S&L Podcast - #242 - The Animal in Our Collection
/We congratulate the winners of our Inkshares contest and name the book that will be joining our Sword and Laser collection. Plus, why you shouldn’t be angry at George R. R. Martin and how Catherynne M. Valente’s Radiance is like a Tone Poem.
WINNERS!
Congrats to our Sword and Laser Collection addition!
The Animal in Man by Joseph Asphahani!
An artifact of immense power puts Maxan in the middle of a secret war between mighty guilds. To overcome the resourceful and sinister masters who would use him, use everyone, as puppets, he must decide which nature defines him. Animal, or man?
And big congrats to the other Inkshares contest winners who will be published by Inkshares!
The Last Machine in the Solar System by Matt Sobin
The Bones of the Past by Craig Munro
QUICK BURNS
Sky: George RR Martin finally admitted what everyone knew - that The Winds of Winter won't be out before the premiere of season six of Game of Thrones on HBO
Tamahome: Graph of GRRM's publishing intervals show he's writing as fast as JK Rowling did and faster than Tolkien or CS Lewis.
Trike: Harlan Ellison. Released. A. New. Book. Came out December 31st from Subterranean Press. It's called Can & Can'tankerous. Which is awesome.
Nokomis.FL: Friend of show, N.K. Jemisin Launches SFF Column at The New York Times Book Review.
Kate: TechCrunch reports that Pottermore has abandoned exclusivity for the Harry Potter series. You can now purchase the ebooks directly through Amazon and B&N.
Sandra :Phillip K. Dick Award Nominees
Stephen: A new Joe Abercrombie short story edited by the new guy at Tor.com.
Nokomis.FL: Amazon Echo can now read your Kindle books aloud on request.
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
Josh: You guys may have dug this up already, but this short story is what Valente expanded/altered to create Radiance. It's free on Clarkesworld, and even has audio of her reading it!
On one hand I really want to read it, on the other it might be spoilery, so I'll probably save it til I've finished the book.
Is this a good book or is it merely an impressive example of the writer's art?
It seems like the basic argument of a lot of the book is that there's no such thing as nonfiction? ...But then I wonder if there's a second, subtler argument going on, that not only is nonfiction a lie, but fiction is the only way to truth.
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.
