Science-Fiction Classic Still Smolders
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
Welcome to our Featured Reviews! In this series, we'll be highlighting book reviews by the S&L audience. If you want to submit a review, please check out the guidelines here! -Veronica
Review by Robert Zak
Ed note: Review is mostly spoiler free, but reader beware!
Executive Summary: Best one yet! I've always enjoyed this series, but I really loved this book. My only complaint would I don't have more to read! I can't wait for book 6.
Audiobook: Jefferson Mays is back! Huzzah! Don't get me wrong, he's not one of my favorite narrators or anything, but he is good. And the guy they got to replace him for book 4 was not. I was considering switching to text for this book if that narrator was used again. Thankfully I didn't have to.
His accents for Avasarala and Alex are excellent as always. Everyone else isn't really anything special. He has good inflection and reads in a nice and clear voice. Hopefully they'll be able to get him for all the future books.
Full Review
The Expanse books have been a lot of fun since I finally picked them up last year. However I was starting to feel like maybe it was running out of steam.
I liked Leviathan Wakes and thought Caliban's War was even better. However I felt Abaddon's Gate and especially Cibola Burn weren't as good.
I've grown tired of the rotating POV's with new characters to follow around. Part of the problem is that Avasarala and Bobbie were so great in Caliban's War, everyone that followed was a disappointment.
Not only that, but they didn't really feature in books 3 and 4 and I think that's a waste. Thankfully that's been remedied in this book. While they aren't POV characters again, they do feature fairly heavily in the plot, albeit Bobbie moreso than Avasarala.
The other problem was I always found at least 1 or 2 of the POV to be less interesting than the others. The best part is that instead of forcing the readers to deal with some new characters they won't like as much, they chose to make the other 3 POVs the remaining members of the Rocinante. Not only do we finally get in the heads of characters I've come to love in the last 4 books, but we get more of their backstories as well, especially Naomi and Amos.
In fact if you haven't read The Churn previously, I'd highly recommend doing so before this novel. I think you'll get a lot more out of Amos's storyline if you do. I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite plotline. They were all just so good.
So apart from excellent choice for POVs what really makes this book so great is the focus of the story. The stuff with the protomolecule in the last four books has been interesting, but this book mostly takes a break from that.
The tensions have long been bubbling between the three human factions of Earth, Mars and The Belt/OPA have finally come to a head. And just when I thought I was enjoying this book, BAM! It somehow got even better.
This is a very different story than last four. That may upset some fans, but for me it breathed new life into a series that seemed in danger of losing its way.
Some characters in this book made me so mad! Others made me scared or nervous. Just seeing Bobbie and Avasarala made me happy. I hated having to stop listening each day, and I couldn't wait to start listening again.
To me that's the sort of thing that pushes something from a 4-star rating into the vary rare company of a 5-star rating. It also put it solidly on my favorites shelf. I will definitely be listening to this one again.
If I had one complaint it's that it's over! I can't wait for book 6! If you found yourself not as happy with the last book or two, I highly recommend giving this one a shot, I really think it's best one yet!
This weekend at DragonCon 2015 in Atlanta, we had the great fortune of chatting with Cherie Priest for an hour in front a live audience of Sword & Laser enthusiasts! Listen in to hear Cherie's rise from goth to glorious, the proper way to distinguish steampunk from goth, and why Lizzie Borden is not who you thought.
This month, both of my nerdy online book clubs combined forces and chose the same book: Uprooted by Naomi Novik! You've already heard our wrap-up on S&L, but make sure you watch the slightly more unhinged episode of VF. We cover sexy times, casting, magical systems, and otter relations.
We’re happy for the Hugos, sad for the last Terry Pratchett novel, and J.R.R. Tolkien has a new book. Plus, we wrap up Uprooted by Naomi Novik and make our peace with a trope.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Yorkshire Gold Tea
Veronica: Cab Sauv from Anderson Valley
QUICK BURNS
Why the Hugos Matter
Final Terry Pratchett novel "The Shepherd's Crown' Goes on sale tonight in UK
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Story of Kullervo Will Be Published In October
Brendan: Has this been mentioned yet? Gollancz to publish "Sharp Ends", a collection of short stories from the world of the First Law by Joe Abercrombie. A mix of new and old short stories.
Rob Secundus: Well the official trailer for the martian is up. I thought the headline of this polygon article was probably hyperbolic, but nope! The trailer literally spoils every major plot point of the book.
Tamahome: Syfy Keeps Making Scifi TV Shows, Puts Frederick Pohl's Gateway in Development
Dara: SyFy announced premiere dates for The Expanse and Childhood's end. Via EW: "The Expanse will kick off with a two-night premiere event starting Monday, Dec. 14 at 10 p.m. ET and continuing on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 10 p.m. ET, before moving to its regular Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET timeslot for the remainder of its 10-episode first season.
Warren: The BBC audio drama version of The Foundation Trilogy (Public domain) Its about 7.4 hour long. I got the original unabridged audio book version years ago. Both versions are good.
Sandra: Mark your calendars! The Ready Player One film adaptation hits theaters December 15th 2017.
Sandra: Caitlín R. Kiernan's Drowning Girl and The Red Tree Optioned For Film
BARE YOUR SWORD
Tom I know you are a connoisseur of the BBC :)
BBC Woman Hour talking about SciFi and FanFic
-Paul B.
---
Greetings Supreme Sword and Supreme Laser,
First, I want to thank you both for all that you do. This group has introduced me to so many authors and books that I would have never found on my own. I've made friends with so many people in the forums and being able to connect with other geeky people has been such a joy. Thank you!
Now to my feedback... I think a Recommendations folder in the forum would be a great addition. People tend to post recommendation threads in the General and the What Else Are You Reading folders and that sometimes creates overlap or duplicate threads looking for the same types of books. It would help de-clutter the other folders and make it easier for members to post, search, and discuss recs. I figured that I would shoot my idea your way and you can do what you think is best with it.
Many thanks,
Dara
---
Tom and Veronica,
My story, "The Lesser Evil" was part of your Sword & Laser anthology. I wanted to send a quick note to let you know that the story is one of the finalists for the Washington Science Fiction Association's 2015 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction.
Thanks for the opportunity! :)
Best,
Day
---
Peter V Brett & dice
Message: I was listening to episode #211 today while I walked (trying to catch up to current) and he lamented the fact that there were no 16 sided dice. There is a game called Dungeon Crawl Classic (by Goodman Games http://www.goodman-games.com/dccrpg.html) that uses dice that are non-standard including a d16.
-Jim H.
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next Month: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Baba Yaga
Slate, on the Dragon: "He’s like a fussy music theory professor forced to cut an album with an improvising jazz musician, but the resulting music is better than either could make separately."
Uprooted: Manic Pixie Dream Witch
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
We chat with J-F Dubeau, author of The Life Engineered about why we should keep calm and build more robots. Also the good news of more Game of Thrones coming to TV thrilled the live audience at Nerdtacular 2015 as did our surprise host-swap! And thanks to Matt Avery of The Tadpool for the album art inspiration, and Greg Skinner for the original photo!
Recorded before a live studio of nerds, and thanks to Jeff Cannata of We Have Concerns for joining in! Download link here.
QUICK BURNS
Sandra: Game of Thrones news HBO Planning Eight seasons now, and maybe a prequel season?
Paul: Didn't want to start a whole thread for this but I took my wife to
Barnes and Noble for fan girl Friday and they were giving away free
copies of Drive...the Expanse prequel short story to advertise the
upcoming TV show. If your interested its worth it to add to your collection check if they have it at your local store.
Interview
J-F Dubeau author of Life Engineered
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next Month: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Uprooted by Naomi Novik official site
Scott Sigler’s Alive is out, and even though he didn’t mean it as Young Adult fiction it’s turned out that way. And even though he didn’t mean it to be Science Fiction, it’s turned out that way too! Find out why this all happened and why he’s happy with all of it.
This week we congratulate several more authors on TV deals, one author on getting to write more movie books, and another author on having too many potential movie deals. We also come to the conclusion that Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is all the genres.
Download direct here!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom:Yorkshire Gold Tea
Veronica: Sorta sour red wine
QUICK BURNS
Sandra: Del Rey books has announced Chuck Wendig will also write two more books in the Star Wars series, further bridging the gap between the original movie trilogy and the new one coming in December.
James: Shannara Chronicles trailer has been released.
Nick: Warner Bros., MGM and Lionsgate are among a group of studios locked in a heated bidding war for Patrick Rothfuss' mega-best-selling fantasy novel The Name of the Wind, book one in The Kingkiller Chronicle series.
Andy: Third episode in the Max Temkin/Pat Rothfuss podcast dropped this morning, featuring a lengthy discussion from Pat himself about that bidding war for the film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle everyone was buzzing about at SDCC. Check it out! Could I love this man any more? Ask me when "The Doors of Stone" hits the shelves in 2016.
Ethan: Jim Hines is quitting his job to write full time. If you haven't read anything of his, pick up Libriomancer - a quick and fun urban fantasy - this series is up there with Dresden for me.
Sandra: Here's the Nominees for the 2015 World Fantasy Awards. Three Sword and Laser book picks are up for best novel (The Goblin Emperor, City of Stairs, and Area X:The Southern Reach Trilogy). Chances are good for another Sword and Laser winner.
Mark: British Fantasy Awards 2015 nominees include City of Stairs (fantasy) and Station Eleven (horror ???). One of the film/tv episodes nominated is Under the Skin, one of the oddest movies I've ever seen.
BARE YOUR SWORD
Long time listener first time caller. I noticed you’re piicks links to amazon and was wondering do you guys have a straight link that would give you guys credit for any purchases? I could guess but looking at what’s the same but would rather be sure so you get credit. Wife’s a prime member and we are both pretty good Amazon customers. If I could use a link to help you guys out some more, all the better. You guys just missed my PS4 purchase.
Thanks again for doing the show and consider this a performance review for the year. “Exceeding expectations”
One of the 500 patrons peeps (number as of now) :o)
Michael
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Yes/No/Maybe!
You know, Veronica? You're in excellent company; over here in Trondheim that yes/noing is a thing we've been doing since the dawn of time (or as long as I can remember, and who's counting)*. And funny thing; when listening to Among Others (thanks to you guys), I got a smile out of hearing that vocal quirk described as a characteristic of the North Welsh dialect. So throw away your embarrassment and embrace your expressionistic ambivalence!
(And it generally doesn't mean either yes, no or maybe; it's just a bit of verbal padding to to keep the thought in place until you shoot your mouth off ;)
Fredrik
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next Month: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Details matter
Reminded me of Cloud Atlas
ADDENDUMS
Scott Sigler hangout Friday at 5:30 PM!!
We'll be at Nerdtacular 7/31 at 4:30 PM and at DragonCon in September!
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
We have an eyewitness report from the ALA conference in San Francisco, our initial thoughts on Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and Neil Gaiman will write some episodes for the American Gods TV series. Thank American Gods!
Download direct here!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Hendricks Gin and Tonic
Veronica: Boonville Bite Hard Cider
QUICK BURNS
Kenley: The American Library Association held their annual conference in San Francisco this week. 25,000 librarians descended on Moscone. The event included a Tor panel with Vernor Vinge, Greg Bear, John Scalzi, Marie Brennan and Larry Correia.
And Ulmer Ian says: "Just came from the Tor panel. Not much interaction between panelists so no barns were burned. Was great to see Vinge, I'm a long time fan. Marie Brennans talk about what books show we miss from current technology was particularly fantastic.
In quick burn news: S&L pick and Nebula winner Goblin Emperor won best fantasy novel for the Locus Award. Be an S&L pick, win all the awards. "
Ulmer Ian: Ancillary Sword wins Locus best scifi novel.
Alex
Neil Gaiman is going to write multiple episodes of American Gods for Starz. That makes me SO much more excited than it probably should.
Joanna - There's a wonderful interview of Lois McMaster Bujold .
It really dives into her process and what inspired her. It also highlights why the Vorkosigan Saga is still my very favorite scifi series. Namely following how culture follows technology and the development of great characters over time.
Alex - Patrick Rothfuss and Max Temkin (one of the Cards Against Humanity guys) have started a podcast, and it needs a name
Andy - The final novella installment to John Scalzi's "The End of All Things" was released.
BARE YOUR SWORD
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"Hi Veronica and Tom,
We are in San Diego at WesterCon! We had a good reads/ S&L coffee klatch this morning. Thought of you two. It was great fun and we met some new S&L pals. Here's our pix. Hope all is well with you both.
Best, Melisa from SF "
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"Dear Tom and Veronica,
I happened to catch Tom's "book haul" video and I enjoyed it. What a
great idea!
That tall stack of books behind Tom got my wheels turning and here's
what I think you should do: you should send them to listeners who agree
to review them. I don't know what the rules are, exactly, so maybe you
can't do it that way, but I think you should be able to publish the
reviews on the website, can't you? I know you've published some
listener-written reviews.
The benefit of this vs. just giving them away at events is two-fold: the
author gets a review out of it, which is why they sent it to you, and
the Sword and Laser community gets to find out if these books are good.
You'd have to come up with a way to decide who gets which book, but you
can do a drawing or something? Does the Patreon funds give you enough to
cover the cost of mailing these out? If not, asking listeners to pay the
shipping cost would ensure they'd be invested enough to definitely write
a review. It would still be cheaper than buying the book.
Love the show!
Beelissa "
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"Hi Guys.
Love the podcast. This may be a little off-topic, but you're two erudite people, so I'm hoping you can help.
Veronica, last podcast I heard you agree with Tom by saying ""yeah-no"" and then going on to say why you agree with him so much.
Can you help me understand why I'm hearing this more and more, all over the place. It's no longer just a simple yes, or no, it has become ""yeah-no"" or ""no-yeah""
WTF? Why?
Will there be a new word in the dictionary soon, ""yeah-no"" ?
This drives me almost as crazy as hearing the word ""literally"" used incorrectly all the time now.
Ugh.
Keep up the great work on the podcast.
Darren" Yeah, no
Yeah-no, controversial since 2006
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Emily Mandel's website
Station Eleven > SE: Literary crossover? (please tag spoilers)
ADDENDUMS
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
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