S&L Podcast - #399 - Sneaky Alternate Pick?

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Veronica is off on maternity leave but Brea Grant from the Reading Glasses podcast is here. yay! Brea gets to know pigeons, our legion of Richards and kicks off her pick for December, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. We also need your help uncovering the mystery of Boxing Day.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Ernest Cline was on Coast-2-Coast late night radio last night talking about Ready Player One and Two.

The Guardian newspaper in the UK has a short list of its best sci fi and fantasy books of 2020.

Neil Gaiman's novella 'The Sleeper and the Spindle' radio adaptation coming to BBC Radio 4 on Boxing Day

Wizard of the Pigeons is finally out on Kindle in the US! Robin Hobb, writing as Megan Lindholm, tells the story of the Wizard.

Nalo Hopkinson has been named the 37th Damon Knight Grand Master by SFWA
The S&L wiki has a list of the Grand Masters we've read.

Once again the Sword and Laser folks are teaming up for donations to World Builders! Help us collectively reach the $1,000 goal to help fund education, opportunity, and sustainable self-sufficiency for families and communities worldwide.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Tamahome writes reagarding our confusion between The Stand and The Strand: "There's also comic book writer Jan Strnad who made New Tales of the Arabian Nights with Rich Corben. Too bad you didn't mention that name too to work into the title. I recall that comic being a good story. Maybe Veronica can name her baby "Tamahome"? Just kidding, mostly.We had a lot of people named

Richard submitting stories last episode so Richard Marpole tweeted to us "Greetings from the ever-growing legion of Richards! And my best wishes to @Veronica during her maternity. I hope everything goes well."

Pri on Twitter wrote "Well, now that I just became an American citizen, I am freaking out a lot less about the whole process so I can focus on my @swordandlaser book"

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Parable of the Sower (Parable 1) by Octavia E. Butler

Tassie Dave our stats master’s fun statistical facts:

Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation was published at the beginning of this year

Octavia's Parables doing episode for each chapter of the Parable of the Sower

The LA Public Library is holding a talk about Octavia Butler Thursday December 3

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/

S&L Podcast - #398 - Stand for the Strain at the Strand

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It's Veronica's last episode before her maternity leave! OH MY. And we have some fun, including wrapping up our thoughts on Howl's Moving Castle.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Tamahome: LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special | Official Trailer | Disney+

Jan: Narrativa, the production company of the Terry Pratchett estate has announced that Sky is adapting the Discworld novel "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents"

Mark: If you'd like to read quotes from Martha Wells' MurderBot diaries in your Twitter feed, follow MurderBotBot

Trike: Ted Chiang on AI and suchlike

Richard: Well, it appears the production of Netflix the Witcher is on hold again due to covid.

Richard: Terry Brooks finished his Shannara series last month.

Richard (different one): The SFF reviews and blogs site Fantasy Faction will be posting a series called 'Christmas Presents' on site in December.

Richard: The last of Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions anthologies may finally be published

Tamahome: J Michael also has a mainstream book called "Together We Will Go" coming out next July 6th

On Amazon

Tamahome: The Stand trailer on CBS streaming was out. It comes out Dec 17th

BARE YOUR SWORD

"@joesherry Replying to @Hugo_Book_Club re: Bobiverse I know Tom and Veronica at @swordandlaser are big fans."

@JohnTaloni When we read the first Bobiverse book as a monthly pick, I tossed off a little filk and someone actually recorded it! At the link. About a minute long.

Cameron McCrorie (Meat Popsicle) @McCrorieBooks Hey @Veronica I'm way behind on @swordandlaser (ep 342) did you ever get round to reading any comic books? :smile::smile:"

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Book briefing

HMC: I didn't see that coming ...

HMC: What if it's Jane Austen?

HMC: differences with the movie

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

S&L Podcast - #397 - Squeeherent

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Tom and Veronica draw the lines on whether they favor Alix E. Harrow or Tamsyn Muir (because they are both awesome). Tom has some new new writing coming out, and we have our first impressions of Howl's Moving Castle and why we missed out on it in our own childhoods.

Download directly here.

QUICK BURNS

Quick Draw!: fast and Funny Fiction

Mark: Shortlists for the British Fantasy Awards 2020 have been released.

Trike: HUGE cast shake-up on the adaptation of Y: The Last Man

Jan: The Goodreads Choice Awards have started with their opening round. You can among others vote for Best Fantasy of 2020 and Best Science Fiction of 2020

Tamahome: Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archive #4) is being serialized every Tuesday on Tor.

Lauren: Tamsyn Muir, author of "Gideon the Ninth" (and Harrow, and Alecto) has a five-book deal Tordotcom publishing!

Seth: Finder author Suzanne Palmer wins the Theodore Sturgeon award for short sci-fi fiction with novella Waterlines. Here's Tor's report on the award

Silvana: World Fantasy Award winners announced

Trike: A passel of new SFF books coming out in November. A couple I already have preordered and some I wasn’t aware of. A little something for everyone:

BARE YOUR SWORD

Tamahome @tamahome02000 .@swordandlaser the antsy joke is trending

Drake Tungsten @turtleismytotem - @swordandlaser Heard old episode 119. It had a very weird bit, where Tom and Veronica discussed which author they'd go cannibal on if they were trapped on a deserted island with them. Tom chose Patrick Rothfuss and Veronica chose Neil Gaiman.

—

I only recently became aware of your podcast this year, and almost instantly became a Patron. I have been working my way up through old podcasts and so far I have been privileged to find two great books/authors because of your show: Ninefox Gambit and His Majesty's Dragon. Also love the author interviews; the one with Myke Cole was particularly good. Thank you very much for introducing these to me and for the continued entertainment and info you provide on the show. - Chris

—-

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Book briefing

"Tamahome @tamahome02000 .@swordandlaser Howl's Moving Castle is ok, but when Howl went to the marshes, I got a little antsy."

HMC: Don’t mind me, just here to squee

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

S&L Podcast - #396 - Antsy with Mars

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How to make The Watch series not feel so bad maybe? Also, some great lists of top fantasy and sci-fi and a few more award winners. Plus, we kick off the November pick and wrap up Finder By Suzanne Palmer.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

The trailer for the new "The Watch" TV series from the BBC

Rhianna Pratchett

Neil Gaiman

Expanse season 5 trailer: Out December 16

Season 2 of His Dark Materials starts on Nov. 16 on HBO.

Conan the barbarian series coming to Netflix

Netflix has ordered a YA Vampire drama adaptation of V.E. Schwab's short story “First Kill” published in September.

Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin & The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine

The 1st Ignyte Award winners

TIME Magazine has released a list of what they call. ""The 100 Best Fanatasy Books of All Time"

Polygon has picked the 15 most influential SciFi novels of the past 15 years

BARE YOUR SWORD

"Hello!

The way that libraries provide their patrons with ebooks varies greatly from library to library, and consortium to consortium. It’s a pretty complicated can of worms, so I mostly can only speak from my own experience at the library where I work.

There are two main models of ebook lending for libraries. In the first, the one that you discussed on the show, libraries purchase a license for the ebook and that license allows the library to lend the ebook out to a set number of users. Libraries can have the option to purchase more “copies”. I’m on the fiction buying committee, and if we see that an ebook has a large number of holds, and thus a really long waiting time, we will purchase additional ”copies”. What we are really doing is purchasing licensing that allows more patrons to borrow that ebook at once. This is how Overdrive (Libby is the name of one of the Overdrive apps) works.

The second model is a pay-per-use model. This is where the library is charged a certain amount of money each time a patron downloads the ebook file. Usually, to be able to have some idea of a budget, patrons are limited to a certain number of downloads per month with this model. Resources such as Hoopla follow this model of eResource lending.

I hope that this was helpful, and feel free to ask any further questions!

~Chaos Librarian"
—-
"Hello again!

Here here are a couple more details that occurred to me during a fiction buying meeting this morning, where I was helping to
select titles to purchase through Overdrive.

-Usually the license will be for a specific number of users (usually 1) and last for a certain amount of time (12 or 24 months). After the set period of time, the library would have to purchase the ebook again. For example: a common model for a new, high-demand title seems to be $55-$60 for a 24 month period, with one user able to download the title at a time.

-A less common model was a set price for a certain number of checkouts. The cost varied, but one example that we purchased today was $16.99 for 24 checkouts. After the 24 checkouts have been reached, we will have to decide whether we want to purchase the ebook again.

-the format of the ebook was also a variable; not all titles were available for kindle.

As you can see, it’s all convoluted and rather expensive. I hope that this helps to clarify slightly!

~Chaos Librarian "
—-
"Hi Veronica and Tom

You might be interested in the Panorama Project, leading multiple studies in the public library ebooks world. I will add it's funded by Overdrive so it is likely they have a slight bias, but hey, so do publishers.

I will add that not only do public libraries pay more for eBooks, they never ""own"" them. So even as a book goes out of style, the cost per use remains the same. If I were a publisher, I'd be more concerned about print, where libraries buy the book one time and never have to pay again, no matter how many people check it out or how many years it lingers in the stacks. I feel their loss argument is a strawman argument to make them justify charging more for eBooks.

I'm on the academic library side, and not only are eBooks much more clunky than the public library options, publishers are even more restrictive. We buy most of our books with what show up to users as "unlimited use,"" which allows for multiple users. This is great when it's required for a class, etc. Behind the scenes is a complex formula charging us per use, but not for the first five minutes. So a person can go in and poke around and decide the book isn't what they need. So we actually load records into the catalog of books we haven't purchased, until someone finds them and uses them. We call this model ""demand driven acquisition."

Sadly many non-academic titles aren't even available to us in digital form, which was a big challenge when we went remote in the spring!

The more you know,

Jenny"
——
"Ben's Blurb @BensBlurb
Looking for new podcasts. Give me 2 podcasts you enjoy. 1 must be book related.
Book: @swordandlaser hands down the best SFF podcast about books.
Other: Fake Doctors, Real Friends hosted by the duo @zachbraff & @donald_faison which is a Scrubs rewatch podcast. AMAZING!"

"Tamahome @tamahome02000
.@swordandlaser Finder was a fast space opera read. I got antsy for more progression on Mars. Fergus gets beat up a lot. I like his crazy schemes. More on the aliens please. Mari needs to chill. I like the Shielders. Humorous tone and high body count. I hear book 2 is better."


BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

KICKOFF
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Book briefing


WRAP UP
Finder by Suzanne Palmer

Fin: Scene Change

Fin: First Contact with the Enemy

FIN: Well, that was quick


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

S&L Podcast - #395 - Spider Belmont

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Sandman and Lord of the Rings go back intro production, why publishers shouldn't fear library eBooks, and a call for Sword and Laser book remembering help!

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Trike: Neil Gaiman posted on Twitter that shooting for Netflix’s adaptation of Sandman starts in 3 weeks, plague permitting. So just before Halloween. Hmm.

Jan: Tor Books has announced a new epic science fiction trilogy from queer non-binary writer Neon Yang. The Nullvoid Chronicles will be a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc with a "space opera, giant robot twist". The first novel, The Genesis of Misery, is planned for publication in 2022, so we have still some time.
Yang (pronouns: they/them) has won the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella for their novella "Black Tides of Heaven" and Tor aquired the global English language rights for the new trilogy

Trike: Amazon has resumed production on the Lord of the Rings prequels

Mark: Coming 2 December 2020, the first issue of a four-issue comic mini-series, The Expanse, set between Season 4 and the upcoming fifth season of the television series. Written by Corinna Bechko with art by Alejandro Aragon

Mark: Publishers Worry as Ebooks Fly off Libraries' Virtual Shelves. "Checkouts of digital books from a popular service are up 52 percent since March. Publishers say their easy availability hurts sales."

Analysis from Rick - Ebooks are not lost sales for publishers. They are not *free* books. Note this from the linked article:
"The result: Libraries typically pay between $20 and $65 per copy—an industry average of $40, according to one recent survey—compared with the $15 an individual might pay to buy the same ebook online. "

So the publisher makes money from the ebook sale to the library - and libraries do not get unlimited downloads for that price.

Also, library loans can act as loss leaders, like the discounts publishers do where a book goes on sale for $1-2 for awhile. Both are ways to get me to try an author with no real risk. What publishers aren't seeing (because it's hard to measure) are the follow-on sales where someone reads a book via the library, then buys other books by that author.

Finally, the reason I grab a book from the library vs buying it is often price. If I know that I'll like a book, I'll buy it for $14. But if not? I'm checking it out of the library. But if ebook loans disappeared, that doesn't translate into a purchase from me, not at $14. Instead, I might just skip that book altogether and if it's a new author to me, that means I might never read that author.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Tamahome @tamahome02000
.@swordandlaser Brandon Sanderson's Spotify playlists

Drake Tungsten @turtleismytotem
@swordandlaser Listening to older podcast episodes. Was listening to episode 105 and couldn't help but laugh when, about 30 minutes in, Veronica yelled, "I'm being attacked by ants!"

—-

Name: Cheryl H.

Subject: Trying to find name of book

Message: Many years ago, I read a science fiction books about a time when humanity was divided into people who lived in towers in isolation and people who lived a primitive existence in the forest. They had no contact. The book as I remember it was about how the two divided Groups eventually came back together. I just can’t remember the name of the book. I’d like to reread it. Do you know how I can find it or who I could ask? Thanks.
Hi Veronica and Tom,

—-


I was just listening to one of my other favorite podcasts (Code Switch, an NPR pod focused on race), and they did a great episode called "Battle of the Books" about whether to read escapist literature or go full pandemic right now. If you haven't heard the episode, I suspect you would both enjoy it. They talked about two books that are at least sword adjacent: Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. And there's a shoutout to Octavia Butler as well. I hope you have the chance to give it a listen!

Best,

Robert S.

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Finder by Suzanne Palmer

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

Review us on iTunes!

feedback@swordandlaser.com

swordandlaser.com

We are on Instagram and Twitter! @swordandlaser

goodreads.com

S&L Podcast - #394 - Speaking of Books

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A couple of great series becoming books and video games. A couple of great folks sadly passed away. And our final thoughts on Ten Thousand Doors of January, and our FIRST thoughts on the October Pick, Finder.

Download directly here!


QUICK BURNS

Jan: Tor.com reports that Netflix is planning to adapt Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid

Louie: Title and cover reveal for The Expanse Book 9!

AndrewP: Author Terry Goodkind has passed away at the age of 72

Rush: Stanislaw Lem's sci-fi novel, "The Invincible" is being made into a video game.

Trike: Artist Ron Cobb has passed away at 83.

Mer: US Library of Congress' National Book Festival is September 25-27

BARE YOUR SWORD

@MitchamBeth
ELYSIUM, Jennifer Brissert. A seashell of a book, spiralling around a core story. A hermit crab that tries on different styles until it finds a fitting home. Do exterior details matter, or only the inner truths? Also, good use of grep. @swordandlaser "

@MitchamBeth
It's a great feeling to realize you already read the book club pick. It's like finding a $20 bill in your library book. Now I can go back to work on finishing BLACK LEOPARD.


@MitchamBeth
THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY, Alix E. Harrow. The story of an unbreakable love, a love that transcends death and universes. I refer, of course, to the bond between January and Bad. I mean, some other characters may like each other too. #HugoAwards

@tamahome02000
@swordandlaser The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt: Easy to read space opera. Some funny quips. At the end of each chapter, there was some kind of hook to read on. Many female characters. And some romance. I forget why one of the characters had a plural pronoun. There's funny aliens.

@turtleismytotem
@swordandlaser Listening to episode 98 and heard how Veronica would donate her ""Star Trek"" paperbacks to the library.
I still do that, but haven't recently. It seems like the publishers are winding down a lot of those books.

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Announce for October
Finder by Suzanne Palmer

Final Thoughts on
Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

How'd you like the ending?
Sequel?

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

S&L Podcast - #393 - Three-Body No Problem

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Dune! Dune looks so good! Yay Dune! Save us! Help us escape! Actually, we’re pretty good on that front as Ten Thousand Doors of January is helping us all escape. And we’re also pretty bulllish on the team putting together a TV adaptation of Three-Body problem for Netflix. EVERYTHING IS GREAT!

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Conal: The initial trailer for the new Dune movie was released.

Mark: Dragon Award winners announced.

Jan: Netflix has announced that they will adapt Liu Cixin’s Hugo-award winning novel and Sword and Laser pick The Three-Body Problem as a tv series

Richard: Nos4a2 canceled. Altered Carbon canceled

Jenny: Kate Hope Day revealed the cover and description of her next novel coming March 2021 from Random House.

Sheila Jean: Michael J Sullivan is looking for potential beta readers WHO HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY READ HIS WORK.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Joseph
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned elsewhere, but another reason Enola Holmes falls into your remit: It's based on a series of books (The Case of the Missing Marquess being the first) by SFF author Nancy Springer, although I haven't seen her name mentioned more than once or twice in connection with the series

—-

Harold Combs @DevHarryC
@swordandlaser @AlixEHarrow
Tom: Berea, Kentucky.
it’s Buh-REE’-uh. :)
But it’s okay. It’s the most laid back little town, full of artists and writers. You’d like it.

—-
Hi,

Saw that the Folio Society has released the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobbs in nice box set with slip case, just in time for its 25th anniversary. If memory services Veronica is a big Robin Hobbs fan, here is the link!

Best,
David


BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Escapism at it's finest

Locke is such a good character

Precisely how I feel about a new (physical) book


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

S&L Podcast - #392 - Audible Minus?

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We try to explain Audible's new plans, decide if Pinocchio is fantasy (especially if Mussolini is involved), and wrap-up our thoughts on Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Mark: The finalists for the inaugural Ignyte Awards have been announced. The awards are part of FIYAHCON, a virtual convention hosted by FIYAH Literary Magazine. The inaugural event takes place October 17-18, 2020. FIYAHCON seeks to center the perspectives and experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color).

Mark: R.F. Kuang will present The Poppy War Drunk Recap on Instagram Live, Saturday, August 29 at 10 PM ET.

Jan: Is Pinocchio Fantasy Literature? If it is: Deadline reports that Guillermo del Toro is doing a stop-motion movie musical adaptation of Pinocchio for Netflix that is set during the rise of fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.
Principal photography on Pinocchio began last autumn and production has continued during the pandemic, a release date is not yet set. Voice actors include Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz and Cate Blanchett.

Jan: Tor.com and Deadline report that Audible is introducing a new subscription option in the US called Audible Plus, which is essentially ""a Netflix-style subscription"" granting unlimited access to Audible's exclusive content including (non-exclusive) podcasts and original audio books. Existing US subscribers get access to Audible Premium Plus which gives access to the catalog and allows the purchase of audio books with credits as before.

Jan- Netflix has released the first trailer for "Enola Holmes" with Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill about Sherlock Holmes' secret sister.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Dear Tom and Veronica,
Thank you for introducing / having Andrew from Alienating the Audience on your podcast. I've added his Sci-Fi banter to my list of podcasts and have been enjoying the show ever since. Especially the episode about how to make a giant robot.
Switching gears, a little, PBS's American Master's is doing an episode on Ursula K. Le Guin, it's streaming on PBS.org. She wrote, so much but I always remember Wizard of Earthsea.
Best,
David


Tamahome @tamahome02000
.@swordandlaser If Veronica has a boy, I vote for the name "Bob"

Cameron Ferstat @cferstat
@swordandlaser do we have a September book pick yet? Just finished #Elysium and don’t want to start something else this close to the new month! #nowreading

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

SEPTEMBER PICK
Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow


WRAP UP
Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett

This was a pretty dark book to read during troubled times

Classics and types of love

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

S&L Podcast - #391 - Audiobook Drama

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The Hugos are here! And we’ve read a bunch of them. Also, some thoughts on what should or should not be in the genre canon. Should there even be a canon? Or should we shoot it out of a cannon? Also our early non-spoiler thoughts on Elysium and the audiobook divide.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Mark: The 2020 Hugo Award winners announced, many familiar to S+L. Here are a few of the winners...

Iain: Retro Hugos Announced for 1945...

Silvana - In Chicago, the 2022 WorldCon will be.

Jan: Does Science Fiction literature need a canon?

TRP Tom (Supreme Laser) mentioned the new season of The New Legends of Monkey on CordKillers.
There's a couple of English Language book versions of this tale originally written as Journey to the West and attributed to Wu Cheng'en:
Monkey: A Journey to the West an abridged translation by Arthur Waley
The Journey to the West, Volume 1 a four volume complete translation by Anthony C. Yu

Mark: The Guardian has posted the long list (211 books) for the 2020 Not the Booker prize. They would like your nominations for books that belong on the short list. Nominating deadline is 23.59 BST on Sunday 16 August. I think this is 7:59 PM ET in the US.

Mark: The 2020 Dragon Award ballot has been announced

John (Taloni) Harrow the Ninth makes the New York Times Bestseller List! Coming in at, appropriately, Number 9. (Number nine...number nine...)

Mark - 'Jade City' TV Series Based On Books In Works At Peacock From Dave Kalstein, Breck Eisner & Dean Georgaris

BARE YOUR SWORD

Mark
@markmtz
@swordandlaser Happy Birthday to the Supreme Sword!

Tamahome @tamahome02000
.@swordandlaser Congrats on finishing Black Leopard Red Wolf! Will Gravity's Rainbow be next?

Indie Bookshops @IndieBookshopUK
Back in my happy place @Echo_3_coffee #blogging listening to @swordandlaser interview - now have to get #bobiverse books


BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett

Audiobook comments

ACCHOO!

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

S&L Podcast - #389 - Embracing the Challenge

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In this episode, it's tricky to put the World in WorldCon, alternate history first contact, and Tom is really excited about next month's pick. Plus, we wrap up our ultimately satisfying read of Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Mark: 2020 World Fantasy Awards finalists announced.
Nominated for Best Novel are:
Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

Ruth: Controversy over site selection for future WorldCons.
Members are currently voting on the site for WorldCon 2022, and the options are either Chicago, Illinois, or Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Leaving aside the security concerns about the US (WorldCon 2021 is set for Washington, DC, which could potentially be... interesting), concerns have been raised about Kingdom’s repressive laws around eg atheism, alcohol, women’s rights, and homosexuality.
UK grimdark fantasy author Anna Smith Spark is organising a letter of complaint to the WorldCon committee via her social media.
There are also some concerns about the bids for 2023, especially as Nice, France has just dropped out of the running, leaving the options as Memphis, Tennessee... or Chengdu, China (yes the same Chengdu where the US consulate has just closed).
Personally, I’m looking forward to the 2024 WorldCon, which will probably be in Glasgow, UK... or possibly Glasgow, Republic of Scotland. I’ll just have to hope that they don’t institute strict border controls to keep the English out.

Tamahome: Neil Gaiman's full cast Sandman audiodrama is out. He's the narrator too. I believe Dirk Maggs has directed many audiodramas for Alien, X-Files, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc.

Mark: Pandemic resurgence of mass market paperbacks? Read Cory Doctorow's interesting tweet thread on bookselling past and present...The NY Times article linked in the thread: How to Sell Books in 2020: Put Them Near the Toilet Paper

Mark: Losing Gravity is Kameron Hurley's next book, scheduled for publication in 2021.
The pitch: Killing Eve meets Die Hard, in space!"

Jan: Video Essayist and Media Critic Lindsay Ellis' debut novel Axiom's End has been released early on July 20. The Science Fiction novel is described as an ""alternate history first contact adventure"" and has collected quite a number of blurb praise, for example:

Axiom's End is somehow deeply aware of not just what it is to be human, but what it is to be any intelligent species. It's as real as any first-contact story I have ever read. Wonderfully plotted and paced, the adventure never lets up, and neither does the insight. --Hank Green

So much fun. Lindsay Ellis's experience as one of our sharpest cultural observers gives Axiom's End an edge of realism that makes it both cutting and compelling. Close encounters have a whole new look.--John Scalzi "

Jan: Uhhhm... oh, and "Cursed" - the retelling of Arthurian Legend from the point of view of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake - has dropped on Netflix. (TOM note: It is based ont eh book by Tom Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller)
Unfortunately the series has received so far only average to mixed reviews with a score of 57/100 on Metacritic and 6.18/10 on Rotten Tomatoes as of this posting.
The Critical Consensus quote on Rotten Tomatoes is: ""Cursed's first season isn't as subversive as its source material, but strong plotting and a heroic performance from Katherine Langford make for an enjoyable escape.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Prof Chris @themythofpsyche
Check out this amazing interview from @SamMaggs on @swordandlaser podcast this week! So much fun to hear more about her process. And it was super sweet that she gave my psych consulting a shout out on one of my favorite pods! Thanks, Sam!

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Announce August Pick
Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett
Elysium book briefing

WRAP UP (SPOILERY)
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

BLRW: Number of characters

BLRW: What do you expect from the sequel?

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


S&L Podcast - #387 - The Nanobots Are Coming?

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The first rule of Short Story Club, SFF with a smile, and how to get the most out of Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Mark: Coming September 2020

Andy Serkis records audiobook of The Hobbit for HarperCollins

gollum!

—

Tamahome: ❤️Fall in Love With Kiki's Delivery Service All Over Again With This New Translation of the Original Novel

Kiki's Delivery Service is a classic Miyazaki anime. She's a young witch that delivers bread. I didn't even know there was a book. I knew Howl's Moving Castle was a book. Maybe you can pick the book soon as a change of pace. Does this mean there's a Totoro novel? It might be written in an indecipherable Totoro language. 🧹

—-

Conal: Release date is set for Ready Player Two. November 24.

—

Now that post about Ready Player Two came with a suggestion of watching the movie version virtually and virtually cuddling which led Trike to say no thanks even to virtual cuddles, no touching please, which led Mark to post a picture of a finger touching a picture of a tricycle which led to:

Trike: : puts killer nanobots in mail to Mark ::
:: sends them COD for extra-added evil :Mark: Trike's nanobots haven't arrived yet so I can still post a quick burn about a murderbot.

—-


The Murderbot Diaries short story Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory by Martha Wells which was offered to people who preordered Network Effect, will be available through Short Story Club https://www.shortstory.club/

It's a book club for short stories. You RSVP, read a short story, and join a live discussion with the author on Zoom.

Live Q&A with Martha Wells On Murderbot July 21 at 5:30PM PST / 8:30PM EST

If you press the RSVP button on the website, it will take you to an eventbrite page where you can either get a free ticket or make a donation to a charity.

UPDATE: There seems to be a limit on the number of tickets that will be available so, sign up early, if this interests you.

UPDATE 2: I signed up and the link to download the short story is for Hugh Howey's Wool instead of Ms. Wells' short story! I contacted the organizers asking for help. Trike must have misaddressed his nanobots.

UPDATE 3: The short story club folks sent out the correct download link right away. The postman has come and gone today, still no nanobots, but the murderbot is squared away.

—

Dominik wrote: "Storybundle just dropped their third World SF Bundle. Either four books for five dollars or ten for fifteen, and some of them look pretty interesting."

John Added: One of the books at the lower tier is In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard which is worth the price of the bundle alone...
—-

Shad: Brandon Sanderson just posted on twitter that the final draft of Rhythm of War is complete.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Craig Albuck
@Devolark
Hey @swordandlaser nice interview with LE Modesitt Jr. Have you read the Recluce saga? A fantastic series. maybe put The Magic of Recluce as a fantasy pick??

—

Funny SFF Stuff

How many S&L books had you read this year before they were announced? 2020 edition

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Book Briefing

Subreddit with rereads and chapter summaries (You need to scroll to find them)

So, is BLRW Horror?

If you lemmed, here is another challenge

COMING UP!

Questions for Sam Maggs 7/22

Questions for Dennis E. Taylor 7/29

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

S&L Podcast - #386 - Interview with L. E. Modesitt Jr

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We talk with L. E. Modesitt Jr, the bestselling author of two science fiction series and four fantasy series, who has published more than seventy novels. His latest book, Quantum Shadows is described as blending science fiction, myth, and legend in an adventure that pits old gods and new against one another in a far-future world.

Download directly here!

S&L Podcast - #385 - What do you mean HORROR?

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We address the harassment accusations against authors, discover that the July pick could be classified as horror (to Veronica's horror), and have a whole lot of good TV coming based on a whole lot of good books.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Mark: 2020 Locus Award winners have been selected:
Horror: Black Leopard, Red Wolf
First Novel: Gideon the Ninth
Novella: This Is How You Lose the Time War

Mark: The annual Arthur C. Clarke Award is given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year.

The shortlist for the 2020 (34th) Clarke Award is out.

- The City in the Middle of the Night  - Charlie Jane Anders
- The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley
- A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
- The Old Drift - Namwali Serpell
- Cage of Souls - Adrian Tchaikovsky
- The Last Astronaut - David Wellington

Jan: This time the trailer for the adaptation of Brave New World on Peacock (Hi Tom!).

The series will debut with the launch of peacock in the US on July 15. There is little information at the moment when and where Peacock's original programming will be available to audiences outside the US.

Netflix's second season of The Witcher is returning to production with an announcement on Twitter, apparently written as a poem by the character Jakier:

I’m dusting off my lute and quill,
I have some news, some mead to spill:
After all the months we’ve been apart
It’s time for production to restart.
The Witcher and his bard – who’s flawless,
Will reunite on set 17 August.
— The Witcher (@witchernetflix) June 22, 2020

James: Apple has released a first Teaser for the 2021 "Foundation" streaming series with Jared Harris as Hari Seldon.

Iain: Inconceivable....

Watch the Celebrity-Filled Fan-Film Version of The Princess Bride on Quibi:


Netflix has released a trailer for "Cursed" their adaptation of the book written by Thomas Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller reinterpreting the Arthurian Legend from the point of view of the Lady of the Lake.
The series drops on July 17 on Netflix.

Mark: Mandalorian art books, youth novels, adult novels, and comics are coming!
First adult novel coming Dec 2020 is Sparrow (is this really the title?) with absolutely no details right at this moment except it's about the Mandalorian and will be written by Adam Christopher."

BARE YOUR SWORD

Beth Mitcham @MitchamBeth
A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE, Arkady Martine. This stays with you after you put it down. It's about patriotism and envy of magnificent foreigners and the difference between memory and identity. A little bit of love. And lust. And loss. @swordandlaser

Drake Tungsten @turtleismytotem
@swordandlaser Listening to episode 20 and @Veronica mentions how she can't remember which Dresden Files books she read. I have the same problem. I've read about six books in the series, but I don't have a clear memory of any of them.

NEW POD! This week on Episode 4 of Dune Pod we are honored to be joined by @swordandlaser co-host @Veronica to talk about Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 meditation on pre-destination, Arrival. Warning: We also briefly cover Jeremy Renner’s music.

@tamahome02000
@swordandlaser I don't think Veronica will like Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

JULY PICK

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Book Briefing

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

S&L Podcast - #384 - Teenaged Wiccan

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Tom starts throwing money at Becky Chambers and Veronica defends her rose quartz. Plus, new Star Wars short stories coming and lots of great tie-in novels up for Scribe awards! Also our first impressions of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Nothing
Veronica: I Ate a Watermelon!

QUICK BURNS

Tamahome: Excerpt from A Memory Called Empire sequel

Julie: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, the fourth book in Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer series is set to come out in February

Kev: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back - here's the author list for the new From A Certain Point of View anthology set during and around the movie. The first FACPOV set during A New Hope was fun.

Mark: The 2020 Scribe Award nominees have been announced by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Sword and laser titles abound.
Winners will be announced on July 15

Tamahome: Max Brooks' (World War Z) new bigfoot novel Devolution is being adapted for the big screen:

BARE YOUR SWORD

Amy @SuthinBelle
@Veronica @swordandlaser you and @acedtect were wondering what author was from Russia - Isaac Asimov (Foundation). BTW, the author from South Africa is actually Tolkien and the author from India is TH White (Once and Future King). Long and lasting impact from British Colonialism.”

Drake Tungsten @turtleismytotem
@swordandlaser Are there any plans to have videos of episodes like you used to?

John Taloni:
Just for the fun of it, a full-length "Staba O'Riley" aka "Teenage Wiccans."
Arty intro...Pete Townshend's guitar blends in...Keith Moon's drums hit...John Entwhistle's subtle bass...and then, Roger Daltrey!


Hang out after school
Crystals sure look cool
I get the quartz into my jewel'ry
I don't need a stone
To groove the Crone
But they sure as heck look pretty, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Don't scry
The evil eye
It's only teenage Wiccans

Sisters say the spell
The bond we feel will swell
Chant in a circle
Until the night grows colder
The crystals make the Witch
But I will cut a bitch
You try to take 'em, I'll stab you in the shoulder

Teenage Wiccans
It's only teenage Wiccans
Teenage Wiccans
Oh yeah, teenage Wiccans
They're all Wiccans!

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Keep an eye on the Patreon and Goodreads for the July Pick

JUNE PICK
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

MCE: Find your Teixcalaanli name


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

S&L Podcast - #383 - TerpTalk

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Congrats to the Locus Nominees and Nebula winners! We’ve read a bunch of those but there are some great new picks to be discovered too. Everybody wins! Plus long-time Sword and Laser listener TerpKristin joins us to wrap up Magician: Apprentice.

Download directly here!

QUICK BURNS

Geoff: 2019 Nebula winners announced! Here’s the official post.
A Song for a New Day wins for best novel, which surprises me based on "buzz", but I haven't read it yet so I'll take it on faith that it is worthy. Looking forward to reading it!
S&L pick This Is How You Lose the Time War wins for Novella.

Mark:
2020 Locus Award finalists announced

Stephen: New Virtual Con, this time put on by Tor.com and Den of Geek
Info and dates here
Christopher Paolini & Brandon Sanderson June 11th
Neil Gaiman & V.E. Schwab June 12th
June 13 and June 14 all sorts of stuff
You need to register to get an invite to the event.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Thanks to Dave Packard the OC S&L we had a lockdown version of the monthly meetup via Zoom, attended by Dave, Stephen Richter, Andrew Cator, Christina and myself.

We spent about 10 minutes discussing Magician: Apprentice then over an hour talking about Star Trek, Star Wars, various books and comics we're reading, TV shows we're watching and I forget what else.

A good time was had by all.

Gary Fisher

—-

Beth Mitcham @MitchamBeth
MAGICIAN: APPRENTICE, Raymond E. Feist. A great time-travel book. I mean, there's no time-travel in it, but while reading it I am magically a kid again, reading fat fantasy books by the bucketful. Hindsight makes it pleasantly predictable.

Kelly Sedinger @Jaquandor
Listening to a @swordandlaser discussion on the DUNE books and which ones to read and which to skip, I'm reminded of a wonderful turn of phrase by @BluejoWalton, who referred to the later novels as "homeopathically good".

Kenley Neufeld @kenleyneufeld
A gentle tale of humans, elves, dwarves, and even a dragon. Fun and light w/out the dark heaviness that pervades fantasy. More than one boys journey into manhood caused by war. Surprised to not hear from our protagonist in the last 85-pgs. Magician: Apprentice for @swordandlaser

Amy @SuthinBelle
@swordandlaser I posted on Goodreads but wanted to let you know about the new data viz on book picks I made

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

JUNE PICK

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Full wrap up with Terpkristin joining us! Yay!

Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist

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

S&L Podcast - #382 - Great Movie, I Hate It

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We're beefing up our reading lists with Japanese and British award lists. Also it's fun to see what critically-acclaimed movies are hated by the authors whose books they are based on. Plus, we preview our June pick and have a few thoughts on the May pick!

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Water

QUICK BURNS

John (Taloni): Gail Carriger's latest, Defy or Defend Defy is now out. This book is the second in the "Delightfully Deadly" series and follows Dimity from the Finishing School books in her later adventures.

Richard: "The Science Fiction Fan Groups’ Association of Nippon (SFFAN) has announced the finalists for the 2020 Seiun Awards (the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo Awards), honoring the best original and translated works published last year in Japan.

Seth: Book Riot picks 15 great Science Fiction podcasts, and guess who made the list? Yep, Sword and Laser - here's the rest:

Mark: Miss Reading in Public? Bring the Sounds of the Library to Your Home. The New York Public Library has compiled an album of noises we miss—including the sound of the library itself

Erskine: Neil Gaiman just announced the first 3 graphic novels of Sandman will be released July 15 as an audiobook on Audible. I, for one, cannot wait, as I love this series. Richard added: So excited for this as well. The cast looks amazing! Michael Sheen as Lucifer. Riz Ahmed as The Corinthian. James McAvoy as Dream.

Mark: Murderbot will be back in 2021! Announcement and cover reveal for Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

Jan: Tor.com reports that the British Science Fiction Association has announced the winners of the BSFA Awards for works published in 2019.

Jan: JK Rowling has announced the release of a new children's novel "The Ickabog"


BARE YOUR SWORD

Dear Tom and Veronica,

I always enjoy your author interviews, I'll have to put Veronica Roth's Chosen Ones on my to read pile. I never really noticed character's named Veronica until you two mentioned, you don't see them much. In the past few weeks I've come across two. The ""Untamed Beauty"" on The Lost World TV show from 90s (streaming on Amazon Prime) is named Veronica and the main character looking for love in Dark Angel: The Ascent (Full Moon Entertainment) is also named Veronica.

Also, if you need a laugh, Kill The Farm Boy by Kevin Hearne & Delilah Dawson is a fun read spoofing quest novels. If Mel Brooks directed a fractured fairy tail episode.

Best,
David

——
Responses about good adaptations authors hated!

Jan: I think the best known example for an adaptation not liked by the author but in general considered very good is probably ""The Shining"". Stephen Kings hates the Stanley Kubrick movie because the shift of theme and message, but is in general considered a masterpiece...

Oh and the other big example is of course Disney's "Mary Poppins"" which was very much disliked by PL Travers

—-

Trike: Authors hating good movies made from their books is actually quite common. I’m sure there are dozens of examples. A few off the top of my head:

Roald Dahl HATED Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Winston Groom likewise despises Forrest Gump.

Ken Kesey hated One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

E.B. White (and his wife) hated Charlotte’s Web.

And a special bonus just for Veronica: Stanislaw Lem hated *both* versions of Solaris. 😆

—-

John Taloni: Arthur Clarke was pretty displeased with how 2001 turned out. Michael Moorcock has a an article that includes a pretty lengthy discussion of that.

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

BRIEF discussion today. Full wrap up next episode with Terpkristin joining us! Yay!
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist

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

S&L Podcast - #381 - Happ-E-Anding?

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We're going to get some good Discworld TV! We talk about why sometimes you don't want to read old stuff, and whether you're someone who likes depressing consequences or happily ever after stories. All that and our first non-spoiler impressions of Magician: Apprentice.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: La Croix Peach-Pear

Veronica: Water

QUICK BURNS

Richard and Jan: The Wertzone writes "New DISCWORLD TV adaptations announced, unrelated to THE WATCH

In a press release on Discworld.com it was announced that "Narrativia, the independent production company launched by Sir Terry Pratchett in 2012, strikes [a] new development deal with Motive Pictures and Endeavor Content to create truly authentic Discworld screen adaptations."

It was not announced which books will be adapted first, but the deal is according to the press release for tv shows rather than movies.

The stressing of the "authenticity" of the planned shows in the announcement may reassure those Pratchett fans who are upset that the other Discworld series "The Watch" (which is currently in production at BBC America) is apparently diverging quite a bit from the source material - at least judging from the details released so far.

—-

Stephen: The winner of SPFBO 5 (self-published fantasy blog-off) is The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang. I personally had it as a six way tie. but I did not have an official vote.

Check out a panel from QuanranCon2020 of the authors who participated in this years SPFBO contest, it will make your day!!

If you are one of those who want to read more Self Published books but do not know where to start? This contest is one of the best way to achieve that goal. I have now ten new authors to keep track of.
—-

Jan: HBO has released a first Teaser-Trailer for Lovecraft Country, their adaptation of the novel by Mark Ruff.

The show from executive producers Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams, and showrunner Misha Green (Underground) will debut in August on HBO Max.

—-

Jan: Starting from May 5 WizardingWorld.com is releasing each week a chapter of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" narrated by celebrities like Stephen Fry, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim, Noma Dumezweni, and Eddie Redmayne.

The first chapter read by Daniel Radcliffe has already been released. Videos are available on the site, but there is also an audio-only version released on Spotify.

—-

Tamahome: Game of Thrones' Mountain just set a world record for brute strength:

—-

BARE YOUR SWORD

Kelly Sedinger @Jaquandor
Hey @acedtect and @Veronica, just listened to your discussion of epistolary novels (I'm always a few episodes behind), and let me plug Nick Bantock's GRIFFIN AND SABINE books! They're epistolary but also gorgeous art books, and you get to pull the letters from their envelopes!

—-

Hi Veronica and Tom,

I'm an avid podcast listener (and Patreon supporter!), though I'm not on Goodreads. I was just watching a press briefing given the Maine governor, Janet Mills, and was surprised to hear her quoting Veronica Roth! Since you recently interviewed her, I thought you might also be interested. This was not a forum where I expected to hear her name. I googled the quote and it seems to be from Allegiant. In the video of the briefing linked here, the part with the quote is at 55:25.

Thanks for a great podcast; I look forward to every episode and have discovered many books (and other things) through the pod. Like many people, I LOVED Gideon the Ninth, though I never would have read it unprompted. I had seen it on Audible before it was a pick and was totally disinterested. Meanwhile, I devoured it and immediately recommended it to all kinds of people.

I hope you are both healthy and well!

All the Best,

Robert Sheckler

—-

That curve's not flat!

HEA vs Depressing Consequences


BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist

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

S&L Podcast - #380 - The One Where Veronica Forgets

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We invited Andrew Heaton, Host of Alienating the Audience, to join us! Oh Dune… is there any wrong way to enjoy you? Possibly yes. We also wrap up How to Lose the Time War.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Lagavulin 16

Veronica: Four Point KSA

Andrew: Vita Coco Coconut Water

QUICK BURNS

Jan - Vanity Fair has released a first look at Denis Villeneuve's (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049) movie adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune with Timothée Chalamet (Little Women) as Paul Atreides.

In addition to some set photos the article reports that the novel will be split into two movies and of course focus on Paul's story, but will also expand the role of Paul's mother, Lady Jessica, played by Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) and in general feature female characters more prominently.

The planned release date in the US is December 18, 2020

—-

Mark - You can now download the first act of Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir in your preferred ebook format

The article says that release day is 2 Jun 2020 contradicting earlier notices about a delay, so I dunno!

Edit: Amazon still says release day us 4 Aug 2020 which was the delayed date.

Another edit: Act One is Free

Yet another edit: if you're counting, this is the fourth edit since the original post. One edit didn't get an edit tag

—-

Jan - Tor.com has revealed the title of a new solar-punk novella series by Becky Chambers (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet).

According to Tor "Monk & Robot" is about "Sibling Dex, a tea monk, who travels the land meeting villagers and townspeople. They tell Dex their woes while Dex brews them tea, custom-blended to their individual needs and personalities. But when Dex meets Mosscap one day, their life is turned upside-down. Mosscap is a robot (and everyone knows that robots are a myth from the dim and distant past, and never actually existed), and it wants to know “What does humanity need?” Cue: the most delightful road trip you could wish for!"

The first book "Psalm for the Wild-Built" will be published in May 2021.

—-

Mark - A new online SF anthology about people remotely exploring the world...

Avatars Inc edited by Ann VanderMeer

Includes short stories by James S.A. Corey, Ken Liu, Sarah Pinsker, Aliette de Bodard and others. You can read the stories online or download EPUB or PDF of the full anthology.

Authors can submit a short story for a chance to win a new iMac Pro and other gadgets.

—-

Conal - For those interested, Dennis E. Taylor announced the Audible release date for the new Bobiverse book today...

@Dennis_E_Taylor
The release date for Heaven's River on Audible has been set for September 24th. Stephen - There are two Virtual Cons coming up that might be of interest.
QuaranCon2020 April 24-28

MaydayCon May 16

—-

Jenny: I just saw a new book by Katherine Addison (Goblin Emperor!) is coming out in June and it sounds intriguing but entirely different from the world of her previous novel. I know many of us were hoping for more in that world and maybe that will still happen someday.

Copied from publisher blurb:

"Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor, returns with a fantasy novel of alternate 1880s London, where killers stalk the night and the ultimate power is naming.

This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting.

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings under a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent.

Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows."

BARE YOUR SWORD

Feedback from the audienceSteve Mary
@SteveMary23
This is How You Lose the Time War is a must-read! I'm not sure if it was a poetry book or sci-fi set in a dreamlike universe that words could barely grasp. Probably both. Thank you
@swordandlaser and thank you March Madness voters for this pick! Go for Hugo Awards!

Have you been reading more books in quarantine or less?

Only a bit of Dune

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Next month pick: Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist

WRAP UP

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Did I win the Time War? Or did I lose it?

Red v Blue

This is Why I Love the Time War

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